Synopsis (From Goodreads):

GIRLS IN TROUBLE.

That’s what Sylvie Blake’s older sister Julia renamed their favorite fairy tale book, way back when they were just girls themselves. Now, Julia has disappeared—and no one knows if she’s in trouble.

Sylvie is trying to carry on Julia’s impressive legacy at the prestigious National Ballet Theatre Academy, but Julia, ever the star of the show, can’t stay hidden forever. And when she sends Sylvie a copy of their old storybook with a mysterious list inside, Sylvie begins to see signs of her sister everywhere she goes. She may be losing her grip on reality, but Sylvie has to find out if the strange, almost magical things she’s been seeing have anything to do with Julia’s whereabouts.

With the help of her best friend’s enigmatic brother and his beat-up car, Sylvie sets out to the beat of a Fleetwood Mac playlist, determined to return to New York with her sister in tow. But what Sylvie doesn’t expect to learn is that trouble comes in lots of forms—and that the damsel in distress is often the only one who can save herself.

Plot:

On the outside, they were a perfect family. A father’s who is a  wealthy businessman, a mother who throws the best charity dinners, a son and two daughters, who were both exceptional ballet dancers. The first crack in the family was when the son, Everett, dropped out of college to become a comic book artist. The second when Julia’ addiction to pain medicine hit the spotlight after the accident. The final crack was when Julia left in the middle of the night, never telling her family where she was going. From that night it has been a year since Sylvie saw her sister. At the Academy no one spoke her name, it was as if Julia never existed, and only Sylvie and Miss. Diana, knew she existed. Her friends realize they do not know how to talk to Sylvie, so they just stopped. Only Tommy and Sadie, who was not a ballerina, kept by her side. Sylvie’s birthday, Julia sent her a copy of their favorite childhood story book. Years before Sylvie lost the book in Quebec, but here it was again, the same or maybe a different copy of Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, in which Julia crossed out that title and wrote her own: Girls in Trouble. Seeing fairy tale creatures everywhere, Sylvie started off her quest, along with Sadie’s older brother, Jack, as her driver. The quest was following the flower petal names Julia wrote in the back of the book: Sylvie, Grace, Rose, Thatcher, and Daniela. Deterring to pick up the pieces of her sister’s year old trail, Sylvie was off to save her sister, as well as the other girls in trouble she finds along the way.

Thoughts:

Honestly, this was a weird story that Janet McNally told. Overall, as a young adult book it was what you expect: family drama (drug addict sister, drop out brother, absent parents), a main plot piece (finding the missing sister), a side romance (Jack, the only guy Sylvie spent time with), and maybe a quirky friend that shows up once or twice (Tommy). But it was the extra flairs that McNally adds that if worked, would have made this book exceptional, but the way they were just made the story fall flat. First off was that Sylvie, and Julia, were exceptional ballet dancers, a plot point that did not play into the story at all. Ballet, one of the toughest sports out there both physically and mentally, did not seem to effect Sylvie at all, just that she knows it is making something look effortless, even when it is really hard. McNally could have changed it so that Sylvie was a hockey player, or a talented flutist, and would only have to change at max fifty words. The romance was also not there. At all. Like McNally gives us one cute kiss, and that is it for the whole story. Then the ‘magic’ of the story. It would be okay if it was just the girls Sylvie was seeing: Cinderella, Bell, Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel. But along with the birds? If McNally wanted to make this magical world, she could have. If she wanted to make this world where this is just a bunch of coincidences, she could have. Instead McNally did a half and half of both worlds, and it honestly did not add up. The last terrible part was the list that Julia gave Sylvie. Without spoiling the ending, the list just did not work, making the ending to the story a bit of a shock, which is maybe what McNally was going for. For character development Tommy was amazing. He was truly the best character, Sylvie was okay, Julia was a terrible sister, Jack not interesting, and same with the other characters. Book titled, appropriately with this quoted from one of Sylvie’s favourite ballet teachers: “You can’t trust a looking glass” (16). McNally had so much potential for this novel, and if it was her first work I could give her some slack, but it is not. There are too many ends that are not met within this story, and too much action that is not being taken up on to make this book a worthwhile read.