3.5 stars

I had high expectations for this one, and while I liked Once and for All, I didn't love it. Louna and Ambrose were likable characters. Ambrose quirky and charming and Louna is his complete opposite, but what's sad is that I didn't feel much chemistry between them. Not on the same level I felt the chemistry between Louna and Ethan. (No worries, there isn't a love triangle. Ethan is her ex, but that's all I'm going to say because spoilers.) Nonetheless I liked the sense of adventure in this story, and of course, I loved watching each character grow and learn, as they always do in a Sarah Dessen book. What was even more fun was the little teases about old book friends like Wes and Macy and Auden and Eli. <3 Even though I was slightly disappointed, I still liked Once and for All, and I recommend giving it a shot--especially if you're a long time Sarah Dessen fan like myself.

I love looking at reviews of Sarah Dessen’s books and seeing people who have left their teenage years behind who continue to read her. That’s how long she’s been writing. I think this is her 13th full length novel, and while they are all standalone, characters do inhabit the same universe, with some previous couples popping in and out of each other’s stories. It’s one of the fun parts of reading—who will cameo in this one? (Not telling, the surprise is the best bit!)

In Once and For All, Louna is a 17 year old girl who works part time for her mother’s wedding planning business. She’s practical, organised, and can follow a run sheet like nobody else. Ambrose bursts into her ordered world, bringing with him spontaneity, chaos, and idealism, a combination that irritates the heck out of cynical Louna. It’s terrific to see her take him down in a few sharp, sentences, and the number of times she could say (but doesn’t), I told you so, is hilarious. Dessen, the word master, describes Ambrose through Louna’s eyes the first time she sees him:

He was like that upside-down exclamation point at the beginning of a sentence in Spanish, the mere appearance of which warned of something complicated ahead.

Trouble! That’s for sure.

While it’s clear the end game is romance, Dessen doesn’t avoid serious topics. She’s also interested in portraying family in its many guises. Here we have Louna’s mother, abandoned by her husband when Louna is only two, joining forces with William to became creative wedding planners, and thereby creating an odd but thoroughly significant family unit. Both Natalie and William are cynical about love and happy-ever-afters, but paradoxically, this makes them the perfect combination for planning weddings. William as a gay man, has been a strong supporter and father figure to Louna for 15 years, and is always there when she needs him. I love this expression of family.

A serious topic explored here is that of school shootings. Louna’s experience is long distanced, but completely traumatising. Her involvement is told through flashbacks and accounts for why she dismisses Ambrose so utterly. The emotional impact on readers when it’s revealed shows how good a writer Dessen is… she lays out the clues, and as we swap back and forth between hard-edged Louna fighting off charming Ambrose, and the one night of intimacy Louna shared with her soul mate Ethan, and the pay-off is a long-time coming, increasing its authenticity and satisfaction.

As I say, it’s more than just the romance. Louna’s best friend Kirby juggles the job of babysitting many younger siblings, her own part-time work, a boyfriend, and a jittery Louna, unable to move on after Ethan. When Louna’s mum employs Ambrose (for a variety of reasons), his ineptness and lack of concern for that, tires Louna, but also frees her up to enjoy her last summer. The weddings being planned are sentimental but sometimes hilarious (a circus theme? Really?), and then there’s the rescue dog, the dare, and the ongoing trauma of Ethan. He’s a pervasive presence, both good and bad.

This is an engaging book, with lots of story and character. Dessen takes her time and as you’d expect, it takes a while to tie up all the threads satisfactorily, but she does and they do, and I completely loved this book.

Thanks to publisher and Netgalley for offered an advanced copy. Out everywhere on June 6. Highly recommended for lovers of Sarah Dessen’s work (naturally), and for teens who enjoy novels that are more than just the romance, who love that all the characters shine, and who love their boys swoony, yet flawed.

I always look forward to whatever new book Sarah Dessen comes out with each year. She's an immensely talented writer and her ideas never seem old or repetitive, which is impressive for someone who's written as many books as she has (and largely dealing with the same type of subject matter!) I enjoyed Once and For All very much (though it wasn't as good as Saint Anything but that one is hard to top!)

Once and For All tells the story of 18-year-old Louna, about to head off to college after one final summer working for her wedding planner mother. Louna's mother is *the best* wedding planner around, so Louna has learned a lot of things about how to manage all types of brides, grooms and weddings. She's also learned a great deal about love and is cynical about "happily ever after" something she picked up from her mother and her own romantic past. The flashback chapters where the story of Louna's previous relationship unfolds were some of my favorites, though Dessen lets readers know ahead of time that the ending will be tragic (some more sensitive readers might need a TW for violence and mass shooting situations). Even still, I enjoyed those chapters and seeing two different types of Louna: the Louna we saw as readers and the Louna that she was before that moment.

Of course, it wouldn't be a romance without a new guy and he comes in the form of Ambrose, the wild and unpredictable brother-of-the-bride. Ambrose, heedless of consequences and anything but fun, is forced into working for Louna's mother over the summer, which often puts him at odds with Louna. However, they grow to enjoy one another's company and develop and understanding and eventually challenge each other to a bet involving members of the opposite sex. I actually liked Ambrose a great deal. Normally I tend to roll my eyes at the boy-man characters but I found Ambrose to be charming, endearing and consistently more likable than Louna. I felt like he was a great character and I really found myself rooting for him throughout the events of the novel.

All and all, Once and For All was a great read and another win for Sarah Dessen! I would recommend it for teens who like a romance with substance -and a little bit of tragedy- and for those readers who like to fall in love with their characters. Louna and Ambrose are substantial enough for another to connect with and grow to love!

Now if only Sarah Dessen, Queen of YA Romance and True Love, could write a novel featuring a girl who loves another girl. But maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part ;)

Dessen’s latest YA novel takes readers to the world of wedding planning. Louna’s mom busily helps brides plan and prepare for their upcoming nuptials. Louna helps in the business. At one of the weddings, she meets Ambrose, a very confident, charismatic young man who drives her absolutely crazy. But, Louna is not looking for companionship or a relationship; recent events in her life have left her numb when it comes to love. As the full story unfolds, readers may need a tissue.

Set up like many of Dessen’s novels – young heroine, with a problem, meets a great young guy who helps pick up the pieces – this is one of my favorites. The characters are fun, with the quirkiness of a wedding planner’s world bringing out some eye rolling moments. Its light writing style draws the reader into the narrative, where the reader discovers the heavier, darker elements in the plot. I found so many quotable lines throughout the book, making readers think about life and what really matters. You’ll laugh; you’ll want to cry; and there are times when you want everyone to live happily ever after. Highly recommended.

Review to come when I'm not falling asleep!

Updated: 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC.

I was super excited to get this book as I am a fan of Dessen. Counting this book, I have read 12 out of 13 of her books and the rating breakdown is as follows: 1 star=0, 2=3, 3=4, 4=1, 5=4. So averaging out to 3.5 total or liked to really liked. I would say this one was more okay to liked.

It followed the usual elements of Dessen, young girl struggling with something meets a boy who she doesn't necessarily like at first but through various somewhat unrealistic experiences learns he has a heart of gold and is the one for her. As usual, I liked the dynamics of the female relationships and seeing the interplay of our MC and her family. I especially liked Louna's family and found her mother and godfather to be great. I liked the incorporation of wedding planning and liked seeing how that played out into Louna's beliefs of love.

Criticisms would be that something very serious and very bad happened to Louna's love and it never felt like it was properly addressed. Like she was just basic heartbroken but if she'd been that devastated wouldn't they have done more to help her? As a counselor, I have to advocate for counselor's on this one. I think Louna needed to be seeing one but on the other hand I also think the level of devastation she did have was unrealistic. The insta-love with BF 1 was pretty hard-core, going to far as to <spoiler> lose her virginity to him on the very first night she meets him (which is also the only time they were actually together in person) </spoiler>. That definitely bothered me. The fact that that twitter-pation was set up to be the ideal <i> love </i> that every other relationship in her life would have to live up to was CRAZY. Love...real love...is NOT like that. It is not the butterflies, hormones, insanity that you admittedly will have with someone at first. It is seeing that person at their very worst, physically, mentally and emotionally and STILL loving them, and the same for them with you. Yes, you should have chemistry but....love lived out on a day to day basis is way more than just sharing pie with a boy one night in a diner.

Speaking of chemistry...I wasn't feeling this one. Yes Ambrose was charming but it seemed so forced and I never could get a sense of the spark between the two of them. I think the love relationship was sacrificed at the cost of keeping the story on Louna's development. However, if the focus was to have been on Louna growing and healing, then that could have been handled better. Like I said before, she only seemed to show some indication of change right at the very end and it didn't seem appropriate.

Overall, I was thrilled to get this ARC and pleased that Dessen had tackled some hard subjects while including more diversity. Compared to my 5 star rating on her last book though, this one just didn't cut it for me.

I'm not gonna comment on my favorite topic: the writing style. There's a reason why Mrs. Dessen is one of the most famous authors out there today. My main focus, even while I was reading, were the plot and the characters.
I really loved the story and the setting it was in. It was well-executed, well-presented and very fun to read. It seemed, and this is going to sound odd (it is to me too because I have little knowledge of synesthesia) but I saw it like spring, in blue and beige pastels.
I enjoyed the characters too. Louna was beautifully written and her development was the main point of the story. For the first time in a while I actually enjoyed having the romance part of the story slightly in the background.
It's a great book, and I'm glad I got the chance to read it and write this review before it's release.

I received this e-arc for an honest review, thanks a million!

The book synopsis really fits the book description, the wedding organizing involves so many things, especially when there are more weddings at the time. Louna, the main character is about to graduate from High School and at the same she is employee to her mom who’s the wedding planner together with her best friend/ business partner William. Thus this is a snap of very busy, crazy wedding season with more to come. Louna doesn’t believe in “happy ever after”, not after what she had to go through. The book will be emotional read, all sums up to it and I loved the dramatic ending! 🙂 sneak peek, let me not tell the spoilers.

I have not read many books by the author, this is actually my second book, and the first one was read years ago, thus this was new discovery about author’s writing.
The book starts with present and then switches to another timeline, continuing with two different timelines throughout the entire book, mostly Louna’s memories. Louna is giving a reader a vivid description, and story line about each of other characters, including her best friends, whose aim is to sent Louna back on dating AND recording the amazing summer before the college.

Mr. charming, Ambrose, is annoying and one day/night dating person, who flies from one girl to another like a butterfly and have bunch of them running after him at every corner and place. This is something Louna has to deal on every day basis when Ambrose get the co-worker position at her mother’s company. And plus to all of that, she has to show him how to work on certain tasks.

It’s a fun and emotional read, dramatic at the times. I was surprised by the ending and what was behind Louna and Ambrose!

Exactly what I want from a Sarah Dessen book. Romance, heartache, and love. Humorous and full of emotion, Sarah Dessen continues to write YA novels that are so much more than just a teen love story. The wedding planning aspect of this story was a delight to read and the struggle to survive after facing a terrible loss make this a strong book. I loved it and look forward (as always) to more.

When I got the notification for this Galley, my high school self just about screamed. High school self had read every Sarah Dessen book she could get her hands on, multiple times, in a rotating order. High school self and friends rated the dreamy-ness of all the love interests (Wes was our favorite, Dexter a close second) and mapped out which characters crossed over into other books. High school self even wrote an article for the school newspaper about Dessen’s books and it made the front page of the entertainment section for the May issue.

But let me get to the point.

Sarah Dessen’s writing has an almost magical quality to it that sucks you into the pages and pulls on your heartstrings and steals your time away, because before you know it, it’s four in the morning and you’re internally sobbing over characters that you just met. At least that’s how it was with Once and for All.

Once and for All is about love– not just romantic love, but first love, family love, broken love, all love in its many forms and functions. It’s also about weddings and bets, but I’ll get to that. Louna is our main character in this novel, she’s a smart, overly cautious, recent high school graduate, working at her mother’s wedding planning business for the summer. Being the daughter of a highly popular wedding planner, she’s seen weddings of all shapes, sizes, and meltdowns. As expected, Louna is cynical about love and marriage and happily ever after. *cue dramatic flashbacks to Louna’s first love*

Enter Ambrose. He’s an absolutely charming weirdo and I mean that in the nicest of ways. (I think he’s up there on that list with Wes and Dexter, now.) Abrose is a bit cocky and a lot rich, but as Louna’s counterpart, he loves to love (and by that I mean he’s a serial dater). After a bit of a rocky start, Louna and Ambrose develop a friendship and place an entertaining bet– but as to what, you’ll have to read and find out.

Dessen has tackled some serious topic in her other novels and Once and for All is no exception. Louna’s flashbacks, which alternate chapters with real time, build up to some heartbreaking truths that I won’t spoil, but Dessen is really on the nose with writing about the somber subject.

Once and for All nicely tells us Louna’s journey to self discovery and coming to terms with things that you cannot change. The cast of characters are fun to get to know and all add their own purpose to the story– shout out to Louna’s mom and William for the best duo and BFF Jilly for being all around awesome. The novel lives up to Dessen fan expectations and delivers a satisfying ending. High school self would be proud.

Once and for All comes out June 6, 2017.

4/5 Stars.

I received a free e-ARC of Once and for All from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book even though I felt there was so much build-up that the final getting together wasn't as good as the almost-get-togethers that happened before. Still would recommend.

I loved Louna's story and her seeing Ambrose grow on her. The wedding planning details were such fun, and a great backdrop to this story of seeking vs. finding love. Sarah Dessen never disappoints!

Loved this! I expected a typical high school kind of story but definitely not what I thought it would be. The characters were so great and I absolutely loved Ambrose and all his positivity. This really drew me in and I got completely caught up with Louna's story.

I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review(Thanks so much for granting my wish!).

You either love or you hate Sarah Dessen's books. Yes, her books are quite formulaic, but they are so darn easy to read. I did find that I liked this book a lot more than some of her others. I think my favourites from Sarah Dessen are Lock and Key and The Truth About Forever. I think maybe that Once and for All could go on that list. Maybe it's that this book's elements are quite modern, but I throughly enjoyed this.

Once and for All is about Louna, who doesn't know whether or not she believes in love. She works for her mother in the wedding business where she watches love hit its peak. Louna's true love died and her mother's marriage didn't turn out well. When she meets Ambrose, she starts to question her beliefs in love.

It's always better to go into Sarah Dessen books without knowing much, but I'll try to tell you a bit about it. I loved that this book was about the wedding industry. While this book didn't delve deep into it, it was a really fun element in the story. I just found that Sarah Dessen threw in a lot of unique elements I haven't read in YA much or at all, which made me love this book. For example, Louna's best friend's parents were food truck owners. If you love love-hate romances, the main relationship in this book follows that kind of plot line. This author writes some awesome secondary characters that you will want to see more of, so get excited about that.

Of course, because it's a Sarah Dessen book, the main character is a bit oblivious. She doesn't realize that someone is in love with her, which is super frustrating because it's right in front of her face!! Louna is also pretty mature for her age and is a bit jaded. Surprisingly though, the ending of this book is actually somewhat satisfying, which never happens!

If you're looking for an interesting contemporary romance this summer, I'd suggest maybe picking up Once and for All, especially if you love Sarah Dessen.

A summer of weddings, a girl with a damaged heart, an annoying guy, and a bet - what could go wrong? Once and For All is a delightful new novel with Sarah Dessen's trademark mix of romance, summer, and starting over.

Louna works for her mother's wedding planning business. Every week she witnesses the pinnacle of true love. Or at least that's what it should be. But Louna herself knows how badly love can end, leaving her cynical and sure that romance doesn't come around all that often. Then she meets Ambrose, a serial dater who enjoys the first few perfect moments of a relationship but never commits to more than a day or two. Ambrose drives Louna nuts with his eternally cheerful and haphazard ways. So she is shocked when her mother employs him to help with the summer weddings. But Louna finds herself enjoying spending time with Ambrose (sometimes, when he isn't making her crazy) and, even stranger, finds herself making a bet with him - she will agree to start dating again and he will try to commit to a relationship that lasts for seven weeks.

This book was described as sugar and effervescent champagne. But I didn't get that feeling at all. Yes, there are weddings, flirting, and summer days, but it was far more somber than I was expecting. And yet it perfectly fit the Sarah Dessen mould - sweet romance and a light story, tempered with sad tragedy or hard circumstances with which the character must wrestle. I found Louna's story to be far sadder than I expected. When it says that her last relationship, her first taste of a true and epic love, ended badly, they mean badly. The reader slowly pieces together what happened and how it changed Louna. Meanwhile, we get to know Ambrose. At first, Louna can't stand him. But as they work together they build a sweet friendship.

As always with a Sarah Dessen novel, there is a fantastic cast of secondary characters. I particularly liked Louna's mother and her mother's business partner, William. Both are vibrant characters. I also liked Louna's best friend, Jilly and the endless parade of siblings she was always carting around.

While I didn't like Once and For All as much as some of Dessen's previous titles, it is a sweet book and touches on some very important and timely themes.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

Sarah Dessen is one of my favorite YA authors. She has written another unforgettable story with great characters! I especially enjoyed her link to current events and gave me plenty to think about. Often the lesser known people in a tragedy are never mentioned and they are just as much affected by the events as the people closer to the victims. Another great read by Dessen!

So far I've liked everything I've read by Sarah Dessen. While this book wasn't perfect (3 1/2 stars), it wasn't supposed to be. It's part of the plot that the messy bits are what a good life is supposed to be made of. I was in the middle of too many books, but this was one I had to finish - it was that good.

I received this as an ARC from Netgalley, and am glad I did!

Another winner from Sarah Dessen! I have been reading her for ages so am not new to the worlds she creates. However, Louna's world had an extra little gut punch that I wasn't expecting. A step up for Sarah Dessen to be sure.

A cynical high school senior who works for her mother's wedding planning business finds love again after her last relationship ends in tragedy.

I received this book for free from Penguin Young Readers Group via (NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**

Time after time, Sarah Dessen produces a solid novel with a timeless story. Once and for All is no different. While Louna's upbringing is a little different than most, her experience with love and loss are so similar to our own. She's relatable and readers will love her. Dessen manages to annoy the reader with the male lead, Ambrose, a few pages in and then takes on the challenge of making the reader fall in love with him. She succeeds. As always, Dessen includes a cast of quirky and lovable secondary characters, such as Louna's best friend Jilly, which rounds out the story. Once and For All will not disappoint Dessen fans

There is just something about a book from Sarah Dessen that will give you all the feels. I have read and loved so many of her books that I go in knowing that I will probably laugh and cry and have a book hangover at the end. This book is no different.

This story has some truly magical elements and I want to tell you all about them. I'm not going to though. I don't want to spoil anything about this. There are weddings, shenanigans, love, heartbreak and some pretty profound moments. I love the main characters and all of the supporting ones to. I enjoyed the wedding aspect and all the stress and sillyness that went along with it. One of my favorite things about her books are the familiar faces and tiny little details that show up from previous books. I love hearing the names of characters I have connected with in the past, it makes me smile every time I find one.

If you enjoyed any previous Sarah Dessen novels, you will love this one. If you haven't read any of her books and you enjoy ya books (though really these are so much more than a genre might lead you to believe), then you should read this book and check out her previous books. All of them are standalones so no worries about order.