Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
A Great Book for Girls!




The book Just Listen was written by Sarah Dessen. She has had New York Times best-sellers and has won many awards. She has also written many other books. The Moon and More, Lock and Key, and That Summer are just a few. The majority of her books are about High School age girls. She currently lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with her daughter and her husband.

Just Listen is a fictional book that takes place in the fictional town of Lakeview, North Carolina. Annabel Greene, Owen Armstrong, Sophie Barker, and Clarke Reynolds are some of the main characters of this book. Annabel has lost her two best friends, Clarke and Sophie. She has had a really quiet summer, staying kept to herself, and the last thing she wants to do is go back to school. On the first day of school Sophie calls Annabel mean names and Clarke wouldn’t talk to her. Annabel sees a guy who is always so quiet and he loves music. She wants to find out more about this guy named Owen.

A new girl named Sophie has moved to Lakeview. Clarke and Annabel return something to Sophie that she had left at the pool that day. When they knocked on her door, they all met and Sophie and Annabel get to be really good friends. One night those three had a sleepover together at Clarke’s house. Sophie was always the one who wanted to do bad things and rebel the parents. Sophie had an idea and begged Annabel to go with her. Later that night when they came back to Clarke’s house, she had locked the house and not let them back in. That night changed Clarke and Annabel’s relationship forever.

Annabel’s sister becomes anorexic and she almost died if it hadn’t of been for Annabel finding her on the bathroom floor. Owen finally talks to Annabel, which slowly blossoms into a great friendship. Finally Emily and Clarke start talking to Annabel but she is slow to becoming friends again.

This book was really good because it seemed really realistic. The characters were around my age so I could sort of imagine everything that was happening. The book was really descriptive so I could always have a clear picture of what was going on. It always had me wanting to read more. I would recommend this book to someone who likes drama! So much happens and there is always a lot of drama.

The theme of Just Listen is that you can’t always be perfect and you have to work hard to get what you want. Annabel is given CD’s from Owen and she listens to all of them but one is blank. She thought it was supposed to be, but Owen told her it was an accident, so he makes her a new one. This book was really emotional and I would like to read more books by Sarah Dessen.