Saturday Short: All You Never Wanted

Goodreads Summary: With my eyes closed and Alex's core friends all around me, it was like I'd become my big sister, or something just as good. And so who cared if they were calling it Alex's party? One thing I knew: it would be remembered as mine.

Alex has it all—brains, beauty, popularity, and a dangerously hot boyfriend. Her little sister Thea wants it all, and she's stepped up her game to get it. Even if it means spinning the truth to win the attention she deserves. Even if it means uncovering a shocking secret her older sister never wanted to share. Even if it means crying wolf.

Told in the alternating voices of Alex and Thea, Adele Griffin's mesmerizing new novel is the story of a sibling rivalry on speed.

All You Never Wanted was confusing at first, I wasn't at all sure I was going to like it but I had problems putting it down. Something about it kept pressing me to read the next page, the next chapter, then the next and so on until the novel was done. I can't say that I liked either character, Alex or Thea. But I related to them. I've had Alex's anxiety. I've had Thea's desperation to be that popular girl, to live up to that big sister figure. In that I liked them both. And I liked the story that the two of them told. The ending that we, the readers, are left with is a bit on the ambiguous side. You're not sure what is going to happen next and it almost feels like there should be more. But personally? I like where it ended. I like being able to put it in place myself and for that I felt the novel was just right.