Dazzled by Books

“The Never Never Sisters” by Alison Heller is all about love, life, self-discovery, and family secrets. Paige Reinhardt has a very successful life. She has a great career as a marriage counselor and is married to her loving husband Dave. She didn’t think that she could ask for anything more. Being a planner, Paige rented a summer beach house for her and Dave to use on the weekends when they weren’t working but her plan falls apart when her husband gets suspended by his law firm.

 

Dave claims that he doesn’t know why he was put on suspension from the firm, and Paige doesn’t buy his story. Paige believes that something has gone terribly wrong. Paige begins to try to figure out what happened with Dave’s job and to make matters worse, her sister Sloane decides that it is time for a visit. Paige and Dave are having to go through some issues in their marriage. He has completely shut her out and is acting strange and secretive. Paige starts to wonder if he did something illegal to get himself suspended.

 

Most of “The Never Never Sisters” is written in Paige’s point of view. Paige is a very likable character. Paige has always been the goodie two shoes out of the family. Paige is very involved in her parents’ lives as an adult unlike her sister Sloane. Sloane has gone to rehab several times for her addictions. When Paige was little, her parents wouldn’t talk to her much about Sloane and her addictions, especially when Sloane would disappear on occasion.

 

When Paige starts to clean out the items that were kept in the spare room, she discovers some journals that her mom kept while Sloane went through her last rehab and addiction process. Paige really got to discover some things about her mother and about Sloane. Sloane and Paige have a very tense relationship. They both blame each other for different things. Sloane blames Paige for lack of self-awareness while on the other hand Paige is upset with Sloane’s issues about forgiving the past. I really think “The Never Never Sisters” can show how complicated sibling relationships can be sometimes. Just because you love someone doesn’t mean that you won’t ever have issues with them. Paige grows a lot in this book. She becomes more assertive and starts to have a “I’m in charge” attitude. Paige wants to have control of her life, so she is going to make sure that it happens. Heller does a great job of telling the story of these two sisters and of the marriage that Paige has. I think the ending was unexpected but it completed the novel quite nicely. I think anyone that gives this book a try will be quite satisfied with it.