Flashback Friday: Lock & Key by Sarah Dessen

the lowdown

Lock & Key tells the story of Ruby, a girl who is abandoned by her mother to live in the tiny yellow farmhouse that they live just a few months shy of her eighteenth birthday. She exists on her own for weeks but is eventually found out and taken to live with her sister, Cora, who is 10 years older than her, and who she hasn't spoken to in years. Now she's living in a huge house in an expensive neighborhood, and she's going to Perkins Day, the smaller private school, instead of Jackson High. It's a rough transition but along the way she meets some wonderful people, including her techie brother-in-law Jamie, her handsome next door neighbor Nate, and eccentric Harriet who employs Ruby to help her sell jewelry. All these wonderful people come together and force Ruby to examine what exactly it means to be family.

Lock & Key is probably my favorite Dessen novel. It has a lot to do with the characters, which Dessen always excels with, but they really shine here. It also has to do with the fact that so much of this book centers on family, which feels very real to me, coming from a very tight nit family. At the end of the day, though, this is just one of those books that makes you smile from the inside out.

the good

• Ruby. Ruby is probably my favorite Dessen narrator. There is just something so relatable about wanting to be tough, but being shown that keeping others out isn't always the best course of action. She's funny, tough, and smart, all things I strive to be in my own life. The way she grows throughout the book is quite spectacular, and at the same time, you don't even realize it's happened until it does. 
• The supporting cast. Nate and the rest of her high school gang (Gervais, Olivia, and Laney) are quite fun characters to lead. While I wish that Olivia had been a bit more fleshed out, I think that Nate is easily the most well developed love interest in a contemporary that I've read in a long time. Her family, Cora, and Jamie, are also wonderful to read. I think that giving Cora her own struggle, as well as serving as an anchor for Ruby, really augments the main storyline.
• That hard to quantify factor. There's just something so heartwarming about this book that is hard to put into words, but you know it when you read it. It's what makes you want to keep reading the novel, devouring each page, waiting to see what happens. Lock & Key definitely has this, as do most Dessen entries. 

the bad

• Despite my obvious obsession with this book (seriously Ruby is awesome), I think that it had a pretty unsatisfying finish. While all the loose ends were definitely wrapped up, it feels like there is a scene that is missing.
• This one, for me, is also a little skimpy on the romantic interest part. I certainly enjoy these parts of YA novels, but aren't necessarily what makes or breaks a book for me, so it's rare for me to say that there wasn't quite enough. While I definitely feel like I got to know Nate pretty well, as does Ruby, it's a little light on the time that they're actually together. 

the quote
"But I was sure of something, too: it's a lot easier to be lost than found. It's the reason we're always searching, and rarely discovered--so many locks, not enough keys."

skip it/borrow it/buy it
It's pretty obvious that for me, this is solidly in the buy it category. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I'm saving up all my Sarah Dessen books to give to any future offspring I might have. I just reread this for this review, and it brought joy to me all over again, definitely making me glad that I bought this one.

overall score:9/10

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