Amazing, truly breath-taking story. It had me hooked immediately and moved at the perfect pace. Loved the history, loved the symbolism, love the mystery. The characters were realistic with likable and less likable traits. I liked how you got both sisters perspectives so that you could see how their perceptions were an off from reality and coloring what they believed.

The author writes very well. But she needed to pick a theme and stick with it.

First, we have a tale of two sisters and their antagonistic relationship with each other. This storyline was interesting but not particularly compelling.

Second narrative is about the history of the girls' ancestors. Grandma and Great Grandma were into the practice of hoo doo (African-American folk magic). This was a much more fascinating story than the sibling angst.

The third theme was the disappearance and reappearance of the older sister. She returns with no memory of what happened to her or who took her. This could have been a suspenseful thriller, but it was literally kept on the back burner in favor of the sibling rivalry story.

There weren't any real surprises, even the disappearance conclusion could be seen a mile away. If the author had just picked one of these themes and fleshed it out, this would have been a real page turner. The way it is, I had no trouble putting it down in the middle of a chapter and walking away.

⭐️3/5
This was my first ARC read, and it was pretty good! It's about the mysterious disappearance and reappearance of Sutton Cureton, told mostly in first person by her younger sister Casey with a few chapters told from Sutton's perspective pre-disappearance.

⬆️ I'm a sucker for a story about sisters, especially one told so well. Their squabbles, jealousies, sadness, distrust, and differences in identities are told so well. Lily Meade speaks from her own personal experience as a biracial woman (as she details in the back of the book), and it shows in the genuine confusion, questions, and differences in the Cureton sisters. Her social commentary in the book is also spot on in the fact that the Cureton family is extremely careful with the strokes the news uses to paint Sutton, the 3rd black girl to go missing in the town, so as to not give any reason why she might have brought it on herself (like how they treated the previous two black girls missing). Meade also touches the reality of being a Black American who is descended from slaves, and reconnecting with the legacy of their ancestors. I will say I read this pretty quick and almost nonstop, which was a fun ride.

⬇️ I will say the "twist" or perpetrator to me was super predictable almost from the beginning of the book. However that's not my main issue, because sometimes even when you see the twist the ride along is fun enough to still enjoy it even if it's not mind blowing. I have three main issues with the book:
1) There is no real reason for the Cureton sisters to hate each other to the extent that they do. When you are first introduced to Sutton, it's through Casey's eyes. And those eyes see Sutton as almost evil, potential a psychopath or just extremely manipulative and truly incapable of love. At first I thought that was the direction the book was going, until you reach Sutton's POV and realize that while slightly manipulative, she''s pretty normal. In fact she sees Casey as highly manipulative. To hate each other to the extent that they do, especially on Casey's part, as she truly seems to think Sutton is evil for a time, there has to be more than normal teenage sisterly beef.

2) Especially at the beginning the book is overly descriptive of the physical in a way that took me out of the book. ("Her thin lips twist into a frown. I scrunch my own full lips (thanks Dad) in response." "or I know," Ruth says. She pouts her full lips pout and give my hand a reassuring squeeze. "maybe someone else found something more useful". or "I could hug Ruth for that, but I wait until she's done with her hair before embracing her.") Especially when surrounded by dialogue it just seems to take me out instead of painting a picture. It felt like the author was trying to describe her characters without explicitly describing them and I would rather she just have described once and gone forward. That's why later in the book when she doesn't write in such a descriptive style it got better for me.

3) I wasn't sure of the scope of the book, in terms of what was on or off the table. Was it about a serial killer, a sister drama, or potentially the supernatural? The sister drama aspect was clear, but the other two weren't fully fleshed out, and while it doesn't have to be on the surface there wasn't really much background to the other two. It's not a huge deal, but it is nice when puzzling a mystery to know what may and may not be on the table in terms of scope.


All in all I'd say it was an ok book if you're a sucker for sister stories/stories featuring strong women of colour and like I said its very quick and you want to finish all the way to the end (the start is a bit slow though). The pain points of it signal the fact that it is her debut novel, but the genuine aspects and voices to it make me think I might read her next book, however I won't be re-reading this one.

The Shadow Sister is a gripping Young Adult mystery debut from author Lily Meade. It tells the story of two sisters, Casey and Sutton, who struggle to get along with one another in their teen years. When Sutton is the third black girl in the area to go missing, Casey, who continues to harbor deep resentments for her sister, must put on a loving act so the press and police will focus attention on finding a black girl. When Sutton returns home with no memory of what she endured, her new relationship with Casey will unsettle everything Casey has believed about her life and her family’s past.

The story is told through Casey’s first person point of view which allows for heart-breaking confessions about the complex nature of sisterhood. Sutton’s point of view punctuates Casey’s narrative in chapters which bring the reader back to the day she goes missing and to several days years before. Both girls struggle to understand their mixed heritage and take comfort in the love from their recently deceased grandmother Remy who left them a silver bracelet with a unique charm. Their father’s work includes personal and historical research into Hoodoo practices and herbal slave medicines that inform the modern spiritual practices of African Americans. This information greatly impacts the twist at the end of the story as the magic of family and sisterhood overcomes the ugliness and dangers of the world.

Although the end of the book was a twist that may confuse some readers, Meade justifies her ending by explaining that she wanted to reclaim the narrative of victimhood that haunts black characters in American fiction. The Shadow Sister effectively combines authentic young adult voices with important historical and spiritual information to address the effects of intergenerational trauma and the potential for healing. The prose moves quickly and the plot is engaging. This book will hold the interest of the adolescent reader while proving an adult audience with a deep look at how structural inequity impacts contemporary teenage life. This is a book I would consider using in my Young Adult Literature class because of its tight blend of personal confession, social commentary, and spiritual critique.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair review.

I really enjoyed this mystery, what happened and who done it with a bit of history mixed in. Family history is so important to discovering what helps mold your family traditions and who you came from. Seeing a sibling bond be strong then break apart to only find their way back to each other in the end. Great story and I couldn’t put it down!

This book made me feel many things. I finished it so fast that i couldn't process it very well. At first, I was so mad at Sutton for her attitude about Casey, but when you read Sutton's chapters, oh my gosh, my heart dropped. I have brothers and the most important for me are them. their relationship was so real and it hurt so much. This book is perfect, it has a place in my heart because I really liked how the author shows us the history of this family and how the past helped them in the future. in the final arc i was shocked and crying i thought the worst could happen. I am grateful for a single minute that I spend reading this book. it was a need at the moment.

thanks to netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for a copy of this book

This book was quite beautifully sad and it kept me on my toes until the very end. The relationship between the two sisters is really at it's worst in the beginning and it is the center of the book. But their journey and the final plot twist makes it all worth it in the end. I think readers will love this thriller with a little smidge of supernatural and sisterly whodunnit.


Thanks to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for this e-arc.

The Shadow Sister by Lily Meade was an interesting story! I enjoyed the characters a lot and thought that they were well developed.

Oh, this could have been so good! It's got hoodoo and ancestor power and family artifacts and bargains with the universe. But the supernatural elements are not well integrated into the story. Despite the main protagonist's dad doing research on the family and thinking about hoodoo, there's nothing supernatural until we get to the very end, where there is definitely supernatural power at play. This feels like a book that could have used a big revision to strengthen what are very good but unrealized ideas, and as such, fell flat for me.

First of all, THIS COVER! Gorgeous! And I am always willing to try out a new fantasy series and this one grabbed me right from the beginning. While I typically steer away from YA, I don't mind it in fantasy and I am so excited to see where this series will take us!

I want to thank NetGalley for the ARC of the book. I really loved the storyline and the writing. I was fully engaged and couldn’t put the book down. However, I don’t know if I loved or disliked the ending. I’m still unsure of Sutton or what the reader is supposed to get from her at the end. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, so I’ll just say that there was a twist in the last 2 chapters, and I’ll have to think on whether or not I liked it. I would still recommend this book. I loved the way the story flowed and loved the family history storyline.

Holy moly, I loved this book! It was so genius and well written, and I adored Casey and Sutton! I loved that they were an interracial family and how it pulled in the Black experience in the US into everything. It’s so nice to see representation in books and especially one as fantastic as this one! This was incredibly good and I can’t wait for more from this incredible author!

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of The Shadow Sister. Though I thought it was a little slow to start and kind of dwelled in the middle, the payoff was well worth it. I didn't expect the twists and turns that the Cureton family went through, and I have no doubt that my students will enjoy this one. It does defy genre a little bit, so it might take some hand selling at first. Word of mouth will take over, though, and I doubt I'll be able to keep it on the shelf.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for the eARC!

This book is a gorgeous mystery about a missing teenage girl and generational trauma and it is gorgeous!

Casey and Sutton are sisters that absolutely despise each other, but the really special thing Lily Meade does is give us both points of view and give reasons for the animosity that Casey doesn't dare speak of.

This book had me hooked from the first sentence and I'm not even gonna lie while I know the story has a pretty definite conclusion, I would not mind at all reading more about Casey and Sutton!

[Goodreads]

I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy from Net Gallery in exchange for my full, honest review.

Overall, I enjoyed this story, but I more enjoyed the characters. There were parts of the overall plot that I would not have picked up this book had I known that they included them. I got tired + bored of reading this book for that exact reason, but I feel like the characters’ stories and developments were the driving point to keep me going.

Casey and Sutton’s relationship and scenes were my favorite parts. I enjoyed the contrasting dynamic for how Casey perceived her sister vs. how Sutton perceived her sister when she came back home.

I don’t think this genre is for me. I’ve tired reading several other books like this one and haven’t enjoyed this as much as I enjoy contemporary fiction.

If you enjoy mysteries, thrillers, young adult, I think this is a great one to pick up! + the cover is beautiful!

I would like to thank Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with an ARC.

The Shadow Sister is a very promising debut. The story follows two sisters who have a poor relationship with each other while navigating the mystery behind Sutton's disappearance. I enjoyed seeing imperfect relationships between family. I loved seeing the dynamic of the two sisters hating each other being explored. I would have liked to see the conflict between Sutton and Casey wrapped up resolved in a tighter manner. It felt like it had been wrapped up in a rush and I would have loved to see that fleshed out more. I also think some of the other themes in the book could have been fleshed out a bit more. Despite some of my issues with the book, I was still sitting on the edge of my seat to see what was going to happen. Meade is definitely an author that I will check out any future books from.

This was an enjoyable read as I read it in one sitting. The trauma was awful reading it unfolding. I can’t imagine someone going through something soo traumatizing and trying to integrate back into a normal routine. I enjoyed the sisters dynamic bc it felt real. I kind of knew who was going to end up the bad guy which was kind of cliche. The ending was a bit rushed and I feel like something about the story was missing something. But again, I read it in one sitting and it was a really good story

"The Shadow Sister" is an engaging YA mystery/thriller that kept me turning the page the whole way through, but didn't quite stick the landing. I did have to keep reminding myself this is YA and the ages of the sisters, as their conflicts and dramatics did come off very juvenile given the darkness of the plot. But the story of Sutton's disappearance and reappearance was exciting to watch unfold, and the way the author weaved in social commentary and historical context was well executed. There are concepts in this story that will undoubtedly spark important reflection and discussion for young readers. The final act took a turn I wasn't crazy about and the ending was quite abrupt, but overall this was a fun read and solid debut. I would give it 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an advance copy in return for an honest review.

I received an email from NetGalley offering the first 500 readers a chance to read this book before its published date. After seeing the beautiful cover and reading the summary, I couldn’t pass on the chance to read it. Overall, I like the story and I give it 3.5 stars. At first, I didn’t know if I was supposed to like either of the sisters. There’s sibling rivalry and hatred that I felt at times were a little too serious. They weren’t really likeable to me. However, as the story progressed and I start learning things from the different POVs, my dislike softened. Including the family history from the dad’s side was very cool to read. The execution of the plot could have been better. The ending of the book was what I liked the most, but it did feel rushed.

I am in awe of this book. I have no words. It’s a devastating story of sisterhood, of religious fervor, of generational trauma, healing, and power. It’s beautiful and raw. It’s an absolutely brilliant debut and I can’t wait to read more by the author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.