Remy, the protagonist of ‘This Lullaby’, thinks she knows everything about life and love. This is because she has never been in love; never let herself fall into what she sees as a very dangerous trap.

Remy bases all her experiences of love on her mother’s many relationships. It is not until her mother’s latest marriage breaks down that she realises she has no need to pity her mother, or think that her love life is a constant failure, in fact Remy’s mum would rather have ‘loved and lost than never to have loved at all’.

It takes Remy a long time to realise that she has been putting her own love life on hold, preventing herself from having an honest and worthy relationship because she fully expects all men to let her down, just like her father did. The only legacy he has left her is a song he wrote for her when she was a baby, telling her in the lyrics that he will let her down. No wonder she doesn’t trust men and keeps them at a safe distance ending all her relationships after a short while. However when Remy meets the kind of man she has tried so desperately to stay away from, a singer, a musician, someone in a band, just like her dad, she is unable to stick to her rule and see all men as a fun interlude, Dexter becomes something much more despite Remy’s attempts to reject him.

This is a mature teen fiction novel and would be appreciated by the 15+ age range as the subject matter dealt with is of a sensitive nature; sex, relationships, marriage, teenager’s social lives and all the other issues that come with the difficult approach to adulthood. Sarah Dessen writes with wit, style and great sensitivity. Her characters are honest, flawed and authentic. Remy is so appealing because she thinks she is always right but the reader knows what she is quite wrong and enjoys sharing in her journey to find the truth about relationships, herself and men. It is a bumpy ride but Remy just about gets there.

2008-08-10