A lovely surprise!! I wasn't quite sure what to make from this one from the blurb. I have been in a guilty pleasure TV mode so I figured I'd give it a shot. This book was SMART. Not what I would have expected. I loved the business aspects. the behind-the-scenes aspects. The intuition of the characters. There was quire a bit I enjoyed about this book. I felt intrigued and drawn-in the whole time and was satisfied with the ending. Surprisingly a thought-provoking book and so much more than I expected. I hope anyone who is debating reading this DOES decide to give it a shot... if this is SO not your thing... maybe don't.... but if you are thinking "maybe" then just read it... I think you will be happy you did.

I found this to be a very interesting book. Having watched several reality TV shows, I thought I knew what to expect. I am delighted to say that this book met my expectations and delivered more! The characters were well written as was the story. I did not get lost in the change of times once. Very enjoyable and I would definitely recommend to others.

This book was so convoluted and delicious that I'm going back to read it again, directly after finishing it! Jessica Knoll makes a twisty, dark commentary on reality shows and feminism; inclusiveness and duplicity. I could NOT put this down, after a slow start, it had me completely sucked in! My loyalties shifted with each new development, but I remained feeling amazed and pitying these smart, but vicious women. Thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Scushter, and Jessica Knoll for the ARC for my honest opinion of this delightful book!

Welp, I pretty much finished this in one sitting. Fans of Luckiest Girl Alive will not be disappointed; this book is similarly sharp, deadly funny, and packed with sly feminist commentary. It has all the hallmarks of a soapy reality TV show--engineered plot twists and "big personalities" that have been handpicked to clash with one another--but this tale gets more and more disturbing with every jaw-dropping revelation. Knoll has a knack for writing villainous women; yes, these characters are ruthless and "unlikeable"...but they're also shockingly relatable. And that's the most unsettling part of the story.

I tried and tried. Less than halfway through had to give. Sorry.

This was a quick, enjoyable read. Full of drama and suspense. Dark, and thought-provoking! So many twists and turns.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

I read and enjoyed Luckiest Girl Alive a year or two ago so I was excited to be invited to read The Favorite Sister. However, I was quickly disappointed that now instead of one unlikeable, bitchy narrator, we had three. Each one more horrible than the next.

I can’t decide which I think the author hates more, women or feminism. It felt like there’s a lecture about feminism every third page and then a judgment on it every fourth page. And women trying to destroy each other every second paragraph.

Maybe this was supposed to be a commentary on how reality TV pits women against each other for ratings but it’s guilty of doing exactly the same thing! There is no redemptive female bonding to show that women can (and do!) rise above pettiness. Nope, pettiness to the bitter end. These women feel like caricatures.. does the author actually know any other women? Because these women? They’re horrible. And it feels like that is the whole point of the story: Women are awful. The end.

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Ugh. I’m going to be perfectly honest here. What a complete waste of my time. The book starts out really slow which I think the author was trying to develop the characters. The problem is that there are so many characters in this book that it is almost impossible to remember who is who because every one of the characters is a disgrace to the female gender. They are all spoiled bratty women who used to be spoiled bratty little girls. Each character thinks she is better than the other characters and it’s all just a big cat fight. Then someone dies, okay it’s Brett, but that’s not even a spoiler because they tell you that in the very first chapter. The whole book is written so that the reader becomes engrossed in these women’ lives and so you wonder how Brett was killed. I didn’t like a single character in this book so I could have cared less how Brett ended up dead because she was as horrible as all the other characters. Towards the middle of the book, I thought it was getting interesting, however, that took a turn for the worst. You know, the kind of worst where cake is flying every where and champagne is getting spilled and then someone gets stabbed. Okay, so that didn’t happen in the book but it very well may have.

Thank you to Netgalley, Jessica Knoll, and Simon & Schuster for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to read this, I'm a sucker for drama on reality T.V. & I was so down. However, I overall just wasn't really into this. There were a bit too many characters and I found myself forgetting who people were & what was going on. The central five women were so egotistical and catty and although it was interesting and had some good moments, ultimately, I just found myself reading it just to finish it.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was very excited to read the newest book by Jessica Knoll! Unfortunately, for me, the hype ended there. I found the 1st half of the book pretty tedious to get through but I think it had more to do with my disdain for so-called "reality" shows. I just find the "struggles" to be so petty and unrealistic! There were many characters & by the midpoint, I kind of didn't care about any of them. I felt most interested in Kelly, Brett, & Layla. Although the 2nd half did a decent job of wrapping up loose ends regarding Brett's untimely death, I just wished the twists, turns & suspense were present more in the 1st half to pull me in more. I greatly appreciate the ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review & look forward to future titles from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for an e-ARC of The Favorite Sister! I had read and enjoyed Luckiest Girl Alive and I'm a sucker for big plot twists like that book featured, so I hoped for something like that in this one as well.

It was really hard for me to keep the five costars of the reality show straight - there were so many identifying details/relationships/lies/secrets/professions/scandals with each one, and their voices in their individual chapters were very similar. If I put my Kindle down for a few hours and returned to the book mid-chapter, it usually took at least a few pages to figure out which character was speaking. The timeline was also a little confusing - we're going to X location (name omitted to prevent spoilers), no we're not because it gives this character an advantage on the TV show, wait now we're going there after all, now we're here, now there's 3 new conflicts in the new location and a possible tragedy, HEY NOW WE'RE HOME AGAIN and talking a little about what happened there. It just didn't flow well for me - plot-wise or character-wise.

This is obviously a talented writer, however not my style. I liked the idea of a book based around reality tv stars, but it came with the negatives of reality tv as well. The characters were SO shallow, selfish, superficial, backstabbing, and pretty much horrible. There wasn't really any character to like or cheer for. The language was way too strong for my personal taste which really took away from my enjoyment of the book. These were just foul, filthy, awful women. I like books around women's relationships with one another, but this seemed to be all just on the negative- who's turning on who to get ahead. I appreciated the opportunity to read this and can see why this auther appeals to many- just not for me.

I was a big fan of Luckiest Girl Alive, so I requested an advance copy of The Favorite Sister from Net Galley. Jessica Knoll continues to be an incredibly engaging writer and I had a hard time putting this book down.

The story focuses on the cast of a reality TV show called Goal Diggers. Goal Diggers showcases women in their late 20s/early 30s who are driven and diverse. The narrator varies by chapter, a format I always find to be interesting, and the book focuses on a mystery featuring the show's cast and producers. I loved the focus on the complexity of friendships between women, as well as how family members can have completely different memories of the same dynamics and experiences. I wish that certain plot points were fleshed out a bit more, but it was an accurate portrayal of how reality TV shows are produced and how they can impact friendships, both negatively and positively. I cannot wait for Knoll's next book!

What an incredible ride this novel was--at parts laugh out loud funny, others incise cultural commentary, and still others suspenseful prose.

Told from the shifting perspectives of the cast of the reality show, this drama unfolds briskly as we explore the relationships between the women. Some of these relationships are loving, some envious, some contemptuous. All of them are described with uncanny details that make all of the characters feelings understandable.

Even if you're not a fan of reality TV, please do not be turned off on the premise and risk missing out on an incredible book that I could barely put down. The reality TV format is the perfect fit for what the author is exploring.

That said, if you are a fan of reality TV (specifically the Real Housewives), you are in for an extra bonus--I busted a gut laughing all of the in-jokes and references to the series.

Jessica Knoll did not disappoint with her follow up to Luckiest Girl Alive! My Favorite Sister drew me in immediately. I don't want to give away the plot but it's filled with twists, turns and tragedies. I felt like I was privy to the behind the scenes of some of my guiltiest pleasures~The Bachelor, Real Housewives of (insert your favorite city) and Pump Rules. Jessica's writing is smart, with the perfect amount of sarcasm and wit that makes me want to hang out with her while indulging in all things reality TV! I look forward to her next novel. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy. I not only look forward to buying this in print when it comes out in May but hope that Jessica's tour takes her to Philadelphia so I could have her sign it!

I wished I had liked this book. I loved Luckiest Girl Alive. The plot moved too slowly, and it was constant complaining from wealthy TV harpies trying to stay one up each other. I couldn't relate to the characters. I got so bored I stopped halfway through the book. #netgalley

While I enjoyed Luckiest Girl Alive and generally enjoy Bravo's Real Housewives franchise, I was disenfranchised by The Favorite Sister. Knoll's characters, besides sisters Brett and Kelly, get jumbled into each other until you don't remember what Lauren does for a living or if it's Jesse or Jen that's related to Yvette and has a house in the Hamptons. Hopefully Knoll will take a hint from Bravo and clue the readers in a little more on their connections: businesses owned, relatives, who brought who onto the show. It could easily be under the guise of an executive producer's notes to herself or newbie Kelly's cheat sheet about the women she's getting to know. If that was included, everything would make more sense. Otherwise, this novel gets petty and frustrating very quickly. But if you want to know some of the secrets of working on an unscripted reality show, here's the book for you.

I was a huge fan of Jessica Knoll's first book, which I found to be incredibly engaging. This one, however, fell a bit flat for me. While Luckiest Girl Alive immediately sucks you in, The Favorite Sister doesn't have the same effect. The first few chapters throw a lot of information at you at once, from multiple character perspectives. Instead of making you desperate to know more, you feel bogged down.

Eventually the pacing picks up and the story itself is intriguing. It plays off of popular reality TV series stereotypes and offers kind of a behind-the-scenes look at the true drama and conflict occurring between the characters. I honestly think that the death plot (which is set up in the first chapter of the book) was kind of unnecessary. What makes the book interesting is the interactions between these successful (though generally unlikeable) women and how they behave in the spotlight versus in real life. The mystery/death portion kind of felt like an afterthought to bring more drama into a book that didn't need it.

I still love Knoll's writing style and wouldn't hesitate to pick up another of her books given the opportunity. Her books feel relevant and socially aware and her pop culture references are both cutting and incredibly funny. I just wouldn’t make this particular book the one I recommended to friends.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me this copy in exchange for an honest review!

I LOVED this book!! I was a huge fan of Jessica Knoll's first book and this one definitely kept me wanting more from her. I love how the store kept switching from different people's points of view and how twisted the story was. I will definitely be reading more from Jessica Knoll!!!

Five successful women sign up for a reality tv show focused on their lives, sounds like perfect right? Wrong, a lot can go wrong when you sign up for the world to see your every move. The ladies soon find them self wrapped up in a murder of a fellow cast member. The Favorite Sister is told from multiple different view points and timelines. It took me a long time to get into this story because of the alternating voices and time lines. The story was entertaining, and the writing was strong. My only issue was the confusing voices. I think a lot of people might put this one down because its too hard to figure out whats going on in the first 100 or so pages. However if you stick with it, you'll enjoy the twist and turns of the story.