Saint Anything

By: Sarah Dessen

Narrated by: Taylor Meskimen

Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

Peyton, Sydney's charismatic older brother, has always been the star of the family, receiving the lion's share of their parents' attention and - lately - concern. When Peyton's increasingly reckless behavior culminates in an accident, a drunk driving conviction, and a jail sentence, Sydney is cast adrift, searching for her place in the family and the world. When everyone else is so worried about Peyton, is she the only one concerned about the victim of the accident?

Enter the Chathams, a warm, chaotic family who run a pizza parlor, play bluegrass on weekends, and pitch in to care for their mother, who has multiple sclerosis. Here Sydney experiences unquestioning acceptance. And here she meets Mac, gentle, watchful, and protective, who makes Sydney feel seen, really seen, for the first time.

The uber-popular Sarah Dessen explores her signature themes of family, self-discovery, and change in her 12th novel, sure to delight her legions of fans.

©2015 Sarah Dessen (P)2015 Listening Library

Not my favorite.

I have loved many books by Sarah Dessen but this one falls short. The plot is rambling and gets tedious fast. Nothing ever really happens and then it's over, tied up neatly with an unbelievable bow.

I didn't develop a sense of connection to the characters or sense their connections to one another (an area in which Dessen usually shines). Everyone gets an off book but I hope she is back on her game next time around.

The narrator didn't add anything to the story with her performance and wasn't a favorite for me either. Her delivery often contributed to the draggy feel of the story.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Pretty good. Different from the usual.

I liked it but I wish there was less detail about her family, mainly her mom, and more about Sydney and her friends. Honestly, her mom made me so angry, am I the only one who would have fought for what I wanted? Sydney just sat back and took it. Thinking about it now, she's pretty weak. She has no backbone. She only screamed near the end of the book because she was being attacked, and she definitely made it last longer that it should have. Actually, the only reason it stopped was because her dad stepped in. Sarah is my favorite author but this isn't the best representation of what she is capable of.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Good listen

It was a good book, I really like Sarah Dessen. It was similar to her other books and predictable but I enjoyed the story line and the characters.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Not my favorite

Not one of my favorite Sarah Dessen books. Seemed to drag on and story line not very exciting. Liked some of her earlier stuff better. This story did not have a strong theme.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Boting

I really wanted to enjoy this book but it was just so incredibly boring. I normally always love Sarah Dessen's books so it was a no brainier to one-click this one one I got the opportunity. The main character acted so weak the entire story, even when she was sticking up for herself.

good listen

I loved that dessen takes her time to build up all the characters before jumping into the story. you really feel like they could be your friends. loved and would listen again

Goosebumps.

Such a fantastic book. Gave me goosebumps more than once, and made me tear up a bit once or twice. Very relatable, as are most of Sarah Dessen's novels.

so so

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

yep, because they would cut some of the white-noise "drama" which this book could really do without.

Any additional comments?

On the one hand, I did enjoy the everyday-feel of the story, and the development of the conversations between Payton and Sidney remained me of how hard it was to find something to talk to my brother about when he called from Afghanistan only to find that he enjoyed talking about random TV stuff.
On the other hand, the whole Aims thing was just too long in the making and felt kind of forced to create a feeling of foreboding that never really came to the great event it threatened... And the whole omg I like my friend's brother is just so overplayed and it didn't really add anything else than a few more pages of white noise.

Love!

Sarah Dessen is my favorite author of all time! I really enjoyed the journey of all the characters in this book. I hope Sarah Dessen continues to write amazing stories.

Long, drawn out YA listen.

This was my first SD book. It was a drama filled listen. Sydney was always in the shadow of her troublemaking brother. She changes high schools & meets Layla. Things look brighter for Sydney. As the story continues, I cringed at some of the decisions made by Sydney's parents with regard to her safety. Based on the actions of her parents, I lowered my rating. This book dragged on longer than it should have. Oh! It has an open ending. No, not a cliffhanger an open ending where you're left filling in the blanks. Grrr! Not worth my credit.

After the first chapter I couldn't stop

I was unsure to start with and this was my first audio book but after the first chapter I couldn't stop listening. lovely story and brilliant characters. I did feel the ending could have been more it is a somewhat happy ending but I wanted to know what happened, did David except her apology ? that's the only reason for the Los of star. I didn't expect it to finish there. That said it is well worth the read and would highly recommend