If we were allowed to judge books solely on their cover, Imaginary Girls would be the most beautiful, intriguing book I’ve read all year. But books are more than that and this one doesn’t live up to the cover’s promise.

A blend of magical realism and mystery, Imaginary Girls is the story of sisters Chloe and Ruby and the sacrifices women will make for the people they love. Though Ruby is technically her half sister, (“but we don’t count by halves,” Chloe says at one point in the book which made me cheer) Chloe wholly trusts her older sister and is willing to go to any length to make her happy. In this case, that length is swimming the old reservoir one night in an attempt to prove Ruby right in front of their gang of friends. The reservoir was created after the town of Olive was flooded like 100 years ago. Ruby loves to tell stories about the people who still live in Olive, the ones who refused to leave their homes even when the waters rose. She tells Chloe fairy tales of how they grew webbed fingers and learned to breath water.

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