Reality TV, the latest craze. We think we are getting a peephole view of the lives of strangers, but what happens when the cameras stop rolling for five successful, competitive women is nothing short of deadly. You think the players on those reality shows can be brutal?

THE FAVORITE SISTER by Jessica Knoll is a look at the rest of the story when egos, pride, jealousy and insecurity erupt and family rivalries boil over. Told from several points of view and alternating between past and present, this chaotic tale is filled with interpersonal conflicts, both real and contrived for the cameras as these powerfully intense personalities crash, clash and sometimes come together in the name of power and control. Is it the fault of these women that they can be so heartless or has society warped their sense of values in the name of success? Either way, prepare to enter the vipers' den...

Jessica Knoll has colored a world behind the cameras in the fractured shades of a tumultuous storm. Trust is a weakness, honor is easily dismissed and family ties are similar to be wrapped in barbed wire.

I found I could not relate or even actually like any of the five main characters. Points of view change abruptly and because their voices were so similar, it was jarring to play catch up. Too much vitriol, too many insecure egos and game-playing made this a difficult read to enjoy for me, perhaps because I am not a fan of the nastiness of reality shows and being part of the lives of these characters off screen was like an exercise in drowning in acid. That said, if you can dodge the daggers, the ending is worth the effort, because this author can write!

I received a complimentary ARC edition from Simon & Schuster! This is my honest and voluntary review.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (May 15, 2018)
Publication Date: May 15, 2018
Genre: Women's Fiction
Print Length: 384 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
For Reviews, Giveaways, Fabulous Book News: http://tometender.blogspot.com

The Favorite Sister takes us behind the scenes of a reality tv series, "Goal Diggers", which follows a group of (allegedly) strong, independent, entrepreneurial women around New York City. Told in turn by three of the women (two of them sisters), we learn how they are manipulating and using each other to further their storylines on the "reality" show. As the chapters alternate among the women backstories are filled in and secrets are revealed, with not one, but three, unreliable narrators, and some next-level backstabbing. There are a lot of very of-the-moment details, weaving in everything fromTwitter, Instagram, and texting, to Go Pro cameras and of course reality TV. A wide variety of social issues are addressed as well (domestic violence, mental illness, women's health issues, adoption, multi-racial children, single parents, how women lose social status as they age, LBGTQ relationships, substance abuse, the treatment of women in third-world countries and even more - it's a very long list). It felt overstuffed like the author was working her way through a checklist, throwing a bunch of things against the wall to see what would stick.

Throughout the book, I kept feeling uneasy and it wasn't from the suspense of how one of our narrators winds up dead (a plot element revealed in the first chapter, so this isn't a spoiler). I finally put my finger on it - every character spends the entire book brutally criticizing everyone else, to the point of being hateful, with zero self-awareness. When the characters address a serious issue it still ends up coming across as self-serving. Even the pre-teen dragged into this viper pit is not spared (although she is the one character not 100% corrupted (yet) by the spotlight). The overall effect left me feeling queasy because I didn't think the constant barrage of negativity was moving the plot along, it was dragging it down. I don't need to like all the characters in a book but when every character is so purposefully awful, the tone is less "twisty fun soap opera" and more "bleak depiction of ambitious women".

I was also disappointed by the plotline involving the one woman of color, who is also one of the narrators. It's hard to discuss without giving away some major plotlines, but the way her story progresses turns her into a bit of a negative stereotype. While it was nice to see diversity in the characters when you only have one minority character, what you do with her takes on more significance.

So why do I feel conflicted when asking myself if I liked this book? The story did engage me from the start and I was interested to see how things were resolved. A lot of people will like the plot twists (although maybe a couple too many) and the behind-the-scenes details about how very little reality there is in reality tv come across as very believable. The author is clearly a talented writer and I liked her first book. About halfway through, I tried to read it as satire or social commentary. Maybe the author was trying to say something about the way reality tv, celebrity culture and greed negatively affect how women treat each other? Ultimately I think it's just a book about bad people being mean to each other for their own gain.

So, I feel like this book will be on a spectrum.... you really will love it or not at all. I have seen many positive reviews for this one on goodreads but I'm on the other side of the spectrum.

This was my first read by Jessica Knoll and was very excited to experience her writing! We can't all love the same books and unfortunately this one didn't work for me at all.

The plot sounded awesome... 5 women on a reality show called the Gold Diggers in New York City. What more can you ask for? A little bit of sas, gossip, lies, and murder. This had potential to be a a diamond in the rough... but man this diamond had issues with shining.

I had to put this book down 3-4 times over the week to see if I could get into it. Each time, I felt the book kept dragging and dragging. I could not connect at all and was very very bored. It lacked substance in this book sandwich for me.

Rating: 2 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the arc in exchange for my honest review.
Published to GR: 4/28/18
Publication date: 5/15/18

I had a really hard time getting into this one and also spent a lot of time finishing this gook. I cannot put my finger on as to what made it so hard, since I liked the premises before I started reading.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster, and Jessica Knoll for the ARC to review. I’ve read Jessica Knoll before and it was difficult getting through the book. I was hoping this would be a better read. Hiwevwr, this book was the same why. I was really disappointed, I couldn’t even finish the book.

I loved Jessica Knoll’s Luckiest Girl Alive sooo much, it was (and seriously still is) my all time favorite book! So I was extremely excited when I was giving The Favorite Sister!
The Favorite Sister is a thrilled based in my favorite setting……REALITY TV!!!! The show is called Goal Diggers, love that name and you will know why when you read this book ;) now the show is like the young professional Real Housewives! Now since it is all ladies the drama is THERE!!! Then you add a death!!

I had to think about this review for awhile after finishing the book. I liked the book, but I was confused. A lot. It jumped around within the different points of view—one minute we were present day and the next line was a flashback, then straight back to the present. I had to read several parts more than once to fully grasp the story.

I didn’t find any of the characters to be that enjoyable. I thought the book would be promoting women empowerment, but all the women were super catty to one another and didn’t terrible things. I don’t know if the author feels this is what women are like or if it’s just fiction, but it felt like the message and the evidence were conflicting.
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I also wondered what the backlash would be in light of the #metoo movement with the faked sexual assault angle. I didn’t enjoy that and thought it was tasteless, even for fiction.

This review sounds negative, I’m aware. I encourage you to try it for yourself and see what you think. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. All thoughts are my own.

The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll is a thriller that is set in what’s become the new normal in America in the reality television circuit. The ladies in the story are cast mates in the show Goal Diggers. A bit of a take on a housewife drama type of show but opposite in the fact these women are young professionals.

The story begins by giving the reader a glimpse at present time in which it becomes apparent that Brett who had been the star of the show is dead and the question becomes what led to that event. So after that opening flash to gain interest the story jumps back to just before the taping of the latest season of Goal Diggers began.

Told by alternating between a few characters the book begins building the story of how Brett became the star and focusing on those around her. Brett’s sister Kelly wants nothing more than to join Brett into the spotlight, Stephanie and Brett used to be friends but now enemies, Jen and Brett never got along and now Kelly is befriending her. Chalked full of drama the story takes readers through the layers to find out just what happened.

After seeing reviews all over the spectrum for The Favorite Sister I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book and after finishing I feel I can see both sides. To me this was one that suffered a bit from the overly telling in too many places but also had a compelling story going on so I ended up a bit on the fence myself and rated right down the middle.

Being the first book I’ve read by this author I’m not sure if this is a reflection of her style of writing or just a reflection of this particular story but to me it could feel scattered and unfocused quite often. In the middle of a conversation between characters is not the time to switch to a few pages of info dumping on a totally different topic so the plot felt buried within. The setting felt spot on though giving a glimpse into the behind the scenes of “reality” television and of course it was intriguing to find out just what happened to Brett. If rating separately the plot got the high marks and the style the lower.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

I really tried to like this book. The cover and description drew me in, as did the ebullient praise heaped on the first book. Unfortunately, this one was a miss for me. That being said, I don’t think I am the target demographic for this novel. It’s well-written, I just didn’t enjoy the subject matter (reality TV stars) or the characters. I couldn’t finish it, because life’s too short to read books you don’t like. I appreciate the chance to check it out, but I think it belongs on someone else’s shelf.

I really enjoyed Jessica Knolls first novel Luckiest girl alive and went into this book having some high hopes that I just wish I didn't have because their two extremely opposites Jessicas writing is great and I really enjoy her style, but the beginning had me confused trying to keep things straight with all the characters and who was who ( I was reading a ecopy so maybe it would of been easier to have physical copy and go back .. . I picked this book despite my immediate turnoff by the reality show real housewives concept and was intrigued enough to finish it,,I didn't like any of the characters and couldn't connect to any of them.. Overall I would say this book was entertaining and a nice break from my usual reads and if you like housewives or shows like this, you will really enjoy this..Just not right topic for me..

This power to the women novel has a lot of secrets, lies, betrayals and enough unlikable characters to sink your teeth into.

Unfortunately this is one I just could not get into. I’ve read from others that they lived it, but this one went into the did not finish pile after reading through 30% of it and still not caring.

This book would be better if it was just about the competition of reality TV and the frenemies in a group of women. The murder "mystery" felt like an after thought. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36967019-the-favorite-sister?ac=1&from_search=true

"The Favorite Sister" is written by the author of "Luckiest Girl Alive", but is nothing like that novel. This book opens with a prologue in the present with Kelly Courtney preparing to be interviewed about the death of a fellow cast member on the New York City reality show called "Goal Diggers." The show is like a show out of the "Real Housewives" franchise, but focuses on young successful women in the business world. There are four other women in the cast of the show, but with the exception of few additional chapters narrated by Kelly, the remaining chapters occur in the past and are from the point of view of Kelly's sister and business partner, Brett, and successful author, Stephanie.

The book gets off to a slow start but then the pace picks up in later chapters, but I couldn't connect with the characters. Many books have unlikeable characters, but it was really hard to find anyone to root for in this book. All of the women have secrets, tells lies, and stir up trouble for the other women and will stop at nothing to keep their spot on the television show and remain relevant to the public. The prologue makes it clear that not everyone in the book is going to have a happy ending and I was intrigued to find out what really happened, but never dreamed that all of the women would be so despicable.

I was invested enough in the story that I wanted to know what really happened and I enjoyed some humor of the humor, so once the story got going, it was a quick read. However, even though the author touches on some important feminist issues, overall I felt depressed by the end of the book and not hopeful based on the lengths these women went through for publicity while hiding their true selves from the world and even the people they called their close friends.

I received this book from NetGalley through the courtesy of Simon and Schuster. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

I was surprised that I did not like this book as much as I expected. I found it took a long time to get into the book, and when I finally did, it was nearly over. In addition, the characters were hard to connect with. I don't think I would recommend this book.

I am a HUGE fan of the Real Housewives show on Bravo. Reading this book gave me insight into what and how the show is made. I know its supposed to be 'reality' but there is so much more that goes into it. This book had a very slow build up but by the second half I could not put it down. Every single character had so many twists and turns that I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride!
I thought that the author nailed the characters personas on the head with her descriptions and desperations.
Overall it was a good, quick read. I enjoyed it!

3.5 ⭐️

The Favorite Sister follows the story of a group of self made women that are the stars of the reality series, The Goal Diggers. Five successful women, all wanting to make a name for themselves, what could possibly go wrong? Bedsides, the murder of one of the women. Who killed her and why?!

In the beginning we are introduced to several women, these are some very competitive and some are even vicious about getting what they want. They are going to do whatever they can to make the fans love them. There is plenty of drama, backstabbing and lies to go around. But with all the different stories going on between all of them, I found it hard to keep up with who was who, and their particular stories and not really liking any of them. They were so awful to each other, just to get ahead. During the second half all that tension that was building from the start did come to a head. It was clear who the main instigators people were, and there were some pretty shocking things that were revealed, like who murdered one the cast.

The diversity that this had was something I liked, it brought up all the self awareness, self image and racism and abuse that women sometimes go through, even though at times it did come off a little preachy. I’m not much a reality t.v. girl, so I might not have been the intended target reader for this one. But the thing is, I just coudln’t stop reading, I wanted to see what happened with all the lies and betrayals that these women had going on and I really wanted to know who the murderer was and why they did it. And what they got out of it too. Did it get them ahead somehow or was it just plain jealous?

While this did have it’s up and downs for me but the fact that I just culdn’t put it down says a lot. I guess it turned out to be a pretty good read for me in the end. Fans of reality t.v. will certainly enjoy this one.

The Favorite Sister is a fresh mix of reality TV drama (think Real Housewives or even The Hills) mixed with a murder. If you hate reality TV or some of the "lighter" murder books, then this may not be the pick for you. It was a definite hit for me!

The Favorite Sister primarily switches between sisters Brett and Kelly as well as castmate Stephanie for the narrating. We find out early (this is not a spoiler - I promise!) that Brett dies sometime during the filming of the newest season of Goal Diggers. We know Kelly knows more than the police and TV viewers about what happened, but hasn't come clean for some reason. That is about all we know when the book opens and rewinds us back to before the filming of the season.

As the book progresses, the readers are slowly introduced to what exactly happened and what led to Brett's death (murder?). It also explores the complexities of female dynamics and what women do to stay on top. As a younger sister, I definitely enjoyed Jessica Knoll's exploration of Brett and Kelly's relationship. While this book is light and pokes fun at the female relationships (especially those portrayed on reality TV), it also tackles some pretty serious issues as well (eating disorders, body shaming, racism, sexism, etc).

I do need to add that this book has several narrators and I found it hard to keep them all straight for the entire reading. Many were a bit one-dimensional and none really had any character development to speak of. I was totally fine with this, as I wasn't really expecting that from this light and fun novel. I have to admit that I confused two of the characters (Jen and Lauren) for most of the novel, but don't really think that this affected up my overall enjoyment. The primary characters and narrators - Brett, Kelly and Stephanie - are easier to remember and identify with. These ladies are flawed, but aren't we all?

I enjoyed the fun of discovering what really happened in The Favorite Sister and I hope that you do, too! I would not classify this as a thriller (as the back of the ARC says), but rather a drama-filled, binge-worthy read! If you want a book to get lost in on a long flight or while hitting up the beach this summer, then look no further than The Favorite Sister! I'll definitely be passing my copy along to my sister to read as well!

Really intriguing premise, and I really appreciate the unique perspective. I didn't like Knoll's first book very much, but this one really blew me away. I very much enjoyed the concept of the "reality show gone haywire," and I think that this would make a great addition to a high school library with some reluctant readers in it. I didn't see the twists coming, either - overall I'd say it's a solid 8/10 and I'd recommend it highly.

Review: The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll 4.19.18

Reality television has been a guilty pleasure for years. Although I skipped “Survivor”, I was obsessed with the first few seasons of “Big Brother”. That led to “Project Runway”, and the HGTV onslaught, leading to Bravo’s “Flipping Out”. Bravo - the network that gave us the franchise that never ends - “The Real Housewives of <fill in the blank>.”

So a book set behind the scenes of a fictional “Housewives” should be catty, dramatic, and highly entertaining, right? Well, two and a half out of three ain’t that bad.

It’s difficult to say that you “liked” a book consisting solely of hateable characters with multilayered agendas. The books starts with a present-day interview being given by Kelly Courtney. But even in the first chapter, it is clear that the thoughts and words of these characters are two diametrically opposed things.

From there the novel alternates between two points of view - Brett (Kelly’s sister) and Stephanie (a member of the reality show cast). The show in question is called “Goal Diggers” (get it?) and allegedly focuses on female-created businesses. We find out early that Brett has died, but we don’t know how or why.

The first two thirds are part drama, part mystery, part social commentary. But it is the last third where Knoll really hits the stride. I won’t lie, it had me both captivated and repulsed. I refuse to divulge the ratio of each.

On the plus side, I did question myself along the way. Not to get on a soapbox or anything, but since reading this novel I’m completely off reality TV (cooking shows possibly excepted). As a social commentary, the novel is thought-provoking. Why do we watch these “actors”? Basically for the same reason that housewives in the fifties started watching daytime dramas. My parents often said they watched soaps so they felt better about their small dramas. I think perhaps we have now evolved into watching those that are supposedly wealthy take the mighty fall.

Would I recommend the novel? It depends on the reader. I wouldn’t call this a beach read. But if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t mind getting a bit of grit under your nails, give it a go. Just be careful how far you travel down the rabbit hole. For not everyone gets out alive.