Book Review: Change of Plans by Sarah Dessen

Change of Plans by Sarah Dessen

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ — 4 /5 Stars

Genre: Young Adult romance, contemporary fiction.

Publication Date: 2026

Number of Pages: 368

I’ve been a huge fan of Sarah Dessen since I was 14 (she is the queen of YA after all!). Despite not being a teenager myself anymore, I still look forward to her books, so I was thrilled to hear she was coming out with a new book after seven years.

Change of Plans centers around Finley, who has things all planned out, but comes to learn, over the course of 368 pages, that sometimes life doesn’t go according to plan. And that’s okay.

The novel begins as Finley and her boyfriend Colin are about to graduate from high school. Finley is planning on a trip to New York with her mother over the summer and then it’s off to college in the fall. But a wrench is thrown into her summer plans when she and her mother end up in a lakeside cabin instead of the city that never sleeps.

We learn about Finley’s family on her mother’s side—family she barely knows, and she also begins to learn that sometimes there’s beauty in not having a plan.

One of the things I’ve always loved about Sarah Dessen’s writing (besides the dialogue) is how real she makes the dynamics and interactions between characters. In this novel, we see the relationship between Finley and her mother grow and change, as well as the relationship between Cat (Finley’s mother) and her two sisters. We see Finley learning the chaos of working in her aunt’s diner—something that spontaneously happened one day, very unplanned and un-Finley. But she ends up enjoying it and getting the hang of things quickly, further helping her realize that some of the best things in life aren’t planned.

This novel, in traditional Sarah Dessen fashion also centers around a theme—in this case the beauty of the unplanned. The characters go about their normal, everyday lives, and even though there isn’t an insane amount of action happening constantly, I always feel like I’m hooked anyway. The dialogue, the characters, and the realness and easy flow of it all always keeps me reading. The only reason I rated this book a 4 out of 5 stars was because there were times where the pacing felt a bit slower than other books, but it still had all the usual Sarah Dessen elements that I love.

It was also a fun treat to see that there are also a few of Sarah Dessen’s traditional Easter Eggs sprinkled into the story. She’s been known to include references and characters of past novels in her more recent ones. Here, we have references to the lake in The Rest of the Story, as well as the local hotel and, of course, the family motel that Saylor worked at in that novel. There was also a reference to Just Listen in the form of “Hate Spinnerbait” (if you know, you know!)

Can I also just add that I always love the names Sarah chooses for her main characters? She picks some really fun and unique ones—my personal favorite being Auden from Along for the Ride.

Overall, Change of Plans was a great return to Sarah Dessen’s books and I’m looking forward to what she publishes next!