Genre: Young Adult–Suicide, Depression, and Mental Illness
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: November 3, 2015
Formats Available: Kindle, Paperback
Summary:
Allie is devastated when her sister commits suicide–and it’s 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.
MY RATING: 
Overall, The Sister Pact was a good read. I really want to say it was great, but there are a few things that hold me back from a four or five star rating.
The pace is slow in the beginning, and it took me quite a while to feel connected to Allie. I almost stopped reading several times because I just couldn’t find it in me to sympathize with her. She’s obviously been through a lot with her sister unexpectedly (kind of) killing herself, but I just couldn’t understand her thought process half the time. I didn’t understand why she hated the idea of taking medicine to help her focus and get over her depression because she didn’t want to be like her mother, who is addicted to pills, but she had no problem nursing a growing reliance on cough syrup and other prescription medicines she either filched from her mother’s stash or accepted from the school’s resident drug dealer. Those two ideas clash. Another reason I was slightly disappointed by this book: a few of the major story lines are left unresolved at the end.
Things that I did like: there are some interesting ideas about psychology here, namely the way Allie relates colors to emotions in her art. I really enjoyed that aspect of the story.
If you enjoy young adult literature with a heavy dose of drama or strong focus on mental illness, depression, and suicide, this might be the read for you.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Stacie learned to read at a very early age to escape the endless tormenting from her older siblings. Where the Wild Things Are was her first favorite book and she swore she’d only marry a man who could prove he hand rumpus in his heart! She attended the University of Florida and Penn State where she received a Master of Science degree in Speech Pathology. She also met her future husband at Penn State, who surprised her one day with all the stuffed Wild Things’ characters, proving his worth. She currently works with high school aged Autistic kids, introducing them to the literary worlds she grew up loving. When she’s not working or writing, she engages in Netflix wars with her children or beats her husband in Scrabble, all while watching the Florida Gators and Penn State Nittany Lions play. (Go Gators!) She lives in Florida with her husband, children, and rescue dogs.
Connect with Stacie by visiting her website:
http://www.stacieramey.com/
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