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Book Review of What Happened to My Sister

What Happened to My Sister
reviewed on + 175 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


3.0 out of 5 stars - Secrets and lies

In this follow up to Me and Emma, Carrie (Caroline) Parker and her mother are finally leaving Hendersonville in the wake of her stepfather's murder. The plan is for the impoverished pair to make a new start in North Carolina, putting the sensational events of their past behind them. The caveat: Carrie is not allowed to mention the name of her sister, Emma. The sister that her mother says existed only in Carrie's imagination. Otherwise, her Momma says, Carrie will be sent off to the looney bin. Carrie revises her memories of Emma and tries to please her mother. The pair takes up residence in a run down motor lodge, The Loveless, and while Libby searches for a job, Carrie is left to scrounge for food. While loading up on croutons and ketchup at a local Wendy's restaurant, Carrie meets Honor and Cricket Ford. Apparently Carrie reminds them of a family member who died of cancer and the two little girls become instant friends. The Fords (who think they are related to Charlie Chaplin in a go-nowhere aside in the book) basically take care of Carrie and draw her into their grieving family group. What will happen when Libby finds out that Carrie is telling secrets to her new friend, Cricket? Secrets that can tear apart mother and daughter and bring to examination the details of their former life?

At this point, the book crosses into implausibility. The coincidences and the rest of the story were both predictable and unrealistic. The girls are supposed to be around 9 years old, but Cricket uses phrases and expressions (such as saying she made a "mental note" - supposedly she has a photographic memory and ADHD). The dialect as written for the character of Carrie was also annoying and inconsistently applied to speaking voice and internal dialog, but that is a personal opinion and perhaps others won't find it so. Carrie is supposed to be quite ignorant of the material world of the day and age (Ipods, computers, etc.) and also uneducated. The voices did not ring true to me as being that age.

Most of the book was a Hallmark movie cliche and I was quite disappointed in the direction it went and the ending.