I love stories about sisters. As a person who both is a sister and has a sister, there’s something I can relate to in books about sister-sister relationships. ALL THESE LIVES is absolutely a sister story — but it’s also gripping, romantic, tragic, and chilling.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2012.
In ALL THESE LIVES by Sarah Wylie, sixteen-year-old Dani is super close to her fraternal twin Jena. Dani’s mother has always joked that she had nine lives. She’s survived twice when she shouldn’t have, which makes her wonder if her mother’s sentiment is more than just a sweet joke. Maybe it’s true. Which is totally unfair, because while Dani is healthy, even landing auditions as an aspiring actress, her sister Jena has leukemia. The only thing that can save Jena — whose medicine has made her so sick she can’t go to school — is a bone marrow transplant, and Dani isn’t a match. She feels helpless. Until she realizes that every time she gets into a scrape — and survives — Jena gets a little better.
What starts as an experiment to help her sister quickly becomes a whole new level of self-destructive. Dani has reached a breaking point, and will seemingly stop at nothing to save her sister, even if it means destroying herself.
ALL THESE LIVES is wrought with suspense and rich with atmosphere. It’s a great novel for those who, like me, love sister books and also for those who, um, also like me, read every Lurlene McDaniel ever in 7th grade. ALL THESE LIVES is a page turner, and Dani’s voice is expertly written. Definitely one to check out on a rainy summer night.
