What Happened to Goodbye

The plot was very anticlimactic and the main character was a bit of a cliche. This book was too reminiscent of past Dessen books, but poorly executed. Same stock characters as always. Don't get me wrong, I truly love Sara Dessen's writing, but this was very lackluster, somewhat unrealistic, and led by a rather bland character. Also, the standard boy love interest didn't really make it into the story that much....you kinda forgot they had a thing. I genuinely hope that Dessen blows us away with her next novel -- I know she's more than capable!

I have loved Sarah Dessen's books for years but the more fiction she puts out, the more generic it has become. This book is just like the last 2 and offers nothing new. It could hardly keep my attention as it offers nothing exciting. Sadly, I was very let down given with wonderful works Mrs Dessen has put out previously. It's not worth 10 bucks or your time.

Dessen is a first-rate author whose novels are directed at young adults but which should be of interest to anyone who enjoys a good story and thoughtful writing, regardless of age. The protagonist of this one is seventeen-year-old McLean Elizabeth Sweet, who was named after her basketball-fanatic father’s favorite college coach. But then the coach retired and his younger replacement ran off with McLean’s mother, which kind of soured both of them on the sport. Gus Sweet ran a restaurant for many years, but it finally died (as most of them do, eventually, even the really good ones) and now he’s a traveling consultant for a dining conglomerate, turning around failing restaurants (which isn’t always possible), and then moving on to the next one. And his daughter, stung by her mother’s betrayal, travels with him. Four high schools in two years. And in each one, she has adopted a new variant of her middle name, and invented a new persona to go with it. Reinventing herself twice a year allows her to escape a painful world, and the fact that she moves so often means she can do whatever she wants and it won’t matter.

But then they come to Lakeview, not far from their original home (which sounds like coastal North Carolina), and her Dad needs to rebuild Luna Blu, a restaurant that seems to have lost its identity and its way. And before McLean can establish a new identity (she’s thinking “Liz” this time), she’s suddenly using her real name. And at her new high school, she finds herself being her real self. And unexpectedly making friends. And then there’s Dave Wade, the genius kid her age who lives next door, and who has insisted on attending a publish school his senior year, even though he had enough credits to graduate after 9th Grade. He just wants to be a regular teenager for awhile

The themes this time have to do with McLean trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be, and how to come to terms with her frequently manipulative mother. And can she face another move only a couple of months from graduation, when she’ll be going off to college in the fall anyway? And she really likes the gang at Luna Blu -- but what if Gus can’t save the place? It’ll all work out, as you knew it would, but the journey to that point will be stressful and unsettling. And then there’s the enormously detailed scale model of the town that has to be finished in time for the centennial. Can even Deb the Organizer pull that off? The characters are interesting, as they always are in Dessen’s books, and you will have met a few of them before, since the author often revisits previous locations.

This is my first Dessen novel, though I've heard great things. I found myself drawn in from page one and wanting to keep reading. I thought that the characters, especially Mclean, were very complex and well developed.

The idea behind the story is one I haven't really read before. An older kid going through the divorce of her parents and not really sure who she is or where she belongs anymore. I like that the personal discovery issue well outshone the romance (or romances) that was going on in the background of the story. I also liked that the romance was slow, it made it more realistic. It wasn't just boy meets girl, girl falls for boy, boy falls for girl and then someone messes up and has to fix it. It was a very gradual thing and it seemed to flow naturally.

The writing was well done as well. Dessen has the ability to bring you into the story and kind of forget where you are in real life, and I happen to love that about a good book. By the time I was not even half way through this book, I knew I'd be looking into reading more of her novels. When I could see I was getting closer to the end, I had that feeling where you want the book to end, because you need to know what happens, but you don't want the book to end, because you are loving it so much you want it to keep going.

All in all, I'd say if you enjoy realistic fiction, contemporary romance, and/or young adult novels, you will enjoy this book.

Review for What Happened to Goodbye
Hot Toasty Rag, May 8, 2017

What Happened to Goodbye was my first Sarah Dessen read; I'd heard many good things about her writings, but this book's synopsis in particular appealed to me. A teenager, estranged from her mother, hops from school to school wherever her father's assignments take them. At each location, she assumes a new identity, exploring the typical "fresh start" as a cheerleader, honor student, etc.

I found the main character very likable and relatable, which was a tricky task for Dessen, since on the surface she might appear to be dishonest, shallow, and heartless. However, Dessen subtly explains her character's behavior, from the simplest of problems to her very deep insecurities and conflicts with her mother, and quickly wins the reader over.

This was a very enjoyable novel, one that I plan to re-read many times in the future. Although it took place in a high school setting, I didn't really look at it as a Young Adult book, since most of the protagonist's problems could have occurred at any age. If you've ever longed for a fresh start, or struggled with the fear that others won't like you once they find out who you really are, this is the book for you.

When bitter divorce results in McLean Sweet choosing to live with her father, she gives herself wholeheartedly over to the idea of reinventing herself. When the failure of her father's restaurant leaves him with a new job of revitalizing lagging restaurants, the constant moves allows McLean a unique opportunity. Four towns in two years - with four different names and personas. When McLean decides to become herself again, will she even be able to recognize the person she is now?

Definitely not as good as some of the other offerings by author Sarah Dessen, What Happened to Goodbye is the coming of age story of McLean. Though much of her complicated life is of her own making, McLean must suffer through the ever changing landscape that has become her existence. I just never really connected with the character and, between the family drama and sometimes unbelievable ways that McLean reacts to situations, I was not all that impressed with the plot. The clueless parents, both McLean's and Dave's, aside, I was looking for an adult point of view that contained a voice of reason. This was largely absent and left me with an unfinished feeling at the end of the book.

McClean’s parents are divorced and McClean lives with her father, Gus Sweet. Gus has a restaurant consulting job which requires moving from restaurant to restaurant every few months. Every time they move to a new town McClean reinvents herself with a new name and personality. She already has a new identity planned out for her arrival at Lakeview but somehow her real identity slips out. For the first time she uses her own name, she makes friends and she’s even slightly interested in a guy. She can’t help but start to fall in love with this new place and the quirky characters (as usual in Dessen’s books) around her. She becomes invested in the community project which consists of building a model of the town and she feels, for the first time, no desire to move again. Unfortunately, her father’s work at the restaurant Luna Blu will inevitably come to an end. And it’s either moving again or going to live with her mother, the man she left her father for and their twins. But she has a very strained relationship with her mother ever since her parents broke up, despite her mother’s desperate attempts to connect with her. Either way, she’ll have to say goodbye to the friends she made. Two thumbs up for Sarah Dessen, again! If you like other books by Dessen then this one is a sure hit too. Dessen always brings these stories to life. I love it too that she brings characters from her other books (Heidi as a friend of her mom’s) into her other books. An enjoyable read and up to the next one.
If you liked reading my honest opinion, please give me a vote so I can get closer to the top reviewers. Thank you.

Another good read by Dessen. Mclean moves around so much, she's stuck in a perpetual identity crisis. Until she arrives in Lakeview and reveals her real name. But is she revealing her real personality, too, or does she even know who that is anymore? She's always been reluctant to get close to anybody, but now she's reluctantly making friends and plans for her future. The boy next door seems ready to accept her the way she is, but is she ready to let Dave into her life? Is she ready to repair her broken relationship with her mother at the same time, or will it all be too much for Mclean to handle?

When it comes to being the new girl, Mclean is an expert. She's made four moves since her parents' very unpleasant and very public divorce in her hometown two years earlier, and she's tried out a new persona in each place. She already has a new identity planned out for her arrival at Lakeview, but when she meets Dave, somehow her real identity slips out. Dave and his friends are not like the people she's met in the past, and in bonding with them over a shared community service project and the love of college basketball, Mclean is forced to be herself and make peace with her past.

What Happened to Goodbye is a smart, magnetic book about identity, relationships, and love that will make you wish you could crawl between the page and live with the characters in their messy world. Mclean hasn't really bonded with anyone since her parents' divorce, and while she gets along with her dad just fine, her relationship with her mom is tepid at best. Lakeview is full of surprises and unexpected friends, and Mclean is forced to connect with people. She finds a friend in her next-door-neighbor Dave, who is academically brilliant, but not always so social, and becomes friends with Deb, a loner with surprising talents. As she opens her real self up to these friends, she's forced to deal with her mother, who is pushy and seemingly ignorant of her daughter's resentment for her part in the divorce. Between college basketball games, working at her father's new restaurant and building a model replica of Lakeview, Mclean re-learns what it means to get to know someone and works at re-building a relationship she once thought was over and done, all the while fighting the temptation to cut and run when things get hard. A little romantic and very funny, What Happened to Goodbye is an excellent novel about relationships and friendship. Dessen has outdone herself yet again in this complicated, funny, and touching book.

There are not enough words to describe how much I loved this book by Sarah Dessen. I’m reading my way through her backlist, and while I’ve pretty much loved all of her novels, this one ranks right up there with my favorite, THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER.

This book has the most intriguing and complex of main characters in McLean, who has been so many different girls on her path to finding her true self. It is only fitting that she lands in this place with her father and somehow ends up calling herself by her true name, which is just the impulse she needs to be who she really is.

I absolutely loved McLeans’s relationship with both of her parents, even though they are totally and completely different. With her dad, she flies under the radar and adores him with all of her heart, and the two of them have such a wonderful rapport with one another. It is like the perfect parental relationship. With her mother, everything is a struggle and McLean fights to keep her at a distance, thinking all along that the rift between them cannot be mended. But all of that just makes the payoff in the end all worthwhile. This book was a look at two very different parental relationships that both ultimately have the same outcome- total love and support of from the parents.

I loved that although there is a romance in this book between McLean and Dave, it wasn’t the whole story. The book is very much more about family and friendships, and I think the romance was just a light icing on the cake.

Sarah Dessen just does such an amazing job at getting to the heart of the matter in every book she writes, and this one is full of the emotional impact that I love getting from her work. The storyline is compelling, the writing is seamless, and the characters are complex and interesting. Five stars and a new favorite, for sure.

Before I share my thoughts on this book, I’m going to preface it by saying that this may be a little biased because I love Sarah Dessen. I’ve been a loyal fan since I first read The Truth about Forever, and she’s my original go-to author for contemporary YA. What Happened to Goodbye is the quintessential Sarah Dessen book, with the perfect blend of family issues, new friendships and a hint of romance.

One of the things I’ve always loved about Dessen books are the wonderful, real characters that she manages to create. McLean is no different, as I ended up really loving her character. Because her dad’s job forces them to move around a lot, McLean has taken it upon herself to create a new identity everywhere she goes. The roots for her actions lie a lot deeper than just self-exploration; McLean is trying to become someone other than the girl who has divorced parents with a scandal attached to their family’s name. She appears to be in a constant state of flux, worried and unable to look back at her past. While it’s interesting to be able to try new things, it’s also a bit sad that she felt like she couldn’t really be herself in any of these places they formerly lived.

Out of all the personalities she donned, it is the real McLean I enjoyed best. She’s laidback and kind, and tries so very hard to do the right thing. She enjoyed what seemed like simple things, and she was capable of taking on responsibilities. I like that McLean, apart from her strengths, also had her real flaws and grievances. She basically shuts out her mother, because she feels like the divorce is her fault. And she is overprotective of her father, because she feels like he’s the victim. Obviously, she also has trust issues and isn’t sure if she can believe that relationships are long-lasting. All these traits just brought her to life as a character, and I totally would want to be her friend.

Apart from McLean, there’s the boy in this book – Dave. He makes my heart flutter, because he’s the Dessen boy who’s the closest to my type. He’s a bit of a nerd, what with his genius mind and his interest in his studies, and perhaps a bit awkward, but he’s also incredibly sweet and attuned to other people’s emotions. I loved a lot of the quiet moments he shared with McLean, because the things he said and did were just wonderful.

I know that I just swooned about the love interest (and their moments together were adorable), but this book is truly about family. McLean and her parents obviously have a bunch of issues that they work out in this book – the unresolved tension between McLean and her mother, the fact that she tiptoes around her father when it comes to her mom and trying to find a new balance between her old family and her new, unconventional one. If you’ve been reading this blog a while, you know that I love books that focus on family and familial relationships – this book is a great example of that.

What Happened to Goodbye is certainly written with Sarah Dessen’s trademark style, but it was just the kind of contemporary I was craving at the time. Sarah Dessen has, yet again, written a wonderful story, with characters that I can love and root for and want to befriend. If you’re a Dessen fan, you’ll definitely want to read this. And if you’re not or haven’t read a book by her yet, I would highly recommend this one.

I'm a new fan of Sarah Dessen, so my experience with Sarah's writing only spans back one book (Saint Anything). With that as a reference point, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I wanted to. Before I get into the specifics of why I didn't enjoy this book as much, I want to make it clear that I believe that Sarah Dessen is a talented author. As an aspiring writer, I respect any person who believes in themselves enough to pursue a serious writing career. Kudos to you Sarah Dessen.

Mclean, forgive me if the name is spelled poorly (I listened to the audio version), was a distraction for me. While I understand the inspiration of her parents for naming her this, it was very clunky sounding, and lent very little feminity to a tough character to like. This young woman had clearly numbed herself from feeling anything, but in the process, it left me not feeling very much for her either. For one reason or another, I cared more for Dave, who I almost wish was the lead character in this story. His background seemed to have more passion than Mclean could muster.

The relationship Mclean's dad was revealed to have, didn't quite make sense to me. I understand that it was intended to surprise us, but a bit of chemistry between the two wouldn't have spoiled the revelation for me. Don't worry if you're confused at this point, it'll become crystal clear when you read this story, which I do recommend.

The most important reason that this book wasn't as enjoyable was because, Mclean and Dave had an almost non-existent romance. Yes, there were some things that they did, but it seemed extremely unlikely that a teenage girl could live that close to a boy she liked, and something happening. I'm no fan of raunchy material, but it is possible to create a loving, passionate, relationship between young people that remains in-bounds. Also, the mother was unequivocally unlikeable, and save donating her kidney to a transplant patient I could not find a single reason to like her. I suspect that Sarah Dessen actually wanted us to abhor her mother. In that case, job well done!

All in all, I say read the book, but to her fans, I warn you to bring none of your previous expectations into this book.

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen is the charming story of high school senior, Mclean. Mclean’s life was her family, her family’s restaurant, and basketball… until their restaurant went under. Then, her mother cheated on her father with his favorite basketball team’s coach, and got pregnant. With twins. Needless to say, her parents suffered a bitter divorce.

Disgusted with her mother– who now has the audacity to act as if nothing’s the matter, and even fight for custody of Mclean– Mclean chooses to follow her dad and his new restaurant consulting job. But Gus Sweet’s new job requires constant moving, every several months. No problem; Mclean takes it as an opportunity to totally reinvent herself in all her new towns and schools. But now in Lakeview, her attempts at creating another alter-ego are thwarted.

Mclean tries to avoid establishing attachments, because she knows at anytime her father’s job may relocate them. But somehow, new friends are finding her: from Opal, the tattooed, retro-punk manager of Gus’s new restaurant; to Heather and Riley, the cool girls, yet something of misfits themselves; to Deb, the type-A personality “spaz,” who also happens to have a good heart and a surprising interest in metal music. And then, of course, there’s Dave, the long-haired boy genius who lives next-door. Despite her efforts to be standoffish, Mclean can’t help but begin to fall in love with Lakeview, her classmates at Jackson High, and the colorful staff at her father’s latest restaurant. But causing turbulence behind the scenes is Mclean’s mother. Guilt-ridden on her father’s behalf, but wanting to avoid another custody battle, Mclean endures awkward dinners and basketball games with her new step-dad and toddler-age half-siblings, and a mother whom she hardly recognizes anymore.

I loved reading about Mclean’s friends and their own stories. I also enjoyed the scenes with the restaurant staff. Even Mclean’s mother, whom you can’t help but both pity and hate, is an interesting and sympathetic character. Mclean’s lovable, handsome workaholic father is someone I missed as soon as the book ended. But the true heart of the story are Mclean’s friends – in particular, her budding relationship with the kind and mysterious Dave. This novel had heart and soul, and I recommend it.

Oh, Sarah Dessen. She really is the queen of contemporary YA. Excuse the cheesiness, but opening one of her books is like coming home - comfortable and just right. There's just something about her writing that makes it so easy to get lost in the story, to fall in love with her characters. And What Happened to Goodbye is no exception.

I love the way Sarah Dessen sets up her stories. I know that sounds vague and weird, but I just mean that she always has great scenarios that she puts her characters into, ones that are a little too crazy to actually happen to one of us, but never unrealistic. In What Happened to Goodbye, that's the family situation, which I loved. I don't even want to explain any of it because I loved discovering all of it on my own, but it's the perfect balance between out there and relatable, and I loved it. I also love how this scenario relates to the whole restaurant-thing - such a great backdrop for Mclean's story!

Mclean is a typical Dessen girl. She's easy to like and relate to, and her past is fascinating. She doesn't fall into any category easily, making it harder to figure out who she really is, but that's a big part of the reading experience. My only problem with her is that, at times, it annoyed me how reluctant she is to commit to anyone - yes, I get that's the point, and the book wouldn't have worked without it, but there were still parts where I wanted to take Mclean by the shoulders and shake her. Then again, that's what makes Dessen's characters so real.

Then there's Dave. Oh, Dave. Sarah Dessen definitely succeeded at torturing her readers with a tantalizingly slow romance. The romance never really takes center stage, which I appreciated because it works well with the story, but which also annoyed me to no end because Mclean and Dave are so freaking CUTE together. While Dave is not my favorite Dessen boy (that title will forever belong to Wes from The Truth About Forever), he definitely holds his own. What Happened to Goodbye has the perfect amount of swoon.

Another character I loved is Mclean's friend Deb - such a distinct personality! I wish we would have gotten to know the rest of her friends as well as we got to know her - Riley, Heather, and Ellis seem like they each have their own stories to tell, and I wish we could have know a little more about them.

All in all, What Happened to Goodbye is another great one from Sarah Dessen. With Dessen's trademark beautiful writing, vivid cast of characters, and great balance of wit and emotion, I enjoyed every minute of this novel. It's not my favorite of her books, but it's a solid addition to her collection of great contemporary YA novels.

I can't believe it took me this long to get to one, but this is the first Sarah Dessen book I've read! The reason I didn't start before now is because my students were devouring her books already, so I didn't feel like I needed to read them to promote them to my students. I can see why my girls love her books so much, and I should have started before now; however, it was the premise of this one that really made me decide to finally pick one up for myself.

Dessen's writing takes me back to high school - it's really great contemporary realistic fiction. It felt honest and real and like I could have been living in this town and been friends with these people. I liked this particular book especially because of the dad and his relationship with his daughter. It was interesting to see the side of a divorce where the daughter wants to stay with the dad. It was also intriguing because of the dad's job - as someone who comes in and rehabs failing restaurants (it reminded me of that show, Bar Rescue). I found it really interesting to see some of the behind-the-scenes of the restaurant business.

McLean is a fascinating character who is trying to figure out her real self as she deals with the divorce of her parents while she's in her final year of high school. Because she is with her dad she has a unique situation because he has to move a couple times a year for his job. McLean is able to keep transforming herself with each move, but it is actually a way of hiding from figuring out who she really is/wants to be. She's also a really good/kind-hearted person overall; although, she is struggling with her anger at her mother of her cheating and causing the divorce. McLean does a lot of observing of others and includes those who might be outcasts - and that is a quality I think more people should have because as she finds out, you never know how great that person might turn out to be. I would be happy to have my students read McLean's story and want to emulate her character.

This story is very multilayered with themes about family, divorce, friendship, small towns, and the desire to figure out one's true self and direction in life. The multiple subplots at play are integrated so well into the overall storyline that they just feel like they have to be there to make a complete story. It's one of the things I liked most about Dessen's style of writing - it all flows together but creates a story that is much deeper because it is addressing so many aspects of life, not just the main plot point as some books do. My favorite subplot was related to McLean's inclusion of a supporting character who no one else has given a chance. I was easily able to get lost in the world Dessen created, and her style of writing didn't pull me out of the story at all, it just flowed easily.

WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE is one I will be hand-selling in my classroom for sure. I will definitely be reading more Sarah Dessen books, and encouraging my students to as well!

Review originally posted on Heise Reads & Recommends

I love Sarah Dessen's books. Every single one I've read has been addicting from beginning to end, with the most creative characters, wonderful plot twists, and moving revelations-no pun intended. What Happened to Goodbye is about a girl, Mclean, who has moved around so often that she'd not even sure who she is any longer.

As in other Dessen books, the characters are fantastic. While in some the main character may seem lacking as a result of the incredibly defined minor roles, Mclean is wonderfully portrayed, and I quickly grew to love her. Jason from The Truth About Forever, who also makes an appearance in Along for the Ride, is also in this book. I love how every novel connects to the others in some small way. It feels like a game, looking for all the little details that hint at past characters.

I loved this book because I never knew what was going to happen next. Mclean was slowly losing her own identity while her relationship with each parent frayed. The plot could have spun off in several different ways, and I liked the direction it took.

While Dave might not be as mysterious or intriguing as other boys from Dessen books, he's still awesome in his own way. I love how he's geeky, knows it, and doesn't care. He lets people know the real side of him, without being embarrassed about his true self. I think that he's a really strong character because of this, and I really liked him.

I give What Happened to Goodbye 5/5 stars. I loved it! This is definitely one I will remember for a while and will pick up to read again!

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen is about a girl named McLean and how whenever she moves around with her dad she invents a new identity. I'm sorry to say that while I didn't hate this book I didn't love it which shames me to say since this is a book by Sarah Dessen. I didn't even really like it which really shames me to say.

This book is the ninth one Sarah Dessen has written so far and lately it seems like readers can now expect a pattern when we read Sarah Dessen's books. Of course the book is always about a girl (wouldn't it be cool though if she ever wrote the books from the boy's perspective or even a chapter from their point of view? I'd love that!) but like I said there seems to be a pattern now. The girl usually has a problem with herself or a friend or with her family. She might get along with one parent or she might not get along with either of them or one parent might of died. She falls in love with a guy but something always happens and she pulls away from him. But by the end of the book she's with him again.

I'm not saying her pattern is bad, far from it. I loved This Lullaby, The Truth about Forever, Just Listen and Along for the Ride it's just What Happened to Goodbye seemed to fall short compared to the others. Maybe it's because I couldn't really relate to McLean. I felt bad about her situation with her parents but I'm not a basketball fan so whenever Dessen mentioned basketball my attention sort of drifted.

And I understand wanting to be different in high school but to me it seemed like McLean was suffering from personality disorder instead of just wanting and trying to be different every time she moved with her dad. And I was disappointed that Dave didn't really play as big a part in this book as previous boys did in other books. McLean and Dave weren't exactly like the other couples in previous books.

I'm sad I didn't like this book. I hope I like Sarah Dessen's new book The Moon and More.

What Happened to Goodbye was my second Dessen - book after Lock and Key and I read it way before I started this blog. I think it was almost a year ago. What made me buy it was the synopsis, a girl that wakes up every few months, pretending to be a completely new person? That's what I've tried and failed to do for years and years!

Usually, in Sarah Dessen books I don't care for the guys that much. Especially in the ones I read more recently. I hated Dexter from This Lullaby, I couldn't really understand Sumner from That Summer...but for some reason I loved Dave. He was so cute and weird and awesome and so real - I couldn't stop smiling whenever he entered a scene.

Also, the friendships McLean makes during her last stay are so great. The people she meets - all so different and unique with great character traits and huge flaws! They're funny and nice and you want them to be your friends, too.

As for her family - it's difficult, no questions asked. She barely talks to her mom and there are some things she hasn't figured out with her dad, yet, but again the issues aren't that heavy. Of course, it's hard when your parents divorce after so many years and it might even be normal how McLean treats her mom after that but that's all problems that can be figured out, you know what I mean? She wasn't abandoned by her mom and noone in this book is dealing with depression or eating disorders which makes this book a bit more beach read for me.

I could go on and on about how much I loved What Happened To goodbye. I think it's even more so in retrospect because I remember all the fun characters and want to enjoy the story all over again.

At last I need to mention Dave's parents. They are hilarious.

All in all, I really liked What Happened to Goodbye and can only recommend it. It's based on a great idea and features awesome characters and of course - Sarah Dessen once again is able to display exactly what I believe most teens feel sometimes :)

Right off the bat, I had a huge issue with this book. As someone that played sports for most of my life and basketball for several of those years, I consider myself knowledgeable about the terms associated with the sport. Since one of the major elements of this book was basketball, I assumed Dessen would have done her research as far as terms. In the book, she kept referring to a basketball hoop as a goal. I'm not sure if other places refer to it as that, and please correct me if other places do call it that, but that majorly got under my skin.

I did like this book, and its hard for me to explain why. I loved the concept behind Eat Inc, the company that Mclean's dad worked for, taking failing restaurants, buying them, and then sending someone in to make them successful and then selling them to someone else. I thought that was clever and a lot of fun and I loved Mclean's dad because no matter what he loved her.

The group of friends that Mclean found were the type of friends that everyone wishes they could find - a clan of friends that seem to be accepting even if they know nothing about you. I loved how Mclean was even able to bring them closer together and bring Deb, the way too perky other new girl, into the group. Dave, the somewhat socially awkward genius was my favorite though since he really made Mclean think about her mothers side of the divorce.

As far as her parents go, I think they were both dumb and a little selfish- her dad for not noticing that she seemed to change with each new city (not just her name but who she hung out with and what types of clothes she wore.), and her mother for not thinking that being the reason who world crumbled would cause her daughter to pull away. While the book doesn't go into the marriage imploding, it seems to hint that her father was too caught up in their restaurant to be with them a lot, and so her mom strayed and then got pregnant with her husband's idol's child. Harsh. Regardless, it was her actions that broke the camel's back.

Yes, that was a little confusing- Sorry. So my favorite part of the story was when they were building the diorama of the town and Dave asked her to stay for him. Which was totally sweet, like, more guys need grad gestures like what he did. I'm not sure if this book constitutes good writing (I'm not a good judge of that) but the characters felt real and the story was a fun one. There were several times that I laughed out loud and fell in love with Sarah Dessen's books all over again.

Sarah Dessen has done it again. She has created a book that I could fall into with complete ease. Characters that I could connect with from the beginning. A town I would want to live in and people I want to be friends with because they all seemed so very real.

McLean does not have an average life. Since she is constantly moving around with her dad, she likes to become someone new in every town that she lives in. One day she is the ultimate joiner which includes clubs and student government. The next day she is a quiet drama/dancer type. The beauty of never staying in one place too long is that she got to reinvent herself with every move. However, when McLean and her dad land in this new town, McLean finds herself being....well herself.

She is thrown into several situations that catch her off guard and before she knows it she is being called by her real name and doing what she wants to do not what the character she is playing wants to do. I loved McLean from the beginning (I ALWAYS love those Sarah Dessen characters from the beginning). She has a mix of what I love from all other Dessen characters. She has spunk, she is a little controlling, she is a kind, loving person but she is also dealing with hurt and pain from her past.

McLean's mother and father were great parents to her. They were loving and always there for her. However, McLean's mother left her dad a few years ago for one of her dad's greatest heroes. It is because of this that McLean decides to live with her dad instead of her mom. I love McLean's dad! He may not be accessible all the time but he is still there for McLean when she really needs it. What I didn't like though is that he allows her to take on so much responsibility. She sets up their house every time with all the necessary things like internet and cable, she grocery shops for them, she basically acts like a wife. I felt that her dad either failed to see it or failed to put a stop to it. Allowing her to take on so much responsiblity only helped feed her need to distance herself from the people in the towns they lived in.

We also see a lot of McLean's mom. This is where I am kind of torn. I understood McLean's feelings for her mom. Her mom hurt not only her dad but also McLean by leaving him. McLean wants nothing to do with her mom, hates having full-out conversations with her, and the thought of spending the weekend at the beach with her is enough to cause a major meltdown. While I did understand exactly where she was coming from, I was also angry with her for not giving her mom the time of day. McLean's mom tries so hard to make things right with her, to try to make amends but McLean wants no part of it. I wished throughout several instances during the book that she would just put down her guard of hatred and let her mom be her mom again. This does show just how great of a person her mom is though. Even though she fell out of love with McLean's dad, she still desperately wants to be a part of McLean's life.

There were several aspects that I didn't necessarily like with McLean's relationships with her parents, but it was still realistic. I have felt that way towards my mom before, in fact there are times where I still do. There are also times where I take on a lot of responsibility especially with my younger siblings that most teenagers shouldn't have to do. Sarah is so great at including very realistic lifestyles into books and she most certainly did that with What Happened to Goodbye.

Alright, now that I got the "tough" stuff out of the way, let's get to the FUN stuff, the friends & the romance! I love the friends that McLean made during this book. Sarah Dessen did another great job of creating fun, quirky characters that helped to bring this book to life! Deb is the biggest sweetheart I've ever seen but she is also kind of wacky! She is truly a great friend for anyone that will give her the time of day. Oddly enough, it is McLean who introduces her to the group. Riley and Heather are two girls that could have a book all their own. They are so fun and open yet they are so different it causes for extremely entertaining bickering between the two. Plus they take McLean in without a second thought, she needs friends so they are there for her. Opal is an older woman but she is so great. She truly loves the restaurant she manages and she is so passionate about it. We get to see her a lot throughout the book and we find that she is a remarkable person. And then there is Dave....<3

Sarah never fails to make up a guy that melts my heart. Dave is so cute in a dorky way. You know those ultimate geniuses that are just too smart for their own good? Dave is one of them. Do you know those guys next door with the sweetest personalities? Dave is one of them too! He is super smart but also super funny & nice. He had a solid upbringing (if only a bit too strict) and he recently got into trouble for the first time ever. He spends a ton of time and energy trying to make it up to his parents. If that doesn't show you a bit about his character then I don't know what will! There is not much else to say except he is a great person, a great friend, and a wonderful person that McLean really connects with.

I will forever be a Sarah Dessen fan. Book after book by her is remarkable in its own right. What Happened to Goodbye is another one that can be added to the list! It is a realistic story about friendship, love, family, and finding yourself.

This is one of Sarah Dessen's many YA contemporaries, and I have to say I was not as interested in this one as the other novels by Sarah--at first. My favorites range from The Truth About Forever to Along For The Ride. The thing I like most about Sarah's novels are the writing. She just knows when to pull a heartstring, and to make you question your decisions about life, and just shows us how her characters are similar to us in real life.

This book shows us the protagonist, Mclean, go through a divorce that split up her parents to entirely different worlds. She decides to go with her dad and his job to go around from place to place fixing up restaurants going down in shambles, and make them like new again. Each time they move, she finds something small to change, like her name. From Mclean to Eliza (short for Elizabeth--her middle name). Then she puts a new personality to that name and lives a life where she can pretend. Eliza-the preppy girl. Lizbet--the drama queen. Beth--the student council. And then when she was about to become Liz, she got stuck with Mclean in her current new town. There she meets a boy (Dave--neighbor) and makes new friends. Her life there seems to not find its place yet as she navigates through this new place, trying to figure out who she is in that town. But as Dave and friends start to grow on her, she puts down roots in a place she thought she would soon leave behind.

Her dad tries to revive the current restaurant he was assigned to "rebuild" and her mom lives with her stepdad, the basketball coach, and two younger siblings. Mclean doesn't want to meet or talk to her mom again after what she did to make her family fall apart. But as time slowly moves forward, we see that Mclean finally accepts what happened and that not everything has been changed and forgotten.

This particular book by Sarah seemed to start off a bit slow, and didn't drag me in as quickly as her other well known novels. Though the premise of the novel (with bits of food and travel references) and the character developments within every Dessen novel intrigued me to read this book and finally finish it. Overall, I liked it.

This book was a good read, and I recommend this to readers who like books that are realistic fiction/YA/contemporary/chick-lit/romance/etc.

Before I start the review, I want to say that I really quite liked this book. It was fun, introspective, interesting, and familiar. I'm putting this as a forewarning, though, because I'm going to be more critical than normal because it's a Sarah Dessen book, and I hold her up to high standards.

I've said before how Dessen has a familiar formula that she often employs in her books. This book didn't exactly follow the formula. It was closer to Truth About Forever in the fact, but where in TAF it worked really well, here the lack of normalcy was noticeable. Despite its repetition, I really enjoy her formula. I get why she wants to move away from it, show something new, but I read her books because of the formula. I know there will be problems. I know there will be heartbreak, but at the same time, I know there will be a happy ending. And I love happy endings.

It's like Blink 182's new song. It's exactly like their stuff from 2001, and that's okay, because it's what everyone expected and in a way wanted. And while Dessen didn't deviate too much, it was enough that I noticed it. (Don't worry, there's still a lovely happy ending.)

The story follows McClean, who after her parents unexpectedly split up, started becoming different people. She moved a lot, opting to stay with her father over her mother, and every time she's at a new school, she changes her personality as if she were changing pants. The theatre girl. The cheerleader. In her new town, though, she unexpectedly becomes herself. She uses her real name. But after being someone else for so long, she has to remember who she really is.

In town, she meets a slew of characters that all leave indelible impressions. There's her neighbor Dave, who's extremely smart and has very overprotective parents; Deb, a girl who just wants to be friends with everyone, but never actually has any friends; the outgoing and opinionated Opal who manages the restaurant McClean's dad is there to fix; and more. Each contribute to McClean's slow transformation, taking her out of her created shell and into the real world.

Like Dessen's other books, What Happened to Goodbye, takes place in the familiar town of Lakeview and makes references to characters and places previously mentioned in other books. I love how Dessen created this little world, and continues to add to it, making it bigger to show how there's a story behind each face, each building. This proves especially true in this book, where the main characters create a diorama of the entire city, constructing each little house by hand. I found those to be the most interesting scenes - watching the group work together to create a masterpiece.

Like I said, however, there were a few things I didn't quite love. For one, I found McClean to be simply...okay. Her story was great, and her problematic relationship with her mother was beyond true-to-life. But I never actually loved her. I never got why Dave liked her. Perhaps it's because I found other Dessen characters more developed, more interesting. Heck, I liked Deb more than McClean, and wanted so much more out of her character. Also, I found some of the inner monologue to be...forced. Everything was an analogy; she found inspiration in a rock on the ground. She was so much more than a 17-year-old girl. I love Dessen's writing - and it's not to say that her writing in this book is any worse - but, I just found the analogies to be a bit much after a while. Also, the book focuses more on McClean's personal development much more than her possible relationship with Dave. That's fine, but because of that, I never really got a feel for Dave. He was just...there.

That said, the writing was fantastic like always. Dessen does an amazing job at creating a little town, and a little family, that you really care about. I wanted to eat at the restaurant, Luna Blu; I wanted to visit the library and flip through the books. So, I found the book to be good. It was a great read that I devoured in about two days. I'm glad I read it, I really am. Is it my favorite of Dessen's? Not at all. Will I read the next Dessen when it comes out? You betcha.

This was my first YA contemp audiobook. Usually I stick to something more action packed in my audio choices. Lots of YA paranormals - Stephenie Plum mysteries - even the entertaining (hilarious) Tina Fey autobiography. I was worried that a contemp (which I don't seem very drawn to even in more traditional reading pursuits wasn't going to keep my interest. Without all the battles, blood, kissing, and mystery I thought my mind might start to wander.

I won the book via Twitter thanks to Sarah Dessen and Penguin. Whoo Hoo to free audio books. Those babies are EXPENSIVE! Ha.

Silly me - What Happened to Goodbye ended up being very good. Far from my mind straying I found myself sitting in the car for a few extra minutes just to hear a bit more of the story. I have to give props to Dessen. She isn't the powerhouse contemp writer for nothing. The story was a sweet, easy listen for a coming of age tale. I didn't find McLean to be "annoying" and I sympathized with her lingering divorce issues. Her life of moving from place to place - personality to personality - was interesting and nowhere near as odd as I had worried it was going to be. All teens go through stages; personality changes. McLean's just happened to be a bit more structured. The romance was light and secondary to the tale. McLean's own issues, and full life - including some great and well drawn secondary characters - were central.

What really made this listen great though, was the voice of the actress: Meredith Hanger. Hanger actually sounded like a teen!?!

Amazing!

And the voices she used, her tone and emphasis while reading were spot on. By far the best narrator I've come across. It truly enhanced my experience.

Rating: 5/5 The easy listen and pitch-perfect narrator blew me away.

I have found that with Sarah Dessen books I always know what to expect. No matter what the story I find that I leave with the same happy thoughts every time I finish a book of hers. My experience reading What Happened to Goodbye was no different. Basically this is a story of a girl who is coming to terms with her parents' divorce and the upheaval it causes in her life. Mclean has traveled from place to place with her father during the past three years as he lands in a different spot to try and rehabilitate struggling restaurants for his company. Not staying in one place for very long gives Mclean the opportunity to try on different personalities, but it also prevents her from really putting down any roots, keeping her from opening herself up to anyone in the places where she lives. All of that changes when she arrives at the newest town her father has been sent to live. Almost entirely by accident Mclean ends up keeping her own identity, but what exactly is that? She has a lot to learn, and a lot to forgive, before she can truly be happy to be herself.

I won't give further plot details, but here are my thoughts:

Mclean is a nice enough lead character for this story. She can be a tad bit negative about her situation at times, but to be fair, she was thrown for a huge loop when her mother ran off with their favorite BB coach and ruined her idea of what a perfect family she had. Seeing her come to terms with that huge tragedy in her life and learn how to accept her new family situation is interesting to read. I like that the real Mclean is compassionate and cares for her friends, even though she is constantly telling herself that she shouldn't get too attached to anyone.

Mclean's circle of friends are great. I especially liked Deb and how she evolved as a character once everyone in the group pushed aside their preconceived notions of her and really got to know the girl inside. The characters at the restaurant were interesting, and I especially liked Opal, but wished I could know more about who she really was. Dave was a great character as well, but I really wish that I got to see him more in the book. I thought that there was a lot more to discover about him and his sorta normal but really not-so-normal family. But even as the romantic lead for the story he still almost seems as a background character. I wanted more.

What an interesting ending. No spoilers here, but I will say this: This was not really a happily ever after sort of ending. It was more of a happy ending, if that makes any sense. Everything turns out wonderfully (of course!), but it didn't feel like it was all that permanent -- like it was going to all end in a few months anyway. So for me that was okay to read, but I didn't finish the book with that goofy smile that I normally get when I read an awesome HEA romance. To be honest, this was more real than a HEA romance would be. After all, these characters are getting ready to head to college, and in real life it would be normal for relationships like this to fade a bit with characters heading in different directions. So I'm not complaining. I think I just prefer a bit more power in the romantic relationships as I finish a book.

Overall this was a nice Dessen book. Dessen fans will not be disappointed. There is a sweet romance and a wonderful story of a young woman finding the courage to finally be REAL, true to who she truly is on the inside. I liked that theme in this story. I do recommend this story as a nice clean YA romance.

Of all Sarah Dessen's books that I've read, What Happened to Goodbye is the first one that made me cry. All her books are emotional, sad, thought-provoking, and they all deals with realities in life. But this one has touched me the deepest. Of all her characters that are crafted with delicate care--making them the imperfect, flawed, and most of all real--it was Mclean Sweet who captured my heart the most. This might not be my most favorite of her books, but surely this one will forever be in my heart. I don't know what it is that makes Sarah Dessen's books very touching that it makes me appreciate the people in my life after I read them. It makes me appreciate life itself, or my life to be specific.

Mclean's life isn't easy. She was once been happy, and that was before his parents got divorced. Before her mom cheated her dad with the university's basketball coach. Before her mom got pregnant with the twins, before her dad sold their restaurant and decided to be a consultant instead--the reason why they are traveling and moving every six months. She's been in four different schools during the last two years, avoiding making friends, making attachments, living a life. Every time they move, she takes it as a new beginning...every time. She starts a new life that isn't hers, not Mclean, but a new girl with a different personality. She feels that she doesn't belong anywhere, and I think that what makes this book achingly sad. To feel that you are alone and that you have no place to really call home... I think that's the saddest part.

What I really appreciate about Sarah Dessen's books, are the stories of life--disappointments, struggles, painful past, but always with a hopeful future. I always love the settings and the characters that she created... it make me feel connected to them in some ways I couldn't explain. Maybe because they all felt real to me--they're ordinary people dealing with normal issues in life. I love every bit of the story, because for me, it's giving me something true and something good to think about and hold onto.

This is a story of girl who is trying to forget her real self but ends up finding herself in the process. With the help of her funny, weird, and amazing friends and a smart guy who live next door, she will realize that a home isn't actually a place...

This book is emotional but blended with just the right amount of humour and wit. I enjoyed it and I am grateful that I've read such a good story. I recommend What Happened to Goodbye. I recommend Sarah Dessen.

Yay! Sarah Dessen created another novel for all of us to enjoy :).

The Protagonist - I've lived in the same place for my whole life, but despite that--despite the fact that I can't exactly identify with Mclean's struggles--I can still sympathize with her. She's caring, protective, strong but vulnerable. I loved being with her as she figured out who she really was and dropped the personas she had adopted in the past.

The Rest of the Characters - Even though it's essentially Mclean's story, Sarah Dessen still created a cast of characters who also capture your attention. Dave, Riley, Opal, Mclean's parents, Heather, Jason, even Tracey--they all had a story to tell. Great character development.

The Romance - Ah, Dave. You caught my heart too... I don't even really need to say much about this--it's in the synopsis. Dave is real and honest and allows Mclean to be herself when everything else around her is chaotic. It's natural to root for their relationship, and the tension is done well too.

The Writing - Sarah Dessen's writing is easy to read while packing a punch, particularly at the end of each scene. Then, it becomes poetic in the way it explores the emotional conflicts--No home, no control, and no idea where I was, only where I might be going or Like I, too, had been tunneling, digging, and had only just now come up for air. Both descriptions reflect Mclean's struggles. Beautiful.

Emotional Conflict - As I hinted at the protagonist section, the emotional conflict was done really well. (Based on this and The Truth about Forever) I can say that if there's anything you can expect from a Sarah Dessen novel, it's an emotional roller coaster that stays touching throughout the ride. I particularly enjoyed what she does with "Ume.com" and "the 2 a.m. friend."

Perfect Length - I debated about this for a while, but I decided my issue was that I'm a romance junkie and would have liked more action between Mclean and Dave. Disregarding that, I think the way the book was written meant that the characters were developed really well, the emotional conflict resolved, and the romance introduced... aka it was the perfect length for everything to work out well :). The novel felt complete.

Pacing - That being said, I thought the pacing was a bit slow at times. (...though I've noticed that I'm kind of picky about this in books I really like.)

Basketball/Restaurant World - Loved it all! I played basketball for a very long before I quit, and I could understand losing something you once loved like that... Yet, it means much more for Mclean (than that); Sarah Dessen uses this and her father's restaurant job to really characterize the characters (the rush and not thinking about the present until it hits them full on, etc.)

The Humor - Even though the novel centers around Mclean's identity crisis, there's still plenty of humor, and that comes from having such awesome characters. Deb and her acronyms (STOW, POW, etc.) and the SEXXY mirror/love triangle deal, Dave falling flat on his back after getting whammed by the basketball, etc.; it was nice to have these and other moments in the midst of Mclean's struggles.

Full review here: [...]. Hope you enjoyed it!

What Happened to Goodbye showed up in my mailbox during my second week of recovery from giving birth to a surrogate baby, and was a welcome distraction from the loud call of my messy house. Sarah Dessen's world pulled me in, and encouraged me to sit down and take it easy during my postpartum period with 17 year-old Mclean Sweet and her friends.

Two years ago, Mclean left town with her father. He was divorcing her mother and jumping from one restaurant consulting position to another; Mclean was divorcing herself, developing a new fake persona in each town. Using variations on her middle name, Eliza, Lizbet, and Beth each had a stereotypical personality that kept everyone at arm's length. But when she and her father arrive in Lakeview, life starts happening to Mclean before she can decide who to be. Instead, she begins to find out who she has become.

Dessen writes honestly, if a little pointedly (a Deep and Meaningful Phrase ends each chapter and section of the book). Even though I've got a decade of life experience on Mclean, I really identified with her struggles to find herself. I also identified with her father's plight, her mother's angst, and the adolescent awkwardness of her friends. Mclean's world was a comfortable place to curl up and lose myself for half an hour several times a day, and even after 400 pages (but only three days), I was sad to put that world away.

To be fair, though, my sadness may have had something to do with the incredibly sudden ending. As I felt the right hand side of my open book getting thinner and thinner while approaching the ending, I remember wondering how on earth Dessen was going to wrap everything up neatly in such a short space. The answer was that she didn't, really. The ending, while sufficient, was rushed, and I felt cheated out of the richness that filled the earlier chapters. I guess 400 pages is already too much for this sort of book?

However, I guess that's a backhanded criticism and the fact that I didn't want to leave speaks to how much I enjoyed the world Dessen created, and the depth and realism of her characters. What Happened to Goodbye is a paradoxically relaxing journey back to the struggles of finding yourself for older readers, and for the intended young audience, it's undoubtedly a place to find someone who really "gets it."

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

From the inside flap:

"Another town? Another new school? Mclean really doesn't mind. In fact, she welcomes the chance to try on a new persona. Ever since her parents' bitter divorce, she and her father have been on the move, leaving the unhappy past behind them. And each move has brought a fresh opportunity for Mclean to reinvent herself. Perky rah-rah-rah girl. Drama mama. All-round joiner.

But here in Lakeview, for the first time she's putting down roots, making friends and just trying to be someone she hasn't been in a long time: herself. Dave has something to do with it. He's the most real person Mclean's ever met, and he thinks he's falling in love with the real Mclean. Mclean doesn't even know who that is anymore, but she wants to find out -- before it's time to move on again."

I'm a big Sarah Dessen fan. While I've not yet read all of her works, I have yet to read one that I didn't enjoy.

I'm far from being a teen, but I really connected with this book. My parents went through a very nasty divorce. My relationship with my mother was worse even than Mclean's relationship with her mother. But, Mclean was a much more mature teen than I was.

What I liked about this book: Dessen does an excellent job of conveying not only Mclean's pain but the fact that she doesn't realize that what she feels is not just anger, but pain as well. At some point in our life we all wish we could reinvent ourselves. McLean gets to do that, but wisely, Dessen's character realizes that you can't do that forever. At some point you have to be the real you. Dessen also touches on just what makes a home. This quote from the book is one that I particularly liked: "Home wasn't a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together. Not a place but a moment, and then another, building on each other likes bricks to create a solid shelter that you take with you for your entire life, wherever you may go." Rather a long, but beautiful way of saying 'home is where the heart is." I also liked that McLean and her dad seem to be both reinventing themselves with each move. It might not be so obvious with Gus, but just like McLean he knows that he doesn't have to get too involved and that if he does, there will soon be an out. The secondary characters are well developed also, though I would have liked a little more insight into the relationship Dave has with his parents. Dave is well developed, but his parents (and how they have influenced him fall a little flat.) I also liked Deb and how even though in the beginning her attempts to fit in are rebuffed, she doesn't give up.

What I didn't like about the book: There were to things I didn't like. First: the pacing slows down towards the end. It doesn't drag so much as making it impossible to finish, but I did feel as though it was begging to drag on too long. Second and this has nothing to do with the writing, but I didn't like Mclean's mom. . It's a personal thing. I didn't like how she just couldn't stop forcing herself on McLean. She couldn't accept that she had damaged her relationship with Mclean and was hurt and offended that McLean wouldn't just immediately accept her back into her life. Ok, to be fair, I have mother issues. So it was rather hard for me to cut her some slack.

Fans of Sarah Dessen will enjoy this book, but I also recommend this for anyone who has not yet read one of her books. Dessen deals with teen issues ranging from the light to the dark. Her books are always well written and are an enjoyable read.

First off, let me just say that I am a big Sarah Dessen fan. She has this amazing way of writing that is extremely poignant without being angst ridden and compelling without being flashy. Her novels unfold quietly as we are following her protagonists journey of self-discovery and healing. Dessen usually writes about girls who are from "broken homes" or suffer a tragedy. We come in after the fact and watch them try to pick up the pieces. Her endings are usually inspiring and heartfelt, but never trite. I have never been disappointed by Dessen and What Happened to Goodbye is no exception.

What Happened to Goodbye centers around McLean, who lives with her dad after her parent's bitter divorce. Her mother left her father for another man and ended up having twins. Now McLean is on shaky terms with her mother as she deals with her anger at her mother's actions and the awkwardness of her new family. Her dad moves around a lot due to his job and this suit McLean just fine. In each new town, she has a chance to reinvent herself and choose who she wants to be: a cheerleader, a student council member, a drama diva. But now she finds herself in a new town where she might just want to be herself again. Especially after meeting her next door neighbor Dave, who sparks her desire to figure out what being herself means.

Again, you can't really go wrong with Sarah Dessen, so I thoroughly enjoyed this book. She has GREAT characters with depth and complexity. There are no easy answers, no black and white situations in Sarah Dessen's world. I don't think this was her strongest effort but it was certainly solid and worth the read. If you haven't checked out Sarah Dessen, do yourself a favor and go get her books!

Wow. What can I say here? Dessen's Keeping the Moon was one of my favorite books in middle school. I've loved her work for a long time. To say I was looking forward to this book would be an understatement.
To say I was disappointed would also be one.

There were tons of typos. I didn't really get it. There didn't seem to be a point to the book. It was all tell, no show. (if you're a writer you get what I'm saying here). I was confused mostly. There were so many characters that we spent time focusing on but never really seemed to matter all that much. They were flat and forgettable, and most of them seemed to have the same personality. How many boy geniuses can you fit into one book?

Apparently three.

Don't get me started on that.
Anywho:

WHO: Mclean Sweet is the main character. Or you could call her Beth, Lizbet, Liz, Lizzy, Elizabeth, Eliza, or however many names this girl had. Talk about confusing.
Dave: the super hot boy-next-door. He's boy genius, over-protected son and (predictably) madly in love with our leading lady, Mclean.
There were other supporting characters, but I really didn't get them. They weren't solid and their existence was questionable.

WHAT: Well, Mclean goes through this rough time after her parent's divorce and she's struggling. Her parents act like it's no big deal and that it doesn't effect her at all. Her mother acts like a teenager and throws hissy fits quite often. I don't think there was a single moment in which she acted like the adult she was. Anyways, Mclean moves around a lot and changes her name and personality with every move. Then she meets Dave and accidentally tells him her real name. Now she's stuck being Mclean again. At least, until her next move. But then she falls for Dave in that predictable but much loved style that is Sarah Dessen's.

WHEN: By the outfits in the book and the dialogue, I would definitely place this book setting easily in the time frame of 1999-2001. I would assume that I'm wrong and that it's actually 2011 or so. But still. Nobody wears fur coats and colorful crop tops anymore. And people haven't talked like that since the late 90's.

WHERE: I couldn't even really tell you. I can't remember. It's in the same town 90% of her other books take place in though, so that should tell you something. I actually like that, that you hear so many stories of so many people that are all linked together unknowingly. Seriously. That's brilliance.

WHY: I guess the point of the book is so Mclean can find out who she really is. Also fall in love. Because that's pretty much the point of every Dessen book.

Now, I complained a lot about this book, but let me say a couple good things about it. Because I didn't actually completely hate it. I did enjoy the romance part. It's cheesy, it's familiar, and it's the reason Dessen's books are as popular as they are.
I did like the whole basketball drama. I wish it had been more eventful drama-wise. Maybe more people noticed it, more people asked about it, made her more uncomfortable about it. I LOVE AWKWARDNESS.

I haven't read many Sarah Dessen books, in fact this is my second book I've ever read from her. But after reading this book I feel like running to my local bookstore and buying every single one of her books off the bookshelf and reading them.

McLean has to be one of the most relate-able characters I have ever read! I mean who wouldn't want to change who they are and start new when they move? I think every girl can see a little bit of themselves in McLean when they read this book and I think that's one of the most important and best parts of this story.

What I also liked about this book is the fact that for once the main character doesn't get along with her mother. I really liked that her father wasn't portrayed as some horrible dad or who never came around and for once it was the mother that messed up. People always expect the father to be the parent you doesn't get along and I don't think its really fair.

The thing I love about Sarah Dessen's books is that they are so realistic. This book really touched me and I honestly started tearing up in a few parts. It's like she knows exactly what to say to really make you feel like she knows EXACTLY how you're feeling.

I can't compare this book to her other stories but I can compare it to other novels I've read recently. This book is amazing, touching and true and I look forward to reading the rest of her novels.

WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE is a compelling story, but all Sarah Dessen's novels are emotional and compelling and hard to put down. Even if I don't agree with a character is doing, I completely get the motivation behind why they are doing what they are doing and that is a testament to Ms. Dessen's storytelling.

In WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE, the heroine Mclean's parents had a high profile divorce several years ago. Her mother had an affair with the new basketball coach of a top 5 college. Her mother gets pregnant by the guy, divorce's Mclean's father and marries the man she had an affair wife. This emotional upheaval tears Mclean's life apart, the situation is made worse because her mother has never acknowledge what she's done to tear apart the family. So Mclean decides to pull up stakes and move in with her father, who left his restaurant to take a job with a restaurant conglomerate where he goes to failing restaurants and turn them around aka Gordon Ramsay.

McLean loves the changes because that means she can escape the constant scrutiny she's been under and just become a different person. Now, she and her father are at a new place and somehow through meeting her neighbors and friends at school she's stopped becoming a character and has started becoming herself.

SO THERE IS MY CRAPPY PLOT SUMMARY. CAN'T YOU SEE HOW HARD I'M WORKING AT THESE THINGS. YOU KNOW NOW MY PLOT SUMMARYS SUCK BIG ONES.

I loved Mclean. I totally got her. I got how/why she was so lost and felt the need to disappear inside another person. This was so me as a teenager, except I disappeared inside books. Mclean's character arc and growing into herself was beautifully layered into the story.

WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE is exquisitely written, and while Mclean was an awesome fully developed character, WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE left me feeling as if I missed something. I am fully aware that if this was a novel written by someone else, I would've given it an A, but because it's Sarah Dessen I was expecting more.

Yes, I am a hypocrite.

What I felt was missing in WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE was the connection between Mclean and Dave. Dave charecter was lacking compared to her other hereos. Dave's interactions with Mclean were lacking the emotional punch that `m used to seeing with Ms. Dessen. Her heroes are usually drool worthy and I don't feel that she lived up to the great potential as she could've with Dave. I was so focused on Mclean's journey that I didn't really care about Dave. And who doesn't care about the hero?

Having said that, I still believe that WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE is a novel that is worth the purchase price just for Mclean, she's an awesome character and I loved her.

REVIEW COURTESY OF LYNETTE'S TWO CENTS BLOG SPOT

This story deals with the fall-out from divorce. “Home is wherever the people who loved you were, wherever you were together.” Themes include love, life, learning, and putting the pieces back together. The characters struggle with self-identity and re-inventing oneself. “But wiping the surface clean doesn’t make anything neater. When you dig deeper, you see who you really are.” Will the real McLean step forward.

McLean and her dad have been living like nomads ever since her parents' divorce. Her dad is a restaurant consultant who spends anywhere from two to six months in any given city, making over and managing a restaurant before moving on to the next place. And every town they've been to has been another opportunity for McLean to create a new identity for herself - she was artsy at one school, a cheerleader at the next, and a prominent member of student council at another. But their newest place has McLean feeling like she could really get comfortable. She meets Dave, her charming next door neighbor, and actually develops real friendships at her school. But just when she's getting settled in, her dad starts showing signs of being ready to move on along to the next place. Will she be able to leave her new life - one she truly enjoys - behind, yet again?

I have loved all of Sarah Dessen's books, and each time I sit down with a new one of hers I know that I am in for a treat. What Happened to Goodbye was no different - I flew through the novel and loved every minute of it.

McLean was such an endearing character. I truly felt for her, as she was trying to navigate the tricky waters of her parents' divorce while also trying to carve out her own space in her new transient lifestyle with her dad. In order to escape from these stresses, she took on the habit of changing identities and personalities with every new town they lived in. I loved the little moments where McLean would realize that she could shed her fake identity and get to know her new friends as her true self. There was a lot of conflict in her life, but also many bright spots, and I felt that Dessen managed to balance these well.

One thing Dessen always does very well is create truthful, realistic teen romances, and she definitely did that in this book with McLean and Dave. Dave was so charming, and so caring, and just such a great guy - it was no wonder McLean fell for him! I really enjoyed how Dessen crafted their relationship to stem from a real friendship, and then took it from there to the next level. It felt very authentic and I really did believe it.

There is so much to love about What Happened to Goodbye. If you enjoy smart and entertaining YA, Sarah Dessen is an author not to be missed, and her latest novel delivers all the excellence I was expecting and more.

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
Viking, 2011
402 pages
YA; Contemporary
4/5 stars

Source: Library

Is there anything better than a good YA Contemporary by one of your favorite authors, who consistently delivers an enjoyable story with a sweet romance? I love falling into a Sarah Dessen novel and I enjoyed the multiple references to previous novels (characters, places, things), which help define the Sarah Dessen universe.

I'll admit at first that I was skeptical because the main character's name is Mclean, which to me is a last name and certainly not a girl's name BUT there's an explanation and soon I really felt for Mclean. For the last two years she's been living with her dad as they travel around the US, each time recreating herself and becoming a new person easily shedding her previous iteration. Meanwhile relations with her mother are strained as she had an affair and has now set up a new life with a new husband and twins. But in Lakeview things are different as Mclean falls into friendships easily and begins to rethink her relationship with her mother.

The writing style is distinctly Sarah Dessen and thus comfortable for me as I've read all of her previous novels. I feel like Dessen does a great job creating complex parents (see-parents aren't completely invisible in YA!) and giving the MC several colorful friends instead of just one. My particular favorite was Deb, whose intensity and mysterious background make her one of my favorite Dessen characters ever. Other friends include Riley, Heather, Ellis, and love interest Dave. Her relationship with Dave is unique and bumpy and not as sawoony as Remy and Dexter's or Macy and Wes's but good enough for people who aren't craving a romantic novel.

I also enjoyed the evolution of Mclean's opinions of her parents. Although she sided with her father after her mother's heinous betrayal, she ends up remembering how much she really does love her mother and I feel like that's the real meat of the story.

Overall: I like this one; I just happen to love This Lullaby and The Truth About Forever so it suffers a bit in comparison.

Have you read any Sarah Dessen books? What is/are your favorite? Those were the first two I read and I wonder if that's why they're my favorites.

I love Sarah Dessen books. She always manages to capture such beauty in unexpected events. For some reason, that fell flat for me.

First my gripe. It's the way the book ended. The author did a great job in building up such great emotions in the characters. Mclean divorce has been hard on her and she faces lots of anger. With what has happen in her life, she is allowed that anger. Throughout the book, the anger is build up and carried on like heavy baggage all for at the end to have it let go like it was nothing! All of sudden she changes her mind like a snap! There's no building up to her changing her mind or even coming to a realization of what she holds. For me, it just bothered me.

Other than that, the book is pretty good. There are great minor characters that Mclean has, even a love interest who changes her world upside down. I loved watching Mclean learn and grow, even become open with her past. She learns to trust enough to share what happen and even learns to move on with her life. I like that she took chances and always held on to what she believed.

What Happen To Goodbye is a good story with lots of emotion. What Happen To Goodbye gets deeply personal with the affects of broken relationships. Offering a new point of view, What Happen To Goodbye is good.

Over the course of nine previous books, Sarah Dessen has gained a reputation for producing smoothly written, character-driven YA novels that are enjoyable (but not at all breezy), challenging and satisfying simultaneously. Her 10th work of fiction, WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE, is no exception.

It's senior year, and Mclean Sweet is on the move again. She and her father have moved four times in two years, as he takes on an ongoing series of restaurant consultant assignments. His job is a good excuse to keep moving, but the fact of the matter is that both Mclean and her dad are running away from her mother's very public affair and subsequent remarriage to a well-known basketball coach. They stay in each new town only a few months, long enough for Mclean's dad to whip a restaurant into shape, break some hearts, and pack their few belongings back into the car, ready for the next assignment.

Mclean takes each new town as a chance to reinvent herself, name and all. She's been Lizbet, Eliza and Beth --- cheerleader, emo drama queen, and student government leader --- a new persona for each new town. Each reinvention seems to take Mclean farther from her painful past --- and possibly from herself. Whenever she talks to her perfectly coiffed, polished mother --- wife of a celebrity, mother of twin toddlers --- during visits to her stepfather's new beach "cottage," she's reminded that there's no going back to the seedy beachfront motel where her family spent so many happy vacations.

But the problem with recreating yourself every six months is that you can forget --- if you ever knew --- who you actually are. So when Mclean moves to a new town and accidentally keeps her real name, she finds the effect jarring. Especially when, despite her best intentions, she winds up developing a group of friends she genuinely cares about and who seem to like the "real" Mclean. Most important is her next-door neighbor, Dave, a boy genius with particularly intense parents, a thoughtful young man who seems to genuinely like Mclean. But can she trust his feelings (and her own) when she's not even sure who the real Mclean is?

Long-time Sarah Dessen fans will enjoy spending time with this complex character --- and will delight that she's landed in Lakeview, the capital of Dessenland, where she encounters several characters from previous novels. Readers will enjoy getting to know Mclean as she settles into Lakeview and comes to know herself. The book unfolds smoothly, in a way that seems careful yet never predictable. Although WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE is less fervently romantic than some of her previous efforts, that's okay; the primary conflict here is between Mclean, her family, and herself.

Dessen has often focused on relationships between teenage girls and their mothers, and although that's part of Mclean's story, her relationship with her father is equally important here. Although her parents' evolution over the course of the novel is certainly less transformative, their motivations less well explored, it's clear that Mclean herself becomes, in many ways, the most mature one of them all.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

Out of all the books coming out in 2011, this one right here was my most anticipated. If you're a long-time reader, you know why. If you've just stumbled upon this blog then know this: I am a total and utter fan-girl of Sarah Dessen.

There's always a certain formula that Dessen seems to stick with: a girl with a unique name, family dynamics, realistic issues, and of course a boy. So why do the same formula always seem to work? I have no idea, but I know if I pick up one of her books, I will be glued.

What Happened to Goodbye deals with Mclean. Her family situation is divorced parents and she travels with her father whose line of business is to put restaurants back into shape. The big catch is that when they move, Mclean always finds a way to reinvent herself. She can be anyone she wants to be. That idea is very intriguing because I think everyone can relate to wanting a fresh start sometimes or wanting to be someone completely different.

There was a lot of back story shoved in right at the beginning, and some chapters were a bit harder to truck through because of it. What I found funny about this book compared to her other ones: I was more interested in secondary characters rather than Mclean. I'm not saying Mclean is boring. She has a certain spunk about her, and I envy her way of being able to blend herself into any group without having this shy new-girl syndrome you read in a lot of books.

Take Dave for instance who is "the boy" in the story. He is probably one of my more favorite guy characters Dessen has created. I absolutely loved his character and his relationship with Mclean. Right from the start they had this spark, and not just "romantic" spark but a real connection just as friends. And their second run-in with one another was just flat out hilarious. I knew I was going to love his character right after that meeting.

Then there was the restaurant owner, Deb, that Mclean's dad is trying to help. She was very colorful and I always got a kick out of reading things that were happening with her. Even Mclean's dad was a trip to read because his attitude changed so easily depending on who he was around for the most part. There's also a lot more dialouge in this book compared to past Dessen books, and because of that I felt like I heard more of the secondary characters which is also another reason why I think I was so intrigued by them. It wasn't just Mclean's voice anymore, it was a whole well-rounded fleshed out group.

Obviously you can tell I really enjoyed this book BUT (and it pains me to say a "but" when it comes to Dessen), the 'final conflict' lacked a certain punch to it, and I felt like the overall ending was just wrapped up too nicely. If you are a first-time Dessen reader I recommend giving This Lullaby or Truth About Forever a try before you get into her newer ones. If you have read her other books, don't be surprised when you see a few characters from Truth About Forever, Lock and Key, and Along for the Ride pop up. Sadly, no Dexter, but a girl can still hope for the next one!

Sarah Dessen's books make me happy. Like deep down in my soul happy. Even when they're breaking my heart and I'm bawling I love it. There is just something about them that I can't get enough of. What Happened to Goodbye was no exception. I sat down to start it last night and didn't stop until I had turned the last page.

I absolutely love the way Ms. Dessen builds her stories. They are so authentic. The things the teens do, say, and feel are things that make sense but her characters aren't stereotypical. I also love the way she weaves different elements of the story together. In What Happened to Goodbye basketball is a big deal. It's not a book about basketball yet it permeates everything from the phrases the characters use to the underlying reasons events occur. It works with the other aspects of the book that are seemingly unrelated. I also love how she can take something you would think is insignificant and make it awesome. I mean seriously... how does she manage to make a guy giving a girl (who doesn't cook) an open container of spices into a swoon worthy moment? ***sigh***

This book wasn't exactly what I've come to expect from a Sarah Dessen novel but I loved the differences. Her characters always grow and change but I felt that in Mclean's story it was much more prominent. Mclean is very clearly trying to figure out who she is and where she fits (in her family and the world at large.) Yes, there are friendships and the Dessen boys we know an love but the focus is way more on Mclean's relationship with herself and her family. I really think this story is something so many teens will be able to connect with. I will certainly be recommending it!

A few random things I loved:
*The mentions of the book A Prayer for Owen Meany and Bob Dylan. Two of my favorite things!
*The characters and places we encounter from previous books... especially Gervais and going back to the beach in Colby.
*The basketball love!
*Deb... she is so great! Actually, I loved a lot of the secondary characters. They really added to the story.
*Seeing Jason from The Truth About Forever and Along for the Ride in a different light.
*The restaurant Mclean's parents owned was called Mariposa. This is my favorite Spanish word. It means butterfly and is totally appropriate for the story!

Mclean Sweet used to have the perfect life. But that was years ago and miles away. Before her parents' bitter divorce. Before she and her father started moving from town to town like it was going out of style.

It was long before Mclean started reinventing herself in each new town. Eliza, Lizbet, Beth. All of her personas have a different story: cheerleader, drama nerd, student government junkie. It's easy to live the part once you choose the role, once you let the moments choose you. Especially when none of them are the real Mclean. Especially when Mclean doesn't even know who the real her is anymore.

Things are different in Lakeview. Instead of adopting a new persona for this newest town, Mclean starts being herself--or as close to it as she can be anymore. Seemingly random moments come together leading Mclean to friends and maybe even a home all while forcing her to do the unthinkable: just be real in What Happened to Goodbye (2011) by Sarah Dessen.

What Happened to Goodbye is Dessen's tenth novel and, as it turns out, this one proves that her writing really does live up to all of the hype.

Dessen's writing is literary and immediately appealing as she evokes not only a town and a lifestyle but also Mclean's emotions as she struggles with what it means to make a place for herself in yet another new community as Dessen brings up a lot of interesting threads about what family, and home, really mean.

The story here meanders towards the end in a way that makes perfect sense and ultimately fits perfectly for the story and the characters. And happily so since What Happened to Goodbye is all about the characters--Mclean, of course, but also her friends and her family as well. Every bit of this story is character driven and all of it comes together to great effect in a book that is really quite lovely.

Possible Pairings: Drawing the Ocean by Carolyn MacCullough, The Secret Life of Prince Charming by Deb Caletti, Moonglass by Jessi Kirby, After the Kiss by Terra Elan McVoy, The Miles Between by Mary E. Pearson, How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford

I've read quite a few Sarah Dessen books now and I'm very happy I've finally come across her books and given them a chance. While the endings seem a bit abrupt, I really enjoy the story that Dessen weaves like only she can.

I really felt bad for McLean and her father in this book. I don't know if I ever warmed to her mother and I can't say why I was so firmly against anything to do with McLean's mother, but I did find myself hoping McLean would found a way to get rid of her. But, it did make for an interesting story. I really liked reading about how McLean reinvented herself at 3 other schools (even if it might not be entirely healthy) and her lack of a new self for her most recent move. It made her endearing as she learned to finally be herself.

I really liked her father. He was a passionate guy, who loved his daughter. While McLean ended up taking care of him more than she should have for a daughter, you could see the love they had for each other practically glow from the pages. It was sweet.

I wasn't sure what to make of the romance in this at first. Dave wasn't someone I would have clung to at first, but after a bit, he really grows on you! I really felt bad for the way he grew up. While he didn't have a bad childhood or anything, he wasn't really able to do the things that kids normally do. Like get in trouble, have friends, go out. I was glad to see his character grow a bit too as the story unfolded.

Of course, along with the others, I highly recommend this book. Sarah Dessen is pure genius when she puts pen to paper. Or fingers to keyboard.

After her parents divorce Mclean chose to live with her father who moves around revamping restaurants that are in the hole. Which also means Mclean gets to switch schools constantly and she takes these opportunities to create a brand new her at every school. Until she moves to Lakeview and accidentally uses her real name. And from that point on her journey starts in discovering who she really is, with the help of Dave her next door neighbor.

Sarah Dessen has alway been a hit and miss author for me. Besides Mcleans struggle to find herself not much else really happened in the book that made me just go "wow!" Even though I got to know plenty about Mclean, Dave and her parents I wish I had the chance to learn more about Dave's parents, Opal and Deb. I had a lot of unanswered questions in regards to them. Honestly when it comes down to it besides Mclean all the other characters although interesting were forgettable.

I did not enjoy this book as I hoped I would but I would still recommend it to teenagers since those are the years we try to "find" ourselves. I'm sure they will be able to relate to Mclean very well.

I must say that when I picked up this book, I expected to be giving it 5 stars. The cover looks amazing and Sarah Dessen is one of my favorite authors but for me, this book just wasn't the same as her others. I really liked the originality of the story and the unique characters, but it sort of dragged on. This book is 400 pages, and Mclean (the main character) doesn't actually ended up being with the guy until the last 5 pages. And any time she spent with said guy, there were no sparks or chemistry, just little hints that they may or may not like each other. So as a romance, it kinda sucked. The major themes here were about family and knowing who you are as a person, so I was kind of let down since I was hoping for the same romances I've read of Sarah Dessen's before. And for being 400 pages long, not that many things really happened. Moments were sometimes dragged on and there was a lot of talk about emotion and feelings, but not as much action. I don't know, maybe it's been a while since I've last read some of Sarah Dessen's books and they were all actually like this, but I was sometimes bored and didn't find myself wanting to figure out what happens next like so many good books I've been reading lately. So overall, the plot and characters were really good, cute ideas, but the actual book fell short for Dessen's usual standards.

Mclean has spent 2 years creating these images of herself changing her name how she dressed when in reality I don't think she ever fully got over what the divorce meant to her, her parents aren't even obvious to what is going on. Her mother has a new husband and a set of twins and tries desperately to connect with her daughter. Meanwhile her father Gus is fixing restaurants and moving a few weeks dragging his daughter with him.

Mclean for the first time uses her own name, connects with people makes friends and even a boy interest and doesn't want to uproot this. But when life falls apart she runs back to an old hotel room she shared with her mother. It's there that her parents find her and find out what has been going on.

I loved reading about all the various alias's of Mclean and how she has alot thrown at her and how she deals with it! What an incredibly moving story! I enjoyed all the characters plus the return to Colby which was in the last book I read Along for the Ride. Nice to return to somewhere previously mentioned.

I love Sarah Dessen. Her novels are so well written. As an adult reader, I wish I had had books like Sarah Dessen's when I was a part of the target age demographic. Being from a divorced family, I can completely relate to Mclean. Her parents' divorce was tumultuous, and she is just coming through to the other side of that storm when this novel begins.

Like most Sarah Dessen novels, there is the surface story and then the deeper story or question. In each place that Mclean moves with her father, she takes on a new identity. She decides which version of herself she wants to be in that particular location. When Mclean lands in Lakeview, she is just beginning to decide which persona she will adapt for this town, when she is accidentally forced into being herself. Dessen is really raising a bigger question about identity with this aspect of the novel. How does one define oneself? What makes us who we are? Mclean struggles with the question of identity throughout the novel. Who is Mclean in the wake of her parents' divorce?

And then there's a boy. Dave. I really enjoyed his character and the effect he has on Mclean. He is not your average boyfriend material. He's super sweet, but kind of quirky. He's also very unassuming and accepting. His relationship with Mclean allows Mclean to see that whoever she is, Dave likes it, likes her, and so will other people.

I very much enjoyed this book. I highly recommend Sarah Dessen to everyone who can read.

Sarah Dessen books are like my YA reading happy place, and WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE is no exception. Sarah is a queen of contemporary novels, with pitch-perfect voice, the right touch of humor, and an emotional heart that really resonates in a non-cheesy way.

In WHtG, I started out pretty neutral on the protagonist, McLean, but with each passing chapter I became more and more understanding of how her past shaped her into someone who's uncomfortable and even afraid of being who she is.

The framing of the story keeps it interesting ---- rehabbing a failed restaurant, building a tiny model of the town, an addiction to college basketball ---- and her family is flawed in totally normal ways that make you root for them to pick up the broken pieces, even when you understand how much they've hurt each other.

Sarah's also given McLean an envy-worthy group of new friends (Deb! Be my BFF!) who frequently made me smile, plus an oh-so-cute crush interest named Dave ---- just enough incentive for McLean to break down the walls she's built around herself.

Basically, Dessen has done it again, and you should totally check out WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE.

This review posted originally on [...]

What Happened to Goodbye was my first experience with a Sarah Dessen novel, and it's safe to say I'm a fan!

McLean's parents had a very public divorce, and she's now living with her Dad as they travel around "fixing" failing restaurants. In each new location, Mclean picks a new name and with that new name a new persona. Up until now, it's worked well for her. But this time, before she can correct a teacher on her first day at school everyone is calling her by her real name.

Throw in a cute but mysterious neighbor, a quirky friend who is far more than what she seems, and a few restaurant employees that Mclean (and her dad) begin to care for and you have a great book about a young girl finding herself.

I really loved Mclean and the rest of the characters in this book. I loved how real they felt, how normal they were. Mclean's relationship with her Mom is a great storyline that makes you connect with everyone in the story.

Sarah Dessen had a way of making you connect with not only the main characters, but the friends and family as well. My particular favorite was Deb, who started out as the annoying loner at school but quickly proves there is far more to her than what appears.

What Happened to Goodbye was an excellent book that I couldn't put down! It was full of realistic characters and a plotline. I can't wait to read another Dessen novel

Sarah Dessen is an automatic buy & read for me. I've been reading her books since I was 15, and I'm about to turn 29. When I think of contemporary YA with a solid cast of characters and real life scenarios, she's it.

WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE is about a girl named Mclean, although she's also known as Beth, Lizbit, and Eliza, depending on which town you're in. After her parents' divorce, Mclean follows her dad around as he rehabs restaurants, while working to discover who she really is by reinventing herself in each new place. When they land in Lakeview, to work at the Luna Blu, she decides to be herself on a whim and uses her real name.

Mclean is Dessen's classic every-girl. As you read, you'll find yourself slipping into her world and never wanting to leave. She's got family dysfunction to work through, a new town to settle into, and a boy to crush on. There's more family and less BOY in this one than usual, I think, and I would've loved for Mclean to get a bit more action in the romance department, but it's not completely lacking.

WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE is the perfect choice for longtime Dessen fans, and those seeking a comforting, quiet read. The quirky cast of characters, including the Tracy Flick-esque Deb and genius neighbor, Dave, will keep you interested throughout.

Read more of my YA book reviews at StoryboundGirl{dot}com.

I have a love/hate relationship with Sarah Dessen books. They always seem so interesting and then when I finish them I realize again what I don't like about her books. The last one I read from her, Along for the Ride, I absolutely loved so I thought I would love this one too. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either.

I always end up loving the male characters more then the female ones in Dessen's book. She always writes the guys as mature and knowledgeable beyond their years, while the girls are whiney bitches. This one was no exception. Dave was fun, smart, cute, and sweet. I really enjoyed his character. Mclean on the other hand I felt was dramatic, whiney and overall just annoying. The other secondary characters I really liked, especially Mclean's dad and her new friend, Deb (Actually I loved Deb-she brought a lot to the story!).

I thought the story was cute. Mclean moves around with her dad because of his job. At every school she tweaks her name, Mclean Elizabeth, and changes it to Liz, Eliza, Beth, ect. She also changes her interests. When she has to move she just leaves without ever saying goodbye to her new friends, causing the guy she was seeing at the last place she lived to post on her UMe wall, "What happened to goodbye?"

I really enjoyed the ending. I love how everything came together for everyone. I love a story that ends with all the characters in a good place.

What Happened to Goodbye is only my second Sarah Dessen book. The first, This Lullaby, didn't really wow me....I like this one much better. The students in my library love Sarah Dessen books!! I can see why!

What Happened to Goodbye is a story about family, friends, and finding yourself in the midst of a world that changes constantly. McLean's life has been turned upside down by her parent's divorce. Because of the circumstances that lead to the divorce, McLean chooses to live with her father. The one downside of that....he moves about every 6 months, trying to save restaurants that are down and out. Every time McLean and her dad, Gus, move, McLean changes who she is, until they end up in a new town with another restaurant to rescue. McLean has played the part of Lizbeth, Beth, and Eliza. She's played the cheerleader and she's played the dark quiet student. But now, while Gus tries to save Luna Blu, McLean plays the most important role of all, herself.

McLean must figure out how to balance a faltering relationship with her mother, while being the real McLean to a new set of friends that she'll eventually have to say goodbye to. One of those friends is the nextdoor neighbor genius named Dave. McLean must decide if she's going to let Dave into her heart, and new friends Riley, Ellis, Heather, and Deb into her life.

While not a terrible realistic work of fiction as a whole, McLean is facing many issues that teens face today, such as divorce, moving, friendship, love, and identity. Dessen has written a wonderful tale that keeps the reader intrigued and rooting for McLean to find a place that she can call home.

Sarah Dessen books are like my YA reading happy place, and WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE is no exception. Sarah is a queen of contemporary novels, with pitch-perfect voice, the right touch of humor, and an emotional heart that really resonates in a non-cheesy way.

In WHtG, I started out pretty neutral on the protagonist, McLean, but with each passing chapter I became more and more understanding of how her past shaped her into someone who's uncomfortable and even afraid of being who she is.

The framing of the story keeps it interesting ---- rehabbing a failed restaurant, building a tiny model of the town, an addiction to college basketball ---- and her family is flawed in totally normal ways that make you root for them to pick up the broken pieces, even when you understand how much they've hurt each other.

Sarah's also given McLean an envy-worthy group of new friends (Deb! Be my BFF!) who frequently made me smile, plus an oh-so-cute crush interest named Dave ---- just enough incentive for McLean to break down the walls she's built around herself.

Basically, Dessen has done it again, and you should totally check out WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE.

This review posted originally on [...]

What Happened to Goodbye was my first experience with a Sarah Dessen novel, and it's safe to say I'm a fan!

McLean's parents had a very public divorce, and she's now living with her Dad as they travel around "fixing" failing restaurants. In each new location, Mclean picks a new name and with that new name a new persona. Up until now, it's worked well for her. But this time, before she can correct a teacher on her first day at school everyone is calling her by her real name.

Throw in a cute but mysterious neighbor, a quirky friend who is far more than what she seems, and a few restaurant employees that Mclean (and her dad) begin to care for and you have a great book about a young girl finding herself.

I really loved Mclean and the rest of the characters in this book. I loved how real they felt, how normal they were. Mclean's relationship with her Mom is a great storyline that makes you connect with everyone in the story.

Sarah Dessen had a way of making you connect with not only the main characters, but the friends and family as well. My particular favorite was Deb, who started out as the annoying loner at school but quickly proves there is far more to her than what appears.

What Happened to Goodbye was an excellent book that I couldn't put down! It was full of realistic characters and a plotline. I can't wait to read another Dessen novel

Sarah Dessen is an automatic buy & read for me. I've been reading her books since I was 15, and I'm about to turn 29. When I think of contemporary YA with a solid cast of characters and real life scenarios, she's it.

WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE is about a girl named Mclean, although she's also known as Beth, Lizbit, and Eliza, depending on which town you're in. After her parents' divorce, Mclean follows her dad around as he rehabs restaurants, while working to discover who she really is by reinventing herself in each new place. When they land in Lakeview, to work at the Luna Blu, she decides to be herself on a whim and uses her real name.

Mclean is Dessen's classic every-girl. As you read, you'll find yourself slipping into her world and never wanting to leave. She's got family dysfunction to work through, a new town to settle into, and a boy to crush on. There's more family and less BOY in this one than usual, I think, and I would've loved for Mclean to get a bit more action in the romance department, but it's not completely lacking.

WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE is the perfect choice for longtime Dessen fans, and those seeking a comforting, quiet read. The quirky cast of characters, including the Tracy Flick-esque Deb and genius neighbor, Dave, will keep you interested throughout.

Read more of my YA book reviews at StoryboundGirl{dot}com.

I have a love/hate relationship with Sarah Dessen books. They always seem so interesting and then when I finish them I realize again what I don't like about her books. The last one I read from her, Along for the Ride, I absolutely loved so I thought I would love this one too. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either.

I always end up loving the male characters more then the female ones in Dessen's book. She always writes the guys as mature and knowledgeable beyond their years, while the girls are whiney bitches. This one was no exception. Dave was fun, smart, cute, and sweet. I really enjoyed his character. Mclean on the other hand I felt was dramatic, whiney and overall just annoying. The other secondary characters I really liked, especially Mclean's dad and her new friend, Deb (Actually I loved Deb-she brought a lot to the story!).

I thought the story was cute. Mclean moves around with her dad because of his job. At every school she tweaks her name, Mclean Elizabeth, and changes it to Liz, Eliza, Beth, ect. She also changes her interests. When she has to move she just leaves without ever saying goodbye to her new friends, causing the guy she was seeing at the last place she lived to post on her UMe wall, "What happened to goodbye?"

I really enjoyed the ending. I love how everything came together for everyone. I love a story that ends with all the characters in a good place.

What Happened to Goodbye is only my second Sarah Dessen book. The first, This Lullaby, didn't really wow me....I like this one much better. The students in my library love Sarah Dessen books!! I can see why!

What Happened to Goodbye is a story about family, friends, and finding yourself in the midst of a world that changes constantly. McLean's life has been turned upside down by her parent's divorce. Because of the circumstances that lead to the divorce, McLean chooses to live with her father. The one downside of that....he moves about every 6 months, trying to save restaurants that are down and out. Every time McLean and her dad, Gus, move, McLean changes who she is, until they end up in a new town with another restaurant to rescue. McLean has played the part of Lizbeth, Beth, and Eliza. She's played the cheerleader and she's played the dark quiet student. But now, while Gus tries to save Luna Blu, McLean plays the most important role of all, herself.

McLean must figure out how to balance a faltering relationship with her mother, while being the real McLean to a new set of friends that she'll eventually have to say goodbye to. One of those friends is the nextdoor neighbor genius named Dave. McLean must decide if she's going to let Dave into her heart, and new friends Riley, Ellis, Heather, and Deb into her life.

While not a terrible realistic work of fiction as a whole, McLean is facing many issues that teens face today, such as divorce, moving, friendship, love, and identity. Dessen has written a wonderful tale that keeps the reader intrigued and rooting for McLean to find a place that she can call home.

Dessen is such a wonderful writer and this new novel is just so good. I absolutely loved it and found it hard to put down, much like her other books. McLean is a fantastic main character and I thought it was really interesting how she reinvented herself in the other towns. We only get to hear about them though rather than see them- all the action occurs in Lakeview where she begins to become just herself again rather than some character.

Dave is a really fun love interest, though I don't know if he'll be as memorable as some of Dessen's other love interests. I loved reading the scenes between him and McLean- they were funny, insightful, and real.

The backdrop of the restaurant was interesting too, as well as McLean's dad's consulting job. All of that was cool to read about, and Dessen got some great characters out of the restaurant workers too. We also got a small trip back to Colby, where Along for the Ride took place, and there's an appearance by a character from that book, which was fun to see.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I know Dessen fans will as well. Her books just flow so well and I liken them to Meg Cabot's books- when you read them, you fall into this really cool familiarity and it's just a fun time. I can't wait for her next book.

Sarah Dessen has always been one of my favorite authors and What Happened To Goodbye only reinforced my love of her books. It's another feel-good chick-lit story that I couldn't help but enjoy.

Mclean Sweet has lived in four towns in two years. She knows wherever they go she won't stay long so she doesn't make connections. She creates a new persona for each town but in Lakeview, things change. Mclean finally starts to be herself again and make friends but will it last? What happens when the next move comes?

Mclean Sweet is a typical Dessen character. She has her fair share of problems and a lot of them have to do with her messed up family. Dave enters the picture and he just makes things more complicated. He was adorable in his own nerdy way. He was the perfect guy. Oh and Dessen does throw in a character from her previous books but I won't go into detail about that.

The story was great. This is one Dessen book that actually dealt more with family issues than romance but I liked it. It was really well balanced and I liked reading it.

Overall, What Happened To Goodbye is a must-read for Dessen fans and if you haven't read any of her books yet, check one out!

Hi, I'm a huge Sarah Dessen fan. All of her books have rated a solid five on my list but this one was a disappointment. Before this book, I loved each and every heroine. They are quirky and special in there own way. I didn't see that in this one. Mclead had five different personalities in this book. how could the reader know who she was, when she kept changing herself. To me Mclead never fully developed as heroine for me, she was just there. Mclean didn't have her own personality in this book. i was happy to be back in Lakeview and I think I saw a little snip-it of the characters from Just Listen. Another problem I had with this book was some of the characters. I mean I loved Heidi and Thisbe in Along for the Ride but this was suppose to be Mclead's story. To me they didn't serve a purpose in the story. Most books by Sarah Dessen, you could never get me to put them down. But with this one I had to beg my self to keep reading. Instead of reading along and enjoying the book, I found myself skimming through the book. And i can honestly say, I don't think i missed any good parts of this book. I'm sorry if i offended any other die-hard fans but this book just didn't cut it for me. I thought Sarah Dessen's standards were higher, she could have done more with this book.

**Original Article Published at Examiner.com**

As cliché as the title seems, it is the accurate description of Sarah Dessen's new novel, What Happened to Goodbye. Dessen's tenth novel tells the story of seventeen-year-old Mclean, a girl who after her parents' very public and bitter divorce, decides to move from town to town with her father, a restaurant consultant, and changes her identity in every new town they move into. Now, with three identities shed and a new one in mind, Mclean finds herself in Lakeview, where she discovers that it may not be so easy to assume a new identity this time. Mix in quirky minor characters, a charming love interest in the form of Dave Wade, and an obsession with basketball, and readers have a wonderful, thought provoking novel.

Many readers have complained that in the last few books, Dessen has taken to following a formula, and this reader would have to agree. Dessen does follow a formula, but, really, is that such a bad thing if the formula works? Of course, it would be a treat to see her step out of her comfort zone (she is a talented enough writer to succeed at it) but for the time being, her stories and her characters are endearing. Dessen's style of writing is almost hypnotic; readers devour her books, as she makes her novels impossible to put down. Dessen's characters, however, are the driving force in What Happened to Goodbye. Every character has a distinctive voice, so much so, the readers feel like they know them. The real winner of this novel, in this reader's opinion, is Dave Wade, and it is a shame that he is pushed to the side, more so than most of Dessen's other male protagonists. Dave is an interesting character, and he tends to outshine Mclean in some parts of the novel.

As to be expected with Dessen, the plot is solid and the ending is satisfying. Dessen's writing, as always, is top-notch. The dialogue is natural and seamless; the description is vivid, and the constant use of metaphors present all add to the excellence and allure of the novel. Readers experienced with Dessen's work may be a bit disappointed with What Happened to Goodbye because it is formulaic, but it works, and it should not be missed by readers old and new alike.

We have moved several times, sometimes 1000 miles or more away, three times to places where we didn't know a soul initially. At times I had the desire, like Mclean, to reinvent myself. It was refreshing to go somewhere that my faults weren't known and I could be a different person but, like Mclean, I discovered that you can't really run away from your past. "Your past is always your past. Even if you forget it, it remembers you."
Mclean Sweet (aka-Lizbet, Eliza, Beth, and Liz) lives with her father who is a restaurant consultant. His job requires frequent moves which is just fine with Mclean. In Mclean's small college town, everyone knew when her mother left her dad for the popular college basketball coach, and knew that she was expecting twins because of the affair. Mclean felt a need to leave her past behind and become a new person. She likes reinventing herself and becoming a different person in every new place.
This time, however, she lost control of things. She wanted to be called Liz but instead was called by her first name, Mclean. Her new friends chose her instead of the other way around. She wasn't given the chance to invent her own persona. Sarah Dessen explains where she got the idea for the book here.
One new friend is especially important, her next-door-neighbor Dave. He isn't like the boys she had known before, wasn't really her "type" but he is there for her even when he finds out her "warts". I thought that the scenes with Dave represented the novel's theme best. In one scene, Dave brings Mclean some soup. He goes to her cupboard to get some thyme and finds that the cupboards are nearly bare. "He'd opened the door, exposing the empty space behind it. He paused, then reached for the next one. Also empty. As was the one adjacent."
Mclean is embarrassed that he has seen inside her cupboards: "I really wanted to get up and shut the open cabinets, but for some reason I felt like it would be admitting something." Admitting what? Possibly that she isn't really the person she seems to be. She explains the empty cupboards, "When you move a lot, you don't have a lot of entanglements. There's not really time to get all caught up in things. It's simpler." Dave counters: "But if you never really make friends, you probably don't have anyone to be your two a.m." He explains that your two a.m. is someone you can call on anytime, who will be there for you no matter what, warts and all.
Later he tells her about his babysitter who had a huge wart on her wrist. She had told him that, "If we loved her, we loved it, too. It was part of the package." Mclean still isn't sure about letting people see the real Mclean, or about forgiving her mother. "It's easier said than done. Accepting all the good and bad about someone. It's a great thing to aspire to. The hard part is actually doing it." "I think that's why I like moving around so much. Nobody gets to know me well enough to see any of the bad stuff."
She eventually learns that her made-up, false personas didn't make for good relationships:
"I thought of all the times I'd found myself with boys over the last two years, and how none of them
came anywhere close to being like this. Because I wasn't. I was Beth or Eliza or Lizbet, a mirage, like a piece of stage scenery that looked real from the front with nothing behind it. ....All those clean, fresh starts had made me forget what it was like, until now, to be messy and honest and out of control. To be real."
Mclean discovers that loving someone means loving all of them even when they do things that hurt you. She also learns to love herself, all of herself including her past, and that to do that she needs to be her real self, that others will still love her even when they know the truth about her.
I hadn't read any of Sarah Dessen's books before this one. I just might have to read a few more!

Other quotations I liked:

Outside, the ocean was crashing, waves hitting sand, then pulling back to sea. I thought of everything being washed away, again and again. We make such messes in theis life, both accidentally and on purpose. but wiping the surface clean doesn't really make anything any neater. It just masks what is below. It's only when you really dig down deep, go underground, that you can see who you really are.

Home wasn't a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together. Not a place but a moment, and then another, building on each other like bricks to create a solid shelter that you take with you for your entire life, wherever you may go.

Sarah Dessen writes amazing contemporary novels with awesome characters and an enjoyable plot. What Happen to Goodbye was just as amazing of her previous books and is my second favorite of her books. Mclean isn't sure exactly who she is and she has no clue what her place is in the world. Seriously who hasn't felt this way before? The truth is that everyone has at one time or another. Mclean also hasn't gotten close to anyone, since her parent's divorce, which is really sad. Dave was such a sweet guy and I seriously loved him. I liked that he had the boy next door feel and how sweet he was. The other cast in What Happened to Goodbye were cute and interesting and I couldn't help loving them. Dessen's writing style is remarkable. I know that her books will always cheer me up and captivate me into wanting to read more. This is definitely one of her best novels. I definitely recommend this book to fans of Sarah Dessen's previous novels and fans of contemporary fiction.

Although this book is not included, there is no question why several of Dessen's books are included in the latest top 100 YA novels poll . [...] Dessen is my new favorite YA author:)

In this age where everyone seems to know everything about everyone, McLean has a knack for re-inventing herself. She picks a new name (Beth, Lizbet . . .), a new persona, creates a new online profile, and with each new city she is a new person. But with her latest move, everything seems to have slipped - she is just McLean and the "real" McLean seems to be re-emgerging. With the real McLean exposed, her shell is broken leaving her open to not only love, but the pain and heartache that goes with it. Is McLean finally able to deal with her parents divorce and find true friends?

The adult in me argued constantly with McLean with her decisions, but the teen in me saw where she was coming from and the pull of those bad decisions. True characters you can love - warts and all!

Sarah Dessen's books are never bad. They are always cute and fluffy and sometimes touch upon a very serious teen issue. However, some are very clearly better than others. For example, Dreamland, Keeping the Moon, Just Listen, This Lullaby are just some of the greats. Then you have the ones that are a bit on the meh side, like Someone Like You, Along for the Ride, and unfortunately, What Happened to Goodbye. Like I said, it wasn't bad. But it doesn't hold a candle to the ones I listed under the "Great" category above.

My main issue with What Happened to Goodbye was that it just meandered along. There was no tension and everything was anti-climactic. It was just a cute and fluffy read. I didn't feel that there was any substance in the book. Don't get me wrong. I do like cute and fluffy most of the time, but I feel that Sarah Dessen's recent novels have been solely that. I miss books like Just Listen and Dreamland where she focused heavily on teen issues like date rape, the catastrophe of abusive relationships, and eating disorders. I don't mean to say that the issues that teens are plagued with when their parents divorce aren't important, but I just feel like Dessen is no longer focusing on the darker issues that can arise from being a teen and is just focusing on the fluffy and light with a smidge of seriousness.

Also, I didn't feel any real connection to Mclean (and I loathed her name). She just didn't shine or sparkle the way other Dessen heroines have in her previous books. Dave was also a bit on the boring side. And together, there was a lack of passion that plagued them. They just weren't as interesting as they could've been. The other supporting characters, however, both shined and sparkled. I just loved Opal and Deb. In fact, I would've liked to read a whole book dedicated to them considering there seems to be untapped issues there that are just begging to be explored. However, one thing I did like in regards to Mclean were the issues with her parents. Now that was intriguing and relateable. Even though, I did feel the resolution was a bit too far-fetched.

So, I did like What Happened to Goodbye. It was a cute and fluffy summer read that I definitely recommend to those who have not yet read Sarah Dessen's works and therefore aren't yet ruined by her amazing books. They could read this book unbiased and truly enjoy it. However, those long-time Dessen fans may be a bit disappointed in this book as a whole. It wasn't her worst book (I think that was Along for the Ride), but it definitely wasn't her best. I hope that her next book is somewhat better

3.5 out of 5 stars! This is a GREAT new novel but a wonderful author! Sarah sticks to her usual format, with creative new characters and one or two older characters coming in to say 'Hi.' Mclean seems to be the typical "floater" girl, who can be just about anyone she wants to be, and yet still has no idea who that is. Dave is great, sweet, and so quiet/thoughtful your never really sure what he'll do or say next. Then you have Dave's bunch of friends and Deb, who are all eclectic, fun, and just bounce around on the page. To top it off you get the people and activities at Luna Blu, which keep the pages turning. As a side you get the background and serious issues that are going on within her family structure that are always included in Sarah's novels. Overall it's a great book! And if you are a true fan to Sarah Dessen and her novels then you shouldn't be disappointed!

Reviewed By: From Me to You ... Book Reviews
(read more of this review and a few teasers on my blog)

I honestly thought this book would have more potential. I don’t even know why Sarah Dessen’s Books are popular. They are all very boring and just so cliche. This book has got to be the most boring one of all. Dave and McLean’s chemistry is as exciting as washing the dishes. It’s that bad. They should have just been left as friends. The other characters are just very dull expecially her dad. We never got to know a lot about minor characters and that’s what made the book so boring.

I saw this book on the shelf and grabbed it, simply because it was a Dessen book and I hadn't read it. I'm disappointed to say that didn't fall in love with it as I have with many of her other novels. The main character was never really engaging to me. It actually became tedious to read from her pov. She just sort of watched things happen around her. And turned them into metaphors. Seriously, she could analyze pouring a cup of coffee and turn the act into some sort of philosophical observation that relates to her life. I wish I had a dollar for every scene that ended in one of these.
I really felt that I still didn't know any characters, other than Mclean, by the end of the book. Which was a shame, because they all had the potential to develop into extraordinary people with depth and personality.
And the romance was... let's just say subtle is an understatement. The whole book, really, felt like one big anti-event. Far from memorable. The teaser of The Moon and More at the end, however, I found much more promising. Just in the first chapter, the main character came off as an actual participant in her life. Things were happening around her, and she was a part of them. Not just a narrator. I'm looking forward to its June release.

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
She lives with her father and when he gets a new job it means moving to a new location and she picks a new name, part of her real name to register at school.
McLain struggles with calls from her mother who has a new family when she invites her to spend time at the beach with them all.
She meets the neighbors and one rescues her from the cops-Dave. Her friend Debby saves her when she has to go attend to her father's medical need at the hospital. She
invites Debbie into her school circle of friends and realizes she is a total misfit but she treats her just like one of her treasured friends.
Her father struggles to make over the restaurant to make it more profitable.
Ultimate decisions must be made when he has to move to another location for his job...

This is a book about the reality of divorce and it is a book that will stay with you long after it's over. After the divorce, "McLean Sweet" is doing her best to hold it all together. There is a very good reason Mclean is angry with her Mom and that is the reason why Mclean chooses to live with her Dad. This is the day to day damage since the divorce and you will not find this story all wrapped in a weekend of events, but there are events that unfold over time. There is nothing tidy about divorce, the fallout effects everyone differently. The characters are real & we see some appearances from Dessen's past books (a signature mark of Dessen's writing). Mclean's love interest is Dave; he also happens to be a genuine gem and Mclean's neighbor. This is a girl who is hesitant & cautious about any type of connections because any sense of Mclean's own roots seemed to have vanished away in a heartbeat. She does not know what will happen from one day to the next due to her father's job which translates into a gypsy style of life. They move around a lot and Mclean deals with this as a relief from her former hometown and finds solace in reinventing herself. Life seems different in this last town and like it or not a few real connections are being formed. Mclean is changing and growing as she keeps her emotional baggage guarded and in check. True to form, Sarah Dessen writes about the art of life, occurring as naturally as the tide rolling in and out. The author weaves a story with her understated magic of observance in the human condition. Highly recommended.

Dessen is a skilled author and I can't help but think that she could have done so much better.
I didn't hate the book but I didnt particularly like it either.
Mclean lacked depth, she was self absorbed and just dull. Deb, the side character, seemed much more interesting with her various interstes and an obvious "story" behind them.
I liked Gus and Opal and how they evolved.
It was so nice to spot Owen an Annabel eventhough it was just for a second.
And Dave? Oh, Dave. Just "meh".

Okay, this is my second Sarah Dessen and dang that woman she keeps sucking me in! I love all the little bits of random life that push their way into the main story, like the town model and everyone's back-stories and Deb! Can I tell you how much I love Deb??? Her character was such a great surprise, over and over. And I love Mclean for making friends with her instead of choosing the cool way out and gossiping behind her back. A book that addresses what makes a home and how to find your place in the world, even when your personal world is in upheaval. Also, respect the fact that while there is a love interest, it's not an insta-love and he's not the thing that makes her change. He's a part of it, because the important people in your life always are, but not the reason for it.
Love :)

As always, Sarah Dessen delivers a tasteful interpretation of some of the many trials that plague teenagers in their quests to become adults. What Happened to Goodbye is no exception. It's the story of McLean Sweet,a senior whose is still having trouble forgiving her mother for her adulterous affair that caused her parents' divorce. McLean has chosen to live with her father, whom she views as the victim, of course. Every few months, they pack up and move to another city for her father's business, which gives McLean the opportunity to reinvent herself as she tries to forget the happiness of her old life. But then... she meets Dave. And she wants to be herself again.

Teens and adults alike will easily relate to Dessen's wonderful cast of characters. I would recommend this book in a heartbeat.

Casey Hays
Author of The Cadence

This was the First Dessen novel I've read, and I found it, on the whole, an interesting read. The situation with a split family is one that a lot of teenagers can relate to, and Dessen does point out that there are always at least two sides to every story.
McClean Sweet (her name sounds a bit contrived...as in Clean Sweep)is a believable character who is attempting to find out who she really is, but her friends don't seem to be any kind of normal. The ending is anticlimactic and seems hurried.
I would have enjoyed this reading experience much more if it were not for Ms. Dessen's frequent and unfortunate use of profanity...as in the "thou shalt not" kind. This language is disturbing to those who are Christians and, while the use of it may be considered the norm, it should not, in my opinion, be espoused by writers of fiction for youth. These authors possess an enviable ability to affect the lives and minds of young people, and such weight carries with it an implied responsibility to promote those attitudes and habits that are beneficial. Her proclivity to profane God's name and that of His Son will prevent my taking other books off the shelf of our library.

Deana Carmack
author of The Dragon Outside,
and Futures

I missed the good old Sarah Dessen writing. Yes, her stories are often formulaic, but most of the time, they each have a special something to set them apart. I wasn't thrilled with her last two unremarkable books, Lock and Key and Along for the Ride, but I was glad to see the uniqueness shine through in her latest, What Happened to Goodbye. It's emotionally honest, sweet, and utterly relatable, leaving me with a smile and lots to ponder after finishing. I think Dave could have used some more character development, but he's a new classic Dessen boy. Sarah Dessen's books are always going to have a special place in my life and on my bookshelf, some books more than others, and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next!

Rating: 5/5

What Happened to Goodbye was the first Sarah Dessen book I read, and I plan on reading more of her books very soon! It is a novel that pulls you in from the start, and Dessen's writing is amazing!

The story follows Mclean, who has moved four times in the past two years. With every move she creates a new person to be. Mclean lets her real identity slip to Dave, and bonds with him and his friends over a shared project. And Mclean finds that she might just like this town after all...

I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Dessen's writing, or someone looking for a good book to read! What Happened to Goodbye is truly an amazing book!

I really want to give this book 3.5 stars, but being such a fan of Sarah Dessen's work, I bumped it up to a 4. This is not my favorite Sarah Dessen novel (personal favorite is "Keeping the Moon," and other favorites are "This Lullaby" and "Just Listen"); I found I didn't connect with the characters as much as previous novels. I never felt like I really got to know them.
As always, I love the world that Dessen's characters inhabit. I like that as a reader you feel a part of these towns and communities which helps, as a reader, to create a deeper connection with the book. I like the references and callbacks to previous works, although I sometimes felt that, in this novel, they were a little forced.
If you're new to Dessen's work, I wouldn't recommend starting with this novel. I would recommend "Keeping the Moon," "Someone Like You," or "This Lullaby."

You know what's awesome? Meeting an author like Sarah Dessen, who, even though she's written several books already that has gained her considerable celebrity, still manages to be nice to all of her fans. It's refreshing. She's so awesome and I was so excited to meet her and get a copy of What Happened to Goodbye at BEA.

Which I then proceeded to devour immediately. I don't think any book of hers will ever be as close to my heart as The Truth About Forever, but they all try pretty damn hard, including What Happened to Goodbye.

Mclean's story was heartbreaking in a way that I didn't even notice until the end. I was so wrapped up in her life and the new friends she was making (against her will) that I, like her, didn't even notice how hard she was really struggling. Sometimes you don't know how badly you hurt until it just hits you and I think that's exactly what happened to Mclean.

I loved all the characters in What Happened to Goodbye, even Mclean's mother. I thought they each played an integral role to the story and Mclean's growth. I especially loved her dad, who - despite the quirkiness of his character and his lifestyle - was still very dad-like. And Dave, definitely loved him. Not to mention the strange set of friends that came along with him.

Overall, What Happened to Goodbye is not my favourite book Sarah Dessen has produced, but it's certainly a worthy contender. Sarah Dessen manages to, once again, take a situation that happens to many teens (divorce, family problems) and twist it into a wonderful, yet still very relatable story.

Oh Sarah Dessen, how accurately you capture what is going on in the mind of today's teenage girl. It's frightening how accurate this book is!

Mclean is suffering in What Happened to Goodbye, of that I am very, very certain. Her parents have suffered a huge break-up and in the process, one of the biggest things in life that bonds Mclean to her father has been compromised, painfully so. Sarah Dessen very accurately portrays the hurt and pain Mclean is dealing with and her coping mechanisms to try to get it all to work out.

It's strange reading these books as an adult, because you see all sides of the equation, whereas a teenager would feel as if Mclean is being so hardily abused by both parents for not being able to just live her life as she pleases. It's important to remember, however, that Mclean is a teenage girl - and as much as we all wished we knew everything at 17, we really didn't.

Yes, her parents act selfishly, but so does Mclean and that's what makes this story so very, very real. My emotions were tugged left, right and then ripped up and thrown all over the place before being haphazardly put back together. And folks, that's what Sarah Dessen does best.

Highly recommend this book, especially for people dealing with 17 year old girls. Great insights into just how their minds work.

There is absolutely nothing out there like a good Sarah Dessen novel. While Along For The Ride and This Lullaby are still my favorite SD books, I still really enjoyed this story. The characters were great, the story well written (plus charming), and the love interest was too cute for words.

The only thing I wish was that there was more romance. The chemistry between Mclean and Dave is there, but the romance seemed, I guess a bit lacking compared to other SD books. This book is mainly about families and all the different relationships (new and old) that play a role in everyone's life, friendships and roots.

Oh, and if you follow Sarah Dessen on Twitter, you know what a die hard college basketball fan she is. BUT, for those who don't do the Twitter thing, you'll see for yourself that this woman really does love (and I mean LOVE) college basketball. Her passion for it truly shines in this book, but don't worry, it doesn't take away from the story. If anything, it adds more to it, so that's always a nice touch.

For all Sarah Dessen fans and fans of YA contemporary literature, I'm sure you'll be pleased with What Happened To Goodbye. There are loads of cute moments, funny conversations, witty banter, and it's topped off with unforgettable characters you'll easily fall in love with.

Sarah Dessen bring us her latest release of What Happened to Goodbye. Mclean has been running from her family problems with her dad whose job takes him around the states revamping failing restaurants. What Mclean finds in the town of Lakeview is herself. The question is will finding yourself mean loosing all that you hold close? When is goodbye not enough, when is is too hard. Dessen creates these amazing characters with such heart felt depth to them. There is always sure to be some point in her books that cause you to drop a tear. WHTG is an amazingly written read. Mclean chooses to give this town herself, but as the truth comes out about her past, her family, and her future will she too unravel?

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen is a light, fun and touching novel that narrates the tale of high school girl Mclean Sweet. Dealing with her parent’s divorce and constant moving across cities, Mclean is struggling to come terms with her life. The complicated yet loving relationship she shares with her parents, Gus and Katherine, is beautifully described by the author. The supporting characters - Dave, Deb, Opal, Heather and Riley are well etched. One particular scene that stands out is with Dave and the spice containers that is sure to keep you swooning!

I will start off by saying I am a huge fan of Sarah Dessen. I have read all of her books and loved "The Truth About Forever" and "Just Listen" in particular. "Along for the Ride" was decent too, but "What Happened to Goodbye" was just bad. Out of loyalty for Sarah Dessen I will not give it one star, but it deserves it. McLean's name bothered me (I kept calling her 'Mc-Clean' in my head), and she was a very weak character. I thought she needed professional help for her multiple personality disorder, as it was not normal to COMPLETELY change when moving to a new town. I could understand joining new clubs and sports, but changing your name constantly? It was unrealistic for a girl of her age. Also, the novel took too long to build up to the main point. The first third of the book just dragged completely and I literally had to force myself to keep reading, something VERY unusual for me when reading one of this author's books. I found myself not caring about McLean and her supposed problems, it was such a drag. If you must read this book, get it from your local library or borrow it from a friend's Kindle. I made the mistake of buying it, and want my money back. Read Dessen's earlier novels and you will be impressed.

Another outstanding YA novel by Sarah Dessen. The characters were beautifully developed with a lot of deep narrative that will make readers think about their own persona. Loved the small town setting, learning about the restaurant business. The MC Mclean is a complex, interesting character. I appreciated the beautifully developed relationships with her new friends and her father while trying to sort out her complicated feelings about herself and her relationship with her estranged mother. For those of you familiar with her other novels, you will be pleased with the small surprise she throws in toward the end. I highly recommend this novel.

In WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE, Mclean's parents are divorced and she travels with her father refurbishing restaurant businesses. When they move, Mclean always has to reinvent herself. Mclean hasn't really bonded with anyone since her parents' divorce, and while she gets along with her dad okay, her relationship with her mom is on the tepid side. Her new life in Lakeview is full of surprises and unexpected friends. She finds a friend in her new neighbor, Dave, who seems to be brilliant, but not overly social, and becomes friends with Deb, another bit of a loner but has interesting talents. She finds herself opening up to these new friends. She's forced to confront her mother, who she sees as controlling and negligent of her resentment of her part in the divorce. Between college basketball games, working at her father's new restaurant and building a model replica of Lakeview, Mclean learns what it means to get to know people. She fights the temptation to run and works to rebuild a relationship she thought was over. Mildly romantic and funny, this one is geared toward the coming of age, self-discovery, and learning what life is about.

Sarah Dessen's latest offering, What Happened to Goodbye, fails not so much because it's an objectively worse book than any of her previous nine novels, but because it never emerges from their shadows. Dessen's made a career out of revealing the interior lives of teenage girls, surrounding them with "quirky" friends or co-workers and one sweet and long-suffering boy of the type that's never been seen in a high school, placing her characters in schools and towns familiar to her long-time readers. Dessen doesn't shy from family drama or classic moments of teenage self-doubt or introspection, but What Happened to Goodbye reads like a novel written from a mold. While the book provides a comforting read it's not one that's comparable with Dessen's earlier efforts for the simple reason that it tries too hard to reimagine what those books had.

Dessen here follows Mclean Sweet, the daughter of a former restauranteur and the wife who left him for the basketball coach of the family's favorite university team. Doing her all to avoid her mother and her new family (which includes two new half-siblings), Mclean moves across the country with her father,Gus, spending a few months in town after town as he attempts to resuscitate failing restaurants bought by his friend Charles's company. In each town Mclean renames and remakes herself, becoming "Liz" or "Eliza" or whatever iterations her middle name offers; but in her latest move, she is stymied in her efforts at self-recreation and becomes, again, simply "Mclean."

The quirky characters are in full force here, from the staff of Luna Blu, the restaurant Gus has been brought in to work on, who on paper have no positive qualities but in life are what draw people to eat there, to the friends Mclean finds herself collecting, almost against her will, before she's decided which version of herself she'll be in this new town. Her parents' divorce having proven, to Mclean, that relationships can't last and will only hurt her in the end, she's been in the habit of forming only the surface-level friendships that gather her friends on Dessen's reimagined facebook, Ume.com, but no one she regrets leaving behind as she slips out of town after town.

With the family issues and Mclean's reaction to her parents' divorce and her mother's new life, Dessen is her usual self, confident in envisioning the impact the (very public) break-up of Mclean's life had on her. But that's the problem, maybe; Dessen is simply revisiting her usual territory of broken or breaking families, of teen girls meeting that first boy who will at end help them through their often hidden feelings about their families. What Happened to Goodbye often reads as though Dessen did nothing more than trudge through her old steps as she wrote it.

Dessen is a skilled writer of young adult, and she has undeniable talent when it comes to the interior lives of girls in high school. It's not a talent that she's growing, however, and her earlier books read as fresher than this one because she hadn't yet fallen into the mold that now defines her books. Dessen's last few offerings read as though they might have all been built on the same plot; simply edit character names and quirks and the specifics of family and you have, at heart, a string of books about teenage girls finding themselves in markedly similar ways. What Happened to Goodbye may be a comforting read, but it's not one that will stand time as well as Dessen's earlier novels, particularly That Summer and Someone Like You.

I love Sarah Dessen! She's one of my favorites YA author and I really love her books! What happened to goobye it's about this girl with the disfunctional family and gets to travel a lot because of her father's job. Everytime she moves it's like a new start for her until she moves to this place where everyone open their arms to give her the chance to fit in and she struggles to stick with the old way she handles things or take the chance to be herself. I liked the story but I have to confess that I got bored sometimes and I was hoping for more. I guess after reading The Truth about Forever or This Lullaby or Along for the Ride my expectations are bigger than before. I would definetly recommend this book to anyone because overall I enjoy reading it and getting myself into the story.

Mclean's family has been torn apart. Her parents went through a nasty divorce. Her mom has a brand new family. Mclean wants nothing to do with her.

She lives with her dad who moves frequently due to his job. Mclean's become a different person with every more - starting off with a clean slate.

With the latest move, it seems she's becoming more like her old self. She still doesn't play or talk basketball. Mclean's been running from her old life and her old self for so long. Now shes finding it hard to become herself again.

Dave just might be the person to help her become the person she's meant to be, not the person she's been trying to hide.

My Thoughts: I LOVED this book - I'm such a huge Sarah Dessen fan. I Loved how other characters popped up from her previous novels. I'm so intrigued by Jason after disliking him so in Truth About Forever. I loved the journey of Mclean - how she held back from people and how she finally let people past her walls. I felt for Mclean - sad, heartbroken, and hopeful. Sarah Dessen is a master of writing teen contemporary romances. It's impossible not to fall in love with her books and her characters.

This book had no plot. The characters were flat and uninteresting, and the writing style was lifeless. The worst part of the whole this was that it had so much potential. I read the sample and thought that bit was great, but it went down hill fast from there. In what was supposedly to be a romance novel there was no romance. Sure there's a girl and a guy and they kind of like each other, but that's about it. I had to push myself to finish the book and when I did I didn't even care if they got together. I was just glad the book was finally over. There was nothing I liked about this book at all. That it could have been good just makes it more of a let down. I wish I could give it zero stars.

Always being the new girl, Mclean manages to portray her new identity pretty well. After her parents well known divorce Mclean has moved a total of four times with her father. Throughout these moves, Mclean has pursued different personalities of girls that she changes to be like. This time she already has her persona picked out and she is already making new friends at a party, when she meets Dave and shows her real identity of `Mclean'. All the new friends she is making are nothing like what her old friends were like, and she grows relationships with all of them over community service and a hobby for basketball. Mclean is now challenged to be herself and forget her past.
The author uses language that is easily accessible to a teenager. All the problems in this story are very relatable to high school students and the book shows us that were not all so different and we all have the same hardships in life. This book is a very quick read because you just get carried away in another realistic situation and it is enjoyable to see and read about how others cope with these kinds of situations. The title of the book `What Happened to Goodbye' really says a lot about the book because every time Mclean moves away she just leaves. She does not say goodbye to all her friends and she does not make closure. So the question is what really happened to goodbye? Are there so many tragic events in her life that has happened to make her so angry and depressed to just pick up and leave that fast? These thoughts really cross my mind a lot but as you read the book you will understand more about her parents very public divorce.
Sarah Dessen does a great job of reflection of reality in the book because she brings out most of the issues us teen's deal with on a daily basis. Alcohol, drugs, parties, drama, divorce, parents, betrayal, and boys are all relatable issues in this book. Mclean doesn't really know how to handle her parent's divorce and she truly feels betrayed by her mother in the beginning and she does ignore her mom for quite some time but who could blame her. Mclean is just being a normal teenager trying to deal with life as it comes to her and later in the book you'll find out how Mclean deals with her mom and finally moves back with her. Another important issue is boys. Boys are crazy; they make you do crazy things you want to, to get their attention. Mclean clearly has a major crush on Dave that she forgets her own name! Mclean does a great job coping with these problems and I truly admire her for that.

I've read every single one of Sarah Dessen's books and was as excited for this one to come out as I was for the others. When I read it, I was kind of surprised that I was able to put it down. I wasn't able to do that with any other Sarah Dessen books. "What Happened to Goodbye" is a good book, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't live up to the rest of Sarah's work. I didn't root for the main character, Mclean, as strongly as I had with the other characters in her previous books. I couldn't connect with Mclean on the same level as the characters from her other work. What I did appreciate about this book, however, was the fact that Sarah Dessen did a really good job of building the friendship between Mclean and Dave, a boy she meets when she moves with her dad yet again. It seemed very realistic because they weren't too hasty; they were good friends for quite a while before they were anything more. Their relationship was very believable.

If you have liked anything else that Sarah Dessen has written, you'll like this too. It wasn't my favorite, but you might enjoy it more than I did.

I believe this book could be good for a child of divorce. I am not a child of divorce and I enjoyed the story. Being a parent, it actually broke my heart.

At the same time, the plot moved along a bit slowly at times. That wouldn't stop me from recommending the book, just know it may take a bit longer than you expect to get through.

The characters were real, the subject matter was real. That is a definite bonus in my eyes.

This was my second Sarah Dessen book and I have to say it lived up to the first. I loved the main character Mclean, I thought she was the perfect mix of funny and serious. Mclean has been moving from place to place for two years now with her father, because he goes to different restaurants and tries to save them. They've been doing this ever since her dad and mom got a divorce. As the two of them move from place to place Mclean has changed herself each time, starting with her name. But when they moved again, so that her dad could work on a restaurant called Luna Blu, she decides to use her real name, Mclean. From then on she unknowingly starts to find herself, with the help of a cute guy next door named Dave. Throughout the book she deals with issues with her mom and not knowing who she is. Sarah Dessen does an amazing job of showing what teenage girl goes through, the good and the bad. It was the perfect beach vacation book for me!

I have read every single one of Sarah Dessen's books and have fallen completely in love with the plot, the characters, and the charming romances. So when I saw that a new one of her books had come out... I rushed to buy it and was strongly looking forward to the emotional effect it would have on me. When I read the inside cover, it made the book out to be a story primarily about romance for a girl who moves around a lot. I thought, "perfect! I have been to 5 different schools in the last three years and i'm a sucker for a good love-story." However, during the duration of the book, I at no time felt anywhere connected to Maclean. I know how hard moving can be, and I didn't really get that vibe from her. She was boring and the inside cover said that Dave was supposed to bring out the true Maclean or something. I at no point ever saw a true Maclean. She was very dull and unrelateable. Which leads me to my biggest problem, Dave and Maclean's romance was more like a bore-mance. I mean, they're neighbors for god's-sake, that's a set up for sexual encounters! The only "romance" we got in the first 350 pages was his hand on her head. My last problem with the book was small, but extremely angering to me. Deb's eccentric talents were mentioned several times through out the book, and I kept waiting for a back-story to explain her quirk. However, no back-story ever came... leaving me wanting an explanation.

I am a huge fan of Sarah Dessen, but for whatever reason, this book just fell flat for me. It was a real slow read for me, in part because I had a hard time identifying with the main character. One of the things I absolutely love about Sarah Dessen's books are the quirky people the main character ends up being friends with, and I didn't really feel like that happened so much in this book. I also didn't quite feel the chemistry between Mclean and Dave, the male lead.

Overall, probably one of my least favorite books by her, but I don't regret having read it. I think that it would maybe resonate better with someone who can relate better to Mclean's life experiences.

I almost quit half way thru reading this book bc it seems slow and weird and hard to read. But I love love love sarah dessen so much that I pushed thru and I'm so glad I did. I thought there were a lot of typos and a lot of unnecessary detail in the first half but once things started rolling, it was so good!!! I also loved how she tied in Along for the Ride. Sarah dessen is fabulous and this book is no exception, read it!

4/5 Stars
I liked the idea of getting to change who you are every time you move, since you know you will be leaving after a short while and can reinvent yourself again. Read this if you like when characters see new places, find out what they’re made of, have to make tough decisions about family, have season tickets and help the boy next door. Who, in turn, helps, too.

What Happened to Goodbye By: Sarah Dessen is a book that focuses on relationships and discovering who you are. McLean, a high school girl has been able to put on an act to everyone she has known. Since her parents divorce, she choose to live with her dad, which includes constant moving every time her father gets a new job. Whenever she gets to a new place, she decides on a new name and character, and begins a new school, blocking anyone from really knowing who she is. This stays true, until McLean begins to talk with her new neighbor Dave. She is shocked at the details she finds out, when she sees that she can be honest for the first time in her life. This book is a great book for teenage girls, being easily relatable in the years of growing up and finding who you are. The beginning of this book is a little bit slow, because there is a lot of background information that you need to learn about McLean and her family, but once understood it is a book that is hard to put down. The connections between family, friends, and love keep you wondering throughout the entire story, and there is even room for some interpretations on what you think will happen next at the end of the book.

What Happened to Goodbye addresses the issues of a young girl who finds herself lost after her parents divorce. I liked how the author chose to tell the girl's story. She did so in such a way that you could understand what the girl was going through even if you've never been in the same situation. The characters and their interactions were great and added to the overall story. All in all, I liked this book and I'm sure I will be reading more chick lit and more from this author.

I own all of Sarah Dessen's books (except "That Summer"- lost it!) and I love them all! But this one is not my favorite. It just seemed strange to me- the model building mostly. I don't know why I felt that part of the plot was strange, but I just did. If this is your first time reading a Sarah Dessen book and you feel the same way I do, please read some of her others! I loved "The Truth About Forever" and "Along For the Ride" the most! Read them before you make any decisions about her writing.

What Happened to Goodbye was all about how Maclean was dealing with the divorce of her parents.

The characters in this novel were described in such vivid detail that they felt like real people. I couldn't help but to be drawn into Maclean's struggle with the mother. As a reader, I understood how Maclean felt and truly sympathized with her.

I'm not sure if this book was supposed to be a young adult romance with the ineraction with Dave and Maclean. If so, it fell short on that aspect. The connection between the two of them was secondary and more of an afterthought thrown in at the very end of the book.

Every other aspect of this novel was great, and the overall story could have done without the lackluster romance of Dave and Maclean.

This is the first Sarah Dessen book that I have completed, and after finishing it (teary-eyed), I wondered why I hadn't read her books before. I started reading this on the last day of BEA and was immediately sucked into Mclean's story. What Happened to Goodbye is a marvelous story about a girl that is desperately searching for an identity after her parent's tragic and public divorce shattered her world.

I loved the dynamics of the parents in this book. Mclean's father is busy with his restaurant duties and while he loves Mclean, he really lets her do her own thing. Her mother on the other hand, wants so desperately to be close to Mclean again, and does anything she can (including getting lawyers involved) to see her. Mclean wants the distance that her father gives her, but also needs the closeness that her mother offers. No wonder she is so conflicted.

The romance in this book is very secondary. So much so that it may bother some readers. Even once you think the romance has gotten off the ground, it kind of sputters and dies. I am personally okay with that. It's real, and I much more enjoyed learning about Mclean and who she really is. with that said though, I do wish that more time had been spent exploring Dave's character and how he really feels about his family. But, I suppose that's for another book to tackle.

Like many of Sarah's other books (that I've started and have yet to finish), I would very heartily recommend it to teens that I know because of it's great voice, and fantastic characters. If you love Sarah Dessen's work, you aren't going to be disappointed by this book.

In my opinion this is one of Sarah Dessens best books. I have similar family experience to this plot and it's extrememly realistic...with exception to my step Father being a basketball star of course. The first few Sarah Dessen books I read I wasn't very excited about, but I feel that each book gets better. The only reason I gave it four instead of five stars is that like another reviewer said...she does get slightly repetative in her story telling. Otherwise I loved it.

I think this was a really good story, but i just wasn't in love with it like how i was with Along for the Ride. I think Sarah Dessen's writing style is amazing and i love how easily i can connect with her characters and feel like im right there with them, but the story just didn't do it for me. It took a long time for any big event to happen and there wasn't any fast paced writing that made you want to hurry up and read to find out what happens until the very end.

As previously mentioned by another, I wish I could have read this with a clean slate, but being a fan of Sarah Dessen I have read all of her books and can't help but compare them to each other. To be brutally honest, it was a good read but Dessen has written better.

With that being said, I did enjoy this book. It was well-written with characters and a plot expected from Dessen (which is not a bad thing). Although I feel as if WHTG had so much potential and it fell short. The ending seemed a bit rushed, the characters under-developed (even Mclean, the main character) and the relationship between Mclean and Dave was anti-climatic. This story had great characters, but I would have liked to learn a bit more about Deb and her past as well as get to know Dave a bit more. The relationship between Dave and Mclean seemed forced and unnatural; there was no real chemistry between the two (which may seem that way because I feel like I didn't really /know/ them very well).

Overall, I liked the book but not as much as some of her others such as This Lullaby, The Truth About Forever and Just Listen. Maybe my expectations were a bit high because I am such a fan of hers, but I wouldn't give this book higher than 3 Stars. Still a fun, enjoyable read though.

I've always been a fan and advocate of Sarah Dessen's novels but "What Happened to Goodbye" has got to be her worst book. She dropped the ball on all fronts. Deb would've been a much better main character. As a friend said, " Plus, she had more chemistry with Dave than McLean with... anybody, really." I absolutely agree. A lot of moments in the story sounded so stiff and scripted. On top of that, Mclean wasn't even a very relatable character. Thus, I didn't sympathize or care for her. A few of the supporting characters seemed to have potentially interesting backstories (Jason, Deb, Riley) that were never told while the rest of the supporting characters seemed to serve mainly as plot drivers. Also, without revealing anything, some things in the story just didn't make sense. I call these, "Hello, common sense?" moments.

"What Happened to Goodbye" is basically one big, predictable cliche. I agree with reviews that say her last two offers were disappointing as well. I've been in denial, hoping the next novel would bring redemption but I cannot turn a blind eye to the latest mediocre offering any longer.

I usually love Sarah Dessen's books, but this one didn't make the cut. Not one bit. The setting was interesting and the leading character's Dad adorable, but that's it. The romance in this book is pretty much nonexistent. I kept reading and reading, expecting something would happen between McClean and the boy next door but...nothing ever happened.
If you're looking to see a warm, beautiful romance in this book, you've been warned. There's nothing.

I was never drawn into this one. When the main character's big flaw is that she basically doesn't have a personality, it is hard to connect. The writing isn't bad, and I could see some people enjoying this, but it just didn't do it for me.

Let's just say I'm very happy I didn't waste money on this book. Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Just Listen and Lock and Key, I was very disappointed by Sarah Dessen's latest, What Happened to Goodbye. I read the synopsis at the library and thought it sounded interesting, and, being a Dessen fan, I got it. I actually liked it for most of the book. The premise was great-a girl trying to find who she is because she's never really known since her parents' messy divorce. This is the main plotline throughout the novel. A subplot is Mclean's (the main character) horrible relationship with her mother. (Her mother cheated on her father and that's why they got divorced.) Mclean never wants to talk to her, and she is always angry at her. This was great material and it really had me interested. Then I got to about 3/4 way through the book, where Mclean (who is telling the story) tells the reader that she made up with her mom...Why didn't we get to see this discussion? It was very disappointing to me that we never saw Mclean confront her mother. I guess Dessen was trying to show that Mclean forgave her, but it didn't come across very well because she still was bitter toward her mother after they supposedly "made up". I don't understand why Dessen did not include this scene in the novel. I think that this is the reason the novel is so anticlimactic. There could have been a great climax scene where Mclean has a breakdown, confronts her mother, maybe gets angry at Dave (the love interest) and her father. The problem was that Mclean was such a boring, emotionless character that it would have been out of her character to have this kind of scene. If she had been more sensitive and emotional, she would have been more relatable and easy to sympathize with. As much as I enjoyed Just Listen and Lock and Key, I found this to be a similarity between all three books-the main characters are flat and boring (it's the supporting characters that you're really interested in, for instance Owen in Just Listen and Deb in What Happened to Goodbye). However, in Lock and Key and in Just Listen, the main characters did show sensitivity towards the climax (because both of these books DID have climaxes). SO I really don't understand why it couldn't have happened for this one. Please, if you are looking for a good Sarah Dessen book, do not, I repeat, do not read this one. Read one of the other ones I mentioned...anything but this.

In the book What Happened to Goodbye, a teenage girl goes through a hard time during her school career. Mclean has to deal with moving around a lot because her parents are divorced. She lives with her father because she blames her mom for the family splitting apart. Mclean and her dad move all the time because of his job. Every time they move, Mclean decides to change how she is going to act. She has completely different personalities for each person. When she moves for the last time she has a personality planned out. She met a boy named Dave and her fact personality is changed. She acts like herself when she's with Dave.I personally believe that this book should be read by teenage girls that are in high school. They will be able to relate to it the most.

As an avid Sara Dessen reader, I had so many expectations for this novel. I wanted it to blow me away like The Truth About Forever or This Lullaby. It did not. I didn't like the plotline from the beginning, and Mclean annoyed me as a character. Also, I found Mclean's relationship with her mother obnoxious. Mclean's mother didn't deserve the forgiveness she recieved from Mclean and Gus. Furthermore, Dave was not a satisfying character. I needed more interaction with just him and Mclean. It seemed that Deb was constantly around when Dave and Mclean were conversing. Overall, I was disappointed. Hopefully Dessen will bounce back with her next novel.

I love her books, especially the truth about forever. I love the character development and the little details Dessen likes to include. That being said, I feel like this book did not have enough of a plot to carry it through the long winded descriptions and details. It was a bit boring at times.

I love Sarah's deep, interesting, thought provoking writing. I find myself smiling and sometimes laughing out loud while reading. I've recommended this author to my daughter and if she doesn't look into her I will buy her a book myself! Once you read one of Sarah's books, trust me you will read them all. Enjoy!

Over two years ago in Tyler, Mclean Sweet's parents divorced in an angry public war. She stayed with her restaurant consultant dad though she worshipped her mother before the split while her mom began a new family. Mclean no longer speaks to her mom. Instead since the schism, she and her father have moved four times as part of his job as an EAT INC consultant saving dying restaurants while his only true love is Defriese University basketball.

Four towns have allowed Mclean to try on a new personality in each one so she can conceal the shame of who she truly is. As dad tries to save Luna Blue, she wants to end their rolling stone existence and stay in Lakeview as she observes her neighbor Dave Wade the genius trying to pretend to be an average IQ geek.

Although mindful of the author's Along for the Ride, Mclean makes the tale work as she brings angst with her anger towards her parents, her shame over the public humiliation of their split that makes her the divorce kid and her need to no longer be a rolling stone as she wants to gather the moss of belonging in high school. The support cast at Jackson High School, the Luna Blue and Lakeview enhance the story line targeting middle school of a teenager trying to finally move on passed the end of her previously perfect life.

Harriet Klausner

Sarah Dessen is and has always been my favorite writer. As far as this book goes, I relate 100%. There were so many times in high school I wished I could have changed the paths I took. I wondered what it would be like to be someone else. I do agree that the McLean/Dave relationship didn't flourish as much as I hoped, but considering everything else going on its understandable. If Sarah wrote a book about a tree, I would still read it. She's amazing.

Once again Sarah Dessen has created a relatable world in where not only can we connect with the main character, but we also go through her struggles. I abosultely love the dynamics in this story and give Dessen two thumbs up! If you enjoyed this novel as much as I did you will definitely enjoy her other reads. I'm looking forward to her next masterpiece.

I've read every Sarah Dessen book and this one ranks in the top. It's a beautiful story, and different from the others. The last book released seemed to be the same character over and over again, but this one is different. Its beautiful. If you've never read a Dessen book, you must buy it!

I think adolescent girls would really like this book it has a good story that you can keep interested in and also a love story just like all of Sarah Dessen's books do. My favorite thing about Dessen's books though have to be that she puts older characters from different books into her new ones. I like getting a glimpse of them because then it just makes me want to go read those books again. I hope that Dessen continues writing books just the way she does, I have enjoyed all of her books (I own every one).

This is the first Sarah Dessen book I never even bothered to finish. It was so unmemorable that I had the book in my car and forgot that I never even finished it. I think I made it halfway through and STILL nothing was going on. Just the same thoughts and actions over and over again. I'll still give her next book a chance because I enjoyed her early books, but lately they're just not doing it for me.

I wish I could read "What Happened to Goodbye" with a clean slate. I wish I didn't have Keeping the Moon, Someone Like You, Dreamland, and This Lullaby clouding my expectations. I also wish I didn't have The Truth About Forever, Lock and Key, Along for the Ride dulling my palate. I feel like the plot of What Happened to Goodbye is too similar to her previous three books, and the quirk is too manufactured. It has become formulaic. Just like Mclean changed her wrappings from drama girl to student council girl to cheerleader, Dessen changes the wrapping from `girl with dead father, workaholic mother finds love' to `girl drunk mother, absent father finds love' to `girl emotionally reserved mother and father finds love'. It feels like they're all the same story a millimeter under the surface.

There are so many things to be enjoyed about this book, but overall, it's too weighed down by the ponderously heavy metaphors that Mclean seems to find EVERYWHERE. Leave a hospital=another place she's leaving behind; come out of a cellar=tunneling out of the darkness, someone passing her the potatoes, links on a chain. I know teenage girls are self absorbed, but come on. Not even the most introspective teenage girl can turn the end of every section into a metaphor about her life. It's impossible to be that self absorbed and still function in polite society. Also, she told us so much more than she showed us with this one, there were long weighty paragraphs dedicating to explaining characters' inner motivation. She didn't seem to trust us to make any of the leaps on our own.

All that said, Sarah Dessen could write a grocery list with more charm, depth, and realism than most of the YA writers out there. This was a perfectly enjoyable book that I would probably rate higher if it was by an unfamiliar author. And ii might not be fair to expect more of her than any other author, but she set my expectations high with her previous work, and I can't rate this book higher than 3 stars when I know that her best is much better.

This was by far my favorite book by Sarah Dessen. I think it had to do with how much I could relate to it.
How many kids in high school, including myself, feel as if we're pretending to be someone else?
I just absolutely loved this. All the characters were amazing and I can't wait for her to relaease more books in the future.
You wont be disappointed when you read What Happened To Goodbye!

I loved this book. It pulled at your heart strings. At point I got a little teary eyed just becuse of how good and amizing the book is. Teenagers with divorsed parents can totally relate to the story. I can not beleive how great Sarah Dessen is at writimg. This is only my second book I read of hers and it wont be my last.

I've been a longtime fan of Dessen, but this book simply didn't measure up to some before. I felt like I didn't really care about Mclean as a character and there were too many other characters to keep track of.

I loved this book. Sarah Dessen creates wonderful characters and a world that is easy to get lost in. I do have to say that the main character's name threw me. It seemed a bit odd for a girl, but I understand where she was going with it. I only wish she put out books more often than every 2 years!

I could not wait until this latest Dessen book came out and absolutely loved it. As always, the author's storyline is unique in itself and the characters are genuinely believable (which I love in a book). Would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a great read.

I love all of Sarah Desson's books my favorite is "Lock and Key". This book was kinda hard for me to not get mad at the main characters especially the mom. If your parents are divorced and youre kinda sensitive about it, dont read this book.

This book is considered a Young Adult book but even though I am 27 I still go back to them. This one did not fail me. It was a great page turner that kept me interested. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great summer read.

mrs. dessens last couple of books have a had the same kind of format, girl has hard life, makes a life changeing discovery while falling in love with a guy at the same time. what happened to goodbye shows that mrs.dessen has not lost her touch and is still a timeless writer. well done sarah.

is it just me or are there a lot of typos in this book? i've only read about 30 pages so far but i feel like i've already found so many errors. i feel like it keeps talking about the same thing over and over again. not sure if i want to continue reading, i just can't get into it.

What Happened to Goodbye is the first Sarah Dessen novel I've ever read, and if someone can't convince me her other books are any better, I am not sure I'll read another. For her status as a best selling author a number of times over, I was not impressed with this book.

The plot was tired. It could be the plot of a hundred YA books.

The protagonist was underwhelming. I did not identify with Maclean, even as a child of scandalous divorce myself. She had no real personality, nothing to set her apart as memorable. Sure, she has this rich past of recreating herself, yet a treasure trove of good story went un-tapped. I wanted more of THAT- a dip into her experiences as the cheerleader or one of her other personas, and how those forays have affected who she is now. I wanted her to struggle more with having been those other people. To tell us an experience or two. Instead, she just told us she'd tried on some different hats and that was it. As well, I love a character who looks into themselves and discovers flaws, but Dessen was way too metaphorical in the way she had Maclean relating to those flaws. Mclean doesn't discover them, she just poetically knows them. I didn't see the growth I had hoped for. Maclean simply did not live up to her potential as a leading lady.

The supporting characters were flat, with the exception of Deb. They seemed to just be there, taking up space, not offering much to the story or to Maclean's life experience. They were plot-fuelers, and boring ones at that. Deb would have been a far more interesting main character, always revealing some interesting new facet of her personality.

The romance was disappointing. If you could even call it a romance. I kept waiting for some magical connection to occur between Maclean and Dave that would finally set the story on fire. Alas, no such sparks occurred. Maclean goes from having a bland opinion of him until the last minute, then she's suddenly in love. She hardly even reacts to his request to be her boyfriend. I wanted something from her! Repulsion or a twittering heartbeat or SOMETHING! It was like a business proposal! Left MUCH to be desired. (Dave was an interesting character, though. He had potential, as well.)

Granted, I am a writer myself and tend to read with different glasses than most people do. I automatically pick up on structure issues, grammatical flaws and usage problems. I readily see when another author has particular writing styles and patterns that need work. This is because I myself have had to work on all these things, and wouldn't expect an editor or another author to let me get away with passing off poor writing. Since Ms. Dessen has issues in all these areas, I am not sure how this book got past an editor's desk. Some examples would be:

Way, way, WAY too much narrative, especially in the beginning of the book. I felt like Maclean moved about seven times in total in the first 50 pages. I couldn't believe how far in I was and how little I had experienced HER- her voice, personality, etc. All I knew was what she told me, and that was not even in dialogue. It was too heavy, too early on.

There were outright type-o's several times throughout the book. This may not have been Ms. Dessen's fault, but Viking Press has been around long enough to not let that happen. It reflects poorly on them, and ultimately, on the author because the reader doesn't know who is responsible for it.

Ms. Dessen has a serious love affair with words ending in -ing, employing them far too often and many times inappropriately. Using -ing words prolifically leads a writer to cause characters to do things they cannot physically do. Such as, "She walked over to the wall by the stairs, pushing aside one of the tables there." (ch. 3 pg. 68) The -ing here indicates that two things are being done at once. Replace the comma with the word "while" to get a better picture of what this sentence is saying. "She walked over to the wall by the stairs while pushing aside one of the tables there."
You can't do both of those things at the same time. You have to get there first. Ms. Dessen's writing is CRAMMED with hundreds of examples of this very type of flaw, and though it may not be noticed by the average reader, this is the kind of novice writer's mistake that drives other writers nuts. Especially when the author employing it is 10 books into a best selling career and still writing like this. Excuse me...is there an adept editor in the house?

Unfortunately, the young, predominantly female audience Dessen writes for are reading with their hearts in search of romance and a story that touches something personal for them. They propel poorly written books like What Happened to Goodbye to bestseller status. I think Generation Text deserves something a little better.