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Feb 04, 2012

Cara rated it:

This is going to sound stupid but I'm hyperventalting writing this review. I hardly ever buy books but I bought this one as a present for my sister (she introduced me to Dessen) and of course I just happened to read it too. I've read this book four times (the most I've re-read any book) and I know it inside and out, but I don't ~~think~~ know I won't be able to do it justice. Here goes nothing...

First of all I could probably write a whole dissertation on Owen. He's is just so... AWESO More...

26 comments like (52 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Erin rated it:

Annabel Green lives in a glass house - literally. But even inside of the glass house that her father built, she realizes that it is easy to hide secrets. It is easy to hide the fact that her mother has become a different person since her grandmother’s death. That her oldest sister has moved away, leaving a gaping hole in the family.

It is easy to hide the fact that her other sister is suffering from an eating disorder that her parents choose to dismiss until it’s almost too late. More...

5 comments like (38 people liked it)

Aug 29, 2011

Glass rated it:

Half way trough this book, I realized that I was scared. Scared because it took me back to the place in my mind which I don't have any dessire to go back - ever again! I used to have a "friend" like Sophie, I had a eating disorder when I was senior, there was "owen" who helped me to wake up (but, he was just a friend). It took me two years to recover completely and it was awful. I used to stop eating when things in my life were out of my control and it gave me false sense of More...

14 comments like (13 people liked it)

Aug 13, 2009

Tasha rated it:

Am I the only person who is tired of Sarah Dessen?
I loved the first book of hers I read, Someone Like You, but unfortunately it seems like the more books of hers I read, the more formulaic her writing becomes.
It seems like every novel she writes follows this structure:
1) Girl (with VERY uncommon name) is unhappy about something in her life
2) Girl with very uncommon name meets BOY with very uncommon name
3) Girl and Boy decide to date
4) Big major conflict in sto More...

50 comments like (82 people liked it)

May 06, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

Up until now, THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER has always been my favorite Sarah Dessen book. Now that I've read JUST LISTEN, however, I think there's a tie! The characters of this latest release are so honestly real, their dialogue perfectly placed, that you can't help but be pulled into the life and times of Annabel Greene.

Of course everyone thinks that Annabel has the perfect life. She's a model who has been in television commercials, in prin More...

4 comments like (34 people liked it)

Apr 15, 2008

Annie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2012

Ari rated it:

"The best way out is always through."

This book kept me thinking...

How many times did you answer to the question "how are you" with just "fine", or "I’m ok"?
How many times did you feel like your heart was breaking but you couldn't make it right?
You many of your dark, inside secrets have made your heart break a little bit more every day?
How many times did you need help but you didn't know how to ask for i More...

17 comments like (13 people liked it)

Nov 06, 2011

Waffle...♥ rated it:

This book is A LOT like The Truth About Forever but the story line is very different... personally I liked The Truth About Forever better because it's much more touching and sweet... but this book teaches a great deal of a lesson about truth. Truth haunts and lingers over you no matter what and you can never let it go. If you chose to ignore it... its going to overtake your future and the only way out is to follow it through.

Shhh, Annabel. It's just me. That part was fantastic! I re More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 14, 2011

Leanne rated it:

Wow, did I seriously under-estimate Sarah Dessen. My first impression while picking up this book at my one-and-only favourite place, CHAPTERS BOOK STORE!!! ( instant excitement) was received with an inward groan, thoughts such as "oh no, this is going to end up being another mellow, sappy novel about barf-worthy, sugarsweet romances and clichéd characters". Really not my first choice of a great read. But what the heck, becuase many of my goodreads friends seemed to love it- so it can' More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Ashley rated it:

Ashley writing arts Hall **Just listen**
There are books t More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 24, 2010

Sunny rated it:

This book amazed me by how the author can turn a cheesy story into one that I cannot stop reading. I especially enjoyed its romance, which is slowly presented but so sweet. Friendship-toward-love relationship is the type I like. Under normal circumstances, I hate to read or watch movies about men and women who only know each other for a short couple of hours but start to make out, claiming they are deeply in love...For me, friendship is like the basic and primal level of romance. Skipping it to More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Dec 03, 2008

Carla rated it:

Annabel is a teenage girl that is having a few problems in her life, but what teenage girl does not? She is wishing she could take back ever meeting Sophie. Sophie has cause a lot of trouble in her life and in other people’s lives. They use to be friends, but over the summer at a party, Sophie caught Annabel with her boyfriend. Annabel is trying to fix everything that is wrong with her own life and problems within her family. She cannot do it all on her own and she needs help; she needs som More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 07, 2012

Mansi rated it:

Just Listen. Two words that we all want to say to the people in our lives, but often do not. A single incident could tell a thousand different tales. All we need to do is...'just listen'. A book for everyone, specially including the people who are 'enlightened' with the art of music (and love Techno).

The story is about Annabel, who doesn't do what she wants to because she's afraid of being just another dagger in her mother's already wounded heart. The youngest of the three sisters, An More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 28, 2011

Stephanie rated it:

Just Listen is one of my favorite books hands down. I could read it again and again. Annabel Greene has had the farthest thing from a perfect life. Her sister Whitney has an eating disorder and the household seems to center around her needs. Her other sister Kirsten is away at Collage. Annabel is the only one left out of her two sisters that still models. She wants to quit, but doesn't have the heart to tell her mother. On the outside you could say she has “a great life.” But Annabel is hiding s More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 04, 2009

Samantha rated it:

I picked the book, Just Listen ...<u/>, by Sarah Dessen, to read for my book report because Sarah Dessen is one of my all-time favorite authors. Her writing not only captivates me, but also inspires me. Dessen writes from a troubling teenager's point of view in which she expresses the many issues that Annabel faces. This book is about a girl, Annabel Greene, who is a model that appears in a commercial portraying as the girl that has it all. But in reality, she has nothing: no friends becau More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 03, 2008

Colleen rated it:

This book, Just Listen is a contemporary fiction book. The main character, Annabelle Greene is a Midwestern sophomore who starts out her school year without friends because of an incident that happened last year. She is ostracized by everyone in the school except a large, angry boy named Owen Armstrong and her ex-best friend Sophie who constantly insults her. She becomes friends with Owen and learns he is in anger management, and he teaches her how to confront people and tell the truth, especial More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 30, 2008

Snorkle rated it:

You'd think the life of a model would be perfect and hassle-free, but Annabel's life is anything but perfect. It's the fall of her junior year and even though in all the adds it looks like she's got it all, Annabel feels like her life is just falling apart. Between her former best friends vicious rumors and her sister's sickness at home, Annabel just doesn't know how to cope. It's not until she meets Owen Armstrong, the super tall, music obsessed loner, that Annabel starts to see thinks in a dif More...

5 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2008

Wee!wawaLAA!!! rated it:

So far, the storyline's OK, but not the best I've ever seen. Like Annabel is the model, but she hates the job, but doesn't want her mom to be hurt with the decision. So she constantly tells less than the actual truth and denies being a liar. Until she met Owen Armstrong, who helped her when she was getting hurt by all these assholed gossipers. Then all they talk about is like music and jobs, which is kinda boring. Apparently Annabel is one of the more preppy girls who like the more modern pop so More...

111 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 15, 2007

Tamara rated it:

Though I liked "This Lullaby" by Sarah Dessen better, this book does have some redeeming qualities.

This is about a girl who is dealing with all of the typical teenage problems (loss of best friend, sexual assault, sister with eating disorder, emotionally unstable mother, etc.) The book starts out slow and is predictable for about the first 50 pages.

However, then Sarah Dessen's charm kicks in. Enter: the boy music snob we've all learned to love, a strong moral More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Mar 05, 2008

Megan rated it:

Annabel Greene's family looks perfect, but really things have been pretty rough. Annabel's sister Whitney is battling an eating disorder, which has the whole family unbalenced, while Annabel is hiding a pretty big secret as well. Annabel hates to confront others, so instead of telling them how she really feels she tells them just what they want to hear, even if it makes her unhappy. During Summer her and her friend Sophie get in a fight, she does everything she can to avoid telling others what h More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 07, 2008

Ying rated it:

Another excellent story from Sarah Dessen, I felt this book was powerfully written and taught many life lessons in about 400 pages. Captivating and suspenseful at times, this book would have been flawless if the copy I was reading from the library did not have torn pages every five pages. Which means I missed out on dynamic parts, climatic parts, and the most suspenseful parts. THANKS A LOT ASSHOLE. Anyways, great book, would reccommend for fans of Dessen's other books :]

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Sarah rated it:

I read Just Listen in one sitting--I simply couldn't put Annabel's story down. She's a terrific character--all introspection and intelligence and goodness of heart and confusion. The perfect youngest child becoming an adult. I adored her self-awareness and empathized with her self-consciousness.

And there are few YA authors who can capture that strange awkwardness that comes with being 17 as well as Sarah Dessen. Between her sister's anorexia, her mother's depression, and the te More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 23, 2008

Taylor S rated it:

Annabel is a senior in high school and she's not doing that great. Her best friend hates her because of some false accusations, Annabel's sister has a n eating disorder, and her parents aren't that much help. One day at school, alone and friendless, Annabel meets Owen. Owen strives on confrontation as much as Annabel tries to avoid it. He teaches Annabel about thinking for herself and deciding her own decisions.
When Annabel and Owen get in a fight and everything comes full circle, Annabel More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 24, 2011

Stephanie rated it:

Honestly, I just thought that this book was amazing. It was well written and followed through with a good pace and a rather clear ending. The story line was fluid and I wanted to read more. I thought that it was very easy to connect with all of the characters in the book and to get a good view or insight into their personalities, even though some of the characters differed quite a bit. This book managed to deal with several issues without being too difficult to read or too in-depth and presented More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 02, 2009

Lindsey rated it:

Annabelle has spent her entire summer sequestered after an incident at a end-of-school party in which she was humiliated in front of all her friends. Her best friend is no longer speaking to her, and we find out in progressive flashblack clips what exactly happened. Before Annabelle can get too lonely, she meets fellow social outcast Owen who teaches her the virtues of honesty and gives her the confidence to come clean about her secrets.

If this storyline sounds familiar, it's bec More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Mar 13, 2008

Molly rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 25, 2009

Sherry rated it:

Annabel was a girl who had a local modeling career. A commercial she shot in the spring, no longer had any semblence to her life when it aired in the fall. That summer everything changed.

Now friendless, she started sitting on the wall at lunch, all by herself, except for a guy named Owen: Owen, who she had previously witnessed punching someone out - the very same punch that had landed him in a court ordered anger management program.

I really liked this book! Liked the l More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 24, 2011

Amanda added it

Mini-Review: A real look at life, love, and lost friendships.

My Thoughts:

This was my first Sarah Dessen book, and -- since everyone seems to love her and her writing so much -- I think I was expecting a bit more. Also, I do not read a lot of contemporaries. That being said, Just Listen was an okay book. I didn't love it. I didn't hate it. But I'll probably read more Sarah Dessen in the future.

The beginning of the book starts off by letting you in on the fact t More...

0 comments like

Mar 17, 2009

Lauren added it

I am reading the book Just Listen, by Sarah Dessen. So far, I really like it. I would definitely recommend this book to all teens. I think everyone could find something in this book they can relate to. Whether it’s about the main character Annabel’s problems with friends, the boy she meets, or wanting to tell her mother something difficult and needing to find the strength to do it. Also readers might be able to relate to how Annabel’s sister has an eating disorder. You see how the disorder not o More...

0 comments like

Mar 17, 2009

Hanah marked it as to-read

Just Listen

I really recommend the book Just Listen. I recommend it because it is very easy to relate to. It’s about a girl named Annabel who is a model along with her two sisters. One sister goes anorexic and gets very ill. One night Annabel woke up to have a snack and she found her sister lying passed out on the floor. Her anorexia had gotten to a point where it was starting to kill her, so her parents made her go to a specialist.
Meanwhile, Annabel meets a guy named More...

1 comment like

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