A big thank you to NetGalley for sending me a free electronic arc of this book!
My rating: 6/10 stars
At the heart of it, Better
Together is a really heart-touching sweet story about sisterhood and the
healing of past family trauma, which I enjoyed.
I will say that as I
began to work my way through the first couple of chapters, I initially didn’t think
that I was going to enjoy this book very much. I was concerned that the book
was going to be full of cliches and that the characters would end up being
quite one-dimensional, but I ended up being quite wrong about that, which made
me very happy! Also, this was finally a book where I understood (almost)
all of the pop-culture references, so yay!
Siri and Jamie are by
far the best part of this novel. The two sisters are incredibly fleshed out characters
in regards to their own strengths, inner demons and paths that they are on, and
they are both very multi-dimensional. While Siri struggles with finding her own
exceptionality outside of her dancing, and feeling like she can’t measure up,
Jamie is battling a voice that is telling her that she is failing at
everything, and doesn’t allow herself to feel any emotions.
There were some
aspects of this book that I thought were a bit strange, such as Siri’s inability
to swear, and using words like “excrement” or “intercourse”. Although I do totally
understand that Siri’s not a character that likes to swear, I had a hard time
believing that those would be the replacement words of choice. Although I will
say that eventually they kind of grew on me, and I just chuckled when they came
up by the end of the story. Also, Jamie’s unnecessary and spontaneous vomiting really
grossed me out, nuff said.
Siri and her love interest, Dawn were
just the absolute cutest, in my opinion and I shipped them very much. I wasn't quite as invested in Jamie and Zarar's relationship, but they were also mildly sweet together.
I also really enjoyed
how the book’s ending was rounded off. At the end both Siri and Jamie write letters to each other and their family members as part of their therapy together. I really felt like they did a great job of mirroring the
pent-up hurt that they both felt, and the sadness that they were both
transforming into growing in their relationships and forgiving past wounds. I
thought that where they both ended up at the end was really quite perfect: it
wasn’t too book-ending sappy, but it accurately reflected the healing that had
already taken place, as well as the work that was still ahead of them in terms
of reconciling their family.
Also, I really loved seeing
Shane and Pilot again from Again but Better. I thought that was a really
sweet easter egg, and kind of explains the weird magic-transformation thing
that went on if both stories take place in the same universe.
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