The characters in this one have the same effect on me as The Luckiest Girl Alive, meaning I didn't really like any of them. They were written to purposely make us see all their conniving, manipulation, lying, back-stabbing, and all around horrific ways. But I was intrigued enough to keep reading to find out what happened to Brett. It was a quick and painless read. And there are twists, but I ended up figuring those out before they were given. I'm a sucker for a mystery, and this one was set up uniquely, so I had no problem sticking with it till the end.

The Favorite Sister is Jessica Knoll's second novel. It isn't nearly as intense or intriguing as her first novel, Luckiest Girl Alive but it is entertaining and suspenseful.

The book is about five successful women who are the stars of a reality show called Goal Diggers. They are on season four and one of them has been murdered.

The story is told from the point of view of 3 characters. The book "shows" you what happens when the cameras stop rolling and reality sets in. There is tension, controversies, rivalry and drama on and off the set.

When the star of the show is found dead everyone becomes a suspect. The story unravels slowly, builds up to a frenzy and then abruptly ends. The cattiness, drama and suspense keeps you turning the pages. The characters are well developed and have distinct voices. This is a perfect read for those who love thrillers.

Ever since reading the Luckiest Girl Alive I was eager to read Knoll's next novel. The Favorite Sister did not disappoint. At first I was a bit bothered by the fact that the characters were not that well rounded or fleshed out, but upon reading more I came to understand why this was. I always feel like when I read Knoll's novels that they would make for great movie adaptations. The ending was not what I expected what so ever. At the beginning you know that Brett dies, but who kills her is the true question. You as the reader of course assume that you absolutely know for certain who did it... well guess what... you're probably wrong. I know I was and I typically figure out plots fairly quick. If you're a fan of the tv series Unreal than this is a book for you. It delves and shows the true meat and bones and ugly truth of reality television and the people involved. All are certainly not as they seem. Which leaves the question... are they playing it up for the program... or have they become the part? As always an enjoyable read from Knoll. I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next!

tl;dr Review:

If you're looking for a thriller that also combines an honest take on issues career women face, then you'll love this book.

Full Review:

When I saw that The Favorite Sister was written by Jessica Knoll who also authored Luckiest Girl Alive, I knew I had to pick it up. Full disclosure - I've not yet read  Luckiest Girl Alive, BUT I had heard so many good things about it I figured the author was worth checking out.

Boy, am I ever glad that I did! This book was filled with all sorts of twists and turns, some of which I was able to predict, but many of which I wasn't.

One of my favorite lines from the book was from Brett, "I may be engaged to a woman, but I know this much to be true about hetero relationshios, and that is that men who call women crazy are always the men who have first pushed them to the brink." [Personal aside: See also, Thomas Ravenel from Southern Charm] It's the oldest trick in the book - gaslight a woman so she questions her very existence and then call her crazy. This story was filled with lines like this that really nailed describing many problematic situations in our current society.

Normally when a book oscillates between three authors, it can get tiresome or confusing. That wasn't the case here. You wanted to know what the others were thinking when different situations happened, and you both empathized with and despised many of their choices in equal parts. There's no true protagonist here even with three narrators. All are flawed and all make terrible decisions. But it still makes for an un-put-down-able tale.

If you're looking for a book that will snag you from the first line and keep you engaged until the end, you'll love The Favorite Sister!

I give it 4 out of 5 thumbs up. I am deducting one thumbs up because I was able to predict some of the "surprise" twists, but overall it was a great read.

Not a bad read at all! Definitely kept you interested... she has an amazing way of capturing her audience. I love it! The characters truly come alive and that is what makes a book keep you intrigued the whole way through.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I read this book because I liked “The Luckiest Girl Alive” which was written by the same author. I did not enjoy this book as much as I did her previous one. For me, the plot dragged. I had to force myself to keep reading it. I found the characters ruthless and unlikable.

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The Favorite Sister is a good summer book- catty and fun and not a lot of deep substance. Unfortunately the book wasnt exactly to my taste as much as I was hoping, however I know there are a lot of people (including my friends and family) that would absolutely love it.

The Favorite Sister is the first book I've read by Jessica Knoll, though I have had her previous book, Luckiest Girl Alive, on my TBR for a while now. I was super curious about The Favorite Sister, after initially being drawn in by the awesome cover, and after reading the summary, I knew I would have to check it out. This book wasn't at all what I expected, but it was definitely a unique read!

The Favorite Sister is the story of five super successful millennial women who appear on a reality TV show called Goal Diggers. The show is all about being young and successful, and getting ahead in the world all on your own. We follow these women over the course of a new season of the show, which is full of drama and mystery, and even death.

The story is told from three of the Goal Digger stars viewpoints, by Brett and Kelly, who are sisters, and Stephanie who is a veteran on the show. (Brett was a veteran as well, but Kelly was new to the show.) It was interesting to read the same story from each person's different viewpoint, to see how different each woman thought of the show and of each other. All of the ladies were full of secrets and lies, and to be honest, they were quite vicious to each other. I can't even imagine having a friendship like these ladies have, if you could even call it a friendship. Too much drama!

The storyline for this book was really interesting, but admittedly, I'm not much of a reality tv show fan. I barely watch TV as it is, and I tend to avoid reality shows because they are full of drama, and I'm not at all a fan. But, I really wanted to check out this book, so I charged ahead with it. (Reading this book was a good reminder as to why I don't do drama. Haha!) I enjoyed the mystery part of the story the most. We learn pretty early on in the book that there is a death, and I was SO curious to know what had happened. Because of that, I flew through the pages. There are quite a few twists and turns throughout the story, especially at the end, that kept me guessing, and I really liked that.

Overall; The Favorite Sister was definitely an interesting read! I can't say that I've read anything like this before, and I'm really glad I decided to check out the book. I'm now even more curious to check out Luckiest Girl Alive, which I plan to do as soon as possible. If you like a good book full of mystery and drama, you should definitely check out The Favorite Sister!

Happy Reading!

Wow....just when you think women are finally building other women up, you read this and can’t believe how wicked women can / could be. I’m reminded why I do not watch tv, especially not “reality” tv.

Too many characters, too much gossip. Not my cup of tea. I quit reading after a few chapters. But hey, the cover is pretty.

I struggled to get into this book. When I'm find myself putting my kindle down to check my phone far too often, I know a book simply isn't engaging me. I don't watch reality TV so the storyline did not appeal. I enjoyed Jessica Knoll's first book, "Luckiest Girl Alive", which is why I was initially drawn to this read. I appreciate NetGalley sending me a review copy, but I cannot recommend this novel. I found it irritating, slow going and filled with unlikable characters.

Yowza! I see a lot of people marked this book up as a DNF and I can certainly see why they would have a hard time with this book. A book that deals with women on a reality TV show that is packed with bitching and women trying to out do each other in order to get the most of the limelight and the TV time.

The barbs, insults, bickering and lies are frequent in this story. These women absolutely hate each other! I mean this is so like a train wreck that I could not stop reading (or watching).

However, as the only reality TV show that I have ever watched is Big Brother, it was interesting for me, how the behind the scenes would work. It's the job of one of the crew to keep these women up on where they left off, who they are mad at and what they should be focusing on next. It was just interesting.

There are also some underlying and very true lessons in this book regarding the way that women treat each other.

And. . . the final plot twist? OMG! I definitely did not see that one coming!

I saw that this book has been optioned for a movie and I'm excited and can't wait to see it. I also hope Hollywood doesn't screw it up and that they do include some of the funny phrases that the author uses in the book.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I just couldn’t get into the story line and make any connections to the characters. Really disappointed especially since I loved the author’s first novel.

Jessica Knoll does it again! She's back with The Favorite Sister, another slow burn thriller, this time about the tangle of relationships between a group of women on a show called Goal Diggers. I found this novel just as exciting as Knoll's first novel, and I really look forward to reading more of Knoll's work!

Goal Diggers is a reality TV show based on women entrepreneurs. These women have made their own way in life without the help of a man. The story centers around two characters on the show, Brett and Stephanie. Brett is the lesbian who doesn't care about what others things about her, with the bike riding studio who donates proceeds from her studios to women in Morocco who have to walk miles for water. They use the money to purchase bikes for these women. Stephanie is just the opposite refusing to film without a full face of makeup and she has written a few novels and now is on tour for her first "memoir". The other 2 characters on the show are Jen and Lauren, who don't really get along with the rest of the cast, and joining them this season is Kelly, Brett's older sister. Is reality TV really real? Are what is going on in these women's lives really happening or is it played up for the audience. This book takes us from Pre-Production on the show to Post-Production for one of the most explosive seasons. Are you ready for the ride?

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Getting into this book was hard. It took me 10 days to read it and I thought I would get through it pretty quickly. I love the Real Housewives series with my favorites being Atlanta, and Beverly Hills and this book I thought was going to be like taking a behind the scenes look at a show like that. It was, but for me it fell a little short.

The book starts with Kelly talking about Brett's death. But we have to go through the whole season of filming to see how that all plays out. Each woman has a secret to keep with one being bigger and juicier than the next. So from the start I was intrigued and I had to find out how Brett died, but it just took so long to get there. Back stories and front stories, and Interviews and lies. It's all a complete mess. The best part of the book for me was the last 10%.

Do you watch Reality TV? My husband calls it mind polluting. But he watches a couple of them with me. I've always wanted to know if the show was scripted and if these women were all either enemies or best friends when the cameras go off. You get a glimpse of that in this book. They take us through an entire filming season before the audience gets to see what happens. Producers sending texts to cast members before they are going to meet up with certain people to remind them of last filmed conversations? I need to ask Andy Cohen if that really happens. But with so much drama going on, whose lies do you believe?

I was excited to read Jessica Knoll's second book The Favorite Sister after reading and loving The Luckiest Girl Alive. The Favorite Sister was very reality showish, which makes since given the main characters are from a reality show. That normally wouldn't be my thing (I hate reality shows, sorry). However, the way Jessica Knoll writes it and the added suspense of who killed fan favorite Brett was enough to keep me reading. There were so many twists and lies I honestly didn't know what to expect next and I truly had no clue who did it. The Favorite Sister ended up being a shocking and catty murder mystery with just enough reality show to make it different from what I've read before. I ended up really enjoying it and can't wait for Jessica's next novel. She truly is a wonderful author.

I tried to read The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll. I really tried. I read almost 30% of the book and I couldn't read anymore. I am not a reality TV fan at all but I love mystery/ thriller/ chick-lit. I thought this would fit into this category and it turns out I think you need to like reality TV. Too many characters to keep track of, to much ridiculousness to keep track of and not care a thing about it. I liked the Prologue and I thought I was on to something and then it ended. I just couldn't get into this book. I know others have loved this book and say it gets better as you go. But I can't. I was literally forcing myself to read it. Thanks to #NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy ebook.

I took the Favorite Sister on vacation and it was just the light read I needed. The premise of reality stars and their secrets was intriguing. The story itself was entertaining and light, easy to put aside and pick back up again easily. The characters were a bit two dimensional, and that made it hard to connect to anyone in particular. Jessica Knoll writes great dialogue, and she especially nails the millennial traits. If you're looking for a light easy read, with a little humor and intrigue, The Favorite Sister fits the bill.

I enjoyed this book far more than the author’s first novel Luckiest Girl Alive. The characters were despicable and that, in my opinion, makes for the best characters in a thriller (e.g. Gone Girl, Best Day Ever).

Simon & Schuster and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Favorite Sister. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

The Favorite Sister reminded me of the author's previous novel, Luckiest Girl Alive, in that the main character (in this case, characters) are wholly unlikable. It is hard to have sympathy for these women, yet I found myself feeling badly for some of the "Goal Diggers." The novel starts with the reveal of a mysterious death and works its way back and forth through time, with the eventual goal of full disclosure of the actual events. I honestly would have liked the novel more if the author had tightened up the story and focused less on each individual woman's personal journey.

The backstabbing and vicious ways, caught on the reality show camera for "Goal Diggers," is really a caricature of the popular reality shows of late. The author does a good job of exaggerating and amplifying real life women and situations, but she loses her way with regards to the exhaustive side plots. Overall, The Favorite Sister was a good book and one that readers might find interesting. Fans of reality shows may enjoy how the author pokes fun at the television genre, as there is no denying the similarities between the actual and the fictional versions.