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Jul 08, 2010

Adrienne rated it:

This was my second book by Sarah Dessen and it didn't disappoint. In this story we meet:~
Ruby who is trying to find, and come to terms with a new life away from her 'loving' but negligent mother. Only having ever been told one side of the story by a woman embittered by her feelings for Rubys father, Rubys view on life and living has been tainted.

Nate, (Rubys next door neighbour) who's a great guy who seems to have it all but does he? Ruby soon finds out things she doesn't wa More...

18 comments like (14 people liked it)

Oct 25, 2009

Danielle rated it:

This was my first book that I've read by Sarah Dessen. I've heard quite a few good things about her so I was fairly willing to give her books a try even though I don't typically read teen fiction.

Lock and Key is about a seventeen year old girl named Ruby. Ruby's had a tough childhood: from her father and sister abandoning her at a young age (so she thinks) to her mother abandoning her at seventeen she's never really been settled in one place. For the first part of the novel Ruby's i More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

May 07, 2008

Runa added it

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7 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2012

♥Rachel♥ rated it:

"What is family? They were the people who claimed you. In good, in bad, in parts or in whole, they were the ones who showed up, who stayed there, regardless."

Seventeen-year old Ruby has been living on her own for the past two months since her mother left. She has no idea where her mother went, and hasn't heard from her since. Ruby has been getting by, just barely but this is about to change when the landlords of the tiny house they've been renting, discover she's alone. More...

19 comments like (8 people liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Mia Queen rated it:

Memang baru dua buku karangan Sarah Dessen yang saya baca, namun keduanya sudah cukup membuat saya menargetkan akan membaca semua buku karangan doi. Sarah Dessen cukup piawai membuai pembaca dengan kisah yang sederhana namun melekat di hati.

Rubby, tokoh utama Lock and Key adalah seorang gadis remaja yang mandiri. Ia terbiasa melakukan apapun sendiri karena ibunya yang sering berpindah tempat kerja, mabuk-mabukan bahkan yang paling parah Rubby sering kali harus berhadapan langsung den More...

5 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Amanda rated it:

When Ruby’s mother abandons her, Ruby is sent to live with her older sister Cora, who she hasn’t seen in ten years. Life changes for her so drastically she feels like she must be dreaming. Whereas once she lived in squallor, dodging creditors, running roaches out of the house, getting high with her “friends,” she now lives in a million-dollar house and goes to a private prep school. More than anything, she wishes she could leave and go back to that independent life. But as she comes to learn mor More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 29, 2007

Chelsea rated it:

This is the first Sarah Dessen I've read, after much prompting. Her plots always seemed cheesy and melodramatic to me (based entirely on wildly varying reviews I've read and, you know, the back of the books), the young adult version of Jodi Piccoult (another author I am judging without ever having read her, shame on me). And, well... I don't see myself seeking out any of her others. I finished it off in about three hours, and... The beginning was mostly me rolling my eyes and going "oh More...

16 comments like (13 people liked it)

Oct 23, 2011

Anna rated it:

Lock and Key probably is one of my new favorites from Sarah Dessen, next to Just Listen. Well, I love every single book from her and that's 'nuff said! But Lock and Key is different from her other books for the face that this is not the typical summer setting she usually do. But it takes place during the middle of the school year where Ruby transfers from Jackson, a public highschool, to Perkins Day, a private school, after she was sent to live with her sister Cora with her husband Jamie when he More...

9 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 21, 2011

Isamlq rated it:

I can see why Sarah Dessen is so popular. HOWEVER, Lock and Key isn’t her formulaic one girl, one boy and one summer story line. I’m probably making a broad/sweeping generalization by saying Dessen girls are trouble or have trouble in their lives, at least the ones I’ve encountered are and do. And Dessen boys? They are typically the good boys, or at least the good boys who help in the formers’ saving/reformation. But here things aren’t so simple, and I can see why it’s Milly’s favorite (it coul More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Shannon rated it:

When Ruby's mother never comes home, leaving her to take care of the small rented house, keep their job bringing lost airport luggage to people, and making it to school all on her own for about three months, Ruby thinks she's handling things fine. When the landlords discover she's been living like this, she's quickly taken away and given over to the care of her sister Cora, who, ten years older, married to a man who co-founded a Facebook-type online community, and a lawyer herself, hasn't been s More...

9 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2009

Amber rated it:

I chose to read this book after hearing great things about this author from my friend Jessica. I had high hopes going in to this and this book did not disappoint. As I've heard, Dessen's novels focus on teenage girls and coming of age moments/situations. This holds true for Lock and Key with the focus of this book on family, what it means to different people and what it means to be independent or to rely on others. There were parts of this book that had me in tears not only because of the theme, More...

4 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 15, 2009

Cindy rated it:

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0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 03, 2008

Ying rated it:

This was seriously an amazing stories. I've read a lot of good books, and this ranked somewhere near the top in the neverending list. Another of Sarah Dessen's best, this story is really about a girl who discovers herself and her past and what could have been when her mother abandons her, even though she has been an individual most of her life. I'd naturally expected the pairings in the end (I don't want to give spoilers :]) but was still surprised when it happened. Some parts surprised me about More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 13, 2008

Emma rated it:

I thought that this book was amazing. And I am now reading it again. It is about a 17 year old girl whose mother just leaves. They are struggling to get by, but they are managing. Then, the mother leaves, and the girl, Ruby, is left to fend for herself. One day, her landlords find her and turn her in to child protection services. She is sent to live with her now married sister whom she hasn't seen for 10 years. She is thrown into a high-end world with a new school. She denies that any people tha More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Danae rated it:

Ruby Cooper lives a pretty messed up life, moving every couple of months, living with an alcoholic, abusive mother who can barely keep a job. She's grown to be dependent on no one, that is until she has to go and live with her sister Cora and brother-in-law Jamie, it's more than she can stand. Spending their money taking up their time and space, she doesn't understand why they want to help her. Along with other things she's having trouble figuring out like calculus, her old life and her friendl More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 24, 2011

JD rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Hannah rated it:

I don’t know what it is, but there’s just something about Sarah Dessen’s writing. Even if the story were lacking, I would probably love it anyways, just because her writing is so incredibly beautiful. And Lock and Key showed me again why Sarah Dessen is one of my favorite authors. Actually, now that I think about it, if I had to choose only one favorite author, it would probably be her.

What I love most about Sarah Dessen’s books, along with the absolutely beautiful writing, are her c More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Kara rated it:

When I started reading Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen I was really wowed by her writing style. It was beautiful, flowy, and the descriptive passages were to die for. Now that I've finished it, I don't like it quite as much as I did at the beginning.

Reasons:

1. The plot took awhile to really get going. I was going to overlook this as I really loved the characters and the subjects of abuse and alcoholism, but then things started to head downhill so it's just another reason on More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

ayyitskianaa rated it:

The book is very interesting right now. I like how Ruby is telling the past of before she ended up living with her sister. Why did her mother leave her all alone? Nate is so nice, i wonder if he has a big secret, thats why he acts like that?

I love the quote that Ruby used to say how far her sister was because she misses her, " Usually it was late at night, when I coudln't sleep, and I'd try to picture her in her dorm room forty-odd miles and a world away." -page 62

T More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Lucy rated it:

Another heart-warming story of love, friendship and family from Sarah Dessen. I can't say what it is about Dessen's writing that draws me in - no other non-fantasy author has ever managed to do so. Perhaps simply because her characters are so complex, so human, that it's impossible not to feel for them. Of course, the beautiful way she strings words together helps too.

What I love most about Dessen's characters is that in each story, no matter how different her protagonists are, th More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2010

Hayley rated it:

Lock and Key
By: Sarah Dessen
Lock and Key is about a girl, Ruby, who lives with her mother alone in an old, rundown farm house. Ruby’s mother randomly leaves, without warning, and makes Ruby live on her own. She is later found and taken to her older sister, Cora’s, house to start a new life. Ruby has many challenges in her life. Some other characters are Cora’s husband Jamie, and her neighbor Nate. I would compare this book to the other book I read, Dreamland. They both deal with im More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Chineme Valerie rated it:

This was the first Sarah Dessen novel that i have read, and with all the reiviews about her that i had been reading i carried with me expectations that the novel was going to be like Meg Cabot or Jodi Picoult which thankful in hindsight, i am glad she is not. Sarah Dessen has a authentic and relatable style that is both hypnotic and entrancing without the allure of being too constructed.

I read the book slower than i usually read books. It took me 10 days to read compared to my averg More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Lisa rated it:

If you've read a Sarah Dessen novel before, you can quite easily guess the plot of her other novels. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. Dessen explores different themes each time and she is a lovely writer.

I really like this book. I finished this book in one sitting and was completely absorbed with the story. It was very easy to connect with the story and the characters. The book is not just about falling in love; it raises important issues which are perfect for book club discus More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 16, 2008

Lucy rated it:

Ruby has been taking care of herself for a while, but after her mother takes off and leaves her, her plan is simple: survive the next few months until she turns eighteen and can legally be on her own. But when her well-meaning but nosy landlords turn her over to social services, Ruby is forced to go live with her older sister Cora, who went off to college years ago and never looked back.

Now, Cora is living in a big gorgeous house with her entrepreneur husband Jamie—and so is Ruby. More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 04, 2008

Jeanne rated it:

Confession: even though Dessen's novels are generally cheesy and melodramatic, I could not resist picking up Lock and Key. The blurb made it sound good; unfortunately, it is not.

This is the story of 17-year-old Ruby Cooper. Her mother recently abandoned her, and she's been living in squalor for the past few months. When social services is alerted to her situation, Ruby is removed from the house and taken to her older sister's home. Cora, who is ten years older than Ruby, hasn't More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

May 20, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

It's been a quite a long time that I found myself sitting up until three in the morning, wanting desperately to finish a story. But that is exactly where I found myself the other night with LOCK AND KEY in my hands. I was so engrossed in Ruby and her story that I had to find out how it ended.

Ruby Cooper has always looked out for Number One. When Ruby was eight, her sister Cora left for university and never looked back. It was always More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 06, 2008

Snorkle rated it:

Ruby has been living without her mother for the past couple of months now, she only has a few more months until she's 18, so she figured she could pull it off. But social services finds out that her mother has been gone and before Ruby knows it she's living with her sister and her new brother-in-law, Jamie. She goes from poverty to a private high school and designer clothes all in under 24 hours. Ruby doesn't know how she feels living with her older sister, Cora, who abandoned her and went off t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 05, 2011

Lindsay rated it:

WARNINGS: I love the cover. And after reading, I really wished I have a necklace like the one on the cover.

This is one of those books that the day after you read it, you are still thinking about it. Why? It just sticks with you. I love the key on a chain idea. I would love to have the one on the cover. I think it's beautiful. I really liked this book, which is why I can't decide between 3 stars and 4 stars.

Each character has their individual traits, so they didn't interm More...

0 comments like

Aug 05, 2011

Sylvia rated it:

This book has everything I love about Sarah Dessen.
I love how Ruby was portrayed and also her relationship with the other people she meets. I have to say that this book was quite different because I was pining for the relationship between the minor characters other than that of the main characters. I especially love Cora and Jamie, they were just too sweet, in the perfect way, definitely. I also find Gervais really endearing, although I know he can be quite annoying at times. I would have More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 27, 2008

Jessica rated it:

Sarah Dessen is one of my favorite authors and her latest novel, Lock and Key does not disappoint. The main character Ruby has been raised by her not-very-attentive mother (also named Ruby) and so she has learned to be independent and not get too close to anyone. But, when her mother disappears for over a month and their landlord finds out Ruby ends up living with her estranged older sister. Even though Cora seems to have a perfect life now, Ruby just can't feel completely comfortable in this More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)