I'm a bit torn about this book, because while it's very well-written and enjoyable, I guessed the twist at around 20% in. And so the bulk of the book was a little bit frustrating to read because it was obvious what was going on. Also, I felt that the use of Rose's journal was a bit too reminiscent of Gone Girl, which was yet another giveaway. The other thing I didn't like about the story is also the fact that our MC doesn't actually resolve the main conflict actively. Instead, she avoids it and then it gets resolved by other people.

Despite these issues, I actually really did enjoy the book. I found Fern's chapters very interesting, especially her sensory issues and how she handles them. I loved her character growth and the way that her relationship with her colleagues developed was a lovely surprise and actually brought tears to my eyes. I also enjoyed Rose's depiction of their sociopath mother. The mental abuse in Rose's journal was expertly done, and I found myself grinding my teeth at how awful "journal mom" was towards Rose.

All in all, it's a very enjoyable book, and I think I would have loved it if I hadn't read Gone Girl. I would still recommend this for fans of adult suspense.

This book does not come out until April but I love Sally Hepworth and when you get an early copy, you read it right then! I started last night and finished this afternoon. I am getting way too old for all night reading but in my prime, it would have been done last night.

A tale of two sisters is always a good plot. Fern and Rose are twins but so very, very different. Fern is on the autism spectrum and has depended on her sister to lead the way in their lives. Rose watched over her sister in place of their mother who seemed to be more interested in herself. Seemed is a big theme in this book. Rose can't have a baby and when Fern becomes pregnant, a plan is put into play for her to adopt the baby. The best laid plans.....

I loved Fern. Her straightforwardness and her relationships, especially to Rocco (Wally) the baby's father, are endearing. As you read along and realize that things are not exactly how they seem, you will be gripped with a feeling of dread and a need to help her. I think she might be one of the best characters I have read in a while. You can just picture her in her colorful clothes, unicorn tennis shoes and braided pigtails in a loop.

This is unputdownable and maybe my favorite Sally Hepworth book to date.

Love everything by Sally! This book was so good and had me surprised up until the very end! Cant wait for more books by her!

I received a complimentary copy of The Good Sister from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Wow! This was a great book! With an autistic (and quite possibly unreliable) narrator, this novel kept me guessing most of the way through. I had to read between the lines to figure out what might or might not really be happening. Twin sisters as close as they can be when one of them has social and sensory issues co-exist in a peaceful and routine symbiotic relationship--until one of them disrupts the perfect balance. This was a very unique storyline, and I just loved it! I will look for more from this author.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC!

This is a slow-burn twisty domestic tale! I loved The Mother-in-law and this is a similar surprising story woven between a diary in the past and current events. Sally Hepworth is a mastermind at weaving together dysfunctional relationships! Fern and Rose are fraternal twins with two different and distinct memories, or are they? Highly recommend!

Family drama, sisters with a bind, a little suspense and wow ! A definite page turner you won’t be able to put down !

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy. This book was different than a lot of my other reads. It had more psychological thriller aspects to it. I really enjoyed it. I thought the development of Fern’s character was so real and appropriate and thought provoking.

I gave this story 3.5 stars, again I'm in the minority. I have to say I was really enjoying it, but 20% in, I got a book from the library that had a time limit, so I put this book on hold to read this other book, that I absolutely loved, problem is, if that didn't happen, I'd probably give this 4 stars. I can say that I did enjoy The Mother-in-law by Sally Hepworth better, but this is still good and the story was told from two POVs. Rose and Fern, who are fraternal twins.

Rose and Fern, completely different looking, completely different personalities. Fern is funny and strange and takes everything literal. Rose is the sound-minded sister. I loved Farm's character, because even though she has sound and light sensory problems, she works in a library and reads books and seems to have a lot of knowledge. She can do karate, beat you at any game, know how to build a tent, and researches everything, but socially, she relies on Rose for EVERYTHING. Rose has taken care of her her whole life, even practically raising her, as their mom overdosed and had a brain injury from it.

This book also has a romance with Fern, which is funny and cute because she relies on books to teach her how a date should go. But Rose does not want to let go of her care as they are now adults, and Rose is ALWAYS there for her. Rose is The Good Sister here.

Of course, there's a twist. A little easy to figure out towards 75% in, but still an enjoyable read. I would've rounded the 3.5 up to 4, if it was a just a little more of a surprise ending!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with the ARC to read and give my honest opinion!

The Good Sister is one of those books that you start and feel like you can't breathe until it's done.

Incredibly well written!

Hepworth's depictions of some emotional abuse towards the beginning of the book may make you feel down and turn you off...but stick with it! Some great twists and turns will result from your diligence as well as falling in love with the unlikely sister...and Wally.

Highly recommended!

Rose and Fern are twin sisters who rely on each other to get them through life. After growing up with an unstable mother and her revolving door of boyfriends, headstrong Rose takes Fern under her wing. With Rose's diabetes and Fern's sensory processing disorder, each daughter needs care in special ways.
Fast forward to adulthood and Fern is a successful librarian who manages her sensory processing in unique ways. Rose is presumably working out her marital issues with her estranged husband, Owen, and taking care of Fern. When Rose eludes that she is having trouble getting pregnant, Fern decides she will be the one to make Rose's dreams come true by becoming pregnant by a homeless millionaire she has befriended at the library.
But things aren't always what they seem and Fern comes to find that the life she thought was hers has been manipulated by her sister every step of the way.
A bit of suspense, a bit of family drama, a whole lot of unreliable narration. While some plot points were underdeveloped in my opinion, I thoroughly enjoy Sally Hepworth's novels and The Good Sister is a worthy addition to her every growing repertoire.

I love to read but I never stay up late at night to read because I fall asleep. I finished The Good Sister at 2:00 AM. That should tell you something. This book kept me wide awake and interested to the very end. The main story is about a set of fraternal twin sisters who have very different memories of their childhood and specifically their mother. Their mother is in a rehab facility and only one of the sisters (Fern) ever visits her. Rose hasn't seen her mother in years. As the story progresses and we relive their childhood through their memories and/or diary, we are found shaking our heads in many places. So which set of memories is true? Throw in a mysterious death or 2, a surprise pregnancy (kind of) and some very interesting relationships and you'll see why I've given this book 5 stars. I would very much recommend it.

The storyline of this book surprised me. The story of twin sisters that are so different. One of the twins, Fern has a sensory issue. She is more than capable of navigating the world on her own terms but relies heavily on her sister. They have had a troubled childhood with a mother that appears to be abusive and overdosed when they were children. At one point Fern discovers that her sister can’t have children and devises a crazy plan to have one for her. She meets a man at her job at the library and they go on a date. But she evens up falling in love with him. My only criticism of this book is it has a crazy twist which is shocking but it was delivered too quickly. The details should have drawn out just a little more.

This book is filled with suspense, thrills, family drama and more (so much more).

This book is about twins Rose and Fern. They are twins that are as different as night and day. One is married and she is ready to have a baby. There is a secret from their past. Who remembers?

My thanks to Netgalley and St Martins Press for this advanced readers copy. This book is due to release in April 2021.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This was a good book. A quick read. A couple of twists that I didn’t see coming until the very end. Rose and Fern were two characters that I definitely formed strong feelings about.

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth follows the story of Fern and Rose two twin sisters. Fern decides to help her sister have a baby and the story follows their journey. An engaging read, it made you want to read and keep reading to see what happened.. I couldn't put the book down.

The story is about twin sisters, Rose and Fern. The story is told from their two perspectives. The first half of the book is a slow burn, as we get to know the sisters and their lives, separately and together. The author did a great job depicting a sensory processing disorder. This is a very good book and is recommended!

“Maybe when it comes to sisters, boundaries are always a little bit blurry. Blurred boundaries, I think, are what sisters do best.”

What You’ll Find:
✔️Women’s Fiction
✔️Mystery
✔️Suspense
✔️Dual POV

Two twin sisters who appear to be as close as can be. Who are quite opposite from each other. Rose the married, responsible, care giver one. Fern the free spirit, librarian who avoids social situations. Rose has always protected Fern, especially from a terrible mother. When Fern did something very terrible as a child, Rose kept her secret. So when Fern can help Rose make one of her dreams come true, she does. But in the process she starts to see that Rose may be keeping secrets of her own.

I’ll start by saying that I was expecting a thriller. But it really didn’t feel like a thriller to me. But that didn’t matter, because I was I was so engaged in the mystery and where this storyline was going that it didn’t need it to be thrilling. I really enjoyed how it was written, in dual POV but with journal entries as well. You are so sure you know exactly what is going on, but there are little seeds of doubt that build throughout the story until the twists are revealed. And I have to say I feel like I both knew and also didn’t know what was happening.

This is my first read by this author and though I felt it was quite a odd storyline, I really did enjoy it. It’s flows well, being quite the page turner, though I would say moves at a slower pace. The characters are well developed and certain ones will really pull you in. I don’t want to spoil anything by saying who. If you enjoy family drama, with a bit of mystery and suspense, I recommend giving this one a try!

Thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for this eARC for my honest review.

I’m a huge Sally Hepworth fad and was very happy to receive this ARC. Fortunately, Sally did not disappoint. The plot was fast moving, the characters were well developed, and the twists kept me on the edge of my seat. Thank you so much for allowing me to read and review this book!

Wow!!! I enjoyed every minute I spent reading this book!! Wonderful writing interesting characters and a story that kept me hooked the entire time. I’ve read a few others by Sally Hepworth and now I have a new favorite. I can’t wait for it’s publication date so I can share it with the Literal Hotties and discuss.

Highly Recommend!

Thank you to Net Galley for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
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The author of The Mother-in-Law delivers a new novel of breathtaking suspense about the secrets and lies that bond two sisters.

Meet Rose
The responsible sisters with a home, a husband, and a fierce desire to become a mother.

Meet Fern
The introverted librarian who avoids social interaction as much as possible.

They are as close as two sisters can be. But they couldn’t be more different.

What are they hiding from each other?

Utterly compelling, unpredictable, and addictive, The Good Sister is about the ties that bind…and the darkness that lives where you least expect it.
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It was AMAZING!

This was my first Sally Hepworth work, and to be honest, it is a genre I read infrequently. However, I have heard great things about her previous novel The Mother-in-Law, so when I was given the opportunity to get an advance copy, I decided to go for it. I am so glad I did! I was honestly captured from page one. I stayed up late last night WAY past my bedtime reading, and I spent every spare moment I had today racing through to get to the end. I loved all the characters, even the "unsavory" ones, and I really had no idea what was going to happen next. The twists and turns really kept me guessing until the last page. I can't wait to pick up another book by this author!