Review: A Gift for My Sister by Ann Pearlman

Title: A Gift for My Sister
Author: Ann Pearlman
Publisher: Atria Books (May 1, 2012)

Source: Received from publisher

Summary from Goodreads:
Ann Pearlman's The Christmas Cookie Club enthralled readers everywhere with a heartwarming and touching story about the power of female friendship. Now, in A Gift for My Sister, she once again explores the depth of the human heart, and this time it’s through the eyes of two sisters. Tara and Sky share a mother, but aside from that they seem to differ in almost every way. When a series of tragedies strikes, they must somehow come together in the face of heartbreak, dashed hopes, and demons of the past. The journey they embark on forces each woman to take a walk in the other’s shoes and examine what sisterhood really means to them. It’s a long road to understanding, and everyone who knows them hopes these two sisters can find a way back to each other.

Review:
I'm a sucker for books about sisterhood. Maybe it's because I have a younger sister of my own and I personally understand how unique our relationship can be. Even though I enjoyed reading A Gift for My Sister, it left me with a sad, sinking feeling that I couldn't seem to shake away all day after I finished the book.

I really enjoyed Pearlman's writing. She has an exceptional way of adding depth to her characters through flashbacks that are seamlessly embedded within the story in a way that builds upon a character without taking away from keeping track of the present. Tara and Sky are deeply flawed and so blinded to truth and reality because their perceptions of each other are muddled by past hurts, loss, rejection and self-preservation at the cost of never truly accepting the other for who they are.

This story took me way too far down with all the tragedies and didn't pick me back up in time. It really pushed the limit of how much sadness I could take in one book, for ONE character. Maybe because Tara has a 2-year old and so do I, I felt too much for her character and the loss in her life. I kept waiting for the story to turn, but I guess since the story takes place over such a short period of time, it might not be very realistic for the sisters to change so quickly. The turn came too late for me and didn't quite uplift me the way I was hoping it would.

However, Pearlman's writing was very engaging, so I am looking forward to reading some of her other books.

Rating:

3 out of 5 stars