I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler

The book I would like to recommend is I’m Not Her by Janet Gurtler. This is a must read for anyone who has or wishes they had a sister. This book is all about two exact opposite girls that are sisters. Kristina is the older, prettier, more athletic and popular sister while Tess on the other hand is quiet and smart. Tess is always being compared to Kristina and she hates it, especially when it comes from her mother. When all of a sudden Kristina is faced with life changing news. Now Tess becomes the center of attention and all the seniors wonder what’s up with Kristina. When their parents choose to ignore everything that’s going on, Tess much step in with some support. Read this book to find out the life-changing news and all of the other dramatic events that go on in Kristina and Tess’s life.

“I want to tell her that she’s brave and I love her. But I don’t know how to say it. Talking about things is not what I do.” This is one of my favorite quotes from this book. It shows how much Tess really does care about Kristina. “We’re going to need to to be strong, Tessie. Our Rock.” This is what Tess and Kristina’s dad tells Tess. Tess was my favorite character in this book because she was always putting everyone else before herself and she stayed strong the whole time.

The recommended reading age for this book is young adult. Some other books by Janet Gurtler are If I Tell and Who I Kissed. This author has not won any awards. “I devoured it...this story isn't about the girl in the spotlight. It's about the girl in the shadows, the one who's forced to find her way into the light to keep her family from totally self-destructing. As much as it brought me to tears, I loved watching Tess struggle with her own questions, doubt, frustrations with her parents and their inability to accept and deal with this tragedy, the equal parts love/resentment/fear she feels toward her sister, and her tenuous but unwanted place in the spotlight at school. I'M NOT HER is, quite simply, a downright real story.” said The Contemps.

Recommended by Becca Kennedy