I would imagine it is extremely difficult for an author to write a book following great success from their previous work. The attempt to live up to the hype can only be a daunting task to undertake. As a reader it is hard to set the previous book(s) aside and only form opinions of the new rather than focus on comparing the old and new.
I found myself doing just that with Extraordinary, comparing it to Nancy Werlin’s previous work of greatness, Impossible. For a good deal of the book I didn’t like Extraordinary. I kept whining mentally, “Oh I want it to be like Impossible! Why can’t it be great like that was?” I know it was unfair of me. I finally, midway through, had to tell myself to shut up and look for the good in it, let it stand on its own. Lucky for me it did grow to be better than I first let it be. Although I felt, certain portions of the book should have been more entertaining.
On Phoebe’s first day of seventh grade she decides to leave behind her friends (snobby and mean) for the strange and intriguing (a.k.a. social outcast) Mallory. Fast forward a few years and Mallory and Phoebe are as close as sisters. Then Mallory’s brother comes back and strange things start to come to light about who and what Mallory and her brother are doing there.
Phoebe’s relationship with Mallory was odd to me at various times. I wasn’t sure of the undertones I was picking up throughout. At times it was hard to believe certain character’s behavior, Phoebe and her parents especially. It was fairly gag worthy to read how Phoebe abandoned herself to Mallory’s brother, but on the other hand Werlin did a good job writing these scenes, very convincing.
In the end you come to realize that you have to make hard choices and sacrifices for the people you love. Phoebe grows up by the end of the book and really learns what it is to be truly extraordinary even when everyone is telling you aren’t and can’t be.
The last half of the book was definitely worth sticking with it.