My Sister, My Albatross

Between Here and Forever


Written by: Elizabeth Scott

Released: May 24, 2011 by Simon Pulse

Summary: Abby accepted that she can’t measure up to her beautiful, magnetic sister Tess a long time ago, and knows exactly what she is: Second best. Invisible.

Until the accident.

Now Tess is in a coma, and Abby’s life is on hold. It may have been hard living with Tess, but it's nothing compared to living without her.

She's got a plan to bring Tess back though, involving the gorgeous and mysterious Eli, but then Abby learns something about Tess, something that was always there, but that she’d never seen.

Abby is about to find out that truth isn't always what you think it is, and that life holds more than she ever thought it could...

Ugh I just wanted to slap Abby throughout this entire novel. I hate these self-pitying characters who are really showing their faces lately in YA novels. They remind me of the cheesy teen make-over movies like She’s All That where the girl is all ‘no, I’m so plain, not hot’ and then they get the popular guy becomes interested in them and BAM they’re suddenly the hottest thing ever. Abby reminded me of the before images of those girls; you could tell that she was pretty, but her self-image makes her unattractive.

However, I can also see where this whole image would come from since she idolized her sister so much and was so focused on the surface of things rather than digging deeper. She was very shallow when it comes right down to it. Even with Eli, the only thing that she noticed was how attractive he was. And even then she was so down on herself that he was only thought of as ‘for Tess’. Tess was a bitch. But she also had a lot of problems she was unable to fully face and deal with, which is a problem I think a lot of people have. She was unable to be true to herself, and that made me pity her.

Which brings me to Eli. I loved his character and he was so vividly written that he came across as completely realistic. Sure, at first he was just a piece of man-candy, but as the story evolves you get to really see the different sides of his life, and the fact that he was OCD is just icing on a great character. I would completely want an Eli of my very own.

After I got over the whole anti-Abby top story, and was able to get into the real story, I really enjoyed this novel. Sure, it was predictable, but I still was sucked in (after the first 150 pages of self-pity). I just wish that the story had taken off faster than it did. There were a few times where I was wondering exactly when something would happen since it was focused solely on how Abby would never amount to the type of person her sister was. It started to play like a broken record. But I stuck with it and enjoyed the ending.

The twist at the end, the big revelation, was (though predictable) well done but incredibly rushed since it was left until the last few chapters of the book. I did think that it brought together small details from throughout the entire novel and tied up all the ends rather nicely, though. I really enjoyed how something previously thought as inconsequential from previously in the book was brought back at the end and was a final piece I the end puzzle.

I enjoyed Scott’s writing style and I will definitely be on the lookout for more by her. I just hope that her other main characters aren’t as off-putting as Abby was. However I’m giving this novel a 5.5/10.



Many thanks to Simon and Schuster for allowing me to read an eARC copy of this novel.