Review: Confessions Of The Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford

Confessions Of The Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford

Pages: 320
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Published: September 1st, 2010
IBSN:  9780545107105

The Sullivan sisters have a big problem. On Christmas Day their rich and imperious grandmother gathers the family and announces that she will soon die . . .and has cut the entire family out of her will. Since she is the source of almost all their income, this means they will soon be penniless.

Someone in the family has offended her deeply. If that person comes forward with a confession of her (or his) crime, submitted in writing to her lawyer by New Year's Day, she will reinstate the family in her will. Or at least consider it.

And so the confessions begin....

[Synopsis by Goodreads]

I've never read a book by Natalie Standiford before, but everyone I know who's read them has told me great things about them, so I had high expectations. And I was not let down.

The writing style was light and breezy, easy to read, and engaging. The majority of the book's written in the form of the three sisters' (Norrie, Jane, and Sassy) letters to their grandmother, and so it's written in the casual way you would talk to someone. With the story told through letters, I was concerned I wouldn't get to the characters' heads and miss out on a lot of the plot, but neither of those happened.

The characters were realistically developed. All of them had a unique voice and personality that made her letter easily distinguishable. Their confessions each are genuine, thorough and heartfelt.

The ending was probably the only downside for me. It was kind of anti-climactic, even though I did guess it from the wording of the synopsis. "...her (or his)..."

I give Confessions Of The Sullivan Sisters a 4 out of 5.