Dessen, Sarah. This lullaby.

Penguin Putnam Viking. 330p. 0-670-03530-0. $16.99. JS *

It's Remy's last summer at home, where she and her brother have always been close to their mother, a successful writer of romance novels, who is now in her fourth marriage. Because of the endless failures of love Remy has witnessed, including her own first sexual encounters in high school, she feels she has no illusions about love. The lullaby of the title is a song written by her father, who never was able to love his children, but a song that Remy returns to again and again. Lines in the song say, "even if I let you down/this lullaby plays on." So this is the story of how Remy comes to understand that love, even flawed love, is worth experiencing; that she would rather open herself to life and love than to be so self-protective as to deny herself the experience. Oddly enough, it is her mother, even in the midst of a failing new marriage, who helps her to understand this truth. She also learns about loving from meeting Dexter, a musician who makes her laugh and loosen up a bit. Their relationship defies all the rules Remy usually follows to maintain control of her feelings. And she doesn't sleep with him either, even though that is usually her pattern, Their stumbling, bumbling love affair hardly gets going in the first weeks of summer, as both of them are working hard, busy with friends, planning on futures--Remy at Stanford; Dexter dreaming of his band signing a contract with a music company. Remy knows on some level that her feelings for Dexter are different and that she is in danger of falling in love with him. So she tries to keep the relationship contained to avoid hurt, even breaking up with him to pursue a "safer" situation with another guy--safer in the sense she can enjoy his company and know it won't hurt when they leave each other. With Dexter, she isn't so sure, which is why readers will appreciate the final chapter that takes place in November when Remy is at Stanford and Dexter sends her a package that reveals where their relationship is heading. What is good about this book is the humor mixed with reality, with the honest portrayal of smart, articulate teenagers struggling to make sense of a world of nonsensical expectations. Remy, Dexter and their friends and "families" are exasperating, funny, smart, and quite interesting.