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

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June by Robin Benway
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication date: August 2010
ISBN: 9781595143785
Source: ARC sent by publisher

When April, May, and June, three sisters navigating high school together, start experiencing special powers, they think they've hit the jackpot.  April who can see the future, May who can disappear, and June who can read minds, are pretty sure using their powers to deal with high school drama is about the best thing.  But, when April sees something horrible coming, they begin to wonder if the powers are there for a different purpose.

Things I Liked:
I had some seriously mixed feelings on this one.  First, I really liked the sisters.  I thought they were individual, smart, and had realistic interactions.  Their relationships were complicated and each one held things back as well as shared things, just like real sisters do.  I especially loved how their personalities shone through the pages and seemed to fit with their abilities.  May was always fun to read about, being the middle child with a snarky attitude.  I was also kind of intrigued by the idea of their powers sort of running in the family.  But, not much of anything was mentioned about this and I wish there was more.

Things I Didn't Like:
I wasn't entirely sure what kept this from being a good book for me, but I think it was the weird combination of contemporary issues and sort of random paranormal elements.  They end up not really doing anything with their powers and I thought perhaps there was a reason for them.  It felt almost like the author thought the contemporary side of the story wasn't interesting enough and so she threw in some paranormal stuff (though, obviously, that's just my opinion).  Also, the huge build-up with all the foreshadowing and visions didn't fit with the not-very-exciting ending.  I thought it kind of fizzled out. Still, might be fun for someone wanting a sisterly book with a touch of paranormal.

Read-alikes:
Maybe a bit like Clarity by Kim Harrington

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@# 
regularly throughout, at least one f-bomb

mrg-factor: X
mostly just talk

v-factor: ->
a very little bit of action

Overall rating: ***

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