The Moon and More

The Moon and More is the eleventh book written by Sarah Dessen.

Summary
Emaline is spending the summer working for her family's real estate agency and getting ready to head to college in the fall. She'll spend time with her two best friends Morris and Daisy before the end of the summer. She's been with Luke, her boyfriend, since ninth grade. She thinks she has everything figured out: she'll spend her summer handing out keys to vacation rental houses in the quaint beach town of Colby, then in September, she'll go to the same state school that Luke will be attending. End of story.

But things don't go according to plan. First, Emaline's biological father turns up in Colby. He had been urging Emaline to apply to Ivy League schools and even offered to help pay her tuition, but mysteriously rescinded his offer. Her father brings along her half brother Benji who she has to spent time with. Then Emaline starts noticing that she and Luke aren't as much in sync as usual. Finally, a documentary filmmaker from New York shows up in town to interview Clyde Conaway. The filmmaker, Ivy, has brought along her young assistant, Theo, who is eager to impress his boss by getting Emaline to show him the lay of the land in Colby.

After she finds out that Luke cheated on her, Emaline turns to Theo and experiences the summer romance she always wanted. Except, her summer romance doesn't turn out to be what she thought it would be. She realizes that Theo is selfish and has been using her for his own agenda. She also learns that her father and his wife are getting a divorce. She tries to help Benji cope with his parents' divorce.

In the end Emaline realizes what is really important to her. She no longer longs for a life outside of Colby. She doesn't end up with either guy, though she remains good friends with Luke. The novel ends with Emaline interning for Ivy in New York City. Morris is helping Clyde with an art tour.

Plot
Info

Characters
Emaline

Luke

Theo

Morris

Daisy

Benji

Ivy

Clyde

Characters
Along for the Ride: Auden, Clyde, Heidi, Daisy, Maggie.

The Truth About Forever: Wes and Burt.

What Happened to Goodbye?: Heidi.

Places
Clementine's: Along For The Ride

Clementines, North Reddemane, The Posiden: What Happened to Goodbye?

Things
This Lullaby: Spinnerbait.

What Happened to Goodbye: Gert's bracelets.

Sarah's Words from Sarahland
Every time I finish a book, I think I will never be able to write another one. There’s a certain burnout phase that follows writing, editing and preparing a novel for publication: to paraphrase my mentor Lee Smith, you don’t want to write ANYTHING for awhile, not even your name. That was how I was feeling when I finished WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE. I had no ideas, no energy, not much of anything. But then, I went to the beach.

I was in Emerald Isle, which is the beach town in NC that is basically my Colby, sitting by the pool at our rental house, reading a book. I heard the gate open and looked over to see a guy coming in, shirtless, with a bunch of pool cleaning equipment. He smiled, waved. “Hey, how’s it going?” he said. “Good,” I replied. “You?” And then he started talking. About the busy season, and being from Emerald Isle and what it was like to be a local in a vacation spot. He told me about his job cleaning pools, and his side job working on a charter fishing boat, all while cleaning the pool. When he left about fifteen minutes later, I thought: Well, there’s my next book. It was like he’d just walked in and handed it to me.

I’d written about Colby before, but always from the perspective of someone who came there for a summer that, as typically happens in my books, changes everything. But what if you were permanent in a place that to most people is so temporary, only existing for a week or so each summer? What would THAT be like? That’s where Emaline came from. I will be forever grateful to that chatty, shirtless pool guy for the gift he gave me, just by showing up. That’s the crazy thing about writing. When you least expect or even want it, the story just appears.

Covers
There are no known other cover for this book.