Thank you for the ARC! The Favorite Sister is clever and delves into difficult women's issues. I enjoyed reading it and will look for more books by this author in the future!

The Favorite Sister was quite different from her debut Luckiest Girl Alive, but I'm glad I stuck with it, as it was thoroughly enjoyable to read.

This is a must read if you're a fan of the Real Housewives reality shows— I loved the twists, and how fast paced it felt, Unputdownable!

RATING: 1.5 STARS
2018; Simon & Schuster Canada

'When five hyper-successful women agree to appear on a reality series set in New York City called Goal Diggers, the producers never expect the season will end in murder…"

This novel has a pretty cover. I was able to finish this novel, though I did think about DNFing it a few times, but kept saying to myself, "what if the end, changes it all." The novel is well written, but the story, characters and twists didn't work for me.

***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***

Thank you netgalley and the publisher

I could not get into this book at this time. I will surely try at a later date.

Jessica Knolls writes dark characters so well she sucks you right in. I raced through this and enjoyed it immensely. Two sisters get caught up in a reality show with unintended consequences!

This was fun!
If you like the Real Housewives series or any Bravo Reality series, you'll enjoy this.
It's light, it's fun, and while it isn't overly surprising there was still more to it than I expected.

As with every person, what we see is not all there is. Even more so on reality tv. Scripted encounters where the cast has to talk about certain things, post production editing to skew perspective - all of that is just a show. But, in the context of the characters in the book and on the books fictional show, there is more than that. There is what is hidden that they allow no one to see, and how the lies we tell can trap up, even kill us.

This is a difficult review to write. On the one hand I enjoyed this book for it's clever, punchy, sharp writing. I found it thought provoking and delved into difficult women's issues. On the other hand, there were times when I wanted to throw this book across the room and never look at it again. That same clever writing was at times so distracting and over complicated to the point of confusion. The characters were all horrible human beings with no redeeming qualities and the entire plot basically summarized absolutely everything I dislike about reality TV: manipulative, hateful and hurtful.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for providing a digital copy in return for an honest, unbiased review.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of The Favorite Sister in exchange for an honest review.

I give this book 3/5 stars.

This psychological thriller will have you questioning the world of “reality tv” and what it really means to be a star in this genre of tv programming. The characters were well developed and I found myself quickly rooting for the protagonist, but at times the book was slow and predictable. I enjoyed the bits of humour the author inserted throughout and I loved the behind-the-scenes look into such a popular tv genre. The idea of "reality tv" being not-so-realistic was shown clearly throughout the novel.
The description of this novel had me with high expectations; however, The Favorite Sister was not one of my favourite books in this genre. Overall, the book was entertaining, but average.

I have to admit I am not a fan of reality drama shows at all. This novel is centered around the people involved in a reality show but thankfully it also details their lives "off stage" and demonstrates the complex personalities and relationships between them.
The focus is on Brett and Kelly; two sisters who are involved in the show but little do the other participants know that there is a dark secret one sister is harboring. The beauty of this book and the writing is how we slowly learn the stories of the other characters.
As I mentioned, I was not keen on the subject matter but the book kept my interest due to the development of the plot and characters.

Took me longer to get into than Luckiest Girl Alive (Jessica Knoll’s other book), but I’m glad I stuck with it!

I’d rather read about reality tv than watch it - especially if it’s written by Jessica Knoll! The blurry line of reality along with the twisted turns you never expected - this book exceeded my expectations and my only regret was I hadn’t read it sooner!

I did not finish this book. It wasnt what I thought it was. It just wasnt for me. Will not be posting a review.

I received this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love Jessica Knoll, but I found this book kind of disappointing. The narrative was disjointed at times, choppy, hard to follow, and overly convoluted.

It was an interesting and compelling story, but I wouldn't give this more than 3.5 stars.

I received an ARC of this from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was actually looking forward to reading this but once I started to get into it, it just didn’t do it for me. The characters were a bit too extreme in that the lengths that these women were going to, to maintain their celebrity status and their actions towards one another. It made the whole thing completely unbelievable at least for me. I didn’t think the book would be that focused on petty, malicious behaviour, I thought there’d be more to it. The plot line was also a bit muddled. Not a huge fan but I still finished it to find out what actually happened in the end.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in return for my honest opinion.

This book has great ratings and is to be one of the best thrillers of this summer, I just could not get into it. I didn't like the way it was written and had a hard time following the story and did not like the characters. The storyline was decent but it wasn't the best summer read for me.

THE FAVORITE SISTER by New York Times bestseller Jessica Knoll, author of Luckiest Girl Alive, comes a thriller about two sisters who join the cast of a reality TV series. One won’t make it out alive. So…who did it?

When five hyper-successful women agree to appear on a reality series set in New York City called Goal Diggers, the producers never expect the season will end in murder…

This book centers around a reality show called, "The Goal Diggers", whose purpose is to display high-powered women making a mark in a male-dominated world. The book follows two characters on the show- Brett and Stephanie. There are so many characters in this novel, that I had a hard time trying to keep track of who they were…not that I cared. Because of this, I didn’t connect with the characters and wasn’t drawn into the story.

Sorry this book wasn’t for me, but I am sure it will appeal to some other readers.

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster via NetGalley for my copy.

Heart-pounding and utterly unputdownable! I devoured this book in one sitting. The writing was spectacular! I thought it was going to be hard for Jessica Knoll to top The Luckiest Girl but she proved me wrong. She is a master in her craft!

Great back ground information of how a reality tv series works. Fascinating. Characters were good, their stories were very good. Something was missing from the way the story flowed, I found myself not wanting to pick up the book as often as books I'm really enjoying. Overall, great story. I loved how Layla was weaved in.

Another great read from Jessica Knoll! I loved Luckiest Girl Alive and now I love The Favorite Sister. The mix of reality TV and mystery caught my interest right at the 1st chapter.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an ARC of The Favorite Sister.

Many thanks to Netgalley, MacMillan and Jessica Knoll for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.


Kelly’s sister, Brett, is dead and she is somehow responsible - or, at least in her own words, not innocent. So, by jumping from present to past, in alternating chapters, through different characters points of view, we find out what happened. Not only has there been a murder, but practically everyone has a vested interest in lying. Is it just to protect Brett’s image or is it for more selfish reasons on their part? The women in this story are all part of a TV reality show called Goal Diggers. They must be young and successful in their own right to qualify. Each woman has secrets to hide and uncovering them might lead to the answer of who killed Brett. You have Jessie, the producer of Goal Diggers, who controls whether or not you will get asked to come back for another season and seems to be willing to do anything to create an exciting storyline. She knows what happened to Brett and is complicit in keeping the truth a secret. Her underling, Lisa, does all of her biding and is known to manipulate the cast members. Lauren is the dumb blond who has a drinking problem and Jen is the vegan health guru whose empire would crumble if her fans knew she chowed down on bacon in private. Stephanie is a famous author and Brett’s best friend. She is married to Vince, a beautiful man who loves to live off of his rich wife. Is their marriage as fairy tale as it seems? Once inseparable, Stephanie and Brett had a feud at the end of last season that has divided the loyalties of “The Diggers”, as the girls are known. Brett’s sister, Kelly, is the latest cast member and Brett isn’t too happy. They are business partners but their sibling rivalry runs deep. As each chapter unfolds, you realize no one is who they seem, especially off camera. Each has their own set of secrets that, if discovered, could lead to their ruin and each of them has a reason for wanting Brett dead.

So, a little while ago I read “Bachelor Nation” by Amy Kaufman. (find my review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2330664173). One of my complaints was that I didn’t feel like I got enough reveal of what it was like behind the scenes. I admit it, I am a reality TV junkie. I watch all the Housewives and was always curious how scripted these shows actually were. Were they really fighting? Were producers feeding false information to rile them up? Did they behave in outrageous ways because they know if they don’t have a hot storyline, they will be fired? I think that I learned more of what it is like to be on a reality TV show from “The Favorite Sister”, a book of fiction, than I did from Kaufman’s non fiction, supposed tell-all. (Yes, I know Kaufman’s is about The Bachelor but there are similarities) For me, this was the most interesting and exciting part of the book. You really got to see how they shape storylines, how they retake “spontaneous” conversations four times and how production will interfere to get cast members riled up. Oh, and yes, the alcohol flows!

The murder mystery held its own and I wanted to read to the end to see what happened. The characters were well developed and complex. There were two major issues, in my opinion, that weakened the story. First at those junctures when the plot would start to move along, you would be inundated with tons of extra information that took you in different directions. At first, I would reread these parts, thinking that there was some important clue that I needed to know, or that I was missing something, but nope, it was just a bunch of junk. This really detracted from the any kind of suspense build up or sequential storytelling. Also, sometimes there would be these rantings about women’s plight in society and it felt like the author’s voice bleeding through rather than that of the character’s. This, for me, took me out of the story, making the characters sound disingenuous, and I personally don’t like being preached to, even when it is something I happen to agree with. My other issue was with the characters’ big reveals. I am all for surprises, unexpected twists and turns and being led down a path, just to have the rug pulled out from under you. I enjoy it! These didn’t seem that clever, well thought out, or even true to the character. It was just opposite. So I’ve told you all these facts and I’ve spent all this time building these characters but actually just forget it - here is something out of left field. After a while I became fatigued and just started to not believe anything I was reading. I just waited until the reveal. This is dangerous because you lose your investment in the characters. You pull out emotionally of the story.

That being said, I still enjoyed the story, it held my interest and the ending was a surprise.