Stepbrother Dearest by Penelope Ward

5 LOVED STARS!

I absolutely loved Stepbrother Dearest.  This is the third book I’ve read by Penelope Ward, I love her writing style.  Her books are so moving and the characters really touch me. I always become completely consumed with her books and never want to put them down or end.  I guess you could say I’m a big fan. J

Stepbrother Dearest centers around 17 year old stepsiblings Greta and Elec, Elec’s dad is married to Greta’s mom.  Elec comes to live with them in Boston his senior year of high school.  He is an angry young man and wants nothing more than to make his father and his new family miserable. I really didn’t like Elec at first; I thought he was mean and a jerk especially to Greta.  He was always saying or doing mean things to her trying to get a rise out of her.  I liked Greta, she didn’t take his crap.  When Elec would say or do something to Greta she would hold her tongue until she couldn’t take it anymore and then give it right back to him.  She was strong and even though Elec was a jerk to her, she never gave up  trying to find the guy that he was hiding behind all that anger.  As Elec and Greta start to grow closers their feelings and attraction for each other starts to grow as well.

The book is broken up into two parts; the first being when Elec and Greta are 17/18 years old and the second part picks up 7 years later.  A tragic event brings them back together after having no contact for the past 7 years.  Old feelings come rushing back when they both see each other for the first time in so long, trying to figure out how to handle their feelings while keeping each other at arm’s length start to becoming more and more difficult.  The second half the book really tugged at my heart.  There were so many emotions swirling around Elec and Greta, I just wanted them to be happy.
 

As I said before, I loved this book!!! I’m still thinking about it days later. I know some might find the subject of stepsiblings being involved kind of taboo, but you shouldn’t let that stop you from experiencing this story.  The writing is great and the characters are even better.  I recommend this to everyone because overall it's just a really good story.