Hello

Apologies for the late notice, but I have decided not to review this title. While I am certain it's obvious by now, I wanted to also clear this off NetGalley, so it's not showing as open for either of us.

Thanks,
Laura

Absolutely brilliant thriller with a fabulous plot which I could not put down. Brilliant characters, and twists and turns. Highly recommend to other fans of this genre!!

Get ready when you open this book because it is a looooong read. That is because it is comprised of three separate books: A Family Kind of Guy, A Family Kind of Gal, and A Family Kind of Wedding. I really need to do more exploring before I start reading a book. I was expecting to read a mystery story. Unfortunately, it was more like a harlequin romance. And I am not a fan of that genre. So this was a huge disappointment for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zebra Books for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

A being fan of this amazing author, this was a bit of a disappointment. So many twists and turns I was hopeful. Just shy of the fantastic mystery I'm used to with such a good writer.

A huge fan of this amazing author and this was everything I hoped for and more! So many twists and turns I literally could not put it down!!Fantastic mystery that will keep you guessing right till the end!

Great trilogy!! I wasn't aware going in that this was a romance series.

I started reading Lisa Jackson's work when they took on a more suspenseful side. I finished the first book and enjoyed it, but will be finishing the rest when I'm looking for a lighter read.

Was enjoyable just not what I was looking for.

“Envious” is really three books in one, as it is the repackaged trilogy “Forever Family,” which was published in the 1990s. Therefore, it’s a pretty long book, but I love Lisa Jackson’s work, so I was game. And these books really tie together nicely and create a good, full story.

Each book revolves around one of three women, who are tied together by a lying, cheating father (who revealed his affairs in a death bed confession). Each sister is going through a lot of personal drama and is now dealing with their pasts and the secrets that surround it in their small town. And of course, each is butting heads with the man in their life.

This book was really more of a romance series than romantic suspense, though it did have some suspense in the subplots, but the main stories were the romances with each of the women. But that wasn’t really a huge problem, because obviously, Lisa Jackson knows how to draw really great characters and romances. Each story had the push and shove that Jackson is great at portraying as the couples work toward their HEA, and it is indeed work.

Also, each woman is pretty badass.

I also liked how the women were dealing with the revelations about their father and how to deal with his, un, indiscretions. It added some humanity to the characters as they tried to work through something that happens a lot in the real world: family secrets, affairs, etc. It was nice to have that grounding in what can seem like a bit of an idyllic world.

Overall, Lisa Jackson remains the First Lady of romantic suspense, even though this series leans more heavy on the romance. I would recommend for all fans of hers and anyone looking to dip their toe into her vast catalog.

I struggled to get through this, and I think it was because so much was repeated and it felt like I was reading an essay where a student is just desperately trying to reach a word count.

Envious is a great set of stories to get an introduction to one of my favorite authors. Lisa Jackson is a great writer of romantic suspense and Envious showcases that talent.

Lisa Jackson - great author.
This book was fine. I would say it thrilled me so many times the romantic plot was lost here.
Did I like it?
I would say yes, for its plot and writing.
The only thing is - this book felt like it was very fast written and not given too much thought about other aspects of the story line. Overall solid 4 stars here for that.

this is a three in one book, with some old favorites. I actually read all of these when they first came out and enjoyed them emmensly then. Mason and Bliss, J.D. and Tiffany, and Luke and Katie; the three couples who figure out family situations plus relationship issues. Along the way a mystery of where a fellow neighbor could have gone. A nice read on a raining day or at the beach.

‘ENVIOUS is a condensed version of Jackson’s 1990s trilogy, Forever Family, that takes place in a fictional location, Bittersweet, Oregon, and centers around three women who have just discovered they are half-sisters.’

I’m a huge fan of Lisa Jackson’s books, and I love her writing—but ENVIOUS—a book categorized as a Domestic Thriller that should have hit the mark for me, unfortunately, failed to do so.

I would describe the Forever Family series as romance novels, which I liked; however, they didn’t read like thrillers to me—more like forbidden love stories taking center stage and a bit of a mystery playing out in the background.

One aspect of the book, I didn’t care for the constant repetition of the same information throughout, which felt like filler, failing to drive the narrative forward at a steady pace.

Even though ENVIOUS didn’t tick off all the boxes for me, I am looking forward to reading more books by Lisa Jackson.

Thank you, NetGalley and Kensington Publishing, for loaning me an eBook of ENVIOUS in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book. It was quite long (apparently 704 pages) and had some very long chapters but was a really good read. I have previously read and enjoyed one book by Lisa Jackson prior to this and was keen to try another. I was definitely expecting something different but it was a nice surprise.

I decided to look it up and found out that its 3 books (which explains the length, put into one which was written in the 90s, but rebadged as Envious.

I have to say they've done a good job of rebranding it as a thriller rather than romances and I would not have picked up any of those books the Forever series books based on their original covers.

John Cawthorne has a heart attack and wants to open up and bring his family together before its too late. He has three daughters - one legitimate, Bliss and two others outside of his marriages. Its the story of the three half sisters who are unaware of one another until Bliss returns to her home town. I didn't really like the name of the town Bittersweet, but it didn't really take away from the story at all. As I said, the book was split into 3, and each section was based on a different sister starting with Bliss, then moving on to Tiffany and then on to Katie. They are 3 very different women and keeps coming back to them all and how their lives were entwined and how they come to live in Bittersweet with all sorts of going on along the way, with a romance theme throughout, but much more enjoyable than that.

Thanks for the opportunity to read this - A thoroughly enjoyable book.

Three half sisters are a ragtag of a family. A family filled with bitter memories, distrust, and skeletons tucked away in every available closet. Can they come together in a crisis?

Bittersweet Orgeon lives to its namesake with the three sisters. Bliss Cawthorne, Tiffany Santini, and
Katie Kincaid. Bliss now lives away from Bittersweet but comes back when her father John has taken ill. It is then that he tells her that he plans on marring the mother of his illegitimate daughter Katie. Oh and by the way, he confesses that he bore another daughter before he married Bliss's mother. So suprise, you have two sisters. Bliss of course is stunned and realizes that her parents marriage was a sham. It is this premise that three stories into one book come together. Each sister has a past, a crisis, a romance and how to reconcile their father's indiscretions. They forge a relationship with each other grudgingly and find out they have more in common than the same father. Can they build a sister bond that each one secretly desires? Tension, love, and mystery is makes this a fast read.

A Special Thank you to Kensington Books and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

Envious by Lisa Jackson, a story of a man who married a woman but loved another and his three daughters. One he claimed and two he didn't. The three half sisters, unknown to each other until now, struggle to define their relationship, struggle to have a relationship while two are dealing with the knowledge that they have a new dad now and the other that her parents marriage was not a happy one. The story starts at this point. It deals with their relationships with those they love and those they learn to love. The love of family wheither blood or not. The forgiveness of love and a bit of danger mixed in.

Didn’t realize I was gonna get 3 stories in one book , 3 great stories.... 5 stars each...... each story is a continuation of the first .....each one about a different half sister , great characters and storylines

What a wonderful surprise three stories in one book. I always like reading a book with strong women characters who have individual opinions, colorful pasts and their own way of dealing with family situations. I thought this was a mystery, and it does have mystery in it, but found it had the added plus of romance thrown in. I always enjoy a book by Lisa Jackson.
Thank you NetGalley, the author Lisa Jackson and the publisher Kensington books for providing an ARC of this book for my honest opinion.

Lisa Jackson is one of my favorite mystery/ suspense/ thriller authors. I did not realize she had started her writing career as more of a romance writer but these books were enjoyable too. This is a compilation of 3 books that were a trilogy. The central theme is a young woman from a powerful family and the two half sisters she discovers in her father's history. Each book is the story of one of the sisters and their emotional reactions to finding family with their growing romances added in. I was not surprised to find that Lisa Jackson was a very good romantic suspense writer, I have always enjoyed her better known genre. Good reading by a good author, what every reader hopes for when they open a book!

I am a huge fan of Lisa Jackson but this journey back to her early fiction is not a favorite of mine. I read all three stories included of Bliss, Tiffany and Katie, the three women who discover that their father refused to marry one's mother and then cheated on his wife to create another daughter. Their stories are interwoven as they learn about each other and about the father that never knew. Of course, they also discover the love of their lives at the same time. I must say I like the more current Lisa Jackson's books than the older stories. This was not a favorite.

Thank you to net galley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of this book and return for a review based upon my honest opinion.

This book is a trio of stories dealing with three half-sisters the first story is about Bliss, the second story about Tiffany and the third one about Katie. All in all it was an enjoyable read, I like the characters the stories were good, kind of a light read but good. There were some problems with continuity, but all in all I thought the stories were interesting and there was an underlying mystery throughout the whole trilogy. .