This book was great for the most part. The ending felt a little rushed, but the rest of it was well paced. McKinnon is an auto buy author for me, especially when I’m in the mood for thrillers! She never disappoints!

Sister Dear by Hannah Mary McKinnon is a twisted slow-burn thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat from the very beginning. This was not my first by Ms. McKinnon and it certainly won't be my last! I just love how she weaves the story and pulls the reader along on all of the twists and turns.

Synopsis: Eleanor Hardwick's parents divorced when she was young and she was always closer to her father than her mother, who constantly criticized her for anything she could. Now her father is dying and when Eleanor visits, she overhears an argument between her two parents that reveals some shocking information - her father is not really her biological father. As Eleanor adjusts to new family members she didn't know she had, Eleanor is drawn into a web of secrets and jealousy.

I thought that is started off a little like a family drama or women's drama that slowly burned into a twisty thriller. There were not many characters that I really liked. I felt really badly for the main character Eleanor. The author did a great job making us empathize with Eleanor. She suffered from extremely low self esteem and disordered eating and struggled with a really dysfunctional family dynamic. Because of this she made some bad decisions and we can see that she really is flawed.

If you like slow burns, dark family secrets, and twisted characters, I think you will enjoy Sister Dear by Hannah Mary McKinnon.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

A thriller about a woman who wants the life she thinks she was meant to have. Eleanor discovers that her father was not her bio dad- but Stan was. Stan, however, wants her to go away and Eleanor begins to obsess about Victoria, her half sister, And weasels her way into Victoria's life. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A page turner.

Because of the nature of this story, I wanted to like it. However, none of the characters were likeable. They had no redeeming characteristics unless it was the dying father at the beginning. The story was somewhat convoluted making it difficult to discern who was saying what,thinking what, omitting what. After finally finishing the book, I wondered what happened? How did this happen? Why did it happen? I would pass on this one if asked to read it again, but I do maintain that the author had a gift of the imagination. This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review.

I loved this book! Thank you for the ARC. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that I wasn’t leaving reviews on netgalley and was solely sharing on Instagram. My apologies. Huge fan of this author! I actually received the tangible copy. Trying to clean up my netgally account.

A brilliant read which kept my gripped until the very end. Only let down by an ending that felt a little too rushed.

SISTER DEAR by HANNAH MARY McKINNON is a dramatic, cleverly layered, twisty, and crafty slow-burn suspenseful psychological thriller that was quite the surprising book to read. The story progresses at a steady pace and the tension subtly increases throughout. There is an unpredictable and pivotal moment in the story that changes the dynamics totally and makes this quite the apprehensive non-stop, exciting read.

Another thriller winner from the queen, Hannah Mary McKinnon. Secrets between sisters? Deliciously devious!

An exceptional book with tons of suspense and great twists, this is my first read from Hannah Mary McKinnon. I'm a sucker for a sister story, and family secrets, and people who aren't who they say they are. Add in some twisted revenge, and you've got a winner here in Sister Dear.

This was my first read by Hannah Mary McKinnon and believe me it won't be the last. Her writing is suspenseful and definitely a pageturner. Grab this book asap!!

It starts out a bit soap opera-ish, but then takes a hard left into thrillerville! You just have no idea how it's going to end up until you get there.

SISTER DEAR! & HANNAH MAY MCKINNON. I never knew what I needed until you walked into my life... or fell onto my Kindle book shelf! Want a thriller that you can just not put down? One that will keep you up all night until you get to that last page? This is it! Don't wait.

This book had so much potential! I loved everything about it until the very end - it felt like the last few chapters where all the action took place was just rushed. Also not having closure between Felix and Eleanor really broke my heart!

Hannah Mary McKinnon is a new favorite author of mine. I am always excited to read her books. She has a way of story telling that grabs you from line 1 and you are hooked till the end.

SISTER DEAR is the type of suspense novel that grabs you and takes you on a dark and twisty ride. McKinnon delivers a truly compelling read.

Eleanor is raised by her mother, a mother who doesn't like her very much and lets Eleanor know that her younger sister is the one she loves. When Eleanor is old enough, she basically cuts ties with her mother, and becomes very close with her father. Eleanor has little to no self-esteem and is a huge people pleaser. She has her own business and basically lives a solitary life, except for interactions with her father. When he dies from cancer, her life literally falls apart. First, she finds out that he wasn't her real father. Her mother was pregnant when they got married and her father is a rich and successful businessman, who paid off her mother to stay out of his life. He is married and has a daughter almost the same age as Eleanor. When Eleanor approaches him, wanting to get to know her sister, he rebuffs her and tells her to stay out of his life. What is she to do?

Eleanor is a very sympathetic character. It seems the only luck she has is bad luck. She loses business, her family, gets mugged and so on. The only good luck she has is to meet Lewis, her upstairs neighbour, who seems to be attracted to her. He tries to help her and build up her self-esteem. Once again, she can't believe anyone would want to have anything to do with her, her mother really did a job on her, and the author does a wonderful job painting a picture of this victimized young woman. Victoria, her sister, is beautiful, smart, friendly and seems to be perfect. The more Eleanor finds out about her, the more she wants to get to know her. Going behind her father, Stan's back, Eleanor weedles her way into Victoria's life.

As I started reading this book, I double checked if this book was a thriller or not. It starts slowly, and it sounded like a contemporary fiction/women's fiction story. Now, that would have been fine with me as I also enjoy that genre, but boy oh boy, the author suddenly flipped that switch and I found myself stopping everything to get to the conclusion of this book. I had to find out what happened to Eleanor to have her end up in prison (we find that out in the prologue). I thought I knew where this story was going to go, but I was so wrong. The people that I thought were involved in whatever crime there was, were not. The crime itself shocked me as I was not suspecting it, and the twist at the end, Wow! So, my biggest piece of advice is to stick with this story to get to the twisty ending. I also hope there is going to be a sequel, as there is still more I want to know about this story.

This was a quick, suspenseful read that I read through in one sitting! I always love these mysteries that keep you on the edge of your seat. This was my first read by this author, but I have read her latest novel and enjoyed it, too!

I am sorry for not reviewing fully but I don’t have the time to read this at the moment. I believe that it wouldn't benefit you as a publisher or your book if I only skimmed it and wrote a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for not fully reviewing!

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

Some blog friends had been raving about how good Sister Dear was, so when I had the opportunity to get an e-ARC, I took it. Now mind your own business about how long it took me to read it- because that is neither here nor there.

What I liked:

The cover is neat!

How Hannah Mary McKinnon set the story up- Eleanor’s transformation from someone who lets others have what they want to being brave to go out and get what she wants.

The ending. That ending was GREAT.



Bottom line: For me, at times- this was almost too slow of a slow burner. HMM really took her time setting up the world of Eleanor and yes there were some necessary elements to that for understanding Eleanor and her motives and her ways. But I could have done with a little less. However, the ending- well, that was worth the wait.



*This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.*

Loved the pace and the plot. Would definitely recommend to others if you’re a big fan of thrillers. Added to my TBR a really long time ago and so glad I finally got to it!