With a wedding planner as a mother, Louna has experienced first-hand all sorts of "perfect" wedding days. Her experience might be the reason she is so cynical about so-called soulmates. When Ambrose enters her life, she questions whether she will be able to change her beliefs and truly begin to live.

I really enjoyed reading this book because Louna's story felt completely genuine. After she lost someone so integral to her life, she feels as if she doesn't deserve to live like that again. After meeting Ambrose, her past seem even more distant but she is conflicted of whether she should be allowed a chance to move on. Overall, I loved all the wonderful, emotional moments that were skillfully woven into this story.

Once and For All is a young adult romance published in 2017, written by Sarah Dessen. It follows the story of a girl named Louna who in her last summer before college, once again finds herself helping in the family business of wedding planning. After her first tragic love Louna doesn't believe that true love exists, that is until she meets someone that makes her question everything she's ever known. I think this story had a lot of potential to it but was poorly executed. The different experiences Louna had at the weddings was actually really fun to read. Other than that though the rest of the story seemed too predictable and almost boring. Louna although her sadness and backstory had meaning behind it, it went across more as an idea for a character that wasn't developed enough. Ambrose on the other hand just didn't have enough substance as a character to make me feel invested in their story. 2.5 Stars
@Ruby_Tuesday of the Hamilton Public Library's Teen Review Board

11-13+

I am a Sarah Dessen fan I always find myself re reading her books. I have tried to read this book twice I can't get into it :( cant wait to see what's next I loved saint anything I have read that one several times now

Louna is cynical about love, even though she helps out with her mom's wedding planning business. It's her last summer before leaving for college and she gets stuck working with "super annoying" (but good looking) Ambrose. Magic or disaster?

I like Laura, Peter, and Josh

I agree with Visser - I'm normally a huge Dessen fan, but this book fell flat for me. It is easily my least favorite of all of them so far, and I will likely never read this again. I appreciated the school shooting being brought up, but without any strong feelings regarding that, or even the shooter, the story kind of felt impersonal, and I just couldn't really connect to the main character's pain.

a sad irony to be reading this book when another mass shooting occurred with 17 dead in a high school. when did such a deplorable event cease to become a call to action and turn into a plot point?

This novel shows that we shouldn't give up easily on love even if someone you once loved is gone.

Check out my review of "Once and For All" on my blog at:
http://axarr.blogspot.com/2017/07/review-wednesday-once-and-for-all-by.html

A good realistic fiction book. I haven't seen a topic dealing with this point of view in teen fiction until this book. Plus, I found Ambrose very amusing.