Never Said

Annie and Sarah are fifteen-year-old fraternal twins who only spend time together because they're under the same roof. Annie's life has long been focused around her appearance and the beauty pageants that celebrate it, whereas Sarah's interests are sports and her runner boyfriend, Jeremy.

Then Annie begins to gain more and more weight, and all she seems to hear from her mother is, You used to be so pretty, followed by the latest diet to try.

Things begin to unravel for Sarah as well. Jeremy her boyfriend of more than a year decides to see if he and Sarah are "right" for each other, dumping her in order to get his head on straight.

Sarah is devastated. Her family is crumbling. The love of her life is dating other people. Her sister is getting heavier and more depressed. When Sarah learns, through gentle questioning, that a neighbor and very good family friend has been sexually abusing her sister, she knows she must act and help the sister who seemingly always had it all.

Told in alternating points of view, Never Said is the story of a family that has been caught up in what doesn't matter and about two sisters who realize that their relationship no matter how different the two of them are is most important."

 

 

My Review

 



I agree with other readers that the subject matter featured in this book is a serious topic that affects not just women but guys as well. People need to be able to have a voice and know it is ok to speak out and ask for help. Luckily, I have not encountered this situation that Annie dealt with. However as I have said before when it comes to these types of books, empathy goes a long way. I did not really feel this for any of the characters except for a tiny bit for Annie. Otherwise for the most part the rest of the characters in this story got on my nerves. Sarah for her "poor me attitude", Sarah and Annie's parents for being "clueless or uncaring", Garrett for trying to be the "knight in shiny armour", all of Sarah and Annie's class mates for being "snobbies".

Although the alternating voices and view points was nice. I like the way that the author scripted Annie's voice. It was written in poem format or just a few words on a page. So you might wonder how I was able to read this book so fast if I did not like most of the characters. It is because the chapters were short...only a few pages long. I do want to say however that everyone pulled together in the last few chapters of this book. However for me I still did not feel the family connection. Plus, the ending was alright.