Title: Never Enough
Author: Denise Jaden
Release Date: July 2012
Published By: Simon Pulse
Pages: 400
Goodreads Rating: 4.32 stars
Review: Loann has always wanted to be as pretty and popular as her sister Claire, so when Claire's ex-boyfriend starts flirting with her, she soaks up the attention. But as Loann becomes increasingly involved in her sister's world, she starts to see that it's not all it's cracked up to be. Something's wrong with Claire, and she won't stop withdrawing into herself. Is it too late for Loann to heal their relationship and save her sister?
NEVER ENOUGH was a wrenching and heart-breaking look at anorexia. Claire's descent further and further into this terrible disease was portrayed with stunning accuracy and emotion. All I wanted to do throughout the novel was take Loann and Claire out of the pages and hug them both over and over again until everything was okay. (Of course it wouldn't work like that, but it'd be nice if it did.)
My only complaint concerning this aspect of this story is that while, yes, it was of course very sweet and emotional, it didn't touch me on a very deep level. There are some books that are able to affect me to the core so that I remember them long after reading them, and this unfortunately was not the case here. The dark "issue" part of this book was good, undeniably, but not great.
The romance, however, was definitely on the "great" side of things. Loann and Marcus has a true romance, one that advanced at a reasonable pace and actually involved honest emotion. It was realistic for their ages but something that anyone would want to have, and this part of the story was very well-developed.
All in all, NEVER ENOUGH was a book that was hard to get enough of. (Sorry, I could not resist the pun!) It dealt with anorexia in a simultaneously tasteful and wrenching manner, and while it did not grip me as much as I hoped it would, the other aspects of the novel made up for this. I would recommend this to any fans of contemporary fiction or "issues" books, as well as people looking for a better romance than some YA novels have to offer.
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6 comments:
Hmmm, not sure how I feel about this one after reading the review. ....I like romance, but it sucks that the author didn't do a great job with the dark issue.
This sounds really interesting! I love stories involving the sister-sister relationship so I know I will just eat up that aspect but your comments about the romance make me really excited about this too. Can't wait to give this a shot!
This sounds intense! And you're right. I totally wish hugs could heal like that!
Sounds pretty good! I don't think I have this one on my wishlist yet... *runs off to Goodreads*
=^.^= ComaCalm's Corner =^.^=
How is the sister relationship done? We enjoy romance, but in a story like this, that bond would probably affect our opinion more.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! We hadn't heard about this book but it sounds like it might be worth taking a look.
I wanted to hug them too!
Thanks for review.
Brandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog
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