Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters

I loved Natalie Standiford's How to Say Goodbye in Robot, so I was very excited to get a chance to read her new book (due out in September) Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters.  First, this book is very different from the other one - but I liked it a lot. It was a really fun read.

The Sullivans are an extremely rich Baltimore family - but they have all their wealth because of their filthy rich grandmother whom they call - Almighty - and boy does she live up to that name.  She announces to the family on Christmas that she has cut them all out of the will because someone has offended her.  She expects a confession from this person by New Year's Day or else it's over - they'll get no money.  The Sullivan's have to have the money - it's how they survive.  Everyone knows exactly who's the problem - the girls.  Each Sullivan sister, Norrie, Jane, and Sassy, has offended Almighty lately, and so their family members make them write up their confessions for Almighty in hopes that the family fortune can be saved.

The book is divided into three parts:  one for each sister.  As I read, I basically just had to get through one sister's story at a time.  So really, the book took me three good reading sessions - but not too long.  I liked that it was divided up this way.  Standiford created three very different girls.  In a family of six, you'd have to create your own personality, and each of these girls is different from the others, but they are sisters, and you feel that bond.  I liked each girl for her own story (Norrie and Jane the most....Sassy was just ok for me - not like her name, though). The confessions are full of love, hate, life, death, feelings, and just everything.  Even though these kids are filthy rich - they still are dealing with the normal teenage issues like loving someone who isn't what your family would pick, losing friends, and feeling different.  But will their grandmother care?

So are these the confessions that Almighty wants?  Will the girls be able to put their sins out there and save their family from destruction?  Read the confessions and see for yourself.  This was a fast, fun read.  Not as "deep" as Robot I don't think, but very enjoyable.  I will continue to look forward to what Natalie Standiford has for the wonderful world of YA fiction!

Rosie and Skate by Beth Ann Bauman

Love, love, loved this book!!  I saw a review of it on Reading Rants which made me want to read it.  It totally lived up to my expectations.

Rosie and Skate are two sisters who live on the Jersey Shore.  They're locals and work at the shore during the summer while it's full of tourists.  Their dad is an alcoholic - a nice drunk - but still a drunk.  He can't stop drinking.  He doesn't hurt the girls or cause many problems, but he gets out of control one night driving and crashes and lands himself three months in jail.  Rosie and Skate are on their own because their mom is dead.

Their cousin, Angie, comes to live with them and help out, but once their father goes to jail, things are harder between the sisters.  Rosie is hopeful and visits her father and still somehow believes he will get better, while Skate refuses  to go at all.  Skate doesn't attend the support group meetings.  Instead, she spends time at work with her boss Nick, and also pining away after her boyfriend Perry who is gone to college at Rutgers.  She wants to see Perry so badly.  The two of them are great together, but the distance is a problem.

The book alternates between the narration of each sister.  It's cool to hear the story from two points of view.  The writing was real and easy to read.  I liked the characters and the story of each sister.  This was a fun read with some serious stuff mixed in.  I totally loved it!

Here's a link to the New York Times review of Rosie and Skate.