TITLE: The Sister Pact
AUTHOR: Stacie Ramey
GENRE: Realistic Fiction
RATING: 3/5 stars
BLURB: “Allie is devastated when her older sister commits suicide - and not just because she misses her. Allie feels betrayed. The two made a pact that they'd always be together, in life, and in death, but Leah broke her promise and Allie needs to know why.
Her parents hover. Her friends try to support her. And Nick, sweet Nick, keeps calling and flirting. Their sympathy only intensifies her grief.
But the more she clings to Leah, the more secrets surface. Allie's not sure which is more distressing: discovering the truth behind her sister's death or facing her new reality without her.”
REVIEW:
The Sister Pact is an average book, good for a quick read during a train ride. It was enjoyable, although confusing at times. Overall, I would rate it 3/5 stars.
WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE BOOK:
The book was pretty transparent about the fleeting nature of humans caring about other humans. In “The Sister Pact”, Allie receives a lot of initial support and attention from peers she previously never spoke to. However, as time when on, the some of the support dwindled, and Allie found herself mostly alone in her struggles. I enjoyed this accurate representation of how most people react to sudden tragedies, because I think it made the overall book characters seem more realistic.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT THE BOOK:
The author likes switching around scenes from the past and mixing them with current “real-time scenes”. I was able to learn more about Allie’s backstory, but it was also a very confusing technique, and I was sometimes unsure about whether i was reading about a scene from Allie’s memories or a scene that Allie was currently experiencing. The main reason why it was so confusing was because for a majority of the book, Allie feels like her sister’s spirit or ghost materialises and has conversations with her, so both scenes before and after her sister’s suicide would include both Allie and Leah.
YOU WOULD ENJOY THIS BOOK IF:
You enjoy reading novels about characters coping with internal struggles. (and being there for their journey back to a more positive lifestyle!)
SMALL SPOILER COMPLAINT:
Another part I didn’t really like about this book was that there wasn’t a lot of closure about Leah’s death. A large part of the book was Allie trying to find out why her sister killed herself, and throughout the book, no real, substantial explanation or backstory event is given. That made me feel slightly unfinished, even when I flipped the last page of the book.