Families are supposed to be loving and supportive—but that’s not always the case. Some are abusive and manipulative, built on lies and selfishness. And in Half Sisters by author Virginia Franken, the years of rivalry and abuse come flooding back when two sisters are reunited.

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery

Family, secrets, drama,etc… This story has it all and is sure to keep you guessing.
Many thanks to Lake Union Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was super entertaining to read, and even though I didn’t know who I was supposed to be rooting for throughout the story, I was still drawn to keep reading. This is a thriller drama I’ve never seen done before. My only gripe is that the ending is so abrupt, although I’m not sure I’d like it spelled out for me either in this situation.

Half Sisters is a psychological thriller which is quite dark, racy and thrilling. In it's crux are the three main characters Emily, Joseph and Maddy. All of them have known each other since childhood and the various dynamics between them forms the axle around which this story is built.

Each of them have grievances against atleast one other person and they try to get back against that person. In fact, no one is purely innocent nor right and each person is a varying degree of gray. And I found that I couldn't connect with nor root for any of the characters.

I can't say this is my type of book and so, I definitely didn't really enjoy it. The book certainly is well- written and has a decent pace. This just isn't for me.

Half Sisters is a psychological suspense novel, from a totally new author to me, although I do enjoy the genre. Maddy and Emily come together to deal with their father’s estate. They’ve never been close, only living together briefly in their younger years. Just to ensure they are at odds with each other, in the intervening years Maddy has married Emily’s childhood sweetheart. This backfires as she starts to suspect her husband and sister are having an affair. While the situation is awkward, but believable, it was the girl’s characters I struggled with a little. The twists and turns were so many that I didn’t know which character to believe from one moment to the next. I would just get an idea of a coherent self, just for the next bit to contradict my opinion. I felt that sometimes character was sacrificed for another plot twist. I didn’t take to either of them, for this reason as well as their apparent ability to be so vindictive towards each other. I would expect some of this behaviour to be resolved at their age. I did enjoy the gas-lighting aspect of the book where one of the sisters starts to wonder if she’s mentally unwell. This is an okay read, but I wouldn’t rush out and buy it myself.

I think most people will say they have a contentious relationship with their siblings. It took a good few years until I could comfortably say my younger brother was a cool dude and not just someone I had to put up with — an experience corroborated by friends with their own younger siblings.

However, not all of us are lucky enough to see our relationships with our siblings improve. If you’ve ever spent any time on r/relationships, you would have seen countless posts where people’s lives are upended by the fact they never managed to repair their relationships with a family member. People are hurt. People get robbed. Sometimes, people even die.

In that subreddit, you can have a front seat to the flaming shit shows that are other people’s families. And if you’re like me and you’re subscribed to said forum because you enjoy the drama, then Half Sisters may be the book for you.

Years after her half-sister Emily was sent away for bad behaviour, Maddy learns from her husband, Joseph, that her half-sibling has re-entered society and is now completely reformed. But Maddy can’t shake the feeling her sister hasn’t changed all that much, especially when she finds photos of Emily on Joseph’s phone, despite his claims he only ran into the other woman for a short while.

Half Sisters by Virginia Franken read like an extended r/relationships post. From the get-go, you can sense that Maddy is not a reliable narrator when it comes to her relationship with her half-sister. And while her husband may claim it’s early onset dementia (his way of gaslighting her), it’s quite obvious that the only thing really wrong with Maddy is that she’s a terrible person.

Everyone in this novel is unlikeable. This is not to say that Franken is a bad author; it’s clear that her goal here was to craft a situation in which there is nobody to root for. So as the novel progresses and we jump between each characters’ perspective, we get to delve into the motivations behind their lies, backstabbing and general assholery. Which, of course, raises the question: are any of their actions more forgivable than others?

To be honest, it’s not really a question worth answering. Just like a reddit post, sometimes the only thought you have is “I’m glad that’s not my family”. While there are times you’re glad to know other families are as dysfunctional as yours, spending too much time in their headspace can be a truly exhausting experience. Midway into this book, I wanted Half Sisters to be over so I didn’t have to spend any more time in these characters’ presence. I wanted all of them to go get therapy so I didn’t have to be burdened with their problems.

That’s the reason I’ve started to hang out in r/bestofredditorupdates. Over there, I get to know that these people who live in my phone eventually move on with their lives, that they’ve broken up from their terrible spouses and found love again, that they’ve found a new job and left to live on the other side of the world. But the ending of Half Sisters didn’t even give me that satisfaction and I was both annoyed that I had to live with the knowledge that I would never know what happened to Maddy and Emily, and relieved that I could finally leave them behind in their own universe.

I think Half Sisters can join my unofficial Don’t Shit Where You Eat collection. Again, so many problems could have been resolved if Maddy just didn’t pursue a relationship with her half-sister’s ex. But then where would we, the terrible drama loving people we are, get our kicks?

So if you’re in need of knowing your family could be a lot worse, if you like frequenting subreddits where you can gawk at the drama from afar, Half Sisters is available for your rubbernecking pleasure. But if you’re a well-adjusted person—and I envy you—you may rightly wonder if there’s something wrong with the rest of us.

I just finished reading this and started writing my review right away. I am so emotional right now and my heart is racing! What an ending! Though so much unraveled a bit earlier, the grand finale ending was still spectacular. Parts of the book were a little slow for me so as the ending drew closer, I was surprised at how the tone and content changed, making the reading faster. My intrigue, curiosity, and emotions heightened and I found it harder to put the book down.

People amaze me and I have always been fascinated by behavior, the mind, and the hows and whys. The psychological touchpoints cleverly littered throughout this book were what I loved most. Though the actions, words, and intent made by others was so sad, so mean, so wrong, it all made great reading.

Definitely a great book club read. There is so much to discuss, so much to digest, unravel, decipher. This is a new author for me and I’m a new fan.

So, you think your family is dysfunctional? Think your sister is the ultimate sibling from hell? Take heart, because I guarantee that reading Virginia Franken’s “Half Sisters” and meeting Franken’s lead characters, half-sisters Maddy and Emily, will make you feel like you grew up in nirvana.

After the death of the half-sisters’ father, Emily returns to town for the settlement of her father’s estate. Much has changed in Emily’s personality since the last time Maddy saw her 20 years ago. Gone is the troubled adolescent and in its place is a stable and mature woman - or so it may seem at first.

Much has changed in Maddy’s life, as well. For one thing, she is now married to Joseph, the man who was Emily’s high school sweetheart. For another, Maddy is having serious memory problems and fears the worst may be happening to since she lost her mother to Alzheimer’s Disease and worries that this may become her own fate. Things are not going well in her marriage either as she and Joseph are having issues with infertility and facing financial problems.

At first, Maddy may strike you as a sympathetic character. Don’t be fooled. In fact, from my perspective, there is not a single sympathetic character in the entire book - and that’s what makes the story so great as a domestic thriller novel built around lies, betrayals, and revenge. The characters are extraordinarily well-developed and are not simply cardboard villain characters. This is one of the things that makes the book so great. The characters all put forth seemingly credible - albeit not always excusable - explanations for their seemingly vile actions, but because they can’t all be innocent victims, it’s up to the reader to decide with whom to side.

The story is told from multiple points of view which adds to storyline because it keeps the reader guessing and having to decide which characters - if any - are reliable and which are unreliable narrators. Adding to it is the fact that characters who seem sympathetic may not actually be reliable and vice versa. The plot twists and turns and will keep you guessing.

Favorite Quotes:

Maddy’s school reports often said, “Talks too much.” Her mom defended the trait as inquisitive. Her dad didn’t say much about it, but she could tell he wasn’t a fan of her endless questions. She’d never realized that talking could have landed her in this much trouble. Perhaps this was why everyone had been trying to get her to shut up her whole life.

Maddy looked around the waiting room, every last person with their head bent to their phone. There were no tattered magazines gracing the various chairs and tables of the room. No one wanted to read secondhand copies of People magazine anymore when they had their phone to gaze at, loaded with personalized content just for them. Maddy sometimes visualized people’s phones swapped out for mirrors, a whole world of people staring in silent awe at digitized versions of themselves.

He made it sound so easy. Find some sperm. As if by looking in enough of Joseph’s creases and crevices they’d dredge some up from somewhere.

“You could both be charged with statutory rape,” said Ivan, looking entirely serious about the whole thing, even though the notion that they were both simultaneously busy raping each other at the same time was clearly ridiculous.


My Review:

This book was heaving with unreliable, treacherous, untrustworthy, selfish, and horrifyingly fractured characters. I despised them all by the last page, yet I was undeniably hooked and invested in unraveling their heinous schemes. I devised multiple theories of gaslighting, mental illness, revenge, retribution, rage, hatred, betrayal, and abuse, but who was guilty? The community was apparently a viper’s nest of vile and self-serving individuals, which in reality, under the surface, every community is similarly populated.

The writing and storylines were original, sneakily witty, compelling, and perceptively detailed from multiple points of view. I was engrossed, annoyed, and biting my cuticles from the tension brewing from the petty, destructive, and deplorable manner the characters treated each other. They were all guilty of something, so what is wrong with me that I voyeuristically needed to know exactly what?

I was not prepared to enjoy this book as much as I did. It was a little slow to start, but once some of the backstory was revealed, I was riveted. This is one of those stories where every character has baggage and some level of justification for their actions. I found my loyalties bouncing all over the place. This book gave me major “Big Little Lies” vibes, but with an extra helping of wickedness. The writing was excellent and the way the story unfolded between the present and the past really amped up the suspense. I could see where the plot was headed, but I still couldn’t stop reading. Readers who like dysfunctional family dramas are in for a treat with this one!

This book was an interesting read the characters were very flawed and I really enjoyed how it played out.

Half Sisters by Virginia Franken gives a whole new meaning to family drama. As per the title, the main characters are Maddy and her half sister Emily, who moves into Maddy’s family home in her teens, when Maddy was a few years younger. Until then, the girls had not known of each other, which made the transition to a new family dynamic difficult, to say the least. But the family did its best until a terrible incident resulted in Emily being forced to leave, not to return until the death of their father, decades later. This is when everyone’s true colours are revealed. Virginia Franken has drawn complicated characters . It’s difficult to determine which of the sisters is the most detestable and dishonest. There are also great secondary characters who make this story even more challenging. The plot evolves in a most satisfying manner, giving the reader plenty of characters and incidents to love &/or hate. The story alternates between the sisters’ teen years and their reunion as adults many years later. Half Sisters is fast-moving and akin to watching a car wreck. It’s always difficult to determine which one is the bad seed. Highly recommended. Thank you to Lake Union Publishing, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF one chapter in. Really did not capture my attention at all. Might try again in the future.

Rating three stars because I thought it was unfair to judge on just the one chapter.

Maddy and Emily are half sisters, though they spent just a short time living in the same house. During those months, however, crucial events changed both their lives.

Maddy grew up in a nice home in a small town north of Los Angeles with her father and mother. Her best friend was Bee. Then Emily came to live with them when she was a tween; Emily’s mother had died and she was troubled. Emily didn’t feel comfortable in her new home and town, but she did feel accepted by Joseph, Bee’s older brother. The teens began a relationship, having sex in whatever places they could find to be alone.

Then Emily went away, and 20 years later, Maddy is married to Joseph. Maddy’s parents have both recently died, her mother after a long time of experiencing dementia. Their old home needs work, but they need to find out where Emily is so they can know how to progress with dealing with it. Then Joseph finds Emily in New York, and the long-lost sister returns.

Emily seems to be doing very well; she’s come a long way since her youth. But she’s still not interested in building a relationship with her half sister. Then Maddy finds photos of her on Joseph’s phone; it’s hard not to worry that Joseph is falling for his first love again. Amidst the stress of it all, Maddy is losing items and misremembering facts. Joseph and even Bee are telling her she needs medical help: after all, she could be on the same path her mother went down.

As Maddy insists she is perfectly fine mentally, she is uncertain about her relationship with Joseph and even her best friend. Emily’s return is turning everything upside down. And it’s making it more impossible to hide the terrible secret from her past.

Half Sisters is a heck of a ride. It goes among the stories and perspectives of the various main characters, from the past and in the present. At various points, the reader feels sure some are “the bad guys” and others “the victims,” but then those conclusions get switched and confused. What exactly happened in the past? What is actually occurring now? What’s real? Is Maddy being gaslighted? Who are really the villains; who are the heroes? The truth only is clear at the conclusion. I was left reeling, and didn’t expect quite how it all came together. It’s fascinating but devastating.

Maddy has been estranged from her half sister, Emily for years. Maybe estranged is the wrong word as their relationship was always strained. As teens, the two were thrown into each other’s lives after Emily’s mother passed away and her biological dad was forced to step up. Growing up under very different circumstances, their connection was never strong. As a result, they settled into their new roles quickly- Maddy, the sheltered golden child, Emily, the sullen troublemaker.

We are introduced to present day Maddy first, a seemingly well adjusted dance teacher who still lives in the same small town and is married to Joseph. When music executive Joseph returns home from a business trip in New York he has news- he’s found Emily. Immediately all the memories of growing up together resurfaces, and the anxiety of what comes next creeps in.

As we learn more about their complicated past we learn Maddy’s husband’s first love was actually Maddy’s sister, not Maddy. What unfolds is the story of their forbidden and often misunderstood love, and Maddy’s jealousy after being an only child for so long. In the present, the now put together Emily returns, wanting to stake claim on the family home, and perhaps more. Maddy still doesn’t trust her, but with memory issues surfacing, she’s not even sure she can trust herself. Then a past secret is revealed that quickly changes everything. Is blood always thicker than water, or do these sisters simply have too much blood on their hands?

Half Sisters was a short, yet wild ride of a read. Just when you thought you knew which way the story was going, it would quickly change course. While the gripping pace was definitely engrossing, I found all the characters to be differing levels of deplorable. Then there was the ending, that, without giving too much away, seemed rather abrupt. I read a NetGalley copy of this one, so I am curious if that changed in the final edition. So if you read it, please let me know! A stronger finish might make me feel a little differently about it, as it factored big time into my rating.

This book kept me on my toes. The premise is so interesting, once I got into the rhythm of the writing, I could not put the book down.

I enjoyed the thriller aspect and the unreliable narrators but the ending left me wanting more resolution and I found every single character completely unlikeable.

It has an interesting premise that drew me in once I read the back of the book summary. Family drama and secrets, who isn’t interested in those themes in a novel. But, as excited as I was to read it, I was left disappointed in the end. But this book really needed a solid ending. One more chapter or epilogue to round it out and finish it up. This is a time when the ambiguous ending is a disservice to the readers.

This book was quite intriguing...at first...
Maddy always knew she had a half sister, but when Emily comes to live her teen years with them, Maddy’s home life shifts. Emily is a troubled teen and soon is causing issues in Maddy’s life. Having a new older sister in the house isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Years later, Maddy is now married to Joseph, Emily’s high school sweetheart, trying to make ends meet and start a family. When Maddy and Emily’s dad passes away Maddy needs to find Emily in order to sell Pile house, but Emily is gone and hasn’t been seen or heard from in years. After finally finding Emily, Maddy immediately suspects Joseph of rekindling his relationship with her. Maddy is misplacing and forgetting things and no one believes her anymore. Told in different voices we aren’t quite sure who to believe. As the past meets the present Franken gives us a whopper of a story with a cast of characters that are all despicable in their own way leaving us no one to root.

I hadn't read anything by this author before so didn't have any expectations, but as a fan of this genre and the synopsis, I had my fingers crossed for a fantastic read. Unfortunately, this didn't happen for me.

This story is based on the relationship between estranged Maddy and Emily, who are half-sisters via their father. When their father dies, they come together to organise his estate. Neither of these characters was predictably likeable, with several flaws, and I failed to warm to either. Considering both women were supposed to be in their twenties - I felt they were portrayed to be very immature. This plot takes sibling rivalry to extremes, with characteristics I would expect from teenagers.

However, despite this, the plot was filled with twists and turns, predictable for this genre. This wasn't a terrible plot, but I have read better. It took a while for me to get into, and the beginning was very slow going for my preferences. I wasn't a huge fan of the conclusion. Although it was unpredictable, it left me feeling a bit - meh!

Overall, this is an average read, and readers who are new to this genre are likely to enjoy it. However, for my preferences, this was tolerable.