A review by rebelbooks101
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
TW: emotional and physical abuse, and infertility
This book follows Ruby who’s been taken by social services to live with her sister and her husband after her mom has abandoned her.
For the most part, I really liked this book. I can’t tell if it’s me feeling burnt out on Sarah Dessen or the reading slump that made this book feel really long to get through.
I really enjoyed the plot and I loved seeing the growth of the protagonist throughout the story. I loved how she started to embrace the loving family she had with her sister and Jamie. I really enjoyed the individual dynamics that they had with her. I also loved the friendship she started to develop with one of her classmates as well.
While I really enjoyed the first half, the second half is where it fell a little flat for me. While I understand the ending, I can’t say it was necessarily how I wanted the story to wrap up. It definitely had both good and bad to it.
Something that fell a little flat with that was the romance between Nate and Ruby. Nate was someone I really loved as a character so I was looking forward to seeing him and Ruby getting together but instead of being this thing that left the reader satisfied, it just sort of happened.
Overall, this was a pretty enjoyable read that I’m glad to have read but the second half kind of left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.
This book follows Ruby who’s been taken by social services to live with her sister and her husband after her mom has abandoned her.
For the most part, I really liked this book. I can’t tell if it’s me feeling burnt out on Sarah Dessen or the reading slump that made this book feel really long to get through.
I really enjoyed the plot and I loved seeing the growth of the protagonist throughout the story. I loved how she started to embrace the loving family she had with her sister and Jamie. I really enjoyed the individual dynamics that they had with her. I also loved the friendship she started to develop with one of her classmates as well.
While I really enjoyed the first half, the second half is where it fell a little flat for me. While I understand the ending, I can’t say it was necessarily how I wanted the story to wrap up. It definitely had both good and bad to it.
Something that fell a little flat with that was the romance between Nate and Ruby. Nate was someone I really loved as a character so I was looking forward to seeing him and Ruby getting together but instead of being this thing that left the reader satisfied, it just sort of happened.
Overall, this was a pretty enjoyable read that I’m glad to have read but the second half kind of left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infertility, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse