I loved the author’s book, The Mother In Law. I have recommended it to so many people. I was disappointed in this one. At one point, I had to read the description again, thinking there was no way the was a psychological thriller. I was pretty bored, especially for the first half of the book. The ending was ok. A few twists. I’m still undecided about the last few pages.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book.

Fern and Rose are twins. Since they are fraternal twins, they look nothing alike and they have distinctly different personalities as well. Rose appears to be the more normal of the two. Fern has a quirky disposition and she experiences sensory processing issues.

Fern is a librarian who loves books, shies away from people, and lives by herself. Fern, however, loves her twin sister, Rose, and relies on Rose for solace when she finds herself in a panic situation. In fact, Fern feels terribly lost without Rose, who due to their relationship, has contributed appreciably to Fern’s lack of self reliance and independence.

Rose is married, has a flourishing career as an interior designer, and appears to have her life under control. Unfortunately, there is one problem. She has no children and her attempts at getting pregnant have so far been unsuccessful.

When Fern learns that Rose is not able to have a baby, she decides that she might be able to give something back to Rose by having a baby for her. While she is pondering this scheme, she meets Rocco (Wally), and she considers that he might be the one to assist her with her plot to have a baby for Rose.

Rose and Fern’s mother raised the girls on her own and their life was difficult. Their mother had mental health issues and when her moods changed, life was not always easy. They were even homeless for a period of time. During those bad times even as children, Rose was always Fern’s protector. The history of the relationship between Rose and Fern unfolds slowly. As the narrative progresses there is a change in circumstances that causes the bond between the twins to alter its course. The characters become involved in a psychological turn of events that concludes with several unexpected twist and turns.

The story proceeds as each of the sisters tells her side of the story. And as their stories come to light so do their characters. Character development is a strong feature in this book. Fern steals your heart with her eccentric behavior, her gullibility, her naivety, and her kindness. And when Wally enters the tale, he complements both her life and the essence of the story. The depiction of this duo who are so suited to one another brings an agreeable reality to the book. Rose, on the other hand, is a nebulous character. As she shares memories of some peculiar incidents from her childhood, questions about her true personality begin to surface.

Many issues emerge in the telling. What is it like to be a twin? What is it like to live with sensory issues or to be on the autistic spectrum? Marital problems, infertility, surrogacy, and mental health issues all have an affect on the lives of the twins. And Rose and Fern learn that secrets can be dangerous and destructive.

Only after you have read this sensitive and entertaining book will you know the answer to these questions that I now pose….What would they be willing to do for one another? And who of the two is really the good sister?

This review is written following the reading of the egalley of the book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley.

Sally Hepworth really likes to mess with my brain. She leads you along, making believe that what you’re reading is reality and then she pulls the rug out from under you, making you question what you know.

Fern and Rose are twin sisters and with the story told from their individual perspectives, you think you know about their childhood and how they think as adults. Except you don’t. Solid 4 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins for the arc.

Two fraternal twin sisters, one with a dark secret kept by the other, are about to embark upon a quest for the long hidden truth.

Fern suffers from what you might call a sensory processing type of disorder. A strictly adhered to schedule, order, and noise control, keeps Fern feeling safe and secure. She looks to her twin sister Rose for both support and guidance. Fern is convinced that she cannot be trusted due to a long ago event where a young boy lost his life. Fern and Rose were both there. Fern also does not share the same growing up experience of her and Rose’s mother whom Rose paints as a cruel sociopath.

Rose’s voice is told through her journal. She is currently married though she and her husband are physically separated. She longs to have a baby but so far has been unsuccessful in her attempts. Her writings about her mother, currently in a home after a drug overdose, exist in stark contrast to what Fern remembers.

When Fern becomes pregnant, Rose has designs on the baby. Fern is easily convinced by Rose that she is in no way equipped to be a mother and Rose would be a logical choice to adopt Fern’s baby.

As Fern gains awareness about the stories Rose has told her, the ones she so readily believed, a different picture emerges and Fern starts to push back against the control Rose has tried to wield over every aspect of her life. Now, long-held secrets finally come to light and the true nature of these two sisters’ is revealed.

I loved the way Fern was written, her utter lack of pretense or filter. Her character really made the book for me and her persona gives clear insights into what really happened and where the story is leading. One of these sisters isn’t who she claims to be and it isn’t hard to figure out who it is. The ending however still holds several surprises.

BRB Rating: Read It.

Who doesn’t love a good angelic twin and evil twin story? Let’s face it most of us are pretty intrigued when it comes to twins. One might say what is the allure of twins? Well, people most definitely wondered that about the Castle twins. Fern and Rose couldn’t have been more opposite. Besides, they were fraternal twins so at first glance you wouldn’t know they were twins unless they told you so.

Most people found Fern to be quite stand offish and a bit off-putting at times. She could be viewed as being rude and abrupt, but one thing about her that definitely stood out was her brutal honesty. Her boss at the library had to constantly remind Fern how to be a team player and greet the public when they came in to check out books. She wasn’t too keen on giving eye contact and don’t you dare ask her how to use the copier machines because that would throw Fern into a complete meltdown and she’d scurry away in a hurry.

Fern took great pride in being a public servant, although you’d be hard pressed to know that because she wasn’t always approachable. But get her on the subject of talking about books, and Fern truly blossomed. It was at that time she saw a homeless man that needed help with the copier, and right away, Fern wanted to exit stage left, but there was something about this homeless man that drew her closer. Immediately, she penned his name to be Wally, when in actuality it was Rocco Ryan, but he reminded her of the character Where’s Waldo, the American version.

Wally and Fern struck up a conversation and they began dating. Wally enjoyed Fern’s company and her quirkiness and in fact told her that she wasn’t strange, but everyone else around her were the real weirdos. Comments like that made her like Wally all the more.

Rose was thousands of miles away in London visiting her husband while he finished working on a special project. She and Fern had never been away from each other for a great deal of time, but Rose needed to be with her husband and spend quality time so she decided to stay in London for a month. Fern was terrified she wouldn’t be able to handle being completely on her own without Rose because Rose was the responsible twin who looked out for her at all cost. Whatever Rose advised Fern, Fern, as usual, went along with whatever she told her. She clung to every word Rose said and believed her to a fault. There was nothing Rose could do or say that Fern wouldn’t go along with, so when Fern didn’t answer her cell phone while she was away, it terrified her.

You see, Fern was hiding a secret from Rose.

Before Rose left for London, Fern found out that Rose was unable to bear children. There was nothing more in this world Rose wanted to be than a mother. When Fern learned of this, it saddened her tremendously. Rose gave everything to her and she had to repay her for her kindness. She began thinking what gift could she give Rose to make her twin happy? Oh. . .that’s right, Fern decided she’d get pregnant and give the baby to Rose. Wait, what? This made Fern delighted and since finding her new boyfriend, Wally, who, unbeknownst to him was going to provide the baby she needed, her plan would benefit all parties, right? Umm, yeah about that. . .but, as the reader delves more into the story of the twins, it will become clear that our best plans sometimes change no matter how well the intent is.

Wow! I had an extremely hard time putting this book down. OMG, I hated when I had to go to bed or go to work because all I wanted to do was read about Fern and Rose. These were the strangest twins I’ve ever read about and I was so here for it, Nerds! Yassss, what an incredible read and mind-twisting plot indeed! Every scenario I had in my mind, the story kept bending in another direction, and when I thought I had it figured out, I did not. Damn, this book was so good!

The Sexy Nerd gives The Good Sister five more siblings to tag along! I love a good mind-blowing psychological thriller and I’m telling you, Nerds, The Good Sister is definitely where it's at! You will most definitely want to add this book to your reading shelves, but it will not be docked there for long. The Good Sister will be available to the public on April 13, 2021.

Sally Hepworth does it again in this oh-so-satisfying psychological thriller about two twin sisters who couldn't be more different than one another.

All her life, Rose has tried to protect Fern. Fern has always been a little bit different from the other kids in the way she thinks and does things. But there are secrets this family hides and as the two girls grow up these secrets are finally revealed to something that is so unexpected you'll never guess the ending.

The Good Sister is a fantastic read with some very interesting characters including Fern's "boyfriend" who turns out to be not who he seems (someone who takes showers in a library). This is not the first book by Hepworth I have read and I have enjoyed each one of her books so far. Looking forward to the next one!

Thank you to Netgalley, Sally Hepworth, and St. Martin's Press for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Good Sister was my second book of Sally Hepworth's and I enjoyed them both. Hepworth had a lot to live up to after The Mother In Law, but I think The Good Sister did not disappoint! The book centres around two fraternal twin sisters, Rose and Fern. Rose, married and trying to have children, is having fertility issues. Fern, a single librarian with sensory issues, and possibly on the spectrum, wants to help. In comes Wally, a new love interest for Fern. When Fern gets pregnant and decides to let Rose adopt her baby, stories from the past are unearthed and we learn that neither woman is who we thought they were, and that one of them is lying.
This book is a nice, easy read that kept me interested throughout. I became invested in some of the characters and wanted to know how everything would end for them. Life got busy and it took me some time to finish this book. However, I had no trouble picking it up after days off. The story did not have confusing storylines, like some thrillers, it was pretty straightforward, but in a good way. 4.5 stars!

It took me a while to finish this book, but holy crap am I glad I kept reading. What an incredible story. This is a very good depiction of life growing up with/living alongside a narcissist. Having been raised by one, I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t even realize it until towards the end when Rose started to unravel. To describe this book in one word, it’s gotta be spellbinding. Can’t wait to buy this book for my personal library. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rose and Fern are fraternal twins. They have grown up together after surviving a dark childhood with a single mother who was sometimes unpredictable. After their mother's overdose, they are sent to foster care and eventually grow up and create successful adult lives - Rose as an interior designer and Fern as a librarian. Although they have both embarked on independent lives that appear very functional, everything is not as it seems. Fern suffers from sensory overload anxiety and Rose is the only one who understands her. Their interdependence is always explained as part of their twindom, but is that really what bonds the girls together? Long buried mysteries and family secrets are revealed and the twists and turns in this thriller will keep you reading!

I love Sally Hepworth and her books. Although The Good Sister had some similarities to The Mother In Law, I found The Good Sister to more concise. The chapters alternated between Fern and Rose and their alternating comments and points of view. I found Fern to be very charming and I loved her excentricities. Readers of Emily Giffen, Elin Hilderbrand and similar authors will love this book.

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Sally Hepworth for the wonderful opportunity of reading this book.

Sisters are always complicated, often dark, sometimes more enemy than friend. Sally Hepworth’s incisive talent at peering into our closest and therefore, our most complex, relationships, doesn’t miss the mark in The Good Sister.
Rose and Fern are two very diametrically different sisters, one who desires normalcy and a family above all, the other an introvert uncomfortable with the picket fence dream. Like all of us, what they both present on the surface end up concealing murky emotional waters, and Hepworth takes the reader on a psychological reveal that is all at once relatable yet desperately grim.

Don't stop reading. At first I found this book to be rather boring and slow reading and then it picked up. Would not call it a thriller, maybe a bit of a mystery. Love Fern and her idiosyncrasies.

Found a few errors in the book:

"Mum and Billy never seemed to notice that there was beer missing," should be "Mum and Daniel never seemed to notice that there was beer missing,".

"How many assist you?" shoud be "How may I assist you?"

"I am still s haking so much I can't stand up straight." should be "I am still shaking so much I can't stand up straight."

"Mom we spinning a metal rod." should be "Mom was spinning a metal rod."

An an ardent fan of Sally Hepworth (and as an identical twin), I was delighted to read an advance copy of her newest book, The Good Sister to be released in April 2021. The plot revolves around adult fraternal twins, Rose and Fern, who are very different not only in looks but also in personality. The most pressing underlying issue involved a traumatic childhood event involving the death of a young adolescent boy during a camping trip. Fern is convinced that she inadvertently caused Billy’s death and that Rose has protected her from dire consequences.
Because of problems dealing with this event as well as in her marital relationship and infertility, Rose is encouraged by her therapist to keep a journal. The story begins with her first entry which is then alternated with her sister’s often opposing point of view of the same events—which begs the question of which twin is the more reliable narrator.
Rose has been her sister’s caregiver during their childhood and continuing into their adult years because their mother suffered from some unspecified mental problem (Bipolar?), and Fern, a librarian, is high-functioning on the Asperger’s spectrum. Fern is the only one who visits their mother who is currently in a nursing home after suffering a debilitating stroke.
There are many humorous scenes in which Fern takes literally what people say, such as when she meets the high-functioning and handsome man dressed similar to the cartoon character in Where in the World is Wally? Thus she nicknames him “Wally.”
When Fern decides to become pregnant in order to give her sister a baby, things take a sinister turn. While predictable, the ending is nonetheless satisfying.
Special thanks to Net Galley for an ARC of this book.

A fantastic read on multiple levels! I applaud the author for doing an excellent job depicting the heroine, Fern, as likely high functioning autistic who found the perfect niche to play to her strengths in a welcoming environment. Her progression throughout the book is worth it in and of itself. Of course, the larger picture is the interaction between the twins, Fern and Rose, coming to terms with events in their history. Not everything is as it seems, which makes for an excellent story, with a few sub-plots. Fern and Wally were just a delight together, and in the end everyone gets what they deserve. A must read - I will look for more from this author.

Awesome storyline! It wasn't until the end that I started to figure it out. Well written and although my sister is only a half sister, I can understand their up and down sisterly relationship. Good read!

I really liked this book. I thought the characters were engrossing and the pacing was brisk. I give the Fern sections 4 stars. However, I was less enamored of the thriller aspect of it for the (spolier-y) reasons outlined below.

(SPOILERS)

I felt like the weakness of this book was also its strength: Fern is an absolutely lovely character. Seriously, I could have read a whole rom-com kind of book about Fern's adventures working in the library, working with her sensory issues, finding and falling in love with Wally. Even though we were continually switching to Rose's ominous journal entries alluding to Fern's dark side, I didn't buy that idea for a single minute the whole way through the book.

So this immediately shifted my suspicions to Rose and resulted in me reading the entire book as if Rose had something to hide. In this context, all of her odd behavior immediately backed up the notion that she was someone with some sort of personality disorder who was extremely controlling and potentially dangerous.

In other words, I was pulled into the story from the perspective of not wanting Fern to be in danger, but not because I ever wanted to find out the "truth" of what happened in their childhood. This meant I had a fine reading experience overall, but perhaps not the one the author intended in constructing the book in this way.

So I'm sticking with the four stars because again, Fern was great. But knocking a star because she was SO great I could have done without Rose entirely.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this one with the full expectation that it was strictly a thriller, but it had quite a few happy, feel-good moments. I found myself drawn to Fern’s character, an intelligent and talented librarian, who is also on the spectrum. And I loved seeing Fern and Wally’s story unravel. All in all, I enjoyed this one and appreciated the twist partway through! Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC for my honest review.

I read and thoroughly enjoyed The Mother In-Law so I was thrilled to get my hands on an ARC of this book! All I can say is WOW. The Good Sister follows twins Fern and Rose who are the ultimate polar opposites. However, Rose has always been a fierce protector of Fern -- and when Rose is unable to have a child of her own, Fern takes matters into her own hands to help out her twin. The Good Sister follows the relationship between Rose and Fern and the lengths they will go to for one another. A great read!

5 Stars!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Good Sister. Once I got immersed in the story and accustomed to the voices of fraternal twin sisters Fern and Rose, I couldn't stop reading. (And Wally! Loved his character.) The tender, heartwarming relationship between Fern and Wally, two people on the Spectrum, became the perfect balance to the thriller elements of the book. I never saw the plot twists coming. Don't miss this one! A terrific read.

Many thanks to St, Martin's Press, who consistently publishes many of my favorite books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this novel.

I was really drawn in to this quirky story at the beginning. Fern and Rose are fraternal twin sisters who have always been close. Fern is happy working at a library and is depicted as someone on the autistic spectrum, with sensitivities to sounds and eye contact, etc. while Rose is supposedly an interior designer and is quite controlling, which at first seems to be her way of helping her sister cope with life.

However, clues keep popping up about something horrible that Fern did years before and we learn that their mother was an awful person, very neglectful and abusive. So, the happy scenario that is Fern's life, as she finally meets Wally, a man who shares some of her traits and seems to understand her, starts to unravel and the reader is quickly plunged into a conundrum. Which sister is not who she appears to be and is, in fact, quite deluded?

The dueling narratives, with entries from Rose's diary, and commentary from Fern as she struggles with emotions, have the reader wondering. Two unreliable narrators and only one of them is the 'good' sister. We have clues presented, yet it is difficult to know what is really going on until later in the book.
I enjoyed the story, even though it was somewhat predictable and there were a few surprises towards the end that I didn't see coming. It's a fast-paced read and you will absolutely fall in love with Fern and Wally and hate it when they are separated, and you hope they will get back together eventually but really don't know if that will happen.

I didn't care for the very last 'ending' part, and couldn't quite figure out what the author's intention was with that, but overall I really enjoyed the story and especially Fern and Wally (and all of the library folks as well.) The book will be published next April, so keep an eye out for it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for granting me access to the eARC. It was an enjoyable read.

I really enjoyed The Good Sister. The storyline drew me in right away, and I liked the writing style. I was intrigued by Fern, and I liked the pacing and how it would uncover bits of the story a little at a time. It was somewhat predictable, but I still raced through it and was captivated until the end.