Book Review: The Sister by Louise Jensen @littlebookcafe @Fab_fiction @thecrimevault @bookouture

Exciting News!

Today is the day that Louise Jensen’s The Sister is being published in paperback.  It is now out in shops and supermarkets. The Sister will be available in Asda, Sainsbury’s and WH Smith from 24th and in Tesco from September 7th.

I posted my review of The Sister by Louise Jensen a year ago. It was my third ARC and the first one that I gave a 5 stars rating.

I decided to share my review just as it was when I published it a year ago. So here goes…

Synopsis (from goodreads)

Grace hasn’t been the same since the death of her best friend Charlie. She is haunted by Charlie’s words, the last time she saw her, and in a bid for answers, opens an old memory box of Charlie’s. It soon becomes clear there was a lot she didn’t know about her best friend.

When Grace starts a campaign to find Charlie’s father, Anna, a girl claiming to be Charlie’s sister steps forward. For Grace, finding Anna is like finding a new family, and soon Anna has made herself very comfortable in Grace and boyfriend Dan’s home.

But something isn’t right. Things disappear, Dan’s acting strangely and Grace is sure that someone is following her. Is it all in Grace’s mind? Or as she gets closer to discovering the truth about both Charlie and Anna, is Grace in terrible danger?

There was nothing she could have done to save Charlie …or was there?

Review (no spoilers)

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for an advance copy of this book.

I have read and reviewed three books so far from NetGalley but this one has to be the best one yet. It is the first ARC that I have given a rating of five stars.

I really liked the balanced,easy pace of this book. I was able to get into the story from the first page. The writing and imagery was also masterfully done. The author effortlessly takes readers right into the middle of the story. The Sister by Louise Jensen is narrated in two main timelines labelled as ‘then’ and ‘now’ and both timelines are narrated in Grace’s voice.

The then tells about Charlie, Dan and Grace’s background and goes all the way up to Grace’s eighteenth birthday when some major events took place. The now takes place years later and start after Charlie’s death. The final chapters focus more on the ‘now’. The two timelines help tie up everything together and made the story more exciting. It was like fitting pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together to get the full picture.

As for the characters, I sympathized with Grace at times. Other times, I wanted to shake to wake her up. She comes off as a really weak character especially at the beginning. However, my thoughts about her changed as the story moved forward and I started to empathize with her. I liked Charlie’s character too. She was portrayed as being strong, loyal,full of life.Basically, the kind of girl who makes the perfect best-friend. I also liked some of the other characters especially Grace’s grandparents, they were so cool and laid-back, just so awesome and supportive.

The Sister by Louise Jensen book is so suspenseful that it kept me turning pages to the end. There are new revelations that occur in each chapter. Events that will keep you wondering what else could possibly go wrong for the protagonist. I love a good suspenseful novel with  drama and this one definitely delivered.

I liked the fact that I wasn’t able to guess how the story would unravel. I thought I knew Charlie’s secret but I was proved wrong. I also thought I had figured out Grace’s first stalker but again I was wrong. Again, I also tried to guess the secret involving Grace’s parents at the start, let us just say, I was wrong each time.Even when I finally managed to figure out the person behind things going wrong for Grace in the now, again another twist occurred that threw everything into a new direction.

This book definitely took me on a roller-coaster ride. It is not your typical whodunit story; it’s the kind of story that will keep you trying to figure out why things were happening as opposed to who is doing them.

Final Thoughts…

I recommend The Sister by Louise Jensen to all fans of psychological thrillers. It’s a story about secrets, deception and lost friendships all masterfully interspersed with suspense that will keep you at the edge of your seat. Seriously, if you like psychological thrillers then you should get this book. I can’t wait to read the next book by Louise Jensen

About the book

• Title: The Sister
• Author: Louise Jensen
• Kindle: 307 pages and 291 on Aldiko
• Published July 7th 2016 by Bookouture
• My Rating: 5 stars