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finesilkflower's review
3.0
Dawn's stepmom has the baby.
Dawn is tense. Carol's bedrest is putting a strain on the whole family, and Dawn still isn't excited about the baby. She's still fighting with Sunny, and she broods a lot about it, wanting to be friends again but generally failing to make any kind of overture. Instead, she spends more time with Maggie and Amalia, but is disturbed by Maggie's intense interest in her own weight. Finally, Carol has the baby, and surprise surprise, Dawn loves baby Gracie! But she has to leave to go to Stoneybrook for the summer basically the next day. Problems, go on hold!
For a Dawn book, this isn't too bad; Dawn is insufferable as ever, but in-character, and she has some legitimately sweet moments with Ducky and Mrs. Winslow. Although it has more quality, probably, than a number of BSC books I've given 3 starts to, it isn't quite up to the caliber of the other Diaries, mostly because there's no real plot. The baby's birth provides a natural climax, but the main plot threads--Dawn's fight with Sunny, notably--don't really go anywhere.
Jeff Schafer Watch: Jeff gets more airtime in this than any Diary to date, eagerly helping to pick out names; choosing baby Elizabeth Grace's nickname (Gracie); and giving her a gender-expectations-be-damned Michael Jordan poster.
Author Gratefully Acknowledges: Jeanne Betancourt. This is the first California Diary not to acknowledge Peter Lerangis. Despite the Dawniness of it all and the lack of a real plot, I think Jeanne Betancourt did a great job. Stylistically, this fits right in with the other Diaries.
Timing: June 6 to June 22
Revised Timeline: My revised timeline puts this at age 23 for Dawn, a year after graduating college. On the one hand, this is a time where it makes perfect sense to be feeling the pain of shedding old friendships as people go in different directions to their adult lives. However, it is tough to reconcile summer vacation and joint custody plot points with the premise that they are all adults now. Maybe Dawn lost her job and is taking advantage of the time between gigs to visit her mom across the country. Or maybe she is going on a several-month-long business trip to her company's New York or Connecticut office and will spend time with her mom while she's there. I'm reaching, folks. Anyway, I'm more confident than ever of my placement of the California Diaries into the series at their release dates, not two years earlier when Dawn actually moves to California, because I believe this plotline is going to get resolved in [b:Welcome Home, Mary Anne|137953|Welcome Home, Mary Anne (Baby-Sitters Club Friends Forever, #11)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387715964s/137953.jpg|132973]. (And how disconcerting is it to see that book's cover with its actually-thirteen-year-old-looking little blond girls on the front? That is so clearly NOT how Sunny looks! I mean, I don't really think of her as being 23, but I do think of her as being at least 16.)
Dawn is tense. Carol's bedrest is putting a strain on the whole family, and Dawn still isn't excited about the baby. She's still fighting with Sunny, and she broods a lot about it, wanting to be friends again but generally failing to make any kind of overture. Instead, she spends more time with Maggie and Amalia, but is disturbed by Maggie's intense interest in her own weight. Finally, Carol has the baby, and surprise surprise, Dawn loves baby Gracie! But she has to leave to go to Stoneybrook for the summer basically the next day. Problems, go on hold!
For a Dawn book, this isn't too bad; Dawn is insufferable as ever, but in-character, and she has some legitimately sweet moments with Ducky and Mrs. Winslow. Although it has more quality, probably, than a number of BSC books I've given 3 starts to, it isn't quite up to the caliber of the other Diaries, mostly because there's no real plot. The baby's birth provides a natural climax, but the main plot threads--Dawn's fight with Sunny, notably--don't really go anywhere.
Jeff Schafer Watch: Jeff gets more airtime in this than any Diary to date, eagerly helping to pick out names; choosing baby Elizabeth Grace's nickname (Gracie); and giving her a gender-expectations-be-damned Michael Jordan poster.
Author Gratefully Acknowledges: Jeanne Betancourt. This is the first California Diary not to acknowledge Peter Lerangis. Despite the Dawniness of it all and the lack of a real plot, I think Jeanne Betancourt did a great job. Stylistically, this fits right in with the other Diaries.
Timing: June 6 to June 22
Revised Timeline: My revised timeline puts this at age 23 for Dawn, a year after graduating college. On the one hand, this is a time where it makes perfect sense to be feeling the pain of shedding old friendships as people go in different directions to their adult lives. However, it is tough to reconcile summer vacation and joint custody plot points with the premise that they are all adults now. Maybe Dawn lost her job and is taking advantage of the time between gigs to visit her mom across the country. Or maybe she is going on a several-month-long business trip to her company's New York or Connecticut office and will spend time with her mom while she's there. I'm reaching, folks. Anyway, I'm more confident than ever of my placement of the California Diaries into the series at their release dates, not two years earlier when Dawn actually moves to California, because I believe this plotline is going to get resolved in [b:Welcome Home, Mary Anne|137953|Welcome Home, Mary Anne (Baby-Sitters Club Friends Forever, #11)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387715964s/137953.jpg|132973]. (And how disconcerting is it to see that book's cover with its actually-thirteen-year-old-looking little blond girls on the front? That is so clearly NOT how Sunny looks! I mean, I don't really think of her as being 23, but I do think of her as being at least 16.)
sammah's review
3.0
This one wasn't nearly as good as Dawn's first diary. In fact, it was pretty blah. It's mostly her being broody about Sunny being a bad friend, and about Carol being on bed rest and then having the baby. Maybe her third diary is better? I certainly hope it will be anyway.
xtinamorse's review
Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/california-diaries-7-dawn
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