3.5⭐️

When Julia and Jason got married 15 years ago, she didn’t get just a loving husband, but she also got her soulmate in the form of Jason’s sister, Sienna. Jason and Sienna have always been especially close and that are all each other have after their parents were killed by a drunk driver when they were in college.

Julia thinks the three of them have the perfect life when Jason’s boss is brutally murdered. Shortly after the murder, Jason gets in a car crash, leaving him in a coma. To Julia and Sienna’s surprise, the police find evidence that Jason may have been involved in the murder. The best friends have to prove that Jason couldn’t have been involved while he is unable to speak for himself.

An even shorter summary of this book is “siblings should have gotten tons of therapy after their parents were killed but instead someone else winds up dead.”

I absolutely hated Sienna. Her black and white, one strike your out beliefs were one thing. But her complete hypocrisy when when it was her brother who may have done something wrong was infuriating. The lengths she would go to to justify Jason’s actions feel like that red string murder board scene from It’s Always Sunny.

Julia was a bit less infuriating but only by a bit. I understand being a people pleaser and avoiding conflict, but at some point I’ve got to believe said people pleaser would speak up about something, even jf it was little. Julia essentially lets her whole life pass her by instead of letting people know she’s hurt.

Thanks Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for providing this ARC to me!

Thicker than Water was a non-stop thriller. One man found dead and another in a coma suspected of his murder. A sister trying everything she can to prove he's innocent before he wakes up, while his wife isn't sure if he's innocent.

The storyline was great. It did keep me guessing and turning the page to find out what was going to happen next. I was bored with the thoughts of the characters. It seemed like it was overdone. I think I would have loved this book more if there was less over explanation of the characters feeling and why they felt that way. You can grasp the feeling by the actions the characters were taking and what was said so it felt redundant.

Other than that I would definitely recommend this book to others.

Julia and Sienna are sisters-in-law and best friends. When their husband/brother Jason’s boss is found brutally murdered, they speculate about who could have wanted him dead. Days later, Jason ends up in a car accident, leading to him being put into a medically-induced coma when the cops arrive with a warrant and Jason rises to suspect number one for the murder of his boss. Julia and Sienna’s personalities put them at odds as they begin to investigate the murder on their own.

I was really excited to read THICKER THAN WATER by Megan Collins after reading and loving her book THE FAMILY PLOT. Collins is sooo good at crafting relationships and that didn’t go unnoticed in this upcoming release!

This book was very much a domestic suspense and I honestly felt that it fell a little flat when it came to holding my attention and creating an intriguing storyline.

The characters themselves were interesting, frustrating, and diverse in their mannerisms, but the story itself was full of red herrings that didn’t add much to the overall story.

This book wasn’t my favorite, but I can see others really enjoying it!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: July 11

First time author for me. This book was really good. I live the way the author grabs you at the start and it continues all the way thru the book

Thank you net gallery for letting.me read this awesome book.

Thank you Meg this book was great. Loved it.

I loved how the sister in laws were so close. The husband in later years was just a by product. Wyatt was a great character that I enjoyed and felt for. No real surprises with who did it.

Thicker Than Water
by Megan Collins
Pub Date: 11 Jul 2023

This is a super exciting book! There is a lot of drama, a lot of lies, a lot of untrustworthy characters. Once I started I couldn't put it down.

You think you know the people closest to you.. But in reality, you only know what people allow us to see, and the biggest betrayals of our lives often come from those closest to us. This was a fast-paced story that will make you question everything you think you know about those closest to you.

I HIGHLY recommend this 5 star domestic thriller.

Many thanks to #NetGalley, #AtriaBooks and #MeganCollins for providing me with this ARC. All opinions are strictly my own.

The only thing more interesting than a novel filled with lying liars who lie is WHY all those lying liars are lying. In Thicker Than Water, everybody’s lying—some outright, some by omission—and it makes for a truly fascinating story. I finished this book in under 24 hours because I was so sucked in and just couldn’t put it down. The plot was twisty-turny, and the characters were never quite what they seemed. The ending was satisfying, as was the character growth of the two protagonists. I’ve read every one of Megan Collins’ books, and they just keep getting better and better. I thought nothing would top The Family Plot, but Thicker Than Water is just as excellent, if not better!

After reading The Family Plot, I was sure this newest from Collins was going to be an instant favorite. Unfortunately, I found the characters bland, the plot uninspired, and the climax disappointing. Both Sienna and Julia are one dimensional in their own ways, so their alternating POV was like watching a tennis match between what weren’t even interesting extremes. The villain felt more like a deus ex machina as opposed to an organic extension of the story. Instead of ending on a revelatory note it felt more like reasonable compromise. Not the thriller I was hoping for, it read more like women’s fiction .

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.

I love a found family story. Turn that into a thriller and I have found myself one happy girl. I really devoured this book. I read it in one day because it was fast paced and the story was very good. I absolutely adored Aiden but Julia and Sienna were just very flawed. Julia and Sienna’s relationship as sister-in-laws was incredible though, even calling themselves each others soulmates.

The plot was very well laid out and the twist was somewhat predictable but it didn’t take away from the great story. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend! It had some Razorblade Tears vibes with the family members out to solve a crime, and I absolutely loved that book.

Thicker Than Water by Megan Collins. Thanks to @atriabooks for the gifted Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sienna and Julie are sister in laws and very best friends. Julie is married to Sienna’s brother, Jason. When Jason’s boss is found brutally murdered, it tests their friendship.

This was an interesting mystery with a sisterly friendship at the heart of it. Both characters show a lot of growth that tied in with their investigations. I really wanted to know who had done the murder and why. The ending reveled all but also left on a realistic note that I appreciated.

“She’s never understood that my fire is not a flaw, not a thing to be extinguished.”

Thicker Than Water comes out 7/11.

Megan Collins has yet to disappoint me. This thriller kept me guessing till the end. I liked both of the main characters. They seemed real with flaws and good personalities. All in all this was a nice almost cozy domestic thriller that kept me entertained all the way through

Thicker Than Water by Megan Collins gives new meaning to unputdownable. I started it this afternoon and was hooked immediately. Jason has just been in a serious accident and is placed in a medically induced coma. His sister and his wife are both by his side - literally and figuratively - even when he becomes the primary suspect in the murder of his boss. Julia and Sienna have been the closest of friends from the start of Julia's relationship with Jason, but now everything that they've always believed is put to the test as long-hidden truths are brought to light.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was my second book by this author. I read Winter Sister first. I did enjoy this novel, but it just did not wow me, Sometimes it hard to distinguish if it was the wife or the sister perspective that you were reading. Nice writing, and I did get through it fairly quickly, just a bit of a predictable ending.
3 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for a complimentary copy of this novel!
Julia & Sienna are best friends and sisters-in-law. Julia is married to Sienna’s brother, Jason. Jason is the type of guy who is always wanting to help out in a bad situation. Especially, it seems, if it’s a female in distress! But maybe sometimes, this isn’t always a good thing. Jason’s boss turns up viciously murdered, with his lips sewn shut. Jason knows and has seen his boss likes to get very hands on with female employees. A few days after the murder, Jason has a car accident and ends up in a medically induced coma. Evidence is found that points to him as the killer. But with him in a coma, he can’t tell the police what happened. This whole situation starts to cause a rift between Julia & Sienna. With all evidence pointing to Jason as the killer, Julia, his wife, is convinced he is! Sienna thinks there has to be another explanation. The question is….how well does his wife and sister really know Jason?

Good basic premise but I wasn't a fan of the writing. There was a lot of repetition (Jason's good deeds, Wyatt messing up, Clive, Bob stealing from Julia's mom). We read the same things about them multiple times. I have ideas why that was done, but it didn't make it less annoying. It just made me think that Sienna (and Julia) really needed therapy. This got distracting from the actual story. And then there was the storyline that didn't get resolved (or did I miss it while being distracted?). I spent a lot of time knowing a particular character wasn't the killer but wishing they were because it would have made for a better story. Hard for the actual story to live up to expectations with that roaming around in the back of your mind. Guess this one was a miss for me.

This one was okay, but definitely not my favorite work of hers. I became a fan after I read The Winter Sister and since then her books have just been okay for me. Take me back to The Winter Sister!

This is my second book by Megan Collins, I’ve enjoyed both of them. This one started off with a bang, slowed some in the middle but picked right back up. Will definitely be reading more books by her.

This book was well written, but hard to get into. Told from the perspective of 2 women and it gets confusing trying to remember whose side you’re reading. The ending was pretty predictable.

Thanks to Atria for the free book.
Sisters-in-law - what a tricky relationship that can be sometimes. While Julia and Sienna seem to be platonic soul mates, their relationship is tested when their connecting person, Jason, is injured and in a coma and is under investigation. I liked the suspense of this one. I found these two women's outlooks on the same person to be so interesting. It's a great reminder of how people only see certain sides of others, and each person perception will play into their assumptions. I thought the investigation into this case was easy to follow and surprised me along the way. I also liked the relationship between Julia and her son, Aiden. Sienna was hard to spend time with at times. She was so blinded by sibling love that she steam rolled others and frustrated me at times. I also thought some of the pacing was slow. But if you like unlikable characters and mysteries that take time to build, this one is out on July 11 and will make for a quick summer read.

This was an excellent thought provoking, and character driven book. It was fast paced and an enjoyable read.