Imaginary Girls

Gr 9 Up—Chloe has been raised by her half-sister Ruby—the girl all the other girls want to be like and all the boys want to hook up with. Ruby seems to have an uncanny ability to get whatever she wants—except on a summer night at the reservoir, when Ruby dares Chloe to swim across the huge body of dark water. Nearly drowning, Chloe clings to a floating rowboat and discovers the dead body of her classmate, London. After this disaster, Chloe is sent to live with her father, far away from the magnetic Ruby. Two years later, Chloe returns to live with Ruby. But things aren't as they should be—people who are supposed to be dead are mysteriously alive, and Chloe suspects that Ruby is somehow responsible. Or is she? Nova Ren Suma's eerie novel (Dutton, 2011) blends the paranormal with contemporary realistic fiction in an atmospheric tale of life, death, friendship, and the unbreakable bonds between sisters. Many of the plot elements are hard to believe, even within the paranormal genre, and the character of Ruby—a fickle, selfish girl who cares for no one except Chloe—is difficult to like. Emma Galvin does a fine, if not particularly memorable, job of voicing the teenage characters in this creepy tale.—Margo Tanenbaum, Rancho Cucamonga Public Library