Dreamland, on the other hand, is about a girl who finds herself in a physically violent relationship after her older sister runs away from home and her parents withdraw from her emotionally.
This book was about domestic violence, which surprised me. The topic was sensitively handled but still had a lot of emotional impact. It was kind of terrifying because Dessen showed exactly how easily people can fall into abusive relationships and how hard it is to get out of them. On the face of it, Caitlin didn't need to stay with Rogerson - she wasn't dependant on him financially, she had friends and a family - but she stayed with him anyway and it never felt unbelievable. I have to admit, I didn't get why she was with him in the first place as he sounded like a dickwad even before he started smacking her about, but I could see why she stayed with him.
Dreamland isn't just about domestic violence, though - it's also about living in someone else's shadow, absent parenting, peer pressure - a whole raft of things that made Caitlin feel like she had to stay with Rogerson.
Not like Sarah Dessen's other work and definitely recommended.
4 stars