Operation Sisterhood, by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, follows Bo, whose mother has just remarried, leading to the pair of them moving in with their new family. They now live in a Brooklyn brownstone with a “patchwork family,” including Bill (Bo’s mother’s new husband), his daughter, Sunday, a pair of twins named Lil and Lee, and their parents, so there are four parents coparenting four girls. The four are all homeschooled (which they call “freeschooling,” a method of teaching driven almost entirely by the students), and the book primarily centers around Bo learning to adapt to this new family.

Bo is a fairly likable protagonist. She’s very pragmatic and organized. She plays the drums and loves baking, the latter of which is something that she’s always shared with her mother. Since it has always been just the two of them, she has a hard time adjusting to her new family, and especially to her new sister Sunday, who has a very different personality. I enjoyed reading about her character development over the course of the story, though I do wish she’d been given more of a personality outside of her disliking change.

The other characters were all enjoyable too. Sunday, Lil, and Lee all were relatively distinct, though they definitely tended to blend together sometimes; the only thing that was notably different about them were their different interests. I understand that introducing three new similarly aged girls at the same time makes it difficult to add much distinction, but I think a little more variance would definitely have allowed for more connection with each of them.

Similarly, Bo’s mom is the only one of the adults who gets any sort of personality, and even then she isn’t developed much; Bill doesn’t do much, and the other parents are barely even present. Considering that the parents should be a pretty large aspect of Bo adapting to her new family, they definitely ought to have been mentioned more; I understand that the book is primarily about sisterhood, but there was definitely room for some discussion of parenthood as well.

I think that Bo’s relationships with Sunday and with her mom are definitely the most interesting parts of the book; I just personally don’t think that they are emphasized enough. Bo spends the entire book feeling sidelined by her mother and like there’s no time for her in her mother’s life any more, and that entire plot line never feels like it’s addressed sufficiently; there’s a short scene dedicated to it, but, considering that it’s the main point of tension in Bo’s character arc, it definitely deserved more time dedicated to it. Likewise, her growing resentment of Sunday is just kind of magically fixed without them ever actually seeming to work through it beyond one short scene. These are both very interesting character arcs and relationships, and, as the main driving forces behind Bo’s story, definitely deserve more attention than they are given in the book.

I did really enjoy the New York City setting. There’s a lot of discussion of different parts of Bo’s new and old neighborhoods, and the author definitely does a great job of fleshing out the background characters so that it actually feels like reading about a community. That aspect of the book is definitely immersive, and I think one of its strongest aspects.

It’s honestly just such a fun and comforting book; it isn’t stressful, and it’s primarily just about Bo getting used to a new life and new family members. What sources of stress that are there aren’t overwhelming or overly urgent; while Bo definitely has a hard time at some points, it never feels overwhelming to the reader.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I do always love reading books about familial relationships, particularly about learning how to fit into new families, and Operation Sisterhood definitely fit that box. Even though there isn’t too much character depth, it’s nevertheless a fun story of adapting to new surroundings that is perfect for anybody who is themselves scared of change. I would recommend it to anybody who loves reading about sisterhood, community, found family, or learning to live with change.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free electronic copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Operation Sisterhood comes out on January 4, 2022, so be sure to check it out then if you’re interested!

What’s your first read of 2022 going to be? Comment below!