Lock and Key

Synopsis from bn.com "After her mother abandons her, Ruby Cooper is flying below the radar of officialdom and trying to make it to her 18th birthday, when she’s busted by the landlord and turned over to social services. Ruby gets taken in by her estranged sister, Cora, who left for college a decade earlier and never looked back, and Cora’s husband, Jamie, the wealthy founder of a ubiquitous social networking site. Resentful, suspicious and vulnerable, she resists mightily, refusing the risky business of depending on anybody but herself, and wearing the key to her old house around her neck."

I've read several other of Dessen's novels in tha past and I was really impressed how it's very chick-lity but still has touches of reality. Ruby's circumstances aren't perfect. Everything doesn't end up perfect.

Although I read this book for a feminist paper, I couldn't find anything in it to use in the paper. Maybe it's because I devoured the book, never stopping to analyze it. The new girl in school circumstances and how she meets Nate, the boy next door reminded me of Twilight. The combination of quirky yet touching characters like Harriet and Reggie reminded me of Rachel Cohn's Gingerbread series.

I used to wear a key on a necklace around my neck. The key meant a lot to me. It didn't open anything. It was later joined by a puzzle piece charm. I wore the necklace every day as a reminder of something so special to me. I lost that necklace this June and never found it. Ruby's necklace made me want my necklace so much that I got another key charm and made a necklace out of it. The original key was so special to me, but it still means the same thing.

Sure, most of my impressions of the book was based on my key necklace story. But even if you never wore a key on your neck, this is a nice change from the usual teen fiction book.

Grade: B