I feel like the ending was not as good as it could be, and there was many unsolved conflicts, as if they disappeared. Other wise, great book! ( )

Reviewed by Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com

Everyone hopes that they have a normal family with very little or no secrets among them, and for Josey Muller, it seemed like she had that life. She had a mother and father who loved her and two brothers who, although they can sometimes drive her crazy, care for her, too. But then Josey's life turns upside down when her parents tell her that her brothers aren't the only siblings that Josey has.

Josey also has a much older sister, Audrey, the daughter that her parents had to put up for adoption, hoping that she would get a better life. Audrey is getting married and thought that this would be the perfect chance to find her birth parents and possibly even meet up with them. At first Josey is perfectly fine with the whole ordeal; that is, until the day she will finally get to see her sister draws near, and the entire situation becomes all too real for her.

Josey's entire life that she was so used to was officially going to change. She wasn't going to be the only daughter and sister in her family, and her parents are beginning to forget about how she feels. What's worse is how Josey's dream of becoming a psychologist has already been accomplished by her older sister, which only makes Josey feel inferior to Audrey.

The only way Josey can deal with these occurrences is to take a step back and truly see not only how she feels but also how her sister feels. But will Josey give this situation a chance?

THE OTHER SISTER was completely real and meaningful. Having Josey as the main character just gives the book the perfect tone it needs to truly capture the essence that a teenager would feel when something unexpected pops up in their life. A very unique story with an ending that was surprising and perfectly written, THE OTHER SISTER was a great debut from S. T. Underdahl. ( )

Josey is a typical teenager living a typical life, until she finds out that her parents had a child when they were teenagers and had to give her up for adoption. When the child contacts Josey's mother, a reunion is planned, but Josey feels like she's been displaced. Will she learn to accept her new older sister? ( )

A Realistic Uncommon, Interesting Book

The Other Sister by S. T. Underdahl*
Publication Date: March 2007
5 out of 5 stars

It’s a regular, ordinary school night when Josey’s regular, ordinary life is changed forever. Her family Christmas card is missing a face. Josey’s parents had a child when they were still in high school and were forced to give the baby up for adoption. Twenty-five years later the baby is now getting in contact with her birth mother. Josey is astonished. How could her parents not tell her and her brothers that they had an older sister somewhere? Her new sister is kind, smart, engaged, becoming a psychologist, talented, and… perfect. Josey struggles with her emotions about her sister and her new place in the family. Shouldn’t Josey feel happy to finally have an older sister? If so, why isn’t she?

The Other Sister was a realistic book with an uncommon, interesting plot dealing with a birth-family reunion.

This book was fairly short. It was only 248 pages with a spread out, easy to read layout. BUT, even though this book was short I believe it covered all the topics, events, emotions, thoughts, and points that were needed to effectively make The Other Sister realistic and believable.

In good books, characters become people. You start to think of them as human beings with thoughts and feelings. The worst part of a book to me is when it ends. Many books just leave you wondering what happened to them, even though you know that they’re just gone. I was extremely happy to find an epilogue at the end of this book. It gave you an idea of what they went on to do, not their full biographies or anything, but just a short wrapper-upper that lets you know they went on living.

The Other Sister is a good, clean book that I would feel fine suggesting not only to highschoolers, but also to middleschoolers.

Date Reviewed: October 23rd, 2008 ( )

This story was really from the heart of the author. The whole adotpion thing really intrigues me. ( )