Ally McKinley has been told how perfect she is so often that she now strives to live up to that ideal. Her father abandoned her family when she was a just a kid, but it taught her the importance of taking care of herself. She must keep everything around her under perfect order and control to avoid ever again being so blindsided. Her type A personality helped her sail through school and her … college years, but that merely reinforces the positive aspects to being so perfect.
It also prevents almost everyone from ever seeing who she really is.
Nate Stratton attends the same college. He is in the same grade, majoring in the same subject, and even shares family with Ally. Ally is smart, funny, sarcastic, and, to everyone else’s eyes, the perfect college senior, about to take her world by storm. Nate, however, finds Ally’s need for perfection ridiculous, especially after he learns the secret he’s pretty sure no one, not even her sister or mother, know about her. Her secret threatens her health as well as her life. He thinks she is taking a stupid gamble to uphold her illusion of perfection. What good is striving to be perfect if she never allows herself to feel anything real? He intends to show her that imperfection is far more interesting than trying to live up to an ideal that might ultimately kill her.
PLEASE be warned that all my titles contain EXPLICIT profanity, sex, mature content matter and often mild violence. Recommended for mature audiences ONLY
No cliffhangers
Recommended Reading Order for The Sister Series:
The Other Sister
The Years Between (Jessie & Will)
The Good Sister
The Best Friend
The Wrong Sister
The Years After
The Broken Sister
The Perfect Sister
more
I cannot say enough about this series. While each book carries over into the next by virtue of other characters each story is so unique! I love that this author is not afraid to tackle topics that some avoid. Life is messy. Nothing is perfect. Except for the stories that she weaves.
This is a really great read. Ally is the perfect daughter, sister and student but is hiding a deep dark secret. Nate is a thorn in her side. He was her Aunt Vicky’s boyfriend for a while and is now her stepson and Ally can’t stand him. He has a crush on her and constantly annoys her just to get her attention. A drunken one night stand leads to a secret relationship and Ally finally feeling something. Now she just has to keep her secret from Nate.
This book deals with bulimia in a real and intense way. The hiding, the reasoning, the joy, the shame and the fear of being found out.
Another amazing story in the Sister series! I love these books, because they always touch on sensitive subjects and make the reader ugly cry.
Wow!!!
This book was sad, amazing, and had me hooked from the very first page.
Ally McKinley is a beautiful smart individual. She is perfect in every way and she strives to make sure that it will stay that way. Ever since her father left her and her family when she was eleven she has done everything to make sure that she never loses control as she did during that time. Everything is set to a ‘t’ so that she can be the best because that is what everyone expects of her. But she has a dark secret that no one knows about her. She goes through everything to make sure that it is not found out by anyone, no matter the cost.
Nate Stratton is a gorgeous hunk that lives his life to the fullest. He attends the same college, has the same classes, and even shares a family with Ally that it makes it at times awkward. He is on the same level as Ally when it comes to school but he doesn’t strive to be perfect like Ally, and he thinks that she needs to take a chill pill when it comes to having fun. What is the point to life if you don’t even take a moment to enjoy the little things? But when he finds out her secret he doesn’t understand how she can do it, while continuing with the facade to be perfect. He is stuck with wanting to help her but also not knowing how to act. It becomes a battle to find out what is it worth, the illusion of perfection or being free and allowing yourself to fail even if it is just once.
This book had me in tears but it also showed me that even the most “perfect” of people have their own struggles and have to find a balance in the world. This book is life changing and it needs to be read because nothing in life is that simple.
Enjoyed this entire series.
This author excels at making me ugly cry reading her stories. She tackles writing about taboo subjects in such realistic fashion your heart is wrenched with each story.
Bulimia is the front and center issue in this book. When Ally McKinley’s father betrayed their family when she was a child this set the course for her having trouble managing emotions in a healthy way. She always though she was so much better at how she handled things. Her sister’s way was drugs, alcohol and sleeping with everyone. She would never be like that nor like her Aunt Vickie who created havoc in everyone’s life with her alcoholism and multiple husbands. No Ally was perfect – 4.0 grade point average, never a burden to her parents, didn’t sleep around – problem with that though – it was all a lie. Yes, she was all of those things but what it took for her to maintain that was killing her. When she doesn’t ace a test and her grade point drops to 3.9 this fast tracks her downward cycle. Ally’s world is black and white – she harshly judges those around her but what they don’t realize is she internally judges herself just as harshly to the point of destroying her body from the inside out.
Book 4 in this series is where this family’s heartache started. Ally’s mother Tracy had to come to grips with the man she has loved with all her heart for over 14 years has done something so deplorable and to avoid going to prison ops to just walk away from her and their children was heartbreaking. In that book we saw how is actions affected the mother. Then in book 6 we saw how it affected the younger sister Kylie. Now we see how it all effected Ally. I am happy to say that by the end of this book everyone in this family is on their way to healing – even forgiving their father Micah.
I havent talked about the romance in this book because I always feel like the disease, addiction, self destructive behavior or the tragedy is the heart and soul of these books. Nate, who Ally hated from the moment she met him years ago, ends up not being who she thought he was. They embark in a secret romance that later when he finds out about Ally’s Bulimia has him having to make a decision that rips his heart out and he struggles with his emotions over that. Its not easy for any friend or family member to have to deal with a person they care about having a disease and when they have to be the one to finally confront them about that and let their family know its just as hard on them.
These books are so closely tied together that to get the full emotional effect and understanding they should be read in order.