The Other Sister by S.T. Underdahl

15 year old Josey Mueller has a awesome family life. Two happily married parents, two great brothers, and with her in the middle, the only girl in the family, a star student, and one of the few Juniors in her class to know what career they want to have after college (Josey wants to be a Psychologist), she's feeling pretty lucky. But then her mom tells her about the baby girl she and Josey's dad gave up when they were 16. Audrey Merriday is now 25 years old: she's beautiful, and is engaged to be married to a extremely handsome and successful guy, and to top it off a cool internship at a Minneapolis Hospital that will help her achieve her PhD to become a Psychologist.

At first Josey is a little shocked but ok with the news, but when Audrey decides to meet the family she never knew. Josey begins to feel pushed aside for the "better daughter", and less unique than she thought she was. And to make matters worse, no one seems to see how she feels. Just as she feels her world crashing down around her; the person who she least expects, steps in to help make sense of it all.

I'm always up for a good story about someone who was adopted and finds their family. But S.T. Underdahl, who was adopted and found her family, takes a different approach and tells this story from the other sibling's POV. By doing so she gives readers a chance to see how an adopted child re-entering the lives of the family they never knew effects the way siblings may feel about the new development and an effective way to deal with it. I for one would have loved to hear what Audrey had to say on this matter, but when I read this book I couldn't help but sympathize (a bit) with Josey. S.T. Unerdahl writes a touching, realistic story of a girl dealing with the knowledge of the sister she never knew and feeling like she has to compete for the spotlight which was sometimes always on her.