Without Tess by Marcella Pixley Book Review

Without Tess by Marcella Pixley.
Book Review by Cindy. ;)
Book Description: If you look inside Lizzie Cohen's high school locker, you will see that her world is falling apart. First you will find the unfinished homework assignments and crumpled tests with failing grades and furious teacher comments scrawled in red pen. Then you will see the crushed coffee cups and half-eaten bags of chips. Look closer.On the top shelf, beneath an old sweater, she is hiding something. A secret.
It is a battered journal that used to belong to her older sister, Tess, who died six years ago when they were little girls. It is filled with Tess's poems and sketches, a record of time long ago when Lizzie almost believed in magic - back when she did everything her sister asked her to do, even if it meant putting herself in danger. The journal is also an account of one child's mind teetering on the brink between make-believe and something much more frightening and serious -  and of a time when Lizzie was ready to grow up but Tess when still clinging to her belief in magic like it was the only thing in the world that mattered.
Now Lizzie is using the journal to come to terms with the terrible guilt of her own survival. She will need to learn that sometimes growing up means letting go - even if that means saying goodbye forever.

Cindy's Summary: This book is like really sad. I cried numerous of times during it. Even though there were no romance, and the book was mainly about Lizzie getting over her sister, the book talks about when Lizzie and Tess were younger and Tess have a mental problems which led her to believe magic was real and Tess was delusional. Tess makes Lizzie follow her and if Lizzie didn't believe it was true, Tess hurt Lizzie. Because, Tess thought that she was immortal and didn't want to eat anything, Tess's parents always worried about Tess and as Lizzie was the younger girl, the baby, she felt like her parents cared about Tess more. I cried for Lizzie when she said that, because it's kind of true. I mean, their mom is always rocking Tess to sleep and stuff and Lizzie just sat there. So Lizzie felt so terrible when Tess ended up drowning underwater. If I was Lizzie, I'd probably just end up killing myself and say, Now what, You have Tess all to yourself now, have a nice life. Either ways, it's really sad. And, I hate the part where Tess stabbed Lizzie's hand and then after they got home, Tess wanted Lizzie to give her warm water. Lizzie went unconscious while Tess just slept. It was a really sad book. But there were like one page of romance, but it was out of sadness. Either way, normally, I wouldn't like books without romance, but this book is a huge exception.

Rate: (1-10): 9.8

Now, to quotes.
"I'll never let you go, Lizzie. No matter what happens to me, I"ll never ever let you go."
At first, when I read that, I felt really sad for Lizzie because Lizzie kept on remembering that phrase and I actually though Tess was sane then, turns out she's insane. Not that I hate Tess, since you can't help it if you were born with the problem.

"I leave them on the dock, Mamma rocking Tess while she eats and Daddy looking on with tears in his eyes."
See what I mean? Lizzie's like forgotten. Really, I would just have run away and killed myself or something.

" 'Did you hear me Lizzie? I'm thirsty.' ......Everything goes black."
Yep. That part I explained about already. Tess just stabbed Lizzie's hand and wants Lizzie to do stuff for her. While Lizzie's on the floor, Tess sleeps like a princess.

" 'When we found you both, you were lying unconscious by her bed and Tess was fast asleep, snoring like a princess.' "
Seriously, you'd probably think Lizzie's the older sister.

"Hurt feelings are nothing compared to the unicorn horn going into the palm of my hand. They are nothing compared to passing out and hitting my head on a cold floor while my sister sleeps like a princess."
I agree. Really. Finally, Lizzie actually sees some sense and goes against her sister.

" ' You mean it was a suicide.' "
 Yep. Tess decided to suicide and took Lizzie along too....

This book is so meaningful and sad. I cried like heck. But anyways, it's pretty good.And there is a full on half a page romance because both of them loved Tess and they starting making out. ha. I know. It was near the end.

- Cindy. :)