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.

I thought the story in general of The Favorite Sister had lots of promise! But it was just too much all over the place. Telling us Brett was dead in the beginning did nothing for me. It would have been a better shocker at the end to know that Stephanie had died, and Brett a surprise death. It just wasn't necessary to do all the back and for now and then. It made the book confusing, it was hard to keep track of where we were in the story and also who's story we were following. I didn't know who was talking, since they were all just really vain horrible people, their voices all seemed similar. This made it difficult to relate or identify with any character, let alone like them or keep track of them! I found that even in Luckiest Girl Alive, I had trouble even liking ONE character. I liked Brett at first, but then slowly hated her towards the end. Maybe just throw in ONE likeable character in your books! Just throw us a bone!

I'm going to be completely honest with you: I did not like Knoll's first book. Probably because, and I know I've complained about this before, it was billed as the "next Gone Girl." And it really wasn't. In fact, it wasn't even really suspense novel. 

However, it wasn't a bad book. So, when I got this book on NetGalley, I wasn't hesitant. I wanted to see if Knoll could write a suspense thriller. 

She can. This isn't just a suspense thriller, it's a snarky, feminist commentary on those Bravo reality shows. And I LOVE Bravo reality shows. I don't know how accurate it is, but Knoll does a great job of weaving the story of these women and how they're manipulated by the very production company that is fueling their livelihood. It's fantastic. 

The story is told through three different perspectives, which I usually don't love, but it worked out. The voices were unique so there wasn't any confusion between the characters. In fact, all of the characters were unique and real. Like I could watch this reality show. 

And Knoll delivers on the twists. Yup, multiple twists. There are twists on your twists. And I couldn't guess any of them. 

The only reason I knocked a star off was because the middle dragged a bit. Plus, some of the passages felt a little monologuey and preachy. Not that I didn't agree with the preaching, it was just a bit much. 

Still, you should pick it up.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book. I really wanted to like this book but I couldn't finish it. (There are too many great books out there to read something that I don't really like). I got about 30% through it - it reminded me of the Real Housewives (whom I cannot stand, sorry!) - I don't really want to watch/read about grown women fighting & plotting against each other. I couldn't find myself relating to or liking any of the characters; therefore I was not inclined to root for any of them & found it hard to care what was happening in the story. Maybe if I had kept going it would've gotten better but I couldn't stomach the plot and really didn't care who was backstabbing whom during the reality show.

I really liked Jessica Knoll's debut LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE. It was raw, honest, a little cynical, but in the end a riveting read. I really wanted to like THE FAVORITE SISTER, but the tone and the "message" left me deeply uncomfortable.

The book centers around two sisters, Brett and Kelly, and how their family dynamic changes when Kelly joins a reality TV show "Goal Diggers," of which Brett is an original cast member. The plot is thick with murder mystery and secrets, as each page reveals more twists and betrayals. The writing is snarky, quick, biting, and very contemporary. If it sounds a little over the top, it is.

I liked the pacing, and how the story consistently moved along. I didn't stop reading because I wanted to know what happened. Yet I never connected with either the story or the characters. It read a bit like a reality TV show; there's excitement in the constant drama and revelations, but you can never forget that it's all scripted.

The characters also never felt real. I didn't find it hard to keep them straight, but I did find it hard to care about them. Knoll seemingly mocks the way TV/media/society reduces women (especially successful women) to negative labels--ruthless boss, high-strung manipulative friend, cold power-hungry wife--while often falling into the same trap herself. The characters seemed more like cartoons of cartoons, and none of their relationships felt organic.

I think that Knoll set out to write extremely unlikeable women to prove that women don't have to be likable or "nice." I support the message but I think the execution was 0ff. Women don't have to be likable, but they do have to be real, and Knoll has given us stereotypes instead of people. Unlikable women are capable of more than gossip, scandal, and backstabbing. You just wouldn't know it from reading THE FAVORITE SISTER.

Five successful women are on their own reality show. The show was supposed to help women help each other to succeed. You know, give each other a hand up in a world of men that have the majority of the high positions and higher paying jobs.
As you read further into the story, it turns in to back stabbing betrayal of the worst kind. Where sister will turn against sister. Where best friends betray your trust. Where anyone will do anything to get to the top. Even if you have to step on them to get higher up the ladder.
3 Stars

I requested The Favorite Sister from NetGalley and was over the moon when I received it. Thank you #JessicaKnoll , author, #SimonandSchuster, publisher, and #NetGalley. It breaks my heart to have not loved it nearly as much as I had hoped I would, though I will say there are a lot of positives about it.

1. Personally, I have never read a book that is set in a Real Housewives type reality show, so the premise was unique.

2. Like those RH shows, this book was addictive. Though I found myself wanting to look away from the train wreck of the characters' lives, I could not until I got to the bitter end.

3. Jessica Knoll is clearly an excellent writer who can engage a reader and evoke emotions through her prose.

4. Another way this book was unique is that though the setting and topics were current and timely, there was a bit of a retro feel to it, ala Jackie Collins 1980's and 1990's novels that were so popular.

5. The Favorite Sister was 100% carried by characters who were strong, powerful, ambitious women, a rare thing in a novel.

6. Though the reader is presented with a murder victim early on, the mystery and resolution were fascinating and surprising.

Now that I have listed what were clearly good qualities to this novel, I would be remiss if I didn't say that almost all the positive feelings I had for The Favorite Sister were overshadowed by the sadness at all the missed opportunities the author had to actually create some characters who might actually be role-models to a young reader. There was only one character in the book that was not overwhelmingly ugly on the inside, and that character happened to be a preteen. Every. Single, Other. Female. Character. was awful. In this novel the author posits that the women who were ambitious enough to turn themselves into self-made business scions even before landing a reality show were as hideous on the inside as their on camera behavior portrayed.

At the end of the ecopy I read, there was a Q&A with the author. Some of the questions asked of her are about "feminist sisterhood" and "female ambition", Her responses indicated she sees the good and the bad about feminists relates the bad to how women have been pitted against each other in various ways for generations. She said she in this novel she wanted to write about ambitious women who should be feared. Ms. Knoll was very successful in showing the bad side of the "feminist sisterhood", but she failed miserable at balancing that against any good. These characters SHOULD be feared, but not for their ambitions, rather for their depraved sensibilities. In my opinion, this novel hurt the very audience it was written to boon. It panders to the idea that women CAN'T support each other, won't support each other, and are jealous of each other's successes to the point of ruin. It also purports that women can't be successful without lying egregiously about who they are, which is something this reviewer wholeheartedly rejects.

When the Real Housewives and Big Little Lies collide—Jessica Knoll's The Favorite Sister is a perfect concoction of both reality television and female dynamics.

When I heard Jessica Knoll was coming out with a second novel that exploited the reality television genre in the same vein of the Real Housewives, I was immediately sold. How can I get a copy? What do I need to do? Who's going to be Bethenny Frankel in her book?! I'd do almost anything to get my hands on a copy, no joke. The story involves five wealthy women in New York City who are all featured in the hit reality television show called Goal Diggers. Goal Diggers is a show that strives to show millennial women successfully undertaking careers, while pushing gender norms aside. This cast is uninterested in having children and being stay-at-home mothers; they'd rather break the Forbes 100 list. In this dynamic group, we have Brett Courtney—a twenty-seven year old lesbian woman who is unafraid of what people may say about her body image and runs a yoga studio called SPOKE. She is tattooed and voluptuous, and she makes no apologies for it. Stephanie Simmons can be deemed the token black woman character on the cast, but she is so much more than that. She is a successful author, businesswoman, and wife; who has just released her empowering memoir that is breaking sales records. Lauren Bunn has launched her innovative dating app that is growing in popularity each day, but her drunken antics have caught tabloid attention that overshadows all the success that she has gained. Jen Greenberg, daughter of philanthropist and socialite Yvette Greenberg, has become the voice for dieting and health food options, claiming that her food line not only encourages a healthy body and mind, but also is a catalyst for success. Lastly, we meet Kelly Courtney, Brett's sister and cofounder of SPOKE. Kelly is the newest cast member for the upcoming season and really doesn't fit the mold of the initial concept of the series. She has a twelve year old daughter and is a single mother with modest flair. Goal Diggers is set to begin filming, but nobody would have guessed that it would end in murder.

I don't want to get any further into the plot than just introducing you to the cast and providing the main theme of the story. The story develops much further than that little blurb, but I felt that you really need a cheat sheet for the main five characters because we are quickly introduced to all five of them (and at least 3-4 secondary characters) immediately. Take the blurb about the cast and carry it with you while you read, I wish I had one! The beginning of The Favorite Sister was rough, I have to tell you. We are thrown way too much about the cast early on, with long chapters that don't provide us a break to digest what we just read. We don't really go anywhere in the first part of this novel because there's too much catch up for us to get to. The novel is broken into several parts, and each part is more enjoyable than its predecessor. Once I got to the halfway mark, I was hooked! As you get to the core of the story, we learn about the exploitation of reality television, we see the dynamics between family and friends, we see how society has forced feminism and women empowerment into a women-eat-women world, and we see fame and notoriety being used as a drug and the lengths people will go for that drug. One thing that I found so profound in The Favorite Sister was the theme of casual racism in every day life. We see a portrayal of how society uses casual racism in dating, business, and overall privilege. I did not expect this novel to even touch any of those topics, and for that I'm grateful. I believe that these thematic elements of the story will resonate with more readers than Ms. Knoll probably imagined. I loved that this story touched on all these different themes without feeling overloaded on plot. The plot is clearly defined as you go on and the story really doesn't deter from that.

The Favorite Sister is NOT a thriller or a suspense novel in ANY CAPACITY and if anyone tells you otherwise, they're lying. The Favorite Sister really is a drama that may also feel like a tragedy at times. Ugh I can keep talking more about the story, but I think I drove the point home. It's time to pick up this book on May 15, 2018. Will I be buying a hard cover for my collection? Absolutely.

Thank you Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Real queens fix each other's crowns.

I liked it, but I didn't love. it. What saved it for me was the twist at the end ! It was a quick easy read and I know it's only a story but I felt it showed these women and their "friendship" in the worst light. None of them were very good people. The only one who was decent was Layla. Was not a fan of how the book ended once the killer was revealed. I wish I could say that I loved it, I enjoyed reading it but was not sold on it. Sorry !

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review.

I loved/hated this book at times and as weird as that sounds that made me like the book even more. The plot line surrounds a group of women filming a version of the “Housewives” reality show but with an entrepreneurial twist. What I loved about this book was what I secretly love about watching “Housewives”, and that is that every single person is truly an awful person but you kind of like them for being true to their awful-selfs. So even though you won’t like the characters you will not be able to put the book down.

I really loved that the book was written very well but also weaved in some millennial slang (I’m looking at you bae). It made the book relatable and fun to read. Yes, I just said it was fun to read a book about murder but once you read the book you’ll understand what I mean.

There where times in the book where it wasn’t apparent that a scene has transitioned in the book. I’m going to attribute that to the fact that this is an ARC so formatting isn’t always publish-ready. Hopefully it’s corrected because it was a little off putting to read.

Overall, a solid 4 star novel but that’s not surprising considering Knolls debut novel. I would put this one on the top of your TBR pile.