“The person you can call at 2:00 A.M. and, no matter what you can count on them. Even if they’re asleep, or it’s cold, or you need to be bailed out of jail…they’ll come.” In Sarah Dessen’s What Happened to Goodbye, she shows readers what a true friend is: a person who you can count on through-and-through, and this is exactly what Mclean Sweet needs.
Mclean has chosen so many identities it’s hard to keep track of her history. She’s been Lizbeth, Beth, Eliza, and is ready to start over again as Liz. After all, it’s easy to start over as someone new rather than open up to people about her personal life, especially her mother. In Mclean’s opinion, her mother is trying too hard to win her over. But, she just doesn’t understand is that Mclean doesn’t want to talk to her at all. Honestly who would if her mother got divorced, remarried, and learned she was pregnant all in the time span of a month? But, then she meets Dave, Riley, Ellis, and Deb and finds herself slowly realizing that maybe true friends are exactly what she needs.
Dessen utilizes all of her talent and crafts excellent realistic dialogue and creates believable characters that relate well to an average teenager, and all the problems that they go through. What Happened to Goodbye is similar to Lock and Key, also written by Dessen, because they both of their themes are about finding yourself, letting people into your heart, adjusting to a new place, and learning to trust people. A similar book is The Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti mainly theme-wise because they both have to do with finding yourself, living your life, and doing what makes them happy. This is a “must read” for anyone looking for a good contemporary realistic fiction (CRF) about what it means to have true friends. Dessen ultimately combines everything a CRF reader wants, whether it’s about friendship, or hardships, even a dash of romance. Dessen’s got it and turned into a web of lies, happiness, friendship, true love and a hint of mischief. This book has been recommended to tons of Dessen’s fans -- even those who aren’t -- to give this book a try. Many acclaimed critics such as People Magazine have rated the book a ten out of ten multiple times. I hope that all you readers will get to do the same as them.