First of all I received this book from netgally.com as an ARC for a honest review. I had this book on my kindle for awhile and every time I went to read it, I put it down but being that I received it as an ARC i forced myself to finally read it and finish it. It was, at first, so confusing figuring out who was who, except that Kelly was Brett's sister and who Layla was.and Stephanie and her husband. The rest of the characters, for the most part I really don't even know for sure who was on the reality show and who were the makeup artists, etc. All I know is that Brett is dead and by the time we find out who killed her, I truly didn't even care. It was a very tedious read and I would not recommend this book to anyone.

I wasn’t really a fan. I had to keep forcing myself to read it. It seemed like a poorly written reality book. I would prefer to watch reality tv.

Too long. No likable characters. The only redeeming quality was the last 1/4 of the book as secrets were revealed.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for providing me with a copy of Jessica Knoll's latest novel, The Favorite Sister, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- "Goal Diggers" is a reality show about a group of highly driven and successful entrepenurial women. All are successful in their careers, but the show creates a new format in which they can compete. The women backstab and lie in efforts to show that they are valuable enough for the network to cast them on the subsequent season of "Goal Diggers." Those who do not prove their worth by being entertaining enough are ruthlessly shown the door.

Long time cast member Brett, owns a chain of cycle fitness centers with her older sister, Kelly. This season, we learn that Kelly has been added as a full-time cast member. This shocks the cast because Kelly is a single-mom and being a mother had never been part of the plan for any of the other "Goal Diggers". Kelly's teenage daughter is beautiful, sassy and bi-racial. Stephanie, the only African-American and the oldest member of the cast, immediately feels threatened, thinking that Kelly's daughter might be her replacement. 

Early in the novel, we learn through a flash-forward that Brett is dead and there is something very fishy regarding her death. However, to figure out how Brett died and who is responsible, we need to sit back and enjoy the current season of "Goal Diggers": the most vicious and shocking season to date!

LIKE- I loved Jessica Knoll's debut novel, Luckiest Girl Alive and I was thrilled to be granted a copy of The Favorite Sister. Knoll has a fabulous writer's voice and excels at tone. The tone of The Favorite Sister is snarky and bitchy, there are so many cutting remarks. It's a black comedy and often very funny. I don't remember the exact line, but a memorable comment that made me laugh-out-loud, was when one character uses the term "Bae" and another character cuts into her fear of being old, by telling her that no one under thirty uses "Bae" anymore. Knoll's novel is filled with comedic moments.

The Favorite Sister made me feel stressed. All of the characters are constantly struggling to maintain their image and push their brand. Logically we know, and they probably know, that nothing that they ever do will be enough. It's a never ending hamster wheel. However, to a much lesser degree, this is what a majority of us do when we waste time on social media. I think this is why I felt anxiety reading The Favorite Sister, it touches a nerve.

The characters are successful in their careers, yet it seems like none of that success counts, unless they are able to prove their worth on "Goal Diggers". On the surface, "Goal Diggers" claims to be a show that lifts-up women and showcases their successes, but of course that is all a sham for a reality show that is just as dirty as the latest "Housewives of..." series. The participants on the show all willingly play into the charade, all desperate to keep in the spotlight. 

I'm a Reality TV fan, so the overall theme appealed to me and I loved Knoll's behind the scenes look at the fictitious "Goal Diggers." It's fun to see the manipulation on the production side. The ending was an unexpected surprise with great twists.

DISLIKE- The Favorite Sister was not an effortless read. It took me about half the book to really keep all of the characters straight. It didn't help that I was trying to read it during my vacation in England: not a distraction free environment. If you plan to read The Favorite Sister, I suggest setting aside a large chunk of time to really get into the story.

Also making it difficult was the pacing. I found the middle of the story to be sluggish. I think it may be in part due to the nature of the story with regard to tone. None of the characters are even remotely likable and their ceaseless negative attitudes is draining on the reader. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of funny moments that comes with this territory and the story world dictates this behavior, but it's also cumbersome. I couldn't call this a page turner, because I had to set it aside, not wanting to spend too many minutes in this world at a time. 

RECOMMEND- Maybe. I highly recommend Knoll's first novel, Luckiest Girl Alive, but I'm hesitant to recommend The Favorite Sister. That said, Knoll is a very gifted writer and I will absolutely read her next book. I appreciate what she was trying to accomplish with The Favorite Sister, but the negative energy drained me.

I wanted to like it, and I tried really, really hard to like it, but I could never really get into it. The build up to the actual suspense was very slow and very detailed-to the point where I was practically begging for the murder to happen so I could become interested! None of the characters were very likable and they all seemed pretty interchangeable-I got confused quite often about who they were talking about. I still don't really know the difference between any of the secondary characters. Still, if you are a fan of Real Housewives type shows, you might enjoy the behind-the-scenes look at how these shows are filmed.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

A while back I read Knoll's novel, Luckiest Girl Alive, it was very entertaining and very gripping to make me pull through to finish story when I hit that plot. It was crazy. So when I discovered that she was coming out with The Favorite Sister, I had to get my hands on it. Netgalley made that happen. But sadly it took me until now to finally read it. It's only because I was not feeling it. There's times when you just want to read a specific book because of your mood. So it took some time to get into the mood to read it so sorry for the delay.
So this book had some sort of the same element as her other book. A woman just rising up and making it into the world. Having creating a tv show for her fictional characters was very creative and modern.
All of her characters had a way of showing their "glamorous" way of making it. But in reality its all a lie. I wish to say more but I can't! I mean their way of becoming successful are full of lies and not caring who gets in the way. If they were to be sorted in one of the Hogwarts's houses, they would all be in Slytherin. That's how pushy they are with their ambition of getting rich and well known.
There was so much scandal and back stabbing that it was just the opposite of what the show is all about. But you know every show always wants some drama. So Jessica definitely knew how to write that into her fictional show.
This book also gave me a perspective on how women are the ones who have to work more in making their own legacy. But at what cost though? Makes you think 🤔
Overall, this was quite a scandal of a fictional show/novel. I would give this book 3 out of 5 stars. Even though it didn't leave me loving it, I would still recommend it. It may not be my cup of tea but chances are, it could be yours.

Okay, totally honesty here... this book just wasn't for me. But with that being said, I know a lot of people who liked this novel! Full disclosure, I do not like reality television. I don't like it because I try to avoid confrontation at all costs... even on TV. I just really don't like it when people fight, and there always seems to be a lot of fighting on reality TV. Okay, so now that I have all of that out in the open, its probably pretty obvious why I didn't like this novel. There was just too much fighting and too many fake friendships for me to really get connected and enjoy the plot.

I don't want to harp on all of the bad things about this novel because I truly feel like there is an audience that would probably love this book. If you are into reality TV and you don't mind a fair amount of girl fights and back stabbing, then this book is for you! If you're like me and that stuff makes you cringe, then don't bother picking this one up. All in all, the writing style was good, I just didn't enjoy the characters at all. Thank you so much to Simon Schuster for sending this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Rating 2.5/5

Not a "favorite" of mine. After reading this author's first novel, I was really looking forward to this one. However, this missed the mark for me. The author seemed to want to include social issues such as misogyny, GLBTQIA, poverty, third world country, addiction, adultery, weight issues, ageism and maybe more, but having so many watered them all down. The characters were deplorable. There wasn't a single one who rose to the occasion. I was looking forward to having it set in a reality TV setting similar to the current "housewives" series, but this book made the real housewives seem relevant and important. The book seemed incredibly long and dragged the whole way through. I am happy to have gotten to the end. There was lots of pop culture sprinkled in, but a lot I had to look up (maybe too high end and ritzy for me to know). I would try another book by this author and see what she does with the next one, but I would not recommend reading this one.

Jessica Knoll has written a novel that shows how the lines blur between real life and scripted reality for the women who star on the show Goal Diggers. The show follows around women who are successful and empowering. The last thing the producers expected was for someone to end up dead at the end of the season. What secrets were revealed that ended up in murder?

This book is full of suspense and made a great read!

The twist at the end of the book was surprising. I thought it was someone else the entire time who murdered Brett. The storyline was interesting but I still think the author’s first book was better. This one was just hard to get into. It was very slow paced and not one character was very likeable which is ok but it was hard to really care about who killed Brett. I would recommend this book if you’re looking for an easy summer read but there’s better thrillers out there.

If you are a fan of reality tv shows like I am you will definitely connect with The Favorite Sister! I was not a fan of Jessica Knoll's first book, Luckiest Girl Alive, so I was a little skeptical about reading this one, but I'm glad I did.

What happens when five highly successful women agree to appear on a reality tv show? Well, welcome to the dark side of women, reality, and murder!

Ok, I will admit that I have watched Real Housewives a time or two, maybe even three or four, but who's counting. This book definitely has that vibe to it... rich, catty, backstabbing women all trying to tear each other down so they can be at the top. All these women really want are fame and power, right? After all, Sisterhood doesn't exist when you are trying to claw your way to the top! Jessica Knoll seriously captured the whole reality tv world brilliantly in this book.

So in the end, if you are a fan of reality tv shows or just like a good juicy drama, this is the book for you - Wickedly entertaining!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for my ARC.

Entertaining read recommended for those who like reality type shows. I will never look at them the same! 3.5 stars

The plot revolves around 5 Women who are on a show called The Gold Diggers. Lots of drama here. But, you would expect that. It's nasty at times and a lot of back stabbing. Snarky, self-seeking, and mean. No one is genuine and I didn't really like any of the characters. I am not much of a fan of reality TV because I think it is staged anyway. While reading this you will think so too. The plot was interesting. Everyone is fake. It was a good mystery (one of the gold diggers is murdered) and I want to add more books by Jessica Knoll.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy to review. I do recommend it. Especially if you like a little cat fighting with your wine and red nails!

I was determined to finish this book,,and I had absolutely no desire to. Is it because it’s set in NYC? Because I’m over NYC. I’m sick of the NYC nuance. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a story set there, but privilege upon privilege, jus does not interest me any longer. And, the added framework of reality tv. I don’t watch it, I don’t enjoy it, made up drama and tension, life is actually happening, but America loves it, I get it. So, mix those two items with women who are just not likable, in a storyline that pits them all against each other, so blithely unselfaware as possible, and it was pure torture . I get that the story is actually told thru the irony of it, but the point is, I did not enjoy it.
If these things ring your bell, then please read this. Because Jessica Knoll is an amazing writer and won’t disappoint.

I really enjoyed the Luckiest Girl Alive so was excited to read this as well! The description pull ed me and I couldn't wait to get my copy. This was a fast paced thriller that also had a good dose of feminism mixed in. I liked that it was a take on current feminism and the pop culture, reality tv driven society we live in. While I liked this book, I felt like the characters were a little flat and served the narrative of the story more than actually being characters. Solid 3 star read that I would probably recommend to friends.

This book didn't grip me as much as The luckiest girl alive did. In fact, after reading this book, I just kind of feel disgusted. And I'm not sure if it's because I can see myself in any of these characters' shoes or if it's something else.
Regardless this story of Brett and her death and everything that led up to it is one that definitely sheds some light on things that aren't talked about enough.
A very interesting story and quite disturbing when you think about how influenced and connected we all are these days.

What a fun and wild ride this was. I love that it flipped feminism on its head, but was still feminist in its ways. I will say that there was a twist here that felt problematic, but IMO, that's on the character, not the author *shrugs*

I started this book and put it down a couple of times before finally giving it a fair shot and I'm glad I did. I ended up becoming quite addicted to this story and reading each woman's story and seeing the lengths each would go to keep themselves relevant to the show. Definitely reads like one of the real housewives show.

I had a hard time getting into this book. Maybe it was my frame of mind at the time. I will try again later.

<I>The Favorite Sister</I> promised behind the scenes drama of a reality tv show featuring strong and successful females. While it certainly provided exactly that, it lost me on the storyline.

The book follows 3 different points of view - One being present day and after taping of the newcomer and the other two from the past pre- and during taping of two of the shows stars.

Their internal dialogue filled up most of this book and that is something that I have a hard time getting through in any book. I actually started this book on my kindle reading the book until I finally got my hands on the audiobook. I finished the audiobook in record time! Although it was easier for me to get through, I still just didn't like the story or the characters.

Probably the most important thing to say, if you are a fan of reality TV shows then you will enjoy this book!

This novel follows the story lines of 5 individuals who are members of Goal Diggers, a reality TV show based in New York that showcases women who are up and coming strong women. They are all a bit unconventional, and they all have massive secrets they are hiding. No one stays on the show past the age of 35, and it is a constant battle to stay on top and be showcased in a favorable light. Anyone who watches reality shows knows that there is a lot that must go on in the background, but the actually seediness and back stabbing that really goes on is very entertaining!
Just when I would start to feel sympathetic towards a character, they did something that changed my mind. It was impossible to look away from, much like a reality show on TV. Very entertaining - and impossible to guess "whodunit" in regards to the murder.