cover image War Between the Sisters: The Stepsisters

War Between the Sisters: The Stepsisters

Tina Oaks. Scholastic, $2.5 (176pp) ISBN 978-0-590-40902-5

The first book of the Stepsisters series begins with the wedding of Paige Whitman's father to Katie Summer Guthrie's mother. It means a move from Atlanta to Philadelphia for gorgeous Katie, while Paige has to share her small room and perhaps her private crush, Jake, the boy next door. The girls don't get along, although their problems are mostly ones of timing: Paige is trying to be friendly but can't stand seeing Katie and Jake together; then Katie makes an effort until she sees that Paige and her stepmother share a passion for music. There are no evil intentions between these two, just loads of misunderstanding. And because of that, it's easy to forgive the less-than-eventful plot and almost no resolutionlife is a lot like that, too. Ages 12-up. (August)