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Identity Discovery

I love reading and writing books. I am a book blogger, but I am also a published author, mom, wife, and homemaker.
A Gift for My Sister: A Novel - Ann Pearlman A Gift For My Sister is a story about tragedy, family, and overcoming the odds. Every chapter has two sections, one from Tara;s perspective (the younger sister) and one from Sky's perspective (the older sister). Sky is the result of a very loving marriage that was shattered by the unexpected death of her father. A little after this tragedy, Sky's mother remarried and had Tara. Unfortunately,Tara's father was a philanderer. He left the family when Tara was fairly young and remarried only to cheat on that wife as well. Both girls essentially grew up fatherless. Their mother was much closer to Sky than Tara which has been the root of some of their sibling issues.

Sky was the good girl who always did what mom said and always had a plan. She followed her goals to a fault. However, things typically worked out for her until she tried to have a baby. Her luck with having children was terrible and resulted in miscarriages, a still born, and finally one healthy baby. Since this was out of her control, her mother was always there to love and care for Sky. Tara saw this as one more thing that brought mother and daughter closer and took her mother away from her. This story starts off with Sky's learning to live without her best friend who had just died of a very young age (due to fertility meds) and now her husband is deathly ill at 28 years old as well. As you can see, Sky has had a lot of heartache and loss in her 27 years. Tara didn't really understand how all this loss affected her until Sky's husband actually dies. Tara is the one to pick her up off the ground and put her life on a track rather than leaving Sky to drift aimlessly.

From Tara's perspective, we learn that she is the rebellious teenager who is just wanting attention. She mostly wants her father's attention because she feels that Sky has all their mother's attention. Unfortunately, her father truly does not care about her. She ends up falling in love with an ex-child convict at 15 and gets pregnant at 17. Since she has always felt like her mother didn't really want her, she moves in with Aaron before finishing high school. The only real problem with this (since Aaron is very willing to take care of her and his baby) is that Tara is a white girl and Aaron is black. Tara essentially gives up her white life and immerses herself in the black community because of her love and because of her music. You see, the driving force behind Tara is that she has a need to create music. It is a part of her that cannot be ignored. Aaron understands this and together they create a rap group. This story demonstrates how two opposite worlds can join together and even understand one another through Special Intent (the rap group). They become the rock that Sky needs to move past all her loss. While on tour, they take Sky and her daughter Rachel into their family and move them across the country.

Both sisters had a lot of problems with each other. One never felt the loss of the other and Sky never saw Tara as having to have a hard life in any way. Their road trip teaches them a lot about themselves and each other. You will need to read the book to actually learn what "the gift" is because I think I have already shared more than enough with you!

Read more reviews at Identity Discovery Blog.