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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
I stayed up way too late into the night reading this! For the first time in a while I kept thinking "just one more chapter" and it was definitely worth it.
The suspense was there throughout the entire novel and lots of what I thought might happen was proven incorrect. It was interesting to see Anna's character develop and be torn apart and see it from different perspectives.
Flicking back and forth between "then" and "now" helped to build the tension, develop the characters and build on the empathy felt towards, not just the protagonists but the lesser characters too.
I would recommend this to anyone that likes psychological thrillers like Gone Girl and Girl On A Train.
The suspense was there throughout the entire novel and lots of what I thought might happen was proven incorrect. It was interesting to see Anna's character develop and be torn apart and see it from different perspectives.
Flicking back and forth between "then" and "now" helped to build the tension, develop the characters and build on the empathy felt towards, not just the protagonists but the lesser characters too.
I would recommend this to anyone that likes psychological thrillers like Gone Girl and Girl On A Train.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's hard to believe that this is Louise Jensen's debut novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this twisting thriller. This novel alternates time lines, "then" and "now" and I feel this adds to the intrigue and mystery of the novel. Grace, our main character is mourning the loss of her best friend, Charlie. After opening a time capsule, she learns that Charlie may have been hiding something. This novel sucked me in from the very beginning and I had to race to finish it. I hope you enjoy it too!!!
Thank you to net galley for an advanced reader copy. This is an honest review.
Thank you to net galley for an advanced reader copy. This is an honest review.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed reading this book, however I feel the tag line ruined the experience a bit. When you're literally told on the front cover that there will be a twist you'll never see coming, you spend the whole book trying to outsmart it, rather than just letting everything unfold. I will say I guessed one of the reveals at the end, but oh well. An enjoyable read, but I'm so sick of books announcing in big bold that they have a twist. Stop it! It ruins the thrill of the ride.
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment
This was the best free book I ever received!!!!! I received this as an arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I honestly thought this book was wonderful. It was a psychological thriller and there were several plot lines throughout. While I suspected how some of the story would go, I was able to read almost to the end of the book before I figured out the whole story. This was a debut novel and I will certainly be checking out future books from this author.
Well there is a lot to say about this book. It was definitely an interesting read, with a lot twists and turns. I can't say I saw a single one of them coming. The only problem is if they weren't unbelievable, they were weak or uninteresting. Had some decent characters, I really liked the characters of Charlie, Dan, Lexie and Anna. However the main character Grace really got on my nerves towards the end. She was set up to apparently be a really strong, self assured, intelligent character. But I found that she came off as the exact opposite of that, she was on drugs half the time, drunk the other half, and at times she it was both. Not to mention the amount of stupid ideas she had made towards the end. Not to mention some of the choices she had made prior to this were completely, and utterly stupid not to mention unbelievable.
I felt this book would have been much more interesting if it was maybe a bit shorter, maybe with a few less sub-plots to be discovered. But overall a decent read. Can't say I'll rush to buy the authors future books, but I won't exactly avoid them either.
I felt this book would have been much more interesting if it was maybe a bit shorter, maybe with a few less sub-plots to be discovered. But overall a decent read. Can't say I'll rush to buy the authors future books, but I won't exactly avoid them either.
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ominous last words, a friendship that may not have been what it seemed, and a new friend who is suspicious. These are a few of my favourite things and The Sister employs most of them to great effect. Moving between the past and present, Jensen's The Sister sketches a portrait of a woman on the brink, trying desperately to claw her way back. Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
At the heart of The Sister is friendship and guilt. Like many other current psychological thrillers The Sister is fascinated with the adolescence of teenage girls, the highs of friendship and the lows of betrayal. The friendship between Grace and Charlie centres the novel and is the relationship around which most of it revolves. Thinking back to my own adolescence and childhood I do remember the intensity of the smallest thing, so seeing the almost obsessive nature of the friendship and of Grace's questioning of it does make sense. Jensen does take it a step further by looking at guilt and its many different forms. We all carry some guilt around, whether it's regretting something we did or regretting something we didn't. The Sister shows this in different ways and in different relationships, between children and parents, husband and wife, friend and friend. Where is the line and what happens when it's crossed? I know there are a lot of questions here, but who doesn't love a book that asks questions?
At the beginning of The Sister we find Grace slowly trying to recover from her best friend's death, but as she tries to do so the past comes back to haunt her and her life slowly begins to fall apart again. I did enjoy much of The Sister, its twists and its turns, but whereas some things remain a mystery to Grace, I feel the reader figures some things out way quicker than she or any of the other characters do. Especially Anna was both fascinating and frustrating since she was rather untrustworthy from the beginning. Part of this is also down to the title. I mean, come on. I don't want to spell it out but surely we all know that titles like these can be major giveaways unless they're actively misleading or only suggestive. Think of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. Rebecca is at the heart of the novel, centring the mystery, and Du Maurier wants you to be just as focused on her as her main character. In this case Jensen's title isn't as successful, unfortunately.
Louise Jensen knows how to keep the pace. When a novel switches back and forth between the present and the past, it's difficult to make sure both narratives keep a reader's attention. Jensen uses Grace's past as a way to both inform the present and confuse it. What happened? Why did it happen? And how long will the repercussions last? Grace's voice is strong throughout the novel, even if at times she isn't the most likeable of narrators. Jensen doesn't intend for her to be though, not shying away from showing that no one is perfect and everyone has their vices. In the end The Sister tries to show that forgiveness needs to happen and that this forgiveness can hide behind different and surprising corners. Despite the fact that not all of The Sister was as surprising or smooth as I would have liked, I did enjoy it and raced through it, heading towards the inevitable but juicy conclusion.
I enjoyed The Sister, even though it was quite obvious at times where it was going. However, there were some great scenes which offered a lot of promise so I will definitely keep my eye out for Jensen's next book.
URL: https://universeinwords.blogspot.com/2018/08/review-sister-by-louise-jensen.html
At the heart of The Sister is friendship and guilt. Like many other current psychological thrillers The Sister is fascinated with the adolescence of teenage girls, the highs of friendship and the lows of betrayal. The friendship between Grace and Charlie centres the novel and is the relationship around which most of it revolves. Thinking back to my own adolescence and childhood I do remember the intensity of the smallest thing, so seeing the almost obsessive nature of the friendship and of Grace's questioning of it does make sense. Jensen does take it a step further by looking at guilt and its many different forms. We all carry some guilt around, whether it's regretting something we did or regretting something we didn't. The Sister shows this in different ways and in different relationships, between children and parents, husband and wife, friend and friend. Where is the line and what happens when it's crossed? I know there are a lot of questions here, but who doesn't love a book that asks questions?
At the beginning of The Sister we find Grace slowly trying to recover from her best friend's death, but as she tries to do so the past comes back to haunt her and her life slowly begins to fall apart again. I did enjoy much of The Sister, its twists and its turns, but whereas some things remain a mystery to Grace, I feel the reader figures some things out way quicker than she or any of the other characters do. Especially Anna was both fascinating and frustrating since she was rather untrustworthy from the beginning. Part of this is also down to the title. I mean, come on. I don't want to spell it out but surely we all know that titles like these can be major giveaways unless they're actively misleading or only suggestive. Think of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. Rebecca is at the heart of the novel, centring the mystery, and Du Maurier wants you to be just as focused on her as her main character. In this case Jensen's title isn't as successful, unfortunately.
Louise Jensen knows how to keep the pace. When a novel switches back and forth between the present and the past, it's difficult to make sure both narratives keep a reader's attention. Jensen uses Grace's past as a way to both inform the present and confuse it. What happened? Why did it happen? And how long will the repercussions last? Grace's voice is strong throughout the novel, even if at times she isn't the most likeable of narrators. Jensen doesn't intend for her to be though, not shying away from showing that no one is perfect and everyone has their vices. In the end The Sister tries to show that forgiveness needs to happen and that this forgiveness can hide behind different and surprising corners. Despite the fact that not all of The Sister was as surprising or smooth as I would have liked, I did enjoy it and raced through it, heading towards the inevitable but juicy conclusion.
I enjoyed The Sister, even though it was quite obvious at times where it was going. However, there were some great scenes which offered a lot of promise so I will definitely keep my eye out for Jensen's next book.
URL: https://universeinwords.blogspot.com/2018/08/review-sister-by-louise-jensen.html