Lying has dire consequences.

Sylvie O'Leary knows this first hand. She's been covering up for her older sister, Persephone, for some time. Persephone has been sneaking out to meet her boyfriend, Ben, at night when her mother thinks she asleep in her room. The girls agreed upon leaving the bedroom window open a crack so that Persephone can ease the window open later.

But this night, this fateful night, Sylvie takes it upon herself to stop the deceit by fully closing the window. Her plan will force Persephone to ring the front doorbell in order to get in. A row will surely take place between mother and daughter, but the underhanded behavior will finally stop. Sylvie will no longer be at the mercy of her sister's lies.

There will be no mercy that night. Persephone never comes home. Her body is found along a lonely road buried in snow. Years pass and the police are not even close to finding who murdered Persephone. The impact of her death sends her mother, Annie, into a downward trajectory as she becomes a raging alcoholic who takes to a reclusive life. Annie's sister, Jill, tries her best to keep Annie functioning somehow, but her efforts seem to go nowhere.

Sylvie moves out on her own. Sixteen years have passed and a phone call reveals that Annie has cancer and must undergo chemo. Jill begs Sylvie to come home to care for her mother.

Megan Collins has set the stage for the heavy-duty consequences of a mountain of deceit. The lies took root long before Persephone's death and they continue to wind their way through the lives caught in the bramble. Collins twists the branches tighter and tighter as Annie's prior life becomes the focus. The pace gains more and more momentum causing the reader to quickly flip pages.

The Winter Sister becomes a zigzag of a character study. Individuals become more and more complicated as we walk around inside their heads. You'll find yourself almost irritated by some of their questionable behaviors.. Obsession will sit in the front row. It does finally get sorted out at the end. Some will find it unexpected and some will already see the headlights coming from afar. The predictability left me a tad disappointed. Regardless, it still is an entertaining read.

I received a copy of The Winter Sister through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Touchstone and to Megan Collins for the opportunity.

A gorgeous, haunting debut about loss, regret, and family. Megan Collins's writing is stunning. The first sentence puts its hooks in you and the book never lets you go for a minute after

I absolutely loved this debut novel about family secrets and heartbreaks that literally consume the main characters years after Persephone is found murdered. Her sister, Sylvie returns home in her thirties to care for Annie, her mother who now has cancer. Old wounds are opened and probed as Sylvie feels guilt but also is compelled to solve the murder of her sister. Convinced Persephone's forbidden boyfriend, Ben is the culprit, Sylvie works to uncover the truth. There are so many lovely things about this novel! One is the lyrical quality of the writing which mirrors the myth of the tragic Greek Persephone and her mother, Demeter, Another is the mystery surrounding the death as well as the strained--often shattered--relationship between Annie and Sylvie as Sylvie blames her mother for the Dark Days she remembers and the alcoholism that robbed her of the loving mother she once knew as a child. What a complicated mess families can be! But in addition to the pain, Collins shows the disparity that exists within familial bonds as deep love exists in spite of the wounds created unknowingly. And that--beyond the mystery--reveals the true depth of characters that on the surface appear to be unfeeling and callous. I look forward to more by this author as I devoured it like a satisfying meal!

Megan Collins’s compelling debut is at once a page-turning whodunit and a thoughtful examination of a family broken by tragedy. With a protagonist haunted by her sister’s unsolved murder, a less-than-happy homecoming, and the slow unraveling of decades of explosive secrets, The Winter Sister will captivate you from suspenseful start to surprising finish.

Fascinating glimpse into the frailties of family bonds, and the betrayals in which some family members engage. When discord is a family dynamic, sometimes elaborate lies and self-deceptions become tangled, and this amazing book perfectly illustrates this type of dysfunction. This is a suspenseful tale, from start to finish, and it's expertly woven premise captures and holds your attention from start to finish. Great book, and highly recommended.

Riveting story of the murder of a teenager that becomes a cold case. Years later her younger sister returns to her home town to care for her dyng mother, and stirs up old emotions and memories. Extremely well written.

Total page-turner! I raced through the first half of this, not sure what I was getting into but happy to follow along.

When she was 18, Persephone disappeared one night and was soon discovered dead, strangled and left in the snow. Her younger sister Sylvie was devastated because she believed she could have prevented her death. Ben, the boyfriend, is the young son of the influential town mayor, who seemed to be in love with her but was never allowed to be seen with her. Although many considered him a suspect, he was never charged and her murder went unsolved.

Cut to many years later, and Sylvie is still torn up about the murder. Her mother has become an alcoholic recluse. She and Sylvie are estranged until a cancer diagnosis. Sylvie returns home reluctantly and immediately becomes embroiled in the unsolved murder of her sister.

Lots of twists and turns! Thanks to Netgalley for the arc to review. Highly recommended to lovers of thrillers!

This book sucked me in right from the first page. It was difficult to put down. My emotions were all over the place throughout the story- feeling sad, angry and hopeful, sometimes all at the same time, for the characters. I highly recommend this to those who like a good mystery.

This book did NOT disappoint. In fact, it surprised me. The Winter Sister is an intricate tale of family intrigue and lies, and the story is tightly woven with mostly realistic characters. It's a fun read and had me enthralled from the first page this morning until I finished this evening.

When you live in chaos, it isn't chaos to you, it's just life. When you live in chaos and something doesn't make sense, there's no need to question it because your life is chaos and chaos is normal (yes I learned this from past experience).

There were quite a few moments when I felt a character wasn't behaving correctly, or wasn't reacting to another character in the way a logical person would. At first I worried it was due to poor character development. But eventually you discover it's because, for these characters, the lies had been part of their life story. The deceptions were such a part of their entire lives that the weird reactions and behaviors were not noticed, even if it was apparent to an outsider that something wasn't right. It takes time for the characters to start raising questions that an outsider would have asked right off, or been more firm in demanding answers. And in terms of this story, that delay was realistic.

I was so pleased to discover that my worries were for naught, that this was actually an excellent thriller/mystery. Most questions were answered, and no major plot holes, just a great ride as we fly through the history of two families trying to find out who murdered the Winter Sister. The only remaining question I had was about the meaning of Tommy's doll, but that wasn't really part of the plot, and his other bizarre behavior was explained. The police, who absolutely botched their investigation because they certainly should have asked the questions the family didn't think to, at least admitted they had dropped the ball.

I was relieved to note that the book ended at just the right point too, and wasn't dragged on and on just to answer the outcome for every single character. We can guess the outcome for the bad guy/girl, we can assume the outcome for the good guys/girls, but the mystery itself is resolved and that is what I ask for in a book of this type.

The cover is beautiful and most important: it relates to the book. It's not just a random picture, it definitely relates to the story and I appreciate that. What I don't love, and what is my only criticism, is that Persephone has blonde hair, not black. The girl on the cover has to be Persephone, but what I see with my (aged) eyes is a brunette. Persephone's blonde hair is mentioned over and over in the book so it's really odd to me that a brunette would be on this otherwise perfect cover.

So enjoy the cover, forget the hair, and read this book!

Thank you so much to Touchtone Books and Netgalley for the advance copy. I have no qualms in recommending this book, just clear your schedule because you won't want to put it down.

In this spellbinding and suspenseful debut, a young woman haunted by the past returns home to care for her ailing mother and begins to dig deeper into her sister’s unsolved murder.

Sixteen years ago, Sylvie’s sister Persephone never came home. Out too late with the boyfriend she was forbidden to see, Persephone was missing for three days before her body was found—and years later, her murder remains unsolved.

In the present day, Sylvie returns home to care for her estranged mother, Annie, as she undergoes treatment for cancer. Prone to unexplained “Dark Days” even before Persephone’s death, Annie’s once-close bond with Sylvie dissolved in the weeks after their loss, making for an uncomfortable reunion all these years later. Worse, Persephone’s former boyfriend, Ben, is now a nurse at the cancer center where Annie is being treated. Sylvie’s always believed Ben was responsible for the murder—but she carries her own guilt about that night, guilt that traps her in the past while the world goes on around her.

As she navigates the complicated relationship with her mother, Sylvie begins to uncover the secrets that fill their house—and what really happened the night Persephone died. As it turns out, the truth really will set you free, once you can bear to look at it.

The Winter Sister is a mesmerizing portrayal of the complex bond between sisters, between mothers and daughters alike, and forces us to ask ourselves—how well do we really know the people we love most?

My Thoughts
Five stars all the way
Wow just wow
First off I would defiantly recommend this book to my friends.
It's as suspenseful as I was hoping for as well as having that dark twisted I love in books.
Because as soon as I started reading I couldn't stop , it pulled me in to the story and had me hooked from the very beginning and wouldn't let go because I had to know what happened and why .
It even made me question wither Sylvie and Persephone had anything to do with Persephone's murder or if she some how know who did it because she was keeping secrets from the sister's, and how she played them off against one other .The entire time I was read The Wine Sister I dislike their mother ok ,so it was more then dislike ,I plan out hated her. It also had me question whether Ben was killer and he was other person I didn't like very much as was Persephone because of how she acted tours her mother and sister . Like I said before this book is definitely suspenseful with a dark twist that I didn't see coming .And it seems like everyone has secrets to tell more so than others. It even had me going back and forth between Persephone's mother and her boyfriend on who killed her.Because of how crazy her mother seems and how her boyfriend acts. To find out more you have to read the book.With that said I would love to give a big thanks to the publisher for inviting me to read and review The Winter Sister as well as to Netgalley in change for my honest opinion.Can't wait to see what else this author comes up with.

When Sylvie comes home to care for her mother Annie, she begins asking questions about her sister’s unsolved murder 16 years ago. Sylvie knows Ben, her sister’s boyfriend is guilty, and she plans to prove it. Along the way Sylvie discovers many secrets about her family. This was a good novel that held my interest, and was a quick read. I appreciate the publisher and NetGalley allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my fair and honest review.

4.5 stars

Thank you to the publisher for pre approving me for this amazing novel! I read it in one afternoon. It was suspenseful and kept me on the edge of my seat all afternoon,

I loved this novel so much that I blew off all my family and work responsibilities, turned off my phone (I can’t remember the last time I did that), and just got lost in this amazingly atmospheric world created by Megan Collins. It wasn’t just that I wanted to find out what happened (although I did), but that I was so entranced by everything about the novel—these intense, complex characters, the haunting lyricism of the prose, the twisty plot, the psychological insights into guilt, grief, and passionate love—that I wanted the joy of reading this novel to continue.

My favorite part of this novel is its haunting beauty. It’s mysterious and atmospheric. (I know I said that before, but I can’t emphasize it enough.) One reviewer said she read this novel in the summer heat and yet felt chilled. That’s exactly how I felt! I’m not sure how Megan Collins manages to produce this effect. It’s the voice and the setting and the careful language, all combined in a way that perfectly matches the cover—eerie, but beautiful, too, and ethereal. There’s a particular image of a constellation that we return to again and again, which is the perfect visual for the feel of this novel: beautiful, but sad and mysterious, dark but with sparks of light throughout.

The premise of the novel alone is enough to hook you in and keep you enthralled. Persephone was murdered 16 years ago as a teenager, and her younger sister Sylvie has now returned home to take care of her mother, who fell apart, started drinking, and withdrew from Sylvie and the rest of the world when Persephone died. Now at home, Sylvie can try to figure out the mystery of why her sister died (along with the who and the how), and also try to reconnect with her mother. I want to stay far away from spoiler territory, so I can’t go into the intricacies of how Megan Collins brilliantly weaves and twists various plot threads, but suffice it to say that it’s brilliantly done and that the ending is very satisfying.

I also loved the moments of interiority that help us to understand the characters, especially Sylvie. The characters are all deep in grief, and they all carry a lot of guilt over the role they think they played in Persephone’s death. These emotions are complex, and the author does an amazing job helping us to understand them and, in some cases, to use that understanding to try to figure out the mystery.

In short, I loved this novel. But let me warn you: once you start this novel, you will have no choice but to put your life on pause for a few days until you finish it. I can’t believe that this is Megan Collins’ first novel, and I hope she has a second one coming out very soon!