This summer I found a great essay on writing and motherhood by Sarah Dessen. I loved the essay, and I went from there to her journal, which I also liked a lot, so of course the next time I went out to the library, I came home with an armful of her books. Unfortunately, that was while I was in the stage of pregnancy where, what with all the hormones swirling through me AND the massive physical discomfort (as you guys may remember, I did not enjoy pregnancy!), the only books I could bear to read were light and peppy and funny and never too emotional - frothy comedy all the way, PG Wodehouse-style. Her books...well, they don't fit that description. So I returned them all to the library, unread.

Then I re-read the essay last month, loved it again, and thought, well, maybe I should give them another try...so I checked out one. Just one. It's called Just Listen, and it sat on my shelf unread for the past month. I picked it up yesterday only because I was going back to the library and needed to decide whether or not to return it. I opened it up, started reading the first page...and I got completely sucked in. I read it all through last night and, even in my current sleep-deprived state, seriously contemplated staying up late just because I didn't want to stop reading it. As soon as I woke up this morning, while I was still nursing Mr Darcy in bed, I asked Patrick to bring me the novel so I could start reading it again. I finished it late this morning, and oh...the ending is perfect. I read the last paragraph over and over again, just reveling in it.

I don't want to say too much about the plot, because if someone had described it to me before I read it, I would probably have thought nope, that's not my kind of book... But it was. It was beautiful and absorbing and had some laugh-out-loud funny moments and a happy ending that was completely earned. And WOW, was the romantic interest fabulous! I would have read it just for the romance, even if it weren't for how compelling the rest of the story was. Plus, my big passion, as a reader of YA novels, is voice, and I loved Annabel's voice in this novel.

Since I am really tired (Mr D is going through a growth spurt, which means even less sleep than usual for all of us), I'm taking it easy today, which usually means spending the whole day reading. Today, though, I haven't been able to settle into anything else since finishing Just Listen - nothing else is managing to hook me by comparison. And that's just about the best compliment I can give a book.

Next time I go to the library, I'm gathering up a big armful of her other books, again. But this time, I'm going to read them all.