Never Enough

Never Enough by Denise Jaden
4/5 stars
Simon Pulse, 2012
375 pages
YA Contemporary

Source: Received an e-galley via Simon & Schuster's Galley Grab Program (RIP).

I didn't know much about this book before starting it other than being familiar with Denise Jaden's work from her debut Losing Faith, which I read as part of The Contemps Challenge. My favorite part of that book was anticipating the relationship between sisters and I was pleased to see that sisters were also in this book. I wondered what the relationship would be like here.

And wow did we get a doozy of a relationship in this book, told from the perspective of Loann who is constantly unable to measure up to her beautiful popular sister Claire, making the title poignantly fitting even from the beginning. However as the book progresses we see more of Claire's perspective as well as a friend of Loann's, both of whom also live up to that title in absolutely heartbreaking ways.

But before we get to that good stuff, there was the choppy beginning. I felt very much in a daze and prepared for one kind of story based on the beginning. That story had more about friendship with one of Loann's friends stabbing her in the back and acting bizarrely cruel-the worst aspects of high school. Happily that passed and Loann begins to develop a friendship with loner Marcus, who I just adored.  As mentioned, his backstory and the ways he feels he is not enough are sad and we are teased with those details before they all spill out while also showing the many good things he tries to do. I really loved Marcus-he was a stupendous book boy!

The other element of note in my opinion is that of the relationship between sisters, always complicated, rarely easy (at least in my experience). Claire is the golden girl who has the world at her feet until she delays going to college and seems to throw herself into ballet, into work, into anything but confronting her dwindling frame. Meanwhile Loann, while never popular, has her strong friendship with Marcus and is the first to notice that something is not right with Claire, attempting to bring it to their parents' attention with lackluster results. The way Claire's eating disorder ends up consuming the family adds to the sadness. However I never felt overwhelmingly sad while reading this (which has happened to me while reading some books); I guess because I still felt some hope for the future and there were elements of humor along the way.

Overall: I was very thrown by the beginning but soon settled into the meat of the story, wiling away a pleasant afternoon with this book.

Cover: The girl looks pretty wistful as she contemplates the ways she can't measure up.

Losing Faith

Losing Faith by Denise Jaden
Simon Pulse, 2010
377 pages
YA; Contemporary
4/5 stars

Source: Library

I was excited about this because a. I love a good contemporary and b. I love sister stories.  This doesn't entirely fill either criteria.  Yes, it is about Brie coping with the sudden and mysterious death of her sister Faith; yes, it explores questions of religion and faith; and yes, it's set in the contemporary world.  But the whole didn't gel for me.

Brie has some qualities of a sympathetic main character but often she was annoying.  She's dating a loser who only wants to sleep with her and her "best" friend Amy isn't much of a friend.  Thus when her sister Faith dies, Brie finds herself foundering.  Her parents are similarly shocked and withdraw to extremes: her mother hides in the house, her father throws himself into work, leaving Brie very much alone. I felt so bad for her but her interests in clothing, makeup, and popularity as well as her assessment of her locker neighbor Tessa made her seem superficial.

However Tessa is one of the few people able to connect with Brie, having suffered her only tragedy when younger.  I loved Tessa-she had attitude to spare and took no prisoners, encouraging Brie to investigate her sister's death even as the police officers seem content to deem it a suicide.  The other character Brie meets is Alis, a mysterious boy whose sister Reena may know more about Faith's death.  He also helps them investigate, turning the story into a detective novel.

As they investigate, they come across a cult, whose leader has twisted scripture to encourage branding and martyrdom as ways of salvation.  This leads to a very dangerous situation for Brie, filled with suspense but ultimately answers about Faith (and faith). I had expected a novel slightly more preachy but there is no preaching so if you were worried about that, no need!

Remember how I found Brie kind of annoying? Well, part of that was because I wanted to know more about her grief for her sister. I guess she expressed that in part by investigating her sister's death but I didn't feel it; I just read it.

Overall: An average contemporary about grief and faith.

Cover: The whiteness is so stark and surprising-I feel like usually YA novels eschew white backgrounds but this cover makes effective use of it.

Read for Contemps Challenge.