Recent Reads: Never Said by Carol Lynch Williams

Disclaimer: Received from BookLook Bloggers and Blink in exchange for an honest review. This in no way altered my opinion or review.

Never Said by Carol Lynch Williams
Publisher: Blink
Publication Date:  August 25, 2015

 

Format: Hardback

Rating:
 


 


Goodreads Synopsis: 

For as long as she can remember, Sarah’s family life has revolved around her twin sister, Annie—the pretty one, the social one, the girl who can do anything. The person everyone seems to wish Sarah—with her crippling shyness—could simply become.

When Annie suddenly chops off her hair, quits beauty pageants, and gains weight, the focus changes—Annie is still the star of the family, but for all the wrong reasons. Sarah knows something has happened, but she too is caught in her own spiral after her boyfriend breaks up with her and starts hanging out with one of Annie’s old friends.

Annie is intent on keeping her painful secret safe. But when she and Sarah start spending time together again for the first time in years, walls start to break on both sides … and words that had been left unsaid could change everything.

Review: 
Never Said was a quick read for me. It is about two very different sisters who come together to help one another with their problems and is simplistic yet complex in it's own way. The book is written from both point of views: Sarah's parts are written in prose and Annie's are written in a more poetic form. 


The book is about twins who both have issues, Sarah is suffering from severe social anxiety and Annie is suffering from a mystery ailment throughout the book, which comes to light at the end. This book was exactly what I expected from the synopsis and even the mysterious ailment of Annie was pretty expected, but the book overall was a good one. It is not religious at all from what I can tell even though I received it from BookLook Bloggers and the message is just that you should come together as family to help each other. 

The book may be a trigger for some, so be forewarned. However, it was very well done and I think the author did a good job expressing the changes that can happen to people based on horrific experiences. I think that it did a good job identifying Sarah's social anxiety and what it is like for those who suffer and how people react to them. The 'she's just shy' thing drives me crazy, no, not shy... it bring you physical pain to be in front of others and if not pain, an anxiety like no other.

Some reviews I have seen did not like Sarah and found her to be very woe is me, however I found this book very balanced. Both sisters had an issue and both needed the help of the other to work through their issues. I very much enjoyed that aspect of the book.