Lock and Key

By: Sarah Dessen

Narrated by: Rebecca Soler

Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Best-selling author Sarah Dessen explores the heart of a gutsy, complex girl dealing with unforeseen circumstances and learning to trust again.

©2008 Sarah Dessen (P)2008 Penguin

Critic reviews

"All the Dessen trademarks are here." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

love this!!

it's a very long book but worth it! it is also 17 AR points! there's about 20 chapters... Hope you enjoy it to.

great

love every Sarah Dessen novel I've read and all of the audiobooks I have listened to so far

Fabulous!

If you could sum up Lock and Key in three words, what would they be?

I'm making myself read different genres this summer. Normally, I only read science fiction or fantasy. However, I love this book about this dysfunctional family. I so related! Once I started, I couldn't put it down.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Lock and Key?

Nate rescuing Ruby from the forest.

Have you listened to any of Rebecca Soler’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

First time listener

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES!

Do Not Miss This Book!

I never had the pleasure of reading a Sarah Dessen book when I was a teenager. I’m now 60 and after reading this book (my first Sarah Dessen book), I found myself wondering how on earth it’s possible that being the voracious reader I was even as a teenager, I somehow missed this author! Given the fact that I came from a family who put the “fun” in being dysfunctional, I completely related to the main character Ruby and her need to protect herself by keeping the world and everyone in it at arm’s length.

Rebecca Soler was the PERFECT choice as the narrator. In the beginning of the book, when Ruby was so disconnected, her voice was dull and lifeless. As Ruby began to trust a little, make a friend or two and started to mature and see things from the point of view of others, her voice began to very subtly change too.

Ironically Ruby is stuck with an assignment in English class in which she has to define and write a paper on the definition of the word “family;” not just her OWN definition, but the definitions of others. These definitions give Ruby plenty to think about.

I highly recommend this book — I can’t wait to start reading all the rest of Ms. Dessen’s books!

My one and ONLY complaint is that Ms. Dessen needs to drop the word “clearly” from her vocabulary — it is overused throughout the book.

Must read!

What did you like best about this story?

How the young girl came to realize her life can change if she lets people in.

What about Rebecca Soler’s performance did you like?

Great Job!!

Heart touching.

The journey that Ruby went through truly tells an amazing story. 10/10 would recommend this book.

GREAT book

This story about a girl finally learning how to get close to people, makes you really think how fortunate you are in life. This book also makes you think about where you come from and what your family is like and how you help them. The main character develops and learns a lot about relations and helps you change to be a better person too.

Where to begin.... definitely give this a read!

I’m going on a binge on all of Sara Dessen’s books and I remember this was the first one I read when I was younger. Rereading it now, I can appreciate it more so for what it is. I don’t know where to begin!
The narrator was perfect, she helped me envision all of the characters from Cora to Jamie, to Ruby and even her mom. Her voice fits Ruby perfectly, especially in the beginning where she first started living with Cora and she wanted to leave. She had this snobby bored connotation to her words and it gently progressed into a more mature sounding character, as Ruby starts and then becomes. The ending felt a bit rushed, and (spoiler alert!) left a lot to be desired about Nate and Ruby’s relationship, but I understood why it ended the way it did. I love the in depth character background and story telling with the romance interest, Nate. He has to be by far one of my favorite love interests out of all her books, mostly because I feel that he had more depth to him than other guys. I also loved Jamie a lot and his relationship with Ruby, I feel like he had more of an impact than he seems like he would. I do wish they had more interaction with Ruby’s mother at the end, but I get her role in the book. She wasn’t really meant to be present. Ruby was interesting and you really see her grow as a person, as I feel Sarah Dessen does really well with all her characters. Unlike other books I’ve read, I feel as if the background and side characters were more interesting and had more to tell than the actually main character, not that she wasn’t interesting enough, but it was really inclusive with all its’ characters. Enough said! Definitely go give this a read!

Excellent

The narrator as well as the story were very good. I will definitely listen to it again many times.

Well Done!!

The story was good, as per usual with Ms. Dessen. Ms. Soler was excellent!! Even though we are dealing with teens, Ms. Dessen's characters tend to be mature & the narration expressed that quite well. Every time I began to wonder "how did we get HERE?" a backstory appeared to flesh out the narrative. Good job by all