YA Friday: Sister, Sister

National Sisters Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of August — this year, it falls on August 7. Nothing can compare to a sisters' bond; this is a day to treasure the closeness that forms as you grow up together, sharing your secrets, dreams, and all the fun times. Sisters have a deep connection that grows throughout childhood and remains strong throughout life. National Sisters Day is a chance for you to spend quality time with your sister and cherish your relationship.

This Place Is Still Beautiful, book cover

This Place Is Still Beautiful by XiXi Tian

Despite having had near-identical upbringings, sisters Annalie and Margaret agree on only one thing: that they have nothing in common. Nineteen-year-old Margaret is driven, ambitious, and keenly aware of social justice issues. She couldn't wait to leave their oppressive small-town home and take a flight to New York. Meanwhile, sweet, popular seventeen-year-old Annalie couldn't think of anything worse - she loves their town and feels safe coasting along in its confines.

That is until she arrives home one day to find a gut-punching racial slur painted on their garage door.

Outraged, Margaret flies home, expecting to find her family up in arms. Instead, she's amazed to hear they want to forget about it. Their mom is worried about what it might stir up, and Annalie just wants to have a 'normal' summer - which Margaret is determined to ruin, apparently.

Back under each other's skins, things between Margaret and Annalie get steadily worse - and not even the distraction of first love (for Annalie) or lost love (for Margaret) can bring them together.

Until finally, a crushing secret threatens to tear them apart forever.



How to Live Without You, book cover

How to Live Without You by Sarah Everett

In this heart-wrenching, coming-of-age story about family, grief, and second chances, seventeen-year-old Emmy returns home for the summer to uncover the truth behind her sister Rose’s disappearance—only to learn that Rose had many secrets, ones that have Emmy questioning herself and the sister Emmy thought she knew.



The Words We Keep, book cover

The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart

It's been three months since The Night on the Bathroom Floor--when Lily found her older sister Alice hurting herself. Since then, Lily has been desperately trying to keep things together for herself and her family. But now Alice is coming home from her treatment program, and it is becoming harder for Lily to ignore all of the feelings she's been trying to outrun.

Enter Micah, a new student at school with a past of his own. He was in treatment with Alice and seems determined to get Lily to process not only Alice's experience but her own. Because Lily has secrets, too. She can't seem to let go of compulsions and thoughts she can't drown out.

When Lily and Micah embark on an art project for school involving finding poetry in unexpected places, she realizes that the words she's been swallowing desperately want to break through.



Lulu and Milagro's Search for Clarity, book cover

Lulu and Milagro's Search for Clarity by Angela Velez

Overachiever Luz “Lulu” Zavala has straight As, perfect attendance, and a solid ten-year plan. First up: nail her interview for a dream internship at Stanford, the last stop on her school’s cross-country college road trip. The only flaw in her plan is Clara, her oldest sister, who went off to college and sparked a massive fight with their overprotective Peruvian mom, who is now convinced that out-of-state college will destroy their family. If Lulu can’t fix whatever went wrong between them, the whole trip—and her future—will be a waste.

Middle sister Milagro wants nothing to do with college or a nerdy class field trip. Then a spot opens up on the trip just as her own Spring Break plans (Operation: Lose Your Virginity) are thwarted, and she hops on the bus with her glittery lipsticks, more concerned about getting back at her ex than she is about schools or any family drama. But the trip opens her eyes to possibilities she’d never imagined for herself. Maybe she is more than the boy-crazy girl everyone seems to think she is.

On a journey from Baltimore all the way to San Francisco, Lulu and Milagro will become begrudging partners as they unpack weighty family expectations, uncover Clara’s secrets, and maybe even discover the true meaning of sisterhood.



The Ones Were Meant to Find, book cover

The Ones Were Meant to Find by Joan He

Cee has been trapped on an abandoned island for three years without any recollection of how she arrived or memories from her life prior. All she knows is that somewhere out there, beyond the horizon, she has a sister named Kay, and it’s up to Cee to cross the ocean and find her.

In a world apart, 16-year-old STEM prodigy Kasey Mizuhara lives in an eco-city built for people who protected the planet―and now need protecting from it. With natural disasters on the rise due to climate change, eco-cities provide clean air, water, and shelter. Their residents, in exchange, must spend at least a third of their time in stasis pods, conducting business virtually whenever possible to reduce their environmental footprint. While Kasey, an introvert and loner, doesn’t mind the lifestyle, her sister Celia hated it. Popular and lovable, Celia much preferred the outside world. But no one could have predicted that Celia would take a boat out to sea, never to return.

Now it’s been three months since Celia’s disappearance, and Kasey has given up hope. Logic says that her sister must be dead. But nevertheless, she decides to retrace Celia’s last steps. Where they’ll lead her, she does not know. Her sister was full of secrets. But Kasey has a secret of her own.



The Last Summer of the Garrett Girls, book cover

The Last Summer of the Garrett Girls by Jessica Spotswood

One summer will challenge everything the Garrett sisters thought they knew about themselves—and each other.

Kat lands the lead in the community theater’s summer play, but the drama spills offstage when her ex and his new girlfriend are cast too. Can she get revenge by staging a new romance of her own?

Bea and her boyfriend are heading off to college together in the fall, just like they planned when they started dating. But Bea isn’t sure she wants the same things as when she was thirteen…

Vi has a crush on the girl next door. It makes her happy and nervous, but Cece has a boyfriend…so it’s not like her feelings could ever be reciprocated, right?

As the oldest, Des shoulders a lot of responsibility for her family and their independent bookstore. Except it’s hard to dream big when she’s so busy taking care of everyone else.



Further Reading

To All the Boys I've Loved Before, book cover
Caraval, book cover
The Sky Is Everywhere, book cover
Three Dark Crowns, book cover
She's the Worst, book cover
Sisters of the Snake, book cover