Book Review: All You Never Wanted by Adele Griffin

All You Never Wanted

By Adele Griffin

Release Date: October 9, 2012

Source: Publisher

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.

Review: Hmmmm I'm not really sure what to think of this book right now. It's definitely not like anything else I've read! Maybe it was too serious for my mood right now, but All You Never Wanted deals with some pretty serious stuff and the characters are really, well, strange? Confusing? Maybe raw is a better word. Needless to say, this book was a unique take on high school life. 

Thea used to be a bookworm, but now she's taken it upon herself to join the A-crowd, a crowd her older sister Alex has but could care less about. It seems that everything Alex has she doesn't really care about having, yet Thea would do anything to live that life. So when the girls' mom and rich new step father go away for the weekend, Thea plans a party that she hopes will clinch her popularity. With the help of Alex's boyfriend Joshua (another thing of Alex's that Thea wants so badly), they plan the party while Alex deals with her own issues. 

This may sound like your typical high school drama book, but there are really strange elements to the girls' stories. Alex has some serious issues where she freaks out at any moment. I'm not quite sure if she's anorexic or not, but trying to figure her out just takes too much thinking. And Thea's character tends to get quite annoying after a while. She is so obsessed with being friends with her sister's friends that I just want to shake her and tell her to give it up! That life isn't so glamorous, but maybe that's what makes her story so tragic. I don't know. There was just a lot of thinking about these characters and their raw emotions that you had to really pay attention to the story. 

Overall, this book was interesting, but a little too strange for my taste. For those of you who like that sort of gritty, serious YA book that gets you thinking, then this one is definitely for you. If you're more of a contemporary, cheesy romance lover like me, I'd skip this one for now.