Member Reviews
Chapters that were entirely too long and it was just one conversation after another of women either being horrible to each other or making nasty comments about other women or men. Not my cup of tea.
In all honesty I have to say this book to me was Insufferable. I struggled to finish the story. It made women look like nothing but shallow, conniving nags. The suspense the author tried to create with the beginning of the book never got fully developed so it just crashed and burned. None of the characters were ever really developed so I never connected with any of them. This was a huge waste of my time and I feel would be a waste of time for readers. I do not recommend this book, I would highly suggest you find another book.
I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.
I want to start by saying I LOVE my Real Housewives reality tv, MOST of the series, some cities I do not watch. And, I also loved the book Not All Diamonds and Rose which gave so much background of the drama and production of the housewives! I preface this review with that information because if you are a fan of those shows/books like I am, you will LOVE THIS NOVEL!!!!!
This has such a fun and interesting take with it not being a Housewives reality show, rather a strong businesswomen show called Golddiggers. When we enter into this world the show has already been going on for a few years, but the newest season is about to start and bringing in new blood....namely, the biggest rise in success Brett's sister, Kelly. Think of the drama when sister in law Melissa joined New Jersey....holy cow, the drama! Plus, we get the secrets of all the cast members attempting to keep themselves relevant with contrived drama. This novel was amazing as the secrets unfolded and the final chapter of 'who done it' makes you question if there was more puppet mastery going on then one thinks...
This novel was written to discuss women tearing each other down rather than building each other up and the harm it does to society. Unfortunately, these housewives and reality tv makes money and they likely aren't going anywhere any time soon.
Yikes.
Not only did this start slow and stay slow until about 89% of the way through, I had a hard time with the characters especially after reading the author's Q&A at the end. You see, Jessica Knoll, a white author, wanted to write more diversity into her characters. Racial diversity, body diversity, sexual identity diversity...
...and then she proceeds to do the thing that shows me it wasn't a good-faith effort: she kills off the diverse characters. My anger kept me reading near the end, because wow, what a way to phone it in on diversity.
Not sure if I will read any more Jessica Knoll.
I requested this book because I really enjoyed Luckiest Girl Alive. I noticed that book had a lot of unpopular reviews but I enjoyed it. I feel the same about this book. The favorite Sister does not have great reviews on GoodReads, but I felt like it was a good story.
I thought it was entertaining and suspenseful. I enjoy reality TV so I think the character's personalities made a lot of sense. Shallow, "mean girls", hard to like, focused on their image, etc... They may not be someone you trust or like very much but I thought Knoll nailed the character development with this one.
I think give this one a chance. If you are at about 20% and still not liking it then give up. This one takes a while to get into but then it becomes difficult to put down.
The story is told through three viewpoints which are fairly easy to keep up with, and although it centres around a murder, this really isn’t a gritty suspense thriller, more of a bitchy who dunnit. The characters all very unlikeable, self-obsessed and downright ruthless, that being said I do enjoy Knolls writing style, and I do appreciate the message of the book. It’s a bit of a slow start, but if you stick with the book it does get better and if you’re in a mean spirited mood it can be an addictive read, with a few good twists.
This wasn’t my favorite. I finished it but it took me a long time to finish. I felt there was too much going on and the character development was lacking.
The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll is a slightly different mystery but numerous characters that confuse and leave you bewildered since the times change from past to present frequently and the unexpected ending left me satisfied with the narrative.
DNF'd. This fake reality show set to the page did not hold my interest as there are already enough real-life melodramatic women competing with each other.
This book was so fun! It admittedly took me a few chapters to get invested in it, but once the mystery kicked in, I was hooked. I loved the reality TV show premise, and I was genuinely surprised by the twist at the end.
Brett and Kelly are 2 sisters, Brett the problem child, Kelly the perfect one. However, when they become adults, Brett is the successful one, with a TV show, & Kelly is a struggling single mother. When Kelly finds a way onto the TV show, things get interesting.
At first, I had a really hard time getting into the first chapters of The Favorite Sister, by Jessica Knoll. I knew I really loved her previous book, The Luckiest Girl Alive (and I can't wait to watch the movie!), so I was hopeful I would love this one too. I'm glad I did persist, to keep reading on about the successful women (friends, family and "frenemies " ) who comprise the reality show set in New York City "Goal Diggers". This is as fun as any reality show I love to watch (and I LOVE many!), with secrets, twists, turns, betrayal, transformations, hidden agendas, with an extra dose of MURDER thrown in! I'm hoping this one becomes a mini-series or a movie too. Thanks NetGalley for an ARC of the ebook.
I did not do the review for this book before the date because I did not realize until recently that you could have the ability to not be able to finish the book. For me, this book was very difficult to get through. I do not mean that to be rude, but this was just so slow, and I tried to finish this book so many times and could not. For me, some may say this was a "slow burn," but for me, it was just slow. read that I just could not get into. I hope that does not count against me and not let me read the author's other books, but this one was just not for me. I know there are many people who loved this book, but it was not me. I thought the premise sounded fascinating, but it just took too long to get there. I did get the audiobook, however, when it came out, and it is taking a long time as well. My mind keeps getting distracted, I am determined to finish it and get to what I hope is a great ending.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
Jessica Knoll did a good job of creating complex characters in her second novel here! I will confess, the book started off a little slow but I really enjoyed it as it got going! Knoll really is a talented author and her writing style really kept me entertained. This book captured the lives, and drama, of characters in a reality TV show. Seeing the characters and their superficial flaws, back-stabbing behaviors, and competitive nature really added to the plot underneath. I really enjoyed every twist and turn and surprise along the way!
I didn’t finish this one. Too many characters. None of them likable. It was confusing, boring, uneventful, just blah.
I wanted to like this book, but couldn't. The characters were unrelatable and uninteresting, and the narrative flitted around too much to have an organic flow. After forcing myself to get through 2 hours, I had to put the book down and resign myself to realizing that not every book is for every person.
This novel feels like an all acess backstage pass to a reality TV show and you have front row for all of the insaine drama. For me, there were a few too many characters, while all very well developed, I was still getting a little confused. Jessica Knoll approaches some difficult and deep hot topics. There was a lot crammed into one story. I wouldn't necessarily call it a thriller, but was definitely drama filled!!
I enjoyed Knoll's first book, but just couldn't get into this one from the start. It's not a genre I usually love so i probably shouldn't have requested it.
I did not like this book that much. The story felt a bit unbelievable to me and the characters were way too blah.
The second book by Jessica Knoll wasn't as quite as thrilling as The Luckiest Girl Alive but I still enjoyed it. I have a feeling it was more because myself, as a reader and a person don't particularly enjoy reality television so the plot didn't capture me quite as well as the previous novel. This has nothing to do with Knoll's excellent writing style which is quite marvelous.