For two white sisters, their relationship might be more important than survival.Moving between the present and the past, readers meet Emma, who loves her older sister at the expense of her own self-development. In Emma's eyes, Henria too-precious nickname for Henriettais a dynamo who can get any guy she wants (including a young teacher at their school and Latino next-door-neighbor Jesse, whom Emma loves). Although Henri loves Emma, it doesn't change her boy-chasing behavior, which is implied to have become worse since their father left. Meanwhile, Emma has buried all her desires in order to serve her sister's, but such behavior is unsustainable, and Emma finally cracks, in a way that Henri cannot forgive. Their relationship shattered, the two sisters are made to go to Puerto Rico with their mother, where Emma flirts with a white boy named Alex, the kind of boy Henri would want. A boat trip with Alex ends in disaster when they're shipwrecked on an uncharted island: the book's starting point, before it flashes back to the events that brought them there. Survival and rescue from the island become but a metaphor for Emma and Henri's healingbut with a new dynamic. The scenes from the past do not provide enough information to fully explain Emma's or Henri's psychology, making their choices in the present somewhat confoundingand amazingly, making the survival plot less interesting. A family novel that doesn't compel. (Fiction. 14-16) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Emma Jones, 16, has always lived in the shadow of her volatile older sister, Henri, who commands the spotlight. While the girls are on vacation in Puerto Rico, a boat accident strands them on an uninhabited island miles from their resort, along with Alex, a boy Emma met on the beach. With their lives at stake, Emma finds her own footing, working with Alex and making decisions to keep the three of them alive. But Henri withdraws, leaving Emma to wonder if her sister will ever forgive her for a past mistake. Taylor (Wandering Wild) weaves past with present to tell an unsettling story of two sisters whose relationship is claustrophobically close. As a survival story, it's top-notch-readers will be riveted throughout the trio's perilous time on the island. But despite the author's descriptions of Henri's magnetic appeal, she is so aggressively awful to her sister, both in their current predicament and in flashbacks, that it's difficult to understand why Emma is so desperate for her approval, love, and friendship. Ages 14-up. Agent: Melissa Sarver White, Folio Literary Management. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Gr 10 Up-After a suspicious boating accident, sisters Henri, 17, and Emma, 16, and Alex, a boy they just met in Puerto Rico while on vacation, are stranded on a small, dangerous island with only the clothes on their back and Alex's backpack. Out of utter desperation they learn to spearfish, funnel water after rainstorms, forage for vegetation, outmaneuver aggressive caimans, and build shelter from washed-up parts of the boat. Days pass and then weeks as they slowly starve and become dehydrated. As a backdrop to their physical suffering, Emma tells the story of how the two sisters, inseparable best friends until the last year, have weathered an emotional and mental storm that seems to have left them both permanently damaged and lost to each other. Emma and Alex find solace and support in each other. Their romance is measured and sweet but also mired with secrets they are both reluctant to share. The novel moves between the present and the past year, teasing readers with clues about the devastating impasse between the sisters. The storytelling is excellent, though Emma's obsession with Henri does feel at times overwrought. Shannon McManus varies her voice for the dialogue among Emma, Henri, and Alex, making for very easy listening. VERDICT With frequent mentions of sex and drug use, this survival thriller is best suited for more mature teens, who will be enthralled by how the two sisters, lost and isolated from each other, manage to find their way back to each other.-Suzanne Dix, Auburn Middle School, ME © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

As the novel opens, sisters Emma and Henri (Henrietta) are shipwrecked off Puerto Rico with mysterious Alex. The story toggles between previous events in San Francisco--during which Emma's jealousy of dazzling yet controlling and reckless Henri leads to betrayal--and the present dangers of the isolated island. The sisters' dynamic is underdeveloped, but Emma's raw emotions are compelling in both settings. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.