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namitakhanna's review against another edition
4.0
3 ½ stars
Chloe is a successful editor , married to her sister Nicky’s ex-husband Adam, stepmother to her nephew Ethan, and estranged from her sister. Now Nicky and Chloe are forced to come together after Adam is murdered and Ethan is the prime suspect. When the sisters finally reconnect they are forced to confront their past to prove Ethan’s innocence and secrets come tumbling out
The Better sister by Alafair Burke is a domestic thriller which starts off strong with Adam’s murder.A little slow in the middle it picks up pace later with the courtroom drama and with some twists and turns in the end , some of which I wasn’t expecting made it an interesting read.
I would like to thank Harper Collins & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.
This and more reviews at https://chloesbooksblog.wordpress.com/
Chloe is a successful editor , married to her sister Nicky’s ex-husband Adam, stepmother to her nephew Ethan, and estranged from her sister. Now Nicky and Chloe are forced to come together after Adam is murdered and Ethan is the prime suspect. When the sisters finally reconnect they are forced to confront their past to prove Ethan’s innocence and secrets come tumbling out
The Better sister by Alafair Burke is a domestic thriller which starts off strong with Adam’s murder.A little slow in the middle it picks up pace later with the courtroom drama and with some twists and turns in the end , some of which I wasn’t expecting made it an interesting read.
I would like to thank Harper Collins & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.
This and more reviews at https://chloesbooksblog.wordpress.com/
cjackson451's review against another edition
3.0
Didn't build enough for me to care about the characters. Good twists otherwise.
asumprer's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
kaceyp14's review against another edition
2.0
All over the place with “twists” that were pretty stupid.
mandatoryreads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
lauranisbet's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
rachelellyn's review against another edition
4.0
Totally waffling on whether this book is a 3.5 or a solid 4. So, I rounded up.
Enjoyable. Fast read. Rainy day with a cup of tea or coffee read.
Enjoyable. Fast read. Rainy day with a cup of tea or coffee read.
novelvisits's review against another edition
3.0
{My Thoughts}
What Worked For Me
Sisters Once Divided, Now United – Sisters Nicky and Chloe Taylor have a complicated history to say the least. Nicky, always a bit of a wreck, was once married to the now dead Adam, and she’s the mother of his son, Ethan. Through a chain of events, her marriage to Adam ended, and several years later he married Chloe, the stable sister, and the two raised Ethan as their son. For obvious reasons, the sisters spoke rarely and saw each other even less often. That all changed after Adam’s murder when Ethan became the prime suspect.
“As I walked Valerie to the door, I could feel Ethan’s eyes following her. It would be weeks before I asked myself whether that was yet another sign that something was deeply wrong with my son.”
Through the course of the story the two women must find a way to unite to save the son they both love. Theirs was a fun relationship to watch evolve.
Nicky – I especially liked the character of Nicky. She’d had a lot of problems in her past, but she’d also been treated harshly and had reasons for some of what she’d done. In the present Nicky was a fun, free-spirited woman who supported herself by making jewelry and selling it on Etsy. I found her the perfect foil to high-strung, socially conscious Chloe.
Light, Easy Domestic Thriller – This story of a murdered man and the tangled family he left behind was perfect reading while on vacation. It was easy to pick up and put down and get right back into the complex lives of the Taylor sisters.
Courtroom/Trial – The second half of The Better Sister focuses on a trial for Adam’s murder and this was where the story really took off for me. Burke’s background as a prosecutor came through in that part of this story and definitely felt the most authentic of all its elements.
What Didn’t
Chloe – I don’t want to give anything away, so I can’t say a lot, but much about Chloe just didn’t add up. She was a highly regarded journalist winning huge awards for her work in a “#MeToo” like movement, yet she feared any sort of revelations about her own life, constantly worrying about what others would think. Chloe seemed like too big of a hypocrite for my tastes.
Adam – The entire story of The Better Sister revolved around Adam and why someone might want to murder him, and yet as each piece of the puzzle was revealed the picture became messier. Nothing about Adam rang true. It was almost as if he had a split personality! Again, I can’t give much away, but the logic of some of the things Burke had Adam doing just didn’t fit with other parts of the character. People don’t just change and then change back on demand and yet that is what Burke required of Adam for her story to truly come together.
{The Final Assessment}
I like a good domestic thriller, and The Better Sister was fine in that regard. Just fine. Just. Too much of the story surrounding Adam and Chloe required the reader to simply buy into it, to suspend disbelief. I’m fine with a little of that, almost all thrillers need it, but in The Better Sister it was simply too much for me.
Note: I received a copy of this book from the Harper (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review. Many thanks!
For more reviews and bookish news check out Novel Visits: https://novelvisits.com/
What Worked For Me
Sisters Once Divided, Now United – Sisters Nicky and Chloe Taylor have a complicated history to say the least. Nicky, always a bit of a wreck, was once married to the now dead Adam, and she’s the mother of his son, Ethan. Through a chain of events, her marriage to Adam ended, and several years later he married Chloe, the stable sister, and the two raised Ethan as their son. For obvious reasons, the sisters spoke rarely and saw each other even less often. That all changed after Adam’s murder when Ethan became the prime suspect.
“As I walked Valerie to the door, I could feel Ethan’s eyes following her. It would be weeks before I asked myself whether that was yet another sign that something was deeply wrong with my son.”
Through the course of the story the two women must find a way to unite to save the son they both love. Theirs was a fun relationship to watch evolve.
Nicky – I especially liked the character of Nicky. She’d had a lot of problems in her past, but she’d also been treated harshly and had reasons for some of what she’d done. In the present Nicky was a fun, free-spirited woman who supported herself by making jewelry and selling it on Etsy. I found her the perfect foil to high-strung, socially conscious Chloe.
Light, Easy Domestic Thriller – This story of a murdered man and the tangled family he left behind was perfect reading while on vacation. It was easy to pick up and put down and get right back into the complex lives of the Taylor sisters.
Courtroom/Trial – The second half of The Better Sister focuses on a trial for Adam’s murder and this was where the story really took off for me. Burke’s background as a prosecutor came through in that part of this story and definitely felt the most authentic of all its elements.
What Didn’t
Chloe – I don’t want to give anything away, so I can’t say a lot, but much about Chloe just didn’t add up. She was a highly regarded journalist winning huge awards for her work in a “#MeToo” like movement, yet she feared any sort of revelations about her own life, constantly worrying about what others would think. Chloe seemed like too big of a hypocrite for my tastes.
Adam – The entire story of The Better Sister revolved around Adam and why someone might want to murder him, and yet as each piece of the puzzle was revealed the picture became messier. Nothing about Adam rang true. It was almost as if he had a split personality! Again, I can’t give much away, but the logic of some of the things Burke had Adam doing just didn’t fit with other parts of the character. People don’t just change and then change back on demand and yet that is what Burke required of Adam for her story to truly come together.
{The Final Assessment}
I like a good domestic thriller, and The Better Sister was fine in that regard. Just fine. Just. Too much of the story surrounding Adam and Chloe required the reader to simply buy into it, to suspend disbelief. I’m fine with a little of that, almost all thrillers need it, but in The Better Sister it was simply too much for me.
Note: I received a copy of this book from the Harper (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review. Many thanks!
For more reviews and bookish news check out Novel Visits: https://novelvisits.com/
jojo_27's review against another edition
2.0
Can’t recommend. This book felt disjointed and the plot was all over the place.
hayleybeale's review against another edition
4.0
41/2 stars
Another excellent twisty thriller from Alafair Burke, with a murdered husband and a wife and son under suspicion. I found the morals a little dubious but was gripped nonetheless.
Another excellent twisty thriller from Alafair Burke, with a murdered husband and a wife and son under suspicion. I found the morals a little dubious but was gripped nonetheless.