Never Said - Softcover

Williams, Carol Lynch

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0310746280 ISBN 13: 9780310746287

Publisher: Blink, 2016

Synopsis

Annie and Sarah are fifteen-year-old fraternal twins—who only spend time together because they're under the same roof. Annie's life has long been focused around her appearance and the beauty pageants that celebrate it, whereas Sarah's interests are sports and her runner boyfriend, Jeremy.

Then Annie begins to gain more and more weight, and all she seems to hear from her mother is, “You used to be so pretty,” followed by the latest diet to try.

Things begin to unravel for Sarah as well. Jeremy—her boyfriend of more than a year—decides to see if he and Sarah are "right" for each other, dumping her in order to get his head on straight.

Sarah is devastated. Her family is crumbling. The love of her life is dating other people. Her sister is getting heavier and more depressed. When Sarah learns, through gentle questioning, that a neighbor and very good family friend has been sexually abusing her sister, she knows she must act and help the sister who seemingly always had it all.

Told in alternating points of view, Never Said is the story of a family that has been caught up in what doesn’t matter and about two sisters who realize that their relationship—no matter how different the two of them are—is most important.

About this title

About the Author:

Award-winning author of more than twenty-five books and a graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts with an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults, Carol Lynch Williams facilitates a week-long workshop to help writers get published (www.wifyr.com). She lives in Utah with her family. Visit her at her blog, Throwing Up Words.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 8 Up—Because of her crippling social anxiety disorder, Sarah has been perfectly happy yielding the spotlight to her pageant queen twin sister, Annie. But as she'd struggled to cope with a secret, Annie has quit pageantry and gained a lot of weight. With their family falling apart and Annie being bullied at school, can Sarah help her sister shine again? Narrator Elise Arsenault provides an engaging voice for Williams's characters, bringing their personalities to life. Although Sarah and Annie seem immature, they experience growth throughout the book. Although simplistic, the plot covers emotionally difficult topics with tact, and Arsenault navigates the story's intricate details easily. VERDICT Recommend to listeners who enjoy such authors as Sarah Dessen and Laurie Halse Anderson. ["While this is an overall engaging read, the strange decisions both protagonists make, the overbearing parents, and the constant message that being overweight is the worst thing that can happen to a girl will put off many teens": SLJ 8/15 review of the Blink book.]—Kira Moody, Whitmore Library, Salt Lake City, UT

About this edition

• Publisher: Blink
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0310746280
• ISBN 13: 9780310746287
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256