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The Stepsisters #6
Guilty Sister
Paige agrees to help Katie practice driving the family's new car so Katie canget her license. During a difficult lesson, a truck runs a red light and hitstheir car. Paige is badly hurt, and when Katie feels guilty and tries to makeit up to her, she appears ready to take advantage.
176 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 23, 2013
I picked up the first two Stepsisters books a couple of years after they first came out, I guess, so I was still very much in their target demo at the time. Even then, I couldn't understand why, after a few months only made things worse between Paige and Katie, Bill and Virginia Mae never threw in the towel and just had Katie move into the younger girls' playroom. Over time I figured it was a) to keep the tension high and b) the playroom was simply not large enough.
Yeah. Guilty Sister blows that second theory out of the water. After a terrible car accident nearly kills Paige, she spends quite a bit of time in the hospital before coming home to recuperate. Unable to navigate the stairs at first, she's holed up in the playroom. And the world doesn't end. In fact, the only reason the younger girls want Paige to move back to her room is that, surprise surprise, the invalid gets on everyone's nerves after awhile. They just want her upstairs where they can avoid her more easily.
For two semi sane adults (rare to find in any sort of YA fiction), Bill and Virginia Mae were incredibly stubborn on this. :P
Anyway, storywise, GS continues the groundwork laid out in That Cheating Sister, with Katie and Paige having a sort of but not really truce in effect. They no longer fight over every little thing, but they also don't really get along. (Seriously, move them out of the same room and I bet they'd downgrade further to "semi-pleasant exchanges in the morning.") Naturally, B &VM decide that all this sort of peace is simply too much for their new family, so they get a second car.
Which they will then force their two feuding stepdaughters into while the older one teaches the younger one to drive. Because what could possibly go wrong, right?
Yeaaaaaah. All of this happens pretty much right away and the accident isn't that far into the story. The rest of the book centers on Katie and how she deals with the fallout.
Which is a bit weird, though I'll pretend it makes sense for us to focus on the sister not doped up on some fun hospital meds. Katie waffles back and forth on feeling guilty over nearly killing Paige and being insanely jealous that her mother will not leave Paige's side even though it's obvious to anyone that Katie needs her.
The way it's written is kind of weird, though the situation itself is probably a minefield in any case. I think I'm supposed to feel badly for Katie, but every time I'm about to, she says or thinks something so incredibly stupid that I wish her mother would stop by the house long enough to slap some sense into her. Or maybe hug it into her.
It's funny, the one time Paige probably would have been justified in not being Katie's biggest supporter is the one time she is and she's still on the receiving end of "Well, Paige wouldn't do the same for you" cracks.
Like I said. Weird.
Yeah. Guilty Sister blows that second theory out of the water. After a terrible car accident nearly kills Paige, she spends quite a bit of time in the hospital before coming home to recuperate. Unable to navigate the stairs at first, she's holed up in the playroom. And the world doesn't end. In fact, the only reason the younger girls want Paige to move back to her room is that, surprise surprise, the invalid gets on everyone's nerves after awhile. They just want her upstairs where they can avoid her more easily.
For two semi sane adults (rare to find in any sort of YA fiction), Bill and Virginia Mae were incredibly stubborn on this. :P
Anyway, storywise, GS continues the groundwork laid out in That Cheating Sister, with Katie and Paige having a sort of but not really truce in effect. They no longer fight over every little thing, but they also don't really get along. (Seriously, move them out of the same room and I bet they'd downgrade further to "semi-pleasant exchanges in the morning.") Naturally, B &VM decide that all this sort of peace is simply too much for their new family, so they get a second car.
Which they will then force their two feuding stepdaughters into while the older one teaches the younger one to drive. Because what could possibly go wrong, right?
Yeaaaaaah. All of this happens pretty much right away and the accident isn't that far into the story. The rest of the book centers on Katie and how she deals with the fallout.
Which is a bit weird, though I'll pretend it makes sense for us to focus on the sister not doped up on some fun hospital meds. Katie waffles back and forth on feeling guilty over nearly killing Paige and being insanely jealous that her mother will not leave Paige's side even though it's obvious to anyone that Katie needs her.
The way it's written is kind of weird, though the situation itself is probably a minefield in any case. I think I'm supposed to feel badly for Katie, but every time I'm about to, she says or thinks something so incredibly stupid that I wish her mother would stop by the house long enough to slap some sense into her. Or maybe hug it into her.
It's funny, the one time Paige probably would have been justified in not being Katie's biggest supporter is the one time she is and she's still on the receiving end of "Well, Paige wouldn't do the same for you" cracks.
Like I said. Weird.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 23, 2013
Growing up, this was the only book I had read of this series. Because I had never seen the books before; my older cousin had them and I read this one of hers. (She also got me into the "Girl Talk" series.) The characters were relate-able to me; I read this one four times. I felt that the feelings of guilt were well written and realistic to the situation. I have read reviews in the other books where they are mean to each-other (and in this one too sometimes) but they're teenagers fighting for house dominance. That IS normal. I think maybe by this book the series had settled into it's own in a way, because it was a good childhood memory, and at the time I was a fan of the show "Step by Step", so that fit in my wheelhouse.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews