7th out of 1,699 books
—
5,580 voters
This Lullaby
by
Sarah Dessen (Goodreads Author)
When it comes to relationships, Remy doesn't mess around. After all, she's learned all there is to know from her mother, who's currently working on husband number five. But there's something about Dexter that seems to defy all of Remy's rules. He certainly doesn't seem like Mr. Right. For some reason, however, Remy just can't seem to shake him. Could it be that Remy's star...more
Paperback, 345 pages
Published
March 8th 2004
by Speak
(first published May 27th 2002)
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Nov 08, 2012
Jennifer Wardrip
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
trt-posted-reviews,
trt-gold-star-award-winner
Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.com
Sarah Dessen's THIS LULLABY is one of the best teen books I've ever read. It's the story of Remy, a girl who has no faith in love. Part of this is because her own father never even saw her, only wrote a now-famous song, called "This Lullaby," about her before he died. It certainly doesn't help that her mother has been married four times, and, at the beginning of the novel, is about to have her fifth wedding. Remy says about her mother's marriages, "...more
Sarah Dessen's THIS LULLABY is one of the best teen books I've ever read. It's the story of Remy, a girl who has no faith in love. Part of this is because her own father never even saw her, only wrote a now-famous song, called "This Lullaby," about her before he died. It certainly doesn't help that her mother has been married four times, and, at the beginning of the novel, is about to have her fifth wedding. Remy says about her mother's marriages, "...more
After Just Listen, let’s just say that I wasn’t all that impressed with Sarah Dessen. And to be honest? I just couldn’t see why she was so popular.. so with great reluctance (a month after reading Just Listen in fact,) I went ahead and read This Lullaby. Well, this review is me eating my words: Sarah Dessen deserves all the praise she has gotten/gets.
I loved it! (Yes, this is even despite my having come across what one reviewer calls the “the Sarah Dessen Syndrome,” of a female protagonist who i...more
I loved it! (Yes, this is even despite my having come across what one reviewer calls the “the Sarah Dessen Syndrome,” of a female protagonist who i...more
"This Lullaby" was my first Dessen book and will probably be the last. It has nothing to do with the writing, but this kind of fairly depressing YA chick lit a la Jennifer Weiner is simply not my cup of tea.
This book is normally described as a super sweet romance, but it never felt like one to me. Rather, it was a story of a girl disillusioned in love who finally allowed herself to open herself up to an honest relationship with a man.
There was really nothing wrong with this story. The characters...more
This book is normally described as a super sweet romance, but it never felt like one to me. Rather, it was a story of a girl disillusioned in love who finally allowed herself to open herself up to an honest relationship with a man.
There was really nothing wrong with this story. The characters...more
I was 18 when I read This Lullaby, and it was the first Sarah Dessen novel that I had read. To this day, it is still my favorite book by Dessen.
The main character Remy is very relatable to many teenage girls, and even to young women who remember being the way Remy is when they were in high school. Remy's family and friends are a very loveable group of characters and their development is flawless.
There are little twists here and there that carry the book toward the end. It does start off a littl...more
The main character Remy is very relatable to many teenage girls, and even to young women who remember being the way Remy is when they were in high school. Remy's family and friends are a very loveable group of characters and their development is flawless.
There are little twists here and there that carry the book toward the end. It does start off a littl...more
Rating: 5 STARS
This Lullaby is my favourite Sarah Dessen book along with The Truth About Forever. There is no denying that Sarah Dessen follows a specific formula when writing a novel, a formula that doesn't change too much (if at all) from book to book. But not only does this formula work, she manages to make it work wonderfully. In my opinion, Dessen has a gift, in that she is able to turn simple plots into beautiful and deep stories that work when in the mood for an entertaining, light, fun b...more
This Lullaby is my favourite Sarah Dessen book along with The Truth About Forever. There is no denying that Sarah Dessen follows a specific formula when writing a novel, a formula that doesn't change too much (if at all) from book to book. But not only does this formula work, she manages to make it work wonderfully. In my opinion, Dessen has a gift, in that she is able to turn simple plots into beautiful and deep stories that work when in the mood for an entertaining, light, fun b...more
May 30, 2012
Hilda
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
young-adult,
so-lovely
This lullaby is only a few words
A simple run of chords
Quiet here in this spare room
But you can hear it, hear it
Wherever you may go
I will let you down
But this lullaby plays
Remy doesn’t believe in love. Her mother’s fifth marriage only encourages her to stop believing in the nonsense. To her, love means having fun with guys, making sure that they know the relationship won’t last long, and leaving before things get complicated. No worries. No entanglements. The no-strings-attached rule has worked...more
A simple run of chords
Quiet here in this spare room
But you can hear it, hear it
Wherever you may go
I will let you down
But this lullaby plays
Remy doesn’t believe in love. Her mother’s fifth marriage only encourages her to stop believing in the nonsense. To her, love means having fun with guys, making sure that they know the relationship won’t last long, and leaving before things get complicated. No worries. No entanglements. The no-strings-attached rule has worked...more
Let me begin yet another Dessen review on a high note: Remy Starr is officially my favorite Dessen girl, hands down. She actually actively took part in what happened around her, making her mistakes big and bold and beautiful. Her cynical rants immediately captured my heart and her wit and vulnerability sealed the deal. I just got her.
I also fell in love with Dexter from the moment he appeared on the page. His charm and all around adorable-ness made me want to reach into the story and pull him ou...more
I also fell in love with Dexter from the moment he appeared on the page. His charm and all around adorable-ness made me want to reach into the story and pull him ou...more
This is my third Dessen book and it's the most relatable, so far.
It's a story about Remy, a girl who doesn't believe in love because she witnessed her mother getting divorced way too many times. Mum is planing to marry for the fifth time and Remy's had enough but she's still going to keep her mouth shut cause she's leaving for college in the fall. Dexter literally collides with Remy and he is ready to fight for her even though they just met. Soon they start casually dating but Remy knows there...more
It's a story about Remy, a girl who doesn't believe in love because she witnessed her mother getting divorced way too many times. Mum is planing to marry for the fifth time and Remy's had enough but she's still going to keep her mouth shut cause she's leaving for college in the fall. Dexter literally collides with Remy and he is ready to fight for her even though they just met. Soon they start casually dating but Remy knows there...more
Amazing moral... but lousy ending! Like always, it was amazingly written, but this time the storyline was horrid and the ending was boring but okay.
Remy Starr, the main character, is disgusting and so cold like she's supposed to be, so I hated her. She is soft WAY deep inside, but the only reason why she puts on a mask of hatred, is because she's afraid of being weak, again. She hates to see how weak she really was so put on the tough attitude. Like her mother and her seemingly endless marriges...more
Remy Starr, the main character, is disgusting and so cold like she's supposed to be, so I hated her. She is soft WAY deep inside, but the only reason why she puts on a mask of hatred, is because she's afraid of being weak, again. She hates to see how weak she really was so put on the tough attitude. Like her mother and her seemingly endless marriges...more
Probably my favorite Dessen novel. Remy is cynical about love, but she's looking forward to heading off to Stanford with no boyfriend attached. There's just one problem: Remy's latest guy, Dexter, isn't buying into her plan. Not only is he a violation of her "no musicians" rule, he's also intent on sticking around.
I like teen novels that don't focus on a central romance at the expense of everything else. Remy has friends and family, and they're as much a part of the story as Dexter is.
In many w...more
I like teen novels that don't focus on a central romance at the expense of everything else. Remy has friends and family, and they're as much a part of the story as Dexter is.
In many w...more
Out of all of Sarah Dessen's books, this one has to be my most favorite. I've gone back and reread dozens of times, and it never gets old. I could honestly quote some of it, if I had that chance. That's how much I love this book.
It's the complexity of Remy and Dexter, and all the other supporting characters that make this such a hit with me. To me, they're the most memorable characters Dessen has come up with. They're not bland, carbon copies of some of her others.
I really recommend this book f...more
It's the complexity of Remy and Dexter, and all the other supporting characters that make this such a hit with me. To me, they're the most memorable characters Dessen has come up with. They're not bland, carbon copies of some of her others.
I really recommend this book f...more
3.5
I'm having mixed feelings about this one. One minute I was devouring the story word by word, the next minute I could barely keep my thoughts at one place. In simpler term, I was bored.
I liked Remy, mostly because I liked the way she carried herself throughout the story and did what she truly believed in. I like independent women, period. However, I couldn't help but being irritated with Remy and her commitment issues. At first, I was okay with her being not okay with serious relationship. I...more
I'm having mixed feelings about this one. One minute I was devouring the story word by word, the next minute I could barely keep my thoughts at one place. In simpler term, I was bored.
I liked Remy, mostly because I liked the way she carried herself throughout the story and did what she truly believed in. I like independent women, period. However, I couldn't help but being irritated with Remy and her commitment issues. At first, I was okay with her being not okay with serious relationship. I...more
Apr 23, 2013
Maggie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Maggie by:
Anna
Shelves:
2013
It feels almost sacrilegious to run a Young Adult blog without having read Sarah Dessen. She's one of the biggest names in YA with a massive, devoted following. I wasn't sure where to start but when Anna suggested This Lullaby and threw in Veronica Mars as a selling point, I couldn't resist.
This book definitely surprised me. I expected Dessen to be light and fluffy. However, instead of The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants, I got The Sisterhood of the Traveling Diet Zip and Cigarettes. I know it's c...more
This book definitely surprised me. I expected Dessen to be light and fluffy. However, instead of The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants, I got The Sisterhood of the Traveling Diet Zip and Cigarettes. I know it's c...more
"This Lullaby" was my favorite Sarah Dessen book so far. Remy is an 18 year old high school graduate who is looking for a summer fling. She
meets Dexter who is the lead singer of a band called "Truth Squad", which is strictly against Remy's rules of dating. Dexter chases after her until one day she finally gives in, telling herself that she will break it off as soon as the summer ends and she leaves for college. Then something strange happens to Remy that has never happened to her before, she fal...more
meets Dexter who is the lead singer of a band called "Truth Squad", which is strictly against Remy's rules of dating. Dexter chases after her until one day she finally gives in, telling herself that she will break it off as soon as the summer ends and she leaves for college. Then something strange happens to Remy that has never happened to her before, she fal...more
Jun 17, 2011
Lety
marked it as to-read
So here we have Remy, neurotic with absolutely no faith in love and it's possibilities. Enter Dexter, with his carelessness and free spirit, a musician who loves to dare you to do unseemingly ridiculous challenges usually involving food and a countdown which you can't help but accept. He's the polar opposite of Remy who usually has everything broken down into checklists and deadlines including her dating life. So what is it about this boy that has Remy second-guessing herself? Great story and I...more
I read this just after reading the DUFF and I have to say the two are EXTREMELY similar.....and i am pretty sure Kody Keplinger may have ripped off Dessen but hey who knows? I have read only one of Dessen's novels before (i.e. Just Listen) and was mildly impressed by her common theme of focusing more on emotional trauma than romance. I found the writing to be much better in Just Listen though.....(the writing was pretty and clear.....like eating a cookie lol?)............but this writing seemed...more
My friend had, for practically a year, begged me to read this and when I finally relented, I thought it'd be one of those books that are light to read and yet are enjoyable. Not exactly.
True enough that This Lullaby was light and doesn't require you to over-analyze everything. It's basically about this girl who grew up early, has trust issues, doesn't like men, dates around, has AWESOME friends, la di dah. I think what I disliked about the lead character Remy wasn't that she was a slaggy bitch,...more
True enough that This Lullaby was light and doesn't require you to over-analyze everything. It's basically about this girl who grew up early, has trust issues, doesn't like men, dates around, has AWESOME friends, la di dah. I think what I disliked about the lead character Remy wasn't that she was a slaggy bitch,...more
Book Name: This Lullaby
Author/s: Sarah Dessen
Language English
Original Title: This Lullaby
Publisher, year: Hodder Children's Books, 2008
Page total: 384
Date Read: june 16-17 2010
Genre/s: YA, chick-lit, romance, fiction
First line of Book: "The name of the song is 'This Lullaby'"
Review: Remy doesn't believe in love. But would you believe in love if your mother had gone through four failed marriages, getting into her fifth?
Remy's father was a musician, none of his songs is famous, except for one, c...more
Author/s: Sarah Dessen
Language English
Original Title: This Lullaby
Publisher, year: Hodder Children's Books, 2008
Page total: 384
Date Read: june 16-17 2010
Genre/s: YA, chick-lit, romance, fiction
First line of Book: "The name of the song is 'This Lullaby'"
Review: Remy doesn't believe in love. But would you believe in love if your mother had gone through four failed marriages, getting into her fifth?
Remy's father was a musician, none of his songs is famous, except for one, c...more
I don't know, I just didn't like this book. I mean, it was pretty well written I guess, just not my thing. I could NOT relate to Remy in the slightest. She was extremely unlikable, and a compelte bitch, and, for the record, admitting you're a bitch doesn't redeem you. The way she went from guy to guy, dumping them on a schedule, treating them as numbers on a chart and not as human beings...was frankly disgusting. She supposedly has an excuse, because her mom remarried four times. Big deal. You'd...more
I did *not* like this book. I found the main character to be completely unsympathetic and I could not relate to her or with her to save my life. I understand WHY she was a bitch at time to Dexterbut quite honestly, I didn't really care. I just couldn't really get into it. Especially towards the end, when she flipped out on Dexter over the whole picture incident. I wanted to rip out my hair, throw my book against a wall and throw her over a bridge all at the same time..ok, well maybe the last bit...more
Remy is a girl who thinks that she has this whole love thing figured out, whenever she feels that the relationship might take a step up, she dumps the guy. All that changes when she meets Dexter, a guy who says that the first time he saw her, he knew they were meant to be together. To top it all off, Dexter is a musician, an occupation Remy does not like because her father was one and only left her with one legacy, a one hit wonder called, "this lullaby".
This book had a decent amount of faults....more
This book had a decent amount of faults....more
For the first 100 pages, I honestly wasn't feeling Sarah Dessen. She took too much time building up her story, so much so that I was wondering when it was ever going to start. Come halfway, it got exciting. I couldn't wait to find out what happens next for Remy and Dexter's relationship. It didn't hurt that the other characters were equally interesting. I mean this in a way that they also got something going on for them, and not just as "supporting characters" that most friends, family members,...more
i love this book, beacuse there is a chase.
a book about learning experience. It gets slow but it catches you again.
its about a girl who is growning up and wants to separte herself from her mother, and her husbands who soon become her ex husbands.
she has her eyes set on the fall when she will enter collage, and is working really hard, but then at the same time she is dealing with planning her mothers wedding, and all of the small little details. so she has alot on her plate, and having a boy -wh...more
a book about learning experience. It gets slow but it catches you again.
its about a girl who is growning up and wants to separte herself from her mother, and her husbands who soon become her ex husbands.
she has her eyes set on the fall when she will enter collage, and is working really hard, but then at the same time she is dealing with planning her mothers wedding, and all of the small little details. so she has alot on her plate, and having a boy -wh...more
Dec 07, 2012
Camila
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
all-time-favorite,
badass-heroine,
beautiful-cover,
bitches-be-bitching,
buttkick-heroine,
cute-love-story,
desperately-want-it,
expectations,
favorite-male-heroe,
got-sucked-in,
had-me-lol-ing,
grinning-like-an-idiot-all-the-time,
hey-yo-cool-name,
i-need-it-like-a-fat-kid-needs-cake,
just-freaking-hate-the-end,
loooooo-vvvved-it,
love-your-sarcasm,
one-more-page-syndrome,
real-problems,
what-the-hell-jut-happened,
weird-different-names,
what-the-actual-fuck,
what-to-bitch-slap,
why-u-did-this,
why-why-why,
you-annoy-me,
review-to-come
Srah Dessen sometimes you make it really difficult to love you that's not entirely true. Its just argg, when you finish a book it has a complete incomplete ending, you know what I'm saying? Like when it end in something uncertain, without you knowing what happened in the end, like real solid, you just have the base and then you can either make it go one way (they stay together, happily ever after scenario) or the other (the got together some time, they broke up, they found someone else scenario)...more
At first, when I first heard about this book, it didn't really catch my eye, but I read it anyway because someone recommended it to me saying it was awesome and it really was,
THIS BOOK IS AWESOME,
Dexter IS the cutest, clumsiest, funniest, most polite, most out-going, most awesome and most talented guy I'VE EVER READ,
and Remy, oh Remy, she was very bitchy at first but then you learn about her and she learns about her too and there's a vulnerability to her that just makes you love her, she's an...more
THIS BOOK IS AWESOME,
Dexter IS the cutest, clumsiest, funniest, most polite, most out-going, most awesome and most talented guy I'VE EVER READ,
and Remy, oh Remy, she was very bitchy at first but then you learn about her and she learns about her too and there's a vulnerability to her that just makes you love her, she's an...more
I thought this was a very good book. I liked it. But there was a point in the story where I just wasn't that interested anymore. I stopped reading it for a while. The love story though was very good but it almost seemed like the story was dragging on. There are definitely better books, even though I still think it was good. I recommend it to teenage girls who like other Sarah Dessen books. She's a very good author for girls my age.
Remy's father is killed and she has a hard time getting over it. Whenever she has a hard day or is stressed she hides in her closet and listens to this on song she used to sharewith her fater it always soothes her.She meets this boy named dexter who is in a band called the the truth squad who is first annoying but later is tolerable. She falls in love with him after some time and hangs out with him in jigs and supports him but in her mom's fifth wedding he plays her song even though Dexter knows...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! YA Heroines !: This Lullaby | 2 | 10 | Jun 11, 2013 06:34pm | |
| ♥Calling All Fang...: This Lullaby | 1 | 3 | Jun 02, 2013 11:11am | |
| Mr. Rossi: EIIHJ ...: Why I chose this book | 17 | 17 | Mar 10, 2013 08:03pm | |
| YA Buddy Readers'...: This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen starts 3/2/13 | 26 | 22 | Mar 04, 2013 08:34am | |
| The Filipino Group: [Buddy Reads] This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen (Biena, Cary, Ingrid, Lynai, Maria, Monique, Patrick, Tin, Tricia, Eavesdropping: Tina) Start date: February 4 | 202 | 86 | Mar 03, 2013 02:23am | |
| Do you think ... | 3 | 60 | Dec 30, 2012 09:49pm | |
| What is your favorite Sarah Dessen book? | 89 | 261 | Nov 22, 2012 07:01pm |
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“Love is needing someone. Love is putting up with someone's bad qualities because they somehow complete you.”
—
9,083 people liked it
“No relationship is perfect, ever. There are always some ways you have to bend, to compromise, to give something up in order to gain something greater...The love we have for each other is bigger than these small differences. And that's the key. It's like a big pie chart, and the love in a relationship has to be the biggest piece. Love can make up for a lot.”
—
5,958 people liked it
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updated Sep 25, 2009 02:04am