This book was an average read. I had been expecting more but it was still an ok book.
Writing style and pace were of average quality
An ok book

I very much struggled with this book. The story sounded good but it just didn't keep my attention and just didn't like the character at all.

I know some would like this book but it just wasn't for me.

When I read Wendy Clarke’s first thriller, I was intrigued to see how her short story skills would translate to a new genre – the answer, of course, was quite superbly. And if that book proved to be compelling, original and so well-written… well, I think she might have done it again.

I am going to admit though that I perhaps didn’t love this book quite as much as her first, but that had more to do with me than the book itself. I often have difficulty with engagement when parts of a story are told from a child’s perspective – although I really must say that the way it’s done here was entirely convincing and heartbreakingly real. The story is told by alternating between the past and present, rather showing how damage inflicted in childhood results in damaged adults: Kelly’s anxiety and paranoia, the OCD counting to secure outcomes, all stemming from her personal history and far more than the pressures of motherhood or the result of disturbed nights, was exceptionally well done.

The story’s very different, with unexpected twists and turns that wrong foot you repeatedly – the source of the threat in the present day is intriguing and keeps you on the edge of your seat, although the pacing isn’t fast, and the dramatic climax and its outcome comes as a real surprise. I liked the setting too – the author’s excellent at creating atmospheric scenes, and the tree and abandoned firing range are pivotal in a few of them, and easy to visualise. The author’s emotional touch is good too – in particular my sympathies were often with the young Kelly and the absence of love from her parents, feeling the hurt and injustice from their actions, as the foster child – her long awaited and longed for sister – received everything and threw it back at them.

This book perhaps wasn’t quite what I’d expected it to be – but I did very much enjoy it, and will look forward to seeing what Wendy Clarke does next.

(Review copied to Amazon UK, but link not yet available)

Wendy Clarke has written a tense complex story that kept me invested throughout. There really was a lot going on in this book. Told entirely from Kelly‘s perspective bouncing between past and present. Kelly is now seemingly living the perfect life a lovely home, a devoted husband, two beautiful twin daughters, and a baby boy. But Kelly’s life is really just one wrong move away from falling apart. Kelly also had a bit of a tragic past. Parents who never truly loved her and a foster sister Freya who has forever haunted her. However as much as I sympathize with Kelly throughout this book the girl frustrated me so much! And I try not to get all judge mental when it comes to parenting, but Kelly could’ve use my expert advice, LOL! OK well maybe not my advice, but there were some major red flags. One of her twin daughters Sophie was scared of her shadow and the other one was a bit of a bully. Then on more then one occasion rather than taking baby out of the stroller and bringing him with her, she left him outside the classroom or the store and went in? I had a baby and a kindergartner at the same time and all I’m saying is I would have taken my baby out of the stroller and brought him in with me, a lot of the drama in this book could’ve been avoided had this been done! As I said the girl frustrated me! And it wasn’t just this....

This is not to say I did not like the book I found it compelling and it definitely kept my interest. Kelly‘s past was devastating and her relationship with Freya was interesting. Kelly‘s relationship with her husband was also interesting, he did some questionable things that I’m still not quite sure what to make of. I liked how the story unraveled. I had many theories, none of them right. All in all this was a well told thriller with characters I wish I liked a little bit more, even the kids got on my nerves a bit.

*** thanks to Bookoutur for my copy of this book ***

EXCERPT: Noah is getting restless, squirming in my arms. Quickly, I place him back in the pram, but as I tuck the blanket around him, my hand touches something cold. Picking it out from the covers, I see it's a locket.

My first instinct is that it's mine. That the clasp must have come undone and the necklace fallen into the pram as I picked Noah up. My hand rises to my chest, but immediately my fingers make contact with the telltale shape of the locket beneath my jumper.

I stare at the one in my hand, not understanding. It looks just like mine.

Easing my thumbnails into the crack, I prise the two halves apart. Even though I know it's not possible, I half expect it to contain photographs of my children, but of course it doesn't. Both sides are empty.

I turn the locket over, a feeling of unease creeping up my spine. On its smooth surface, someone has scratched a word.

Sister.

The necklace slips through my fingers onto the tarmac. I know this locket. I haven't seen it in fifteen years. It's the one Freya was wearing the day she died.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Kelly is taking her twin daughters to their first day of school, ushering them into the classroom, her heartbreaking to think they might not need her anymore when she turns around and sees that her newborn baby is gone.

As a desperate search ensues, baby Noah is quickly found – parked in front of a different classroom. But when Kelly reaches forward to comfort him, she finds something tucked beside his blanket. A locket that belonged to her sister Freya. A locket Kelly hasn’t seen since the day Freya died.

And then Kelly’s perfectly-ordered life begins to unravel…


MY THOUGHTS: I never really got into this book. I didn't like the main character, Kelly, at all and felt quite sorry for her poor husband, Mitch. Nor did I like Freya.

We Were Sisters was slow and drawn out with a lot of unnecessary introspection on Kelly's part. The book lacks suspense and as I read on, I became more and more frustrated, both with the characters and the lack of plot development.

The story is set over two timelines, Kelly and Freya's childhood together, and Kelly's adulthood. Some chapters are interspersed with letters: we don't know who has written them, or who they are to, until later in the book.

Overall, I thought the plot was poorly developed, the supposed surprises very hit and miss. This certainly isn't the heart-pounding suspense thriller that the blurb promised.

This is the second book I have read by this author, and my reaction to both books is almost identical. I think that this author's writing style just doesn't suit my tastes, but I know that a lot of people will enjoy this read so, if after reading the EXCERPT this book appeals to you, please pick up a copy and read it.

Lovely cover.

#WeWereSisters #NetGalley

🤔🤔.5

THE AUTHOR: Wendy Clarke has had over three hundred short stories published in national women’s magazines. With a degree in psychology, and intrigued with how the human mind can affect behaviour, it was inevitable she would eventually want to explore her darker side. What She Saw is her debut psychological thriller, published by Bookouture. Wendy lives with her husband, cat and step-dog in Sussex and when not writing is usually dancing, singing or watching any programme that involves food!

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Bookouture via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of We Were Sisters by Wendy Clarke for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system, please refer to my profile page on Goodreads.com or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

Wow! This roller coaster of a ride will leave you wanting more. It will keep you up at night. Wendy Clarke Makes it so you feel for Kelly as she is in turmoil that seems to be messing with her marriage, children, and her sanity. Gripping, dramatic story will keep you reading until the very end, leaving you with a hangover and disappointed that it's over. Thank you to Wendy Clarke and Bookouture for the arc in exchange for an honest review. 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2 stars for this lovely piece of work!

This was a great read by the pool, as it had a great plot and characters. It was a fast read and an enjoyable one.

I always love it when I find a new author that I really enjoy, especially if I’ve come across them when they have a few books for me to catch up on! We Were Sisters is a creepy, tense and addictive thriller that I just couldn’t put down.

The story is told from Kelly’s point of view and is divided into two timelines of Now and Then which alternates every chapter. The ‘Now’ follows Kelly as a married mother of three and the ‘Then’ chapters tells the story of Kelly when she was younger and Freya, a foster child who comes to live with Kelly’s family.

Kelly is a very interesting, complex character and from the start the reader is very aware that there is something not quite right with Kelly. She’s extremely anxious and has to count things almost continuous to keep that under control. This anxiety is made worse by a fractious, unsettled new born who doesn’t sleep and Kelly’s insistence that she does everything herself. At the start it’s easy to dismiss this as post natal depression but as her past is slowly revealed it becomes very obvious that there is much more to it than that. My feelings towards her kept changing between sympathy at all she had experienced and frustration with her attitude. I felt there was lots more to her than she was letting on and I had to keep reading to find out what it was.

I read this book in a day, which is no easy feat for a mum of three kids, as I just couldn’t put it down. Jobs went undone, the kids were allowed far to much screen time as I just got lost in the story. I kept promising myself only one more chapter only for something big to happen which meant I had to keep reading to find out more. The tension in this book is almost unbearable at times as the reader is very aware that something bad happened all those years ago, weird things are happening now and that none of the characters are what they seem. The ending was very unexpected which took me by surprise as I thought I’d figured everything out.

Huge thanks to Noelle from Bookouture for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley.

Goodness, this book is fabulous! There’s so much suspense and tension in it, and the plot just keeps you guessing, with unexpected twists and turns.

I felt so sorry for Kelly as I read about her childhood, and could see the effect it had on her in adulthood. She’s a likeable character, but I did wonder if she was just being a bit paranoid, or if there was really someone out to get her. But as the plot thickens, the suspense builds.

This is not a book to pick up and then put down and save for later. You will want to devour this one, so clear your diary!

Thrilling and suspenseful, highly recommended

A twisty kind of a read where the author Wendy Clarke kept my brain swirling trying to figure out what was happening. I read the prose carefully, the lines and in between the lines to get to the hidden secrets. The author was clever in keeping them so deep in the psyche that I really didn't know what was the truth.

Kelly lived with her twin daughter, son, and husband when she felt that there was someone watching her. Her OCD increased due to stress, and it was really hard to see her struggling all alone dealing with everything. She couldn't seem to share any of her past with her husband. Her past and the present made it difficult. I liked how different facets of her character were etched.

Written in dual timelines from her own POV, Kelly now and Kelly then provided me enough red herrings to keep my attention strictly on the story. A sense of someone following her and trying to scare her was well written. What started as psychological games soon showed that it was something more, you could say, a warning of how the past and present were welded together.

Wendy Clarke has done a good job keeping the fear and insecurity alive. A little cohesiveness in the prose, depth to the characters, and more thrill would have made it a perfect read for me.

Overall, it did keep me from sleeping and made me want to keep reading till the end. At the end, I realized the story ultimately did resemble the symbol for zodiac sign Gemini ♊. Two lives running parallel both connected in the past and the present.

Well written, gripping and a great read. Kelly’s baby’s pram has been moved. Ans when she finds it a locket belonging to her dead sister is inside. Grips you from the beginning.

I will look out for more from this author.

Kelly is walking her twin daughters to their first day of school. It is not a pleasant experience. For one thing Kelly has OCD so the walk is wrought with problems - such as counting to a certain number while a light changes from red to green. Meanwhile, one twin is over-exuberant about her first day, while the other twin is terrified, thus leaving Kelly's nerves extra raw. Along for the walk is Kelly's baby Noah.

Kelly parks Noah's pram near the door to hand over her daughters to their teacher. After only turning her back for a moment, she realizes Noah is gone. She flies into a panic, but then notices his pram a few classrooms down. When she reaches in to comfort Noah, she grasps a locket. The locket belonged to her sister Freya. How could this be? Freya died years ago and Kelly has never seen the locket since.

With Kelly already being frazzled, Noah's pram apparently being moved, and the locket being discovered makes matters far worse for her. However, despite having a good relationship with her husband, Kelly feels she can share her fears and concerns with him. Instead she tries to focus on caring for the baby all while helping the girls adjust to school.

This story goes back and forth from past to present. Kelly had a very unhappy childhood, and was always seeking the love and approval of her parents. Meanwhile, her mother seemed always looking for something, or someone, and thus Kelly had various foster siblings when she was a child. Kelly really hoped that Freya, when she came into her home, would be her real sister. Why then, after leaving home many years before, does Kelly suddenly find Freya's locket in Noah's pram?

Things become rather sinister in this story. What happened with the locket was only the start of rather terrifying things for Kelly and her family. This was indeed a thrilling book, one that I read in one sitting. I was eager to know what the mystery was with Freya and also wanted to know the depths of Kelly's emotional problems and whether or not they would impact her role as a wife or a mother.

Wendy Clarke did a fantastic job holding my attention from the very first page. I loved the mix of family drama and mystery. The inclusion of mental illness was handled gingerly and respectfully..The conclusion was thrilling, thus rounding out a very well-written story.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book started out strong. Loved the beginning, and I read it in one sitting, but the ending was a little bit of a let down. I don't think I liked the main character very much either.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

We Were Sisters by Wendy Clarke was such a lovely, unexpected surprise and I really enjoyed it.

What it's about: Kelly has a lot on her mind when she takes her twin daughters to school for the first time. Her newborn is colicky so she's running on very little sleep, and she is stressed about letting the girls out of her sight for the first time. She walks into the school to drop them off and when she comes back out the pram and her baby have disappeared. She quickly finds him in front of another classroom, so she caulks it up to stress and very little sleep. But as more strange things start to happen to her, she feels like she might be going crazy. Also, what about the locket she found in her baby's pram at the school? The locket that belonged to her dead sister Freya, that she hasn't seen since she died... Life as Kelly knows it is about to unravel, and she is going to have to deal with the darkness from her past.

We Were Sisters was such a fast read, and it didn't even take me 4 hours to finish. This could easily be a book you could read in one sitting, and the chapters are also wonderfully super short. Everything is told from Kelly's point of view and the book switches back and forth between past and present time, past being when Kelly is growing up. Her past was pretty heartbreaking, and this might be a bit of a tear-jerker for some. Her parents made me angry and I did a lot of cringing throughout the book.

The mystery surrounding Kelly and Freya's past was really intriguing, and I liked the way the author slowly unraveled their history until you find out just what happened. I also thought Kelly seemed like a bit of an unreliable narrator which kept things interesting for me. Kelly's husband was a piece of work, and he wasn't really my favorite character of all time, but I did mostly like Kelly and empathized with her.

There were a lot of things going on in this book, and for the sake of not giving anything away, I will keep this review short. I think it will be a good choice for people that like fast reads that deal with heavier subjects.

Song/s the book brought to mind: Apologize by Timbaland & OneRepublic

Final Thought: The ending of We Were Sisters really surprised me, and kind of left me a bit open-mouthed. It was very unexpected for me and I loved that. This book has a great mix of drama and mystery that was able to hold my attention the entire time. I will definitely be looking forward to reading more by Clarke!

My thanks to Bookouture for an eARC via NetGalley of Wendy Clarke’s ‘We Were Sisters’ in exchange for an honest review.

The main character, Kelly, is the mother of twin girls and a three-month old son. She is quite anxious about Sophie and Isabella starting school and on their first day has a bit of a scare when she discovers that Noah’s pram isn’t where she left it. While it is located quickly, Kelly finds a locket in his blanket with the word ‘sister’ scratched on its back. She recognises it: “I haven’t seen it in fifteen years. It’s the one Freya was wearing the day she died.”

This raised so many questions. The narrative is split between Kelly in the present day, which she narrates, and the ‘then’ of her youth, which is written in the third person.

I would probably class this as domestic suspense rather than a psychological thriller. I found that Kelly’s personality did rather grate on my nerves. The themes of fostering and sibling relationships were interesting though.

It was readable but just failed to excite me. If it wasn’t an ARC I likely would have set it aside as family dramas don’t particularly engage me.

I certainly feel that it will appeal to many readers but just wasn’t quite my thing.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Kelly has three children, twins Isabella and Sophie, and baby Noah. She is struggling a bit with baby Noah as he doesn’t sleep and her anxiety is sometimes too much. She counts, as this seems to calm her….if she can count to twenty before Noah wakes then everything will be ok…even down to the steps between lampposts, just to calm down…

Then one day, Noah’s pram is moved and she finds a locket in his blankets….she recognises it…..it belonged to Freya, her sister who died many years ago.

Is lack of sleep causing her to imagine things or is someone trying to send her a message?

This is told from Kelly’s point of view, both Kelly before and Kelly now….showing her loveless childhood and her relationship with Freya…..the heartbreak of her death and the secrets kept by her parents…

It also covers the care and foster system and the effects of constantly moving children around different homes and the trauma this can cause. A truly emotional, gripping psychological thriller full of secrets and breathtaking revelations…I can thoroughly recommend it…..

Thank you to Bookouture, the author and NetGalley for a free copy of the ebook. This is my honest and unbiased review.

This was my second book by the lovely author Wendy Clarke (I read What She Saw earlier this year). We Were Sisters is out TODAY, published by the brilliant minds at Bookouture. Special thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my copy in exchange for an honest review and tour stop.


Description:


I turn to where I left my baby in his pushchair and pull up short. With a racing heart, I look around wildly, fear gripping my stomach. I only looked away for a moment. The pushchair and my baby are gone.

Kelly is taking her twin daughters to their first day of school, ushering them into the classroom, her heart breaking to think they might not need her any more, when she turns around and sees that her newborn baby is gone.

As a desperate search ensues, baby Noah is quickly found – parked in front of a different classroom. But when Kelly reaches forward to comfort him, she finds something tucked beside his blanket. A locket that belonged to her sister Freya. A locket Kelly hasn’t seen since the day Freya died.

And then Kelly’s perfectly-ordered life begins to unravel…

We Were Sisters is a heart-pounding suspense thriller that will grip you until the very last page. Fans of Behind Closed Doors, Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to stop reading this incredible book.



My Review:

You guys. This book is insane. This is the type of book I find hard to review, simply because I don't want to give spoilers away! Kelly is a mess. She's exhausted from her fussy baby, desperately attempting to take care of twins (one is fiercely independent, and the other is SO NEEDY). Her husband really isn't much help, simply because he just doesn't understand her needs. Coming from a family I hide from my own fiance because they're terrible like Kelly's, I felt for her so much. I understood why she kept things to herself, and quite frankly it stressed ME out when people would force her to open up. Stop trying to make fetch happen. Let us introverts be.


The story itself goes back and forth between Kelly as a child/teen around her sister Freya, and adult Kelly now as she struggles to maintain her grasp on reality. Reading the parts about Kelly's mother broke my heart. It was like the poor girl never had a chance at a normal life. She did the best she could by pretending her past didn't exist, but it found her anyway.


If you love twisted thrillers, obviously this book will be a great pick up. I really enjoyed it. I found it impossible to put down at the end of my lunch break every day. I read it in about 4 lunch hours at work-obviously I would have been much faster with it had people just left me alone. Maybe I need a reading tent for my office...


Solid 4 stars for me. It would have been 5, but I'm burnt out on the husband's viewpoint of "my wife is just having post-partem issues and that's why she's acting out of the ordinary." It's a minor point for me, but I really wish society would get away from that type of thinking. We've come a long way, but we still have a long way to go in terms of accepting mothers and their feelings after delivering babies. Maybe I'm just sensitive, given that we're going to try to start our family at the end of the year and my hormone imbalance makes the feelings struggle an ongoing battle.


Still, I loved this book. I love Wendy Clarke. I will gladly read anything she wants to write.

(Also posted on my GR account!)

We were Sisters started out marvelously, I'd say.

I followed the journey of Kelly taking her daughters to their first day of school with her fussy newborn. When she counted the steps, when she waits on the crossroad, they were nicely written. I even enjoyed the air of mystery and Kelly's personal baggage at first.

Crossing 50% mark, I started to wonder when would I get the glimpse of the <i>mystery</i> since we had to take a long detour to her childhood. I understand that the background was essential in her plot but why it had to be that long? At first, it was Kelly and Freya, age 10, then Kelly and Freya, age 16 which made little difference because both acted like they were 10 yos anyway.

Close to the, supposedly, climax part, it still... felt flat. Usually, I already knew what's going on, who is who, etc. around 70% point or less. We were Sisters drag the plot up to 80% and even then it wasn't satisfying. Don't get me started on the resolution. I don't need an amazing twist because (at least at first) I cared about Kelly, but the 'why' factor robbed me from the joy of a mystery thriller book. The ending was disappointing to me.

Not to mention, Kelly grate on my nerves towards the end. Mitch had asked her, repeatedly, about her family, her past, and Kelly always said no, she won't say anything. And when Mitch did something wrong, Kelly yelled 'you never asked' and I was like, really? OK.

We were Sisters, I think, is best marketed as a family drama with a hint of tragedy instead of a psychological thriller.

The description of <i>We Were Sisters</i> immediately grabbed my attention and I knew I had to get my hands on this book. Right from the beginning, when Kelly believes her newborn son was taken from his pram, my heart skipped a beat - especially when we discover he’s safe and sound, along with a piece of Kelly’s past that she thought was dead and buried. Literally.

Clarke did a fantastic job with character development for both Kelly and her sister Freya. As you move through the novel and learn more about the past and the histories of both women, you learn to love (or hate) things about them (and personally, when you begin to feel things for characters, I find that the mark of a great book—even if the feelings are of hatred—I’m looking at you, <i>Gone Girl</i>).

So many twists and turns will have you reeling until the end. Definitely give this one a go, especially if you love psychological thrillers!!

This story is about Kelly, happily married with twin girls and a newborn. It goes back and forth between Kelly's past and present. Her relationship with her parents and her foster siblings, specifically one called Freya.

At present day, it was the first day of school and Kelly has had little to no sleep because of the baby, Noah. She's taking her twin girls to school. After she's dropped the girls in their classroom, she noticed that the pram was not where she parked it. The baby was found immediately.. Was she just tired from having no sleep or was her baby's pram moved away? She also noticed a locket in the pram. The one that's exactly the same as hers and her life started to unravel. She's seeing things on her window, doors unlocked.

The story was definitely a thriller. The story about Kelly and Freya kinda slowly unraveled between past and present. As you I went along, I thought I'd figured out the story, but was I wrong. I was totally off with a couple of characters. Kelly's husband did make the story interesting. He is a suspicious character and his past was kind of kept hidden until much later. There were a couple of mysterious characters on there and I love that about this book.

The one thing that didn't appeal much to me was the ending. I expected something so much more explosive from a couple of characters and I expected a lot more revelation from Kelly's foster sister and mother.