This is my first book to read by Jessica Knoll and am hooked. I can’t wait to read Luckiest Girl Alive. Knoll spins a tale filled with more twists and turns than you can imagine. This is a great book for readers who love suspense. I found it hard to close the book. I was so entranced with the storyline.

I was so excited to read this book based on what I knew. I do not watch the Real Housewives shows but I do enjoy a bit of reality TV. This was a mystery around a reality TV show, what is not to love.

I think this is not quite the thriller/mystery I was expecting. This read more as women's fiction or even Chick lit with a tiny bit of mystery thrown in.

We start with the death and then go back a year to find out what exactly happened. I wasn't pulled in immediately as I had hoped. I did not find the characters particularly interesting or even likable. I also felt that the ending was so abrupt. I felt like things needed a bit more wrap up.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the chance to read.

The Favorite Sister is a new novel by Jessica Knoll, author of [book:Luckiest Girl Alive|22609317]. While I was not a fan of her first novel, I saw this book on NetGalley and thought I'd give her another try.
Part social commentary, part whodunit, and part family drama, The Favorite Sister oscillates between three main POVs, all women who are stars on a "women impowerment" reality show called <i>Goal Diggers</i>. Brett and Kelly are sisters, Brett a show veteran and business figurehead, and Kelly a newcomer to the show who is the brains behind their business. The other POV is Stephanie, a bestselling author and WOC. As we all know, the perfect lives portrayed on their reality show are a complete facade, and the book opens with Kelly talking about the day Brett died.
The novel is at times witty, facetious, and sad, and a thinker of a book without feeling like one. Brett, Stephanie, and Kelly are realistic, genuine humans that the reader can connect to.

I'm grateful to the author and the publisher for the chance to review this book via NetGalley.

Unfortunately--I gave myself permission to stop reading this book, after several attempts to get into the story. Maybe there were too many characters, or the setting in the first chapter was unclear (was she being interviewed or was she at the producer's house in Montauk? I couldn't figure it out)... but it just seemed like too much work to figure out those answers.

I decided not to leave a public review, as my rating was low.

Great book! At first, was a little hard to follow with all the different characters, but I put it down and started back with it and was able to really get into it! I would highly recommend this book!

THIS. BOOK!!!!!!!!!!! Leave plenty of time to read this. Like Ms Knoll's first novel, this is a commentary (in a way) about several things. I can not say too much about the novel without ruining things, except to say READ. THIS. BOOK!

I found it really hard to get through this book. The beginning was either confusing or boring. I made myself get through it because I was given the book from Netgalley and wanted to give a review, otherwise I would of given up a long time ago. The ending was better, lots of twists I didn't see coming, but not sure it's worth the effort to get there.

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I had read another of Knoll's novels a couple of years ago, Luckiest Girl Alive, and I liked it ok. Do when I saw this new release coming out I wanted to check it out. This wasn't my favorite book. The plot line was pretty interesting and there were a lot of great plot twists, especially towards the end of the novel, but the pace of the novel was frustratingly slow for me and I felt like there was a lot of really dry sections. I also found it kind of frustrating that there was so much vague referencing in the beginning of the book. I know that was kind of the point, to give the reader a tease about the consequence of the action and then later reveal what the action was. But I was frustrated and somewhat confused in the beginning by the flow of events and trying to keep up with who went where when and who wasn't talking to whom when. The reality show this centers around too just ended up being about catty, bitchy women who for the most part couldn't stand each other. I definitely wouldn't call it a feel good novel. It was an interesting plot though, everyone on the show has their secrets but the real question is - whose secrets will be revealed in the end? Read to find out!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster for my free copy of THE FAVORITE SISTER for review! All opinions are my own.

Well, if you think you’re getting into a mystery / thriller /slasher drama, you are incorrect. That’s what I thought. And I could not have predicted the bent that this narrative took.

First off, let’s applaud Knoll (not that she needs the applause, but she’s EARNED it) in the brilliance of writing a page-turning, breath-holding, gasp-provoking drama-thriller that just so happens to raise important women’s issues too. Like, what? That’s a genre? No. It’s just the really excellent, rule-breaking new book that she’s penned.

I picked this up expecting loads of drama, some fun cat-fights, and of course major family tension (which is kind of my jam). So, yes, there’s some of that – but while every single one of these women is flawed, they are all powerful, strong, independent women with MASSIVE (well-painted at that) personalities. You’ll want to get to know them.

And Knoll just manages to squeeze a little social justice issues in on the side. I want to watch this. Or read more of these characters. I can’t say much more because all of the rave reviews are speaking for themselves – just go grab this one. This is the perfect summer read – and definitely grab another copy for your bestie or your bookclub because this is one that you’ll want to talk about!

*3 words: left-field, Bechdel, ambition

*what I loved: YASSSSS Ms Knoll for taking a popular genre and making it about real women’s issues! This blew me away.

*what I questioned: eeee, this one always gets me on 5-star reads….here’s one: when’s the sequel come out?

*trigger warnings: suicide, substance abuse

*Find my bookish escapes and posts on Instagram at @mlleboaz.bibliophile !! Leave a comment and let me know how I can find you too!

I was so excited to read this book because of Jessica's debut novel and I was not disappointed. I love it when you can't count on your characters - when they're narrating false truths. It keeps the reader guessing everything that is happening and it made it so I couldn't put this book down. Knoll has done an amazing job once again at showing us real relationships and the struggles that accompany them. READ THIS NOW, PEOPLE!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Jessica Knoll’s debut Luckiest Girl Alive. It had so much to offer: a flawed protagonist, a compelling storyline, and plots twists aplenty. That said, I was very excited about the opportunity to read Knoll’s latest book, The Favorite Sister.

This book involves the cast of Goal Diggers, a gossipy reality show about female entrepreneurs. There are secrets, backstabbing, and betrayal that culminates with a death that just might have been murder.

There are multiple protagonists, and their backstories are richly detailed. Everyone takes turns setting up the scene, and trying to convince the reader of their innocence.

It took me a long time to read this book. I just couldn’t get into it. The characters are interesting, and the plot is delightfully scathing, but the pacing is a little too slow.

I found The Favorite Sister to be vaguely likeable, but overall, this is an average book. I think that I’ll re-read Luckiest Girl Alive and wait for Knoll’s next book in the future.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3. This was a slow burn for me. It was just okay. As a Real Housewives fan, I liked the reality show aspect but was hoping for something with a quicker pace and more twists.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Favorite Sister followed the stars (Stephanie, Brett, Jen, Lauren, and Kelly) of a reality hit TV show called The Goal Diggers about successful, ambitious women. Each woman was harboring a secret, but what happened when the secrets were revealed? Will their time on the show be over? Or, will they do whatever it takes to preserve themselves, and their fame and fortune?

Let me start by saying that I enjoyed Luckiest Girl Alive (4 stars) when many of my friends did not because I felt like the main, extremely unlikable character, Ani, redeemed herself by the end. I also saw the author speak a year ago and very much enjoyed it. With Sister, however, I just couldn't get past the unlikable, catty, backstabbing cast of characters. While many of their statements about and to each other were witty and pithy, I found it tiring rather then funny or entertaining.

While I appreciated the irony surrounding a show that featured "feminist" entrepreneurs, I found myself exhausted while reading about their cattiness and attempts to sabotage and undermine each other. If you like books with lots of twists and turns and secrets, then there definitely were a lot of them in this story. If any, even just one, of the characters had been likable, then I would have enjoyed this story more. P.S. I did like Layla, Kelly's 12 year old generous, humanitarian daughter, so there's that.

I would recommend this for fans of the TV shows The Real Housewives and The Hills, as well as the movie Mean Girls.

Thank you to the author and the publisher for an advance copy of this book! All opinions are my own.

Location: New York City, New York and Marrakesh, Morocco

Another good read from Jessica Knoll. I look forward to reading her next book. She definitely knows how to keep the reader guessing.

In her follow up to her hit novel, The Luckiest Girl Alive, Knoll takes on crafting a novel based on a group of women who star in a reality show.  There are five women stars.  One woman has both a daughter and sister involved.   The story is told by the women in alternating chapters.  At first I had trouble keeping track of who was speaking.  

None of the main characters were nice people who you felt like rooting for.  They were written in such a way that you never felt like you knew more about them that just that was located directly below the surface.  It is my belief this was done on purpose so that it became obvious the women each stood for a stereotype of the kind of women you see on reality shows.  

I was particularly impressed with the writing.  A person could read the novel and never think too hard about anything if they chose to.  Or they could dive in much deeper and enjoy the themes explored regarding feminism, race, and the unreality of a reality show.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley to allow me to read an advanced copy of this novel.

A big fan of The Last Girl Alive, I was extremely excited for this one and not one bit disappointed. Completely different from that one, but it had been so long I wasn't sure what to expect. It really was the best book for bringing reality tv to the page. Drama galore! gimme gimme gimme! Of course, each character is as unlikeable as ever, but that's why we watch, or in this case read, these crazy stuff. I love the secrets and the twists, it's really what kept me hooked- aside from the drama of course lol The ending is messed up! but in the best way.

The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll is a brutal and honest tale of celebrity and friendship and the lie that is the loyalty of modern sisterhood. It is, in short, a terrific cruel read.

"...Even though I know we are not and never will be 'friends', the word sends a warm spike through my middle. To be a part of Jesse's orbit is a fantastic thing. I'm sorry this is the way it had to happen-of course I am, I'm not a monster-but I shouldn't have to feel guilty about it either. I deserve to be here, more than Brett ever did.
'I think of it like this, Jesse,' I answer. 'That if what had happened to my sister had happened to me, I wouldn't want the truth censored..."

Goal Diggers is a reality show centered around five super successful young women living in New York City. Initially it was created to become a beacon of feminism and as an example of what women can achieve. But what it became was something very different as it began to fall into the cesspool of catfights and bad behaviour that reality television survived upon.

"...The thing you must understand about the show is that it is heroin. Fame changed our brains at a cellular level. Quit it cold turkey and you might as well toll the knell..."

Brett is the fan favorite. Tattooed, twenty-seven and a lesbian, her spin studios and meteoric success made her the envy of her castmates. What they don't know is that her success depends on her sister Kelly, who has always been the golden child and the direct opposite of her wild child sister, Brett. But Kelly knows the secrets that would also bring Brett down. Now, Kelly is the new member of Goal Diggers.

Stephanie is the oldest member of the cast and the first black person. She is a bestselling author of erotic novels but it is her latest novel, about surviving domestic abuse that is getting the most fame. More so because it is being marketed as autobiographical.

"...It wasn't until I admitted to my own place in the cycle that people gave me the respect I always knew I deserved. And now that I have it, I can't stop wondering why it is that for a woman's work to be taken seriously, she has to bleed first? And why I was so quick to open a vein..."

The other cast members, Lauren and Jen, successful in their own way, are more like satellites that float around the rivalry that is becoming vicious between Brett and Stephanie. It is into this madness of fake reality that Kelly steps in and what she cannot expect, what none of them can expect, that it would end in murder.

Jessica Knoll is a powerful new voice in the thriller genre. There will be the usual comparisons between other popular female lead novels but make no mistake. There is nothing in the marketplace quite like her novels. The Favorite Sister is a murder mystery where the truth is something that is not only hid from the readers but that the characters hide from themselves. The worst thing that seems to happen is that the truth actually comes out. About anything. The novel is not only about the lies we tell one another, but the multitude we tell ourselves. The facade about who we really are versus the secrets we keep. The setting of reality television is perfect her. We watch Kelly as the innocent lamb led to the slaughter amongst the she wolves that will pretend to be her friends but eventually only want to destroy her. Even her own sister. Even to the point of selling out her own child to further her cause. These are the popular girls from high school on steroids.

The men in this novel only serve as fall guys. Figures to be blamed for whatever emotional trauma the women are going through. That is not to say that they are innocent in any way, it's just in comparison to what the women do, they are rank amateurs. There is nothing these women will not sell out to hold on to their little piece of fame. Their past. Their children. Their own family. Their marriages. None of it is as real as the next tv spot and certainly not as valuable.

I thought it brave of Knoll to make the women the real evil in this book and not the men as most of her contemporaries are doing. The female hero overcoming the evil domineering man. But perhaps this is just the next step in evolution for a female character. The female villain willing and capable of using anyone and doing anything to get what she wants. With the self-centered narcissism and ambition to actually believe she has done nothing wrong.

A hell of a good read.

No sign of a sophmore slump! Addictive read. I was hooked from pagr one and didnt want the book to end. Also loved thr cover!

I may be the only one in the publishing world who hasn't read LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE, which shot Jessica Knoll into author superstar orbit. But I did get my hands on her new novel, THE FAVORITE SISTER (Simon&Schuster).
It's an exciting enough premise: Two sisters on a reality television show aptly called GOLD DIGGERS. One of them dies, the other isn't innocent, but who dunnit? A fast paced thriller? Not what I took away.

"It is a dangerous thing to conflate feminism with like all women. It limits women to being one thing, likable, when feminism is all about allowing all women to be shades of all things, even if that thing is a snake oil salesman." The Favorite Sister

It may be because I read the interview with Jessica Knoll at the end of the book first, that I knew what she was attempting to do with THE FAVORITE SISTER. It's more than just a thriller that's shot up the bestseller list and has been optioned for a movie.

Jessica Knoll takes a look at the sisterhood and the reality of how society pits women against each other. It highlights how some women act as if they support one another, while keeping one another down. It's a political statement about how our culture keeps women in "their " place and a wake up call for women to join together while pushing toward equality.

"I think the feminist sisterhood is a lofty goal to aspire to, but I think it's disingenuous to pretend it's all pink pussy hats and pun-y protest signs when women get together. We're dealing with eight generations of restricted access to positions of privilege and power." Jessica Knoll

Knoll creates an environment where powerful women are feared, and at the same time, feared by one another.

"THE FAVORITE SISTER acknowledges the reality that people are still uncomfortable with ambitious women. And not just uncomfortable, but afraid. There is a real fear about what an ambitious woman might do, the status quo might change." Jessica Knoll

I enjoyed THE FAVORITE SISTER and believe you will, too. I just didn't appreciate the preachy undertones. I thought Knoll was trying to play it both ways - entertainment and message, which is really tough to do. Sometimes it works, other times, not so much.

Ultimately, THE FAVORITE SISTER examines the invisible barriers that prevent women from rising up the ranks in today’s America—and offers a terrifying portrayal of the dark side of the sisterhood.

ENJOY!

This book is even better than the last book by Ms. Knoll. It is unputdownable and a fantastic read. It is already at the top of our summer reading list.