Light, fun, tongue-in-cheek, chick lit. Ava — a social media journalist from South London gets a surprise during a live video show from her DNA test — she has a (previously unheard of) sister living in a small village near Inverness. Quickly finding a farm home stay in the village, she plans to live blog the search, discovery, and reunion with this unknown woman. What follows is some slapsticky scenes on the farm (think pig innoculation by some real newbies) peppered with new friendships and some romantic interest. What’s different about this book as opposed to, say, Bridget Jones, is that “Romance” is not the main attraction or goal. I’ve noticed this (welcome) trend in “women’s fiction.” Men are a part of our heroine’s life, but the pursuit, gain, and / or loss of men is not the prime element of their lives. Passes the Bechdel test (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechdel_test).

Ava has never known who her father was. Her mum was an activist in her youthful days and had a fling with another activist which resulted in Ava. She works for an online news blog that has decided to run a live article on DNA kits and Ava is one of the test subjects.

After discovering she has a half-sister who is from a tiny place in Scotland and then nearly throwing up live on air, the blogs audience numbers go through the roof and her boss thinks it would be a good idea if she went to Scotland in search of her half-sister, Moira, and document her search.

The only place she can find to stay in the tiny village is on a working farm where she is offered a room in exchange for helping run it. With no other options Ava agrees but farm work is a million miles away from being a journalist, and can she locate her sister and what will she say when she does?

The Sister Surprise is a humorous look at one woman’s life as it is turned upside down thanks to a DNA test she has been made to take at work for an article. It has always been just her and her mother and so finding out that she has at least one sister is both exciting and nerve-wracking for her.

The story follows Ava, who is bright, independent, and a trier, though accident-prone, on her search for her sister and helping out on the farm, which doesn’t get off to a good start from breaking the quad bike to annoying one of the locals.

The book was a little slow to get going as it concentrates on Ava, her mum, and her job at the beginning. It took a bit to get into the action and Ava travelling to Scotland. Once she finally gets there, begins her new work, and meets her sister, though she doesn’t tell her, the pace picked up and so did my intrigue.

This is a book which you can escape into to enjoy the banter and humour between the characters, including a hot minister who likes a joke or two. It is uplifting and it made me smile throughout.

When Ava takes a dna profile test the results show she has a half sister in a small village in the Highlands of Scotland. Under the pretence of working in the Scottish office, Ava lies to her mum and arrives as a volunteer on a small delapidated farm. When she soon finds her sister, falls for the local Minister and helps the farmer sort out the farm could she be happier than ever?
I loved The Lonely Fajita and this was great as well. Genuinely lovely read. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book but not as much as the lonely fajita. I found some parts of it quite slow. Enjoyed but didn’t love this one

Serviceable and fun but I believe other authors do the London vs rural lifestyle change better.

Thank you for the galley copy.

The funniest take on the risks associated with DNA testing websites and the unexpected curveballs life can through your way, sometimes sending you directly onto the path of your one true love.

This is a fun, lighthearted and uplifting read. I devoured it in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I started this book and was really enjoying it... it was funny, the characters were likeable and it was a different ‘setting’. But I have to be honest, I got 76% of the way through and had to give up... it was just a bit dull and predictable. I found myself not really caring about how it ended. It was too slow paced in the middle section and not a lot happened plot-wise. I feel as if I wasted my time a bit.

2 out of 5.

What do you do when you realised you have a half-sister living on the other side of the country? Eva never thought she will volunteer at a farm so she can have the chance to meet her half-sister and finally learn about her father. The first half of the book is really slow pacing with nothing much happen except for chasing sheep and wrestling with pigs. I almost gave up the book but I am so glad I hang on to it. I enjoyed the second half of the book. Saving the farm, sister reunion, appearance of the father who supposed to be dead and falling in love with a minister. Did I mention hot minister? Eva ends up loving her life in the countryside and found her true calling.

The Sister Surprise is a sweet story of personal growth and finding family (with a small amount of romance thrown in). If you are looking for a read that predictable, yet fun, with enjoyable characters and a bit of personal growth, this is the perfect book for you!

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Through NetGalley, I received a free copy of THE SISTER SURPRISE by Abigail Mann in exchange for an honest review. Ava has always wanted to know more about her father. Every time asked about him, her mother would tell Ava her father was dead and change the subject. So, when Ava is offered the opportunity to take a DNA test as part of her job as an online journalist, she jumps at the chance to find any of her father’s relatives. The publication surprises Ava with the news that she has a sister and offers to send Ava to the tiny Scottish village to meet her sibling in exchange for Ava sending in a diary of her sister-search. Ava accepts the offer, packs her bag, grabs her laptop, finds a placement as a farmhand in exchange for room and board, and is soon in Scotland. As weeks go by, Ava’s interactions with the villagers reveal no hint of Moira. Finally, Ava finds Moira in the most unlikely place. As Ava gets to know Moira bond with her, and even love, Ava gets more reluctant to reveal their kinship. Meanwhile, Ava finds herself inappropriately attracted to the village priest.

I liked this book. I enjoyed the story and really liked the characters. When the book ended, I wanted to stay in the story and see what happens next. I highly recommend this book to fans of women’s literature, humor, and surprising family.

Ava has never known who her dad is. Everytime she has asked her mum about him her mum has bought her a distraction cake. She's doing a review for work about genealogy kits and has sent off her sample. Whilst on livestream she's handed her results.

I thoroughly enjoyed this laugh out loud book. I loved the characters and the storyline. Obviously you knew from the title that she was going to find out she had a sister but the way she goes about it all is hilarious. This is the perfect book to escape from life. I loved it.

Ava has never known her father, and when a live DNA test through her job shows that she has a half sister in Scotland, she is convinced to go and find her, writing articles on this as she goes. She finds more than she expected in the small community, so what will happen when she reveals who she really is?

Think Bridget Jones meets Fleabag meets Who Do You Think You Are meets Countryfile! I devoured this in a day, it is brilliantly entertaining!

Having loved The Lonely Fajita, I was so excited to read the next novel by @abigailemann and it certainly did not disappoint.

We focus on Ava, who takes a DNA test as part of a work project and has her results announced on a live stream....the title of the book gives away what she finds out so no spoilers from me there 😊 Ava then embarks on a trip to a tiny village in the Scottish highlands to track down her sister....all whilst volunteering on a farm (which was the scene some of my favourite funny moments!)

The narrative is witty, with some great one liners and many comedic moments. The characters are well developed and likeable. I really got the sense of the small village feel from the imagery and descriptions used...certainly made me want to go to the Highlands one day!

I loved the twists and turns, a couple of which I didn't see coming at all! Some dramatic conversations are had, especially around relationships and historic tragic events in the small village and the impact they caused.

The overarching feeling I had was that sometimes the change we least expect, can be exactly the one we need!

Overall I'd highly recommend this one! It is well paced, addictive, uplifting and thoroughly enjoyable! I'm off to research a trip to the Highlands and find some Tunnock's Teacakes!

This book will be released in the UK on 25th March 2021.

Thank you to @onemorechapterhc for the opportunity to review.

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ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.
The Sister Surprise was a nice and cozy read. It's more of a women's literature category as there is hardly any romance. The characters were interesting enough but I felt the book dragged in parts. There are some grammatical errors. Seeing as I'm reading this as an ARC, hopefully they will be fixed by release day. I would recommend this story to someone wanting a cute and humorous read.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Ava gets a surprise when she does a dna test. Ava has never known who her father is. She learns that she has a half sister who lives in Scotland. She travels to Scotland to meet her half sister. I enjoyed the characters in this book.

If you need a cheery and funny read, this is the book for you, I loved Abigail's first book The Lonely Fajita and this one is just as good. Ava works as a journalist and when the opportunity comes to do a DNA test she decides to discover her family history. On discovering she has a half sister, she goes to meet her. They are the complete opposites what will happen as these two meet for the first time. A well thought out plot and some relatable characters make it a charming story. This is such a good book to escape to and really funny too. I look forward to her next book.

This book was like going on my favourite kind of countryside holiday; full of rampaging farm animals, mud, suspicious locals and hot priests (okay, just one hot priest, and he was a minister, and I’ve never actually encountered a hot minister on holiday but I CAN DREAM). This was witty, lovely, brilliant escapism and my new favourite Abigail Mann book!!

This is Abigail’s 2nd book, and I personally think you can see the development of her writing and her personality coming through on the page.

The writing is genuinely funny, realistic and relatable. I like Ava as a main character and think the book deals with a pretty serious topic in a light hearted way, but without trivialising it.

The setting is lush in Scotland and it’s made me wish I was back in a log cabin looking out over a loch. The characters are brilliant, and I think the relationships written are relatable and fun and lovely.

I had serious Fleabag vibes at some points (hot minister), and I really loved that the characters didn’t do anything annoying that made you want to shake them!

I think this is a great addition to Abigail’s writerly repertoire, and I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

I recommend if you want a contemporary fiction about family, friendship, community and figuring things out a bit.