THE SISTER SPLIT

Sisters are doing it for themselves. (For diametrically opposite reasons.)

Twelve-year-old Autumn’s summer plans for exploring the delights of Manhattan with her best friend—going on hunts for the best pizza joints, ice cream parlors, and tea shops—are ruined when her mother becomes engaged to Harrison (aka Harristinks), her boring boyfriend of two years who has a boring daughter of Autumn’s age called Linnea. The wedding will take place in only one month’s time. Suddenly, Autumn, her mother, and her college-bound brother are moving to East Hammond, Connecticut, and Autumn’s world is completely upended. She hatches a plan to break up the happy couple and recruits Linnea to go along, tempting her with the idea that both families will be better off separate. Linnea seemingly agrees, but it turns out that she may have some plans of her own. The story is droll, if somewhat predictable, but overplays the self-centered bride trope to the point that readers may actively be rooting for the wedding to fail long after the shallow resolution that is supposed to realign Autumn with her mother. Savvy and sympathetic readers may question why Autumn is being deprived of visiting the best friend in the city whom she desperately misses when Harrison and Linnea took the train into the city weekly during the courtship. Main characters read White by default; there is a charming same-sex crush plotline.

An unexceptional story of family turmoil.