Book Review- ...Then I Met My Sister

I just finished reading Then I Met My Sister by Christine Hurley Deriso for a Teen Book Scene review.

From Goodreads:

Summer Stetson lives inside a shrine to her dead sister. Eclipsed by Shannon's greatness, Summer feels like she's a constant disappointment to her controlling, Type A momzilla and her all-too-quiet dad. Her best friend Gibson believes Summer's C average has more to do with rebelliousness than smarts, but she knows she can never measure up—academically or otherwise.

On her birthday, Summer receives a secret gift from her aunt: Shannon's diary. Suddenly, the one-dimensional vision of her sister becomes all too solid. Is this love-struck, mom-bashing badass the same Shannon everyone raves about? Determined to understand her troubled sister, Summer dives headfirst down a dark rabbit hole and unearths painful family secrets. Each revelation brings Summer closer to the mysterious and liberating truth about her family—and herself.

Hmm...I don't really know what to say about this book.  I enjoyed the book.  But it wasn't anything to either rave or rant about.  I mean, it was definitely a quick read and was interesting.  But I guess I was hoping to really feel and get into the characters.  But they were just that to me--characters.

My favorite character though, was Gibs.  Such a sweet guy and you could totally tell he had a thing for Summer.  But she was so absorbed in her sister's diary that she couldn't see it (not that I blame her).  And her whole family dynamic was so weird.  Summer says she was born because her sister died which makes me feel like her mother would be a caring and maternal type but she's completely cold and closed off (which I am so not used to...my mom is the total opposite).  And her dad just seemed kinda weak.  But I did love Shannon.  I liked that she seemed real by battling the desire to be perfect with the desire to just be a normal teen.

This is definitely a character-driven book.  The only action is really one little surprise at the end, but I wouldn't even call that action.  Just something to throw in a twist.  All this writing kinda makes it sound like I didn't like the book, which isn't true at all.  I did enjoy it.

I gave this book a rating of 3/5.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2011 100+ Reading Challenge: 30
2011 ARC Reading Challenge: 27
2011 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 24
2011 YA Contemporary Challenge: 4

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Teen Book Scene.