Never Enough by Denise Jaden

Never Enough
Denise Jaden
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Released: July 10, 2012
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 400
Source: Galley Grab

From the author of Losing Faith, a novel about two sisters and the eating disorder that threatens to destroy their family.

Loann’s always wanted to be popular and pretty like her sister, Claire. So when Claire’s ex-boyfriend starts flirting with her, Loann is willing to do whatever it takes to feel special… even if that means betraying her sister.

But as Loann slips inside Claire’s world, she discovers that everything is not as it seems. Claire’s quest for perfection is all-consuming, and comes at a dangerous price. As Claire increasingly withdraws from friends and family, Loann struggles to understand her and make amends. Can she heal their relationship —and her sister—before it’s too late?

In the beginning, Loann is beyond envious of her sister. Her beautiful, perfect sister with the friends and the guy has everything Loann dreams of. So when Claire's ex makes a move for Loann, she doesn't mind seeing Claire retreat into herself. But when Loann sees Claire's life isn't what it appears to be, she struggles to catch Claire before she goes off the deep end.

There were a lot of things that didn't exactly come as a surprise, but that didn't really take away from my enjoyment of this novel. Despite knowing what was going to happen, I still liked seeing how it happened. There were a few cliches which induced a few facepalms, but overall the characters and their actions were pretty believable. I really liked the family dynamic, from the relationship between sisters to the ones with their parents. I wanted to throat punch Loann's mom multiple times, but even she was a character I loved to hate.

The one major problem I had with Never Enough was the same problem I had with Jaden's first novel, Losing Faith. Although I enjoyed both books and appreciated seeing the darker side of things, neither story really resonated with me. I liked both just fine and couldn't pick out many flaws, but unfortunately they weren't the kind of stories that stick in my memory.

FTC: I received an eARC of this novel from Simon & Schuster via Galley Grab in exchange for an honest review.