Sally Hepworth: The Good Sister Book Review
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Sally Hepworth’s The Good Sister is a thriller that has been on my radar for awhile! I finally got a chance to snag the e-book from the library a couple weeks ago.
Now that I have finished, I’m ready to share The Good Sister book review with you! This will be my first ever book review, and I’m really excited to do more of these in the future.
The Good Sister Book Review
Book Details:
Genre: Thriller
Author: Sally Hepworth
Publication Date: April 13th 2021
Format I read it in: E-Book
Grab a copy here.
The Good Sister Book Summary
Fern and Rose are twin- but not identical- sisters. Fern has a sensory processing disorder, and enjoys living a structured life as a librarian. But she lives in the shadow of unease brought on by a dark secret in her past, that she feels responsible for. When Fern strays from her careful routines, things can get messy…or so she fears!
Rose helps to care for her sister, and has acted as her protector all their lives. Fern trusts Rose implicitly. And when she finds out that Rose cannot get pregnant, Fern decides- without consulting Rose- to have the baby for her.
This decision starts a series of events that will disrupt both sisters’ lives, and bring family secrets from the past- and present- to light.
My Review:
I am a huge fan of thriller books. Like stay up at night, fight through my melatonin to try and finish- or at least one more chapter- huge fan. They are probably my favorite genre to read!
The Good Sister is a great thriller, but I also really loved how it brought in an extra element with it’s exploration of family dynamics. We get to see the complicated relationships, lies, and secrets between sisters, and mother/daughters.
This wasn’t a thriller where the thrills take center stage, so much (though there’s nothing wrong with that!). But instead, it had a distinct storyline and full circle plot, with the twists and turns typical of a thriller book.
The Good Sister is narrated by two voices- that of Fern, where we see her go through daily life, and a secondary voice of Rose. Rose’s narration takes place in the form of journal entries, which she explains is a suggestion from her therapist.
The characters really stole the show in this book! The main character, Fern, I felt was particularly well developed and I loved her character so much. Even though there were suggestions of whether or not she could be dangerous throughout the book, I was rooting for her at every turn!
When Fern tries to have a baby for her sister, she meets someone who opened her eyes to new possibilities. And I absolutely loved their relationship!
But, Fern is held back by fear relating to her past- and the dark secret she carries. Rose is the only other person who knows her secret, and she herself is plagued by the sisters’ childhood.
Both of the sisters keep this secret buried, but only one of them is truly dangerous. The unreliable narrator trick keeps you guessing which one of the sisters is the “good sister”, and which one is not…
As we follow the story, we learn more about their childhood, the dark secret they tried to bury, their relationship, and what new secrets will change their whole lives now.
My Rating:
4.5 Stars
The only reason I took a half star off is because I kind of knew what the major plot twist would be early on. But, that doesn’t really take away from the book! If you read a lot of thrillers, you may already see some of the twists coming, but attachment to the characters keeps you invested in what’s happening.
I hope you enjoyed this review! Have you read The Good Sister yet? Let me know in the comments!
xoxo
Similar Books by Sally Hepworth:
The Younger Wife (releasing in 2022!)
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PIN For Later:
Seen this book around, had no idea what it was about. Sound interesting, I might check it out. Thank you.
I had seen it everywhere too and finally read it…so good!
I love a good thriller and this book sounds fantastic!
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com
It really was! I love thrillers and this has been one of my favorites so far this year!
Great review! I really enjoyed this book too!! I loved that the romance element was also given equal importance as the thriller element. Fern was an absolute favourite ! I also found it a but predictable and could guess the twist coming long before it did 😅
Yes! Fern was my favorite character so even though I guessed the twist as well pretty early in, I really wanted to keep reading about her. And I was definitely pulling for her relationship with “Wally”!
Glad you loved this book! I’m honestly a big scaredy-cat and have avoided thrillers for a while! When I was younger, I lived for this stuff then like a light switch, one day, I started to get paranoid! I do love these reads when I’m on a long plane ride as I tend to be like you and want to finish the book immediately! Thanks for sharing x
Lynn | https://www.lynnmumbingmejia.com
I get that! And I do always want to finish and see what happens- I find thrillers hard to put down!
I love the combination of Women’s Fiction and Thriller in this book and I felt the same way that you did about knowing the ending in advance. I really enjoyed reading your review. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Yes! The overall twist I think was fairly obvious, especially if you are a big thriller fan, but the characters really kept it interesting!