Review: The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June by Robin Benway

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June by Robin Benway


Release Date: August 3, 2010
Publisher: Razorbill
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 256
Source: Around the World Tours


Rating: ♥♥♥♥

Three sisters, three extraordinary, life-changing powers!


 Around the time of their parents’ divorce, sisters April, May, and June recover special powers from childhood—powers that come in handy navigating the hell that is high school. Powers that help them cope with the hardest year of their lives. But could they have a greater purpose?


April, the oldest and a bit of a worrier, can see the future. Middle-child May can literally disappear. And baby June reads minds—everyone’s but her own. When April gets a vision of disaster, the girls come together to save the day and reconcile their strained family. They realize that no matter what happens, powers or no powers, they’ll always have each other.

Because there’s one thing stronger than magic: sisterhood.

---

Since my blog is no way a professional site, I'm just going to come out and say it:

If Robin Benway is anything like the characters she writes then I think she'd be a blast to get drunk with!

In her second novel,The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June, Benway has nailed it again! This book is definitely going to be one of my favorites for the year. Each chapter is told by a different sister going in order from oldest to youngest. Like many novels that have alternating view points, I'm always a bit weary. Some authors can pull it off while others cannot, but this one was done very well.

I really couldn't pick a favorite between the three girls. Each of them had their own voice, personality, but yet, they were all so much alike. I'm curious if Robin herself has two sisters because she wrote their relationship so realistically. That's possibly why I enjoyed it so much because I do have a sister and her daughter might as well be the youngest of us. All the bickering, the concern for one another, the 'sisterhood' - it just fit together perfectly. No moments ever seemed forced. One of my favorite parts of the book was right at the beginning the moment the three girls realized they had powers. I laughed so hard, I could have rolled off the bed!

Benway writes my type of humor. No doubt this book has many hilarious moments, but it was also so much more when it came to a story about family. Not to mention a great story about being a teen. It has a mix of having divorced parents, moving to a new school, first boyfriends, first crushes - everything. The slight mystery of what the oldest sister, April, had a vision of kept me glued. I was dying to know how it would be played out that I almost finished this in one sitting. While it didn't have a big punch like I thought it would, it still kept me on my toes.

I know this book doesn't come out until August, but if you were a fan of Audrey, Wait! or just wanting to read an great book - keep this one on your radar. It's wonderful and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

♥amber