This book was an excellent mix of gothic horror and local history, complete with a haunted house, ghosts, mermaids/sirens, and Chicago disasters! 🏚️👻🧜‍♀️🌊

Definitely recommend it to lovers of grief horror, water horror, and history buffs who love horror! 🤓

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and Cynthia Pelayo for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review!! ❤️

Title: Forgotten Sisters
Author: Cynthia Pelayo
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Pub Date: 03.19.2024
Genre: Gothic Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Suspense

Brief Synopsis

“Sisters Anna and Jennie live in a historic bungalow on the Chicago River. They’re tethered to a disquieting past, and with nowhere else to go, nothing can part them from their family home. Not the maddening creaks and disembodied voices that rattle the old walls. Not the inexplicable drownings in the area, or the increasing number of bodies that float by Anna’s window.”

My Thoughts

Forgotten Sisters is an ambitious mixture of atmospheric gothic fiction, crime procedural, and Chicago history wrapped up in a modern dark fairytale. Pelayo takes you, the reader, on a journey where you aren’t really sure what’s happening but you keep reading out of sheer curiosity.

The storyline around the house and the mystery surrounding the drownings kept me turning the page. Some of the longer passages about Chicago history slowed the pacing considerably and I struggled a bit to push through. Other times, it worked perfectly.

I appreciated some of the fairytale references but references to more recent fairytale retellings took me all the way out of the story. I would have loved more focus on the two detectives and the storyline regarding their investigation of the drownings.

Overall, Forgotten Sisters is a worthwhile read. If you enjoy gothic fiction, haunted houses, dark fairytales, or learning about Chicago history, you may find this book to be right up your alley.

My Rating: 3.5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for the electronic ARC for this review.

A special thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this incredible story that I could not put down – seriously, I read most of this in one evening and it does not disappoint.
Forgotten Sisters is a work that spans many different genres working in tandem – part modern gothic, part police procedural, part magical realism. Two sisters live in a house on the Chicago River, bonded together by trauma and seemingly possessed by both their familial history and the history of the city of Chicago itself. Meanwhile people continue to go missing in the river and two detectives are on the case…
Pelayo’s writing blends horror and fantasy in addition to her trademark knowledge of Chicago. If you’re familiar with her previous works or are just hearing about her for the first time, absolutely check this one out.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Loved this beautiful, sad tale of love. Well-written plot and the fairy tale aspect was wonderful.
Highly recommend to others.

Happy Book Bday to Cynthia Pelayo! I was fortunate to read this early via the publisher and it’s highly recommended. The banks of the Chicago River overflow with suspenseful horror and elegiac beauty in Forgotten Sisters. Pelayo’s dark fairy tale has the glinting sharpness of a crime thriller. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 📖🧜‍♀️🌃

I was really looking forward to this book, but I found it repetitive and tedious throughout. I almost quit several times. It felt like the story actually started around page 90, and didn't progress much until the last thirty pages or so. I've never read a book where 3/4 of a page was about drywall and plaster.

Forgotten Sisters by Cynthia Pelayo is a beautifully written retelling of The Little Mermaid.
With a twisted mystery of the sudden disappearances of men near the Chicago River.
The amazing bond between two sisters, Anna and Jennie.
A gripping and atmospheric thriller that hooked me immediately.
I loved everything about Forgotten Sisters.
The writing is engaging. The characters are intriguing and the story was amazing.
I’m excited to read more from Cynthia Pelayo in the future.

Thank You NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This mystery focuses on two sisters in Chicago, Anna and Jennie. Anna has a podcast about Chicago’s history. Jennie, meanwhile, becomes increasingly worried about Anna as bodies keep showing up drowned in the Chicago River.

I wanted to like this one based on the premise but the writing style wasn’t for me. I think too if the author had hooked me more in the beginning maybe with a “podcast” episode I would’ve been more drawn in.

I love every story I’ve read from Cynthia Pelayo, and this was no exception. Forgotten Sisters is a blend of fairy tale, crime thriller, Chicago history, and supernatural grief horror. Toward the first 1/3 or so, I was a bit confused and frustrated by Jennie’s character, but it all made sense once the story was wrapped up. This was a page-turner and full of the beautiful prose that Pelayo is known for. Can’t wait to see what she writes next!

I don’t like writing negative reviews, but I have to give my honest opinion. I love the cover of this one and the premise sounded intriguing, but I did not vibe with this story. I just did not have a fun time reading this book and I probably should’ve DNFed this one.

I was not a fan of the writing style and the story was confusing at times. The main character and her sister were just odd, and not in a good way. There are chapters that switch from the sisters’ POVs to the detectives’ POVs, but there are no chapter headers to distinguish the different perspectives. This drove me crazy!

There were parts in the story that I liked, mainly the supernatural elements and the gothic atmosphere. If you’re into nonfiction, the main character shares A LOT about the history of Chicago. There were interesting facts about Chicago that I never knew, so that was cool, but there were some facts that seemed unnecessary and took me out of the main story.

Overall, this was a disappointing read. I don’t know if I will read anything else by this author.

This book was not for me but I think others will enjoy it. I couldn't get into the fantasy and dream aspect of it. It was too confusing for me. I did enjoy the crime and investigative parts.

This is my third or fourth book I've read by the author, and I love the way she writes these sort of fever dream, fairy tale-esque stories so much! Her love of Chicago is a common theme throughout her books, and enjoyed the tidbits of info we learn about the city here as much as I did in CHILDREN OF CHICAGO - it gives the city a sort of life of its own, turning it into more of a character than a location in certain ways, which I think is super cool.

The story of the two sisters here, Jennie and Anna, is a very emotional one. It's a little bit of a slow burn, but the ending wraps things up quickly and nicely, tying loose ends and bringing things full circle. We get multiple perspectives, from the sisters to podcast bits to the detectives investigating a string of murders along the river, and I liked that things jumped around a bit - it kept me on my toes, unable to find solid footing (which I think really lent itself well to the dreamlike nature of the story).

I’m not even sure where to start with this one.

The prologue grabbed me immediately with nice descriptive language and imagery and I was excited to dive in. Once past the prologue it was a bit of a slow burn. Nothing really started happening until about 30% in and once things did start moving (still slowly) the story kind of just went off the rails and I got very confused, and stayed confused, for most of the book. I had no idea where the story was going or what was happening.

Were they dealing with actual hauntings? Was it ghosts? Mermaids? Mental illness? Paranormal killers? Flesh and blood killers? It was a lot and there didn’t seem to be a clear vision on where the story was going or how the various threads were going to come together in the end.

Based on what the author tells us the story takes place over the course of several weeks, maybe even months. Anna and Peter meet and fall in love, the level of spookiness in the house escalates, and Jennie’s condition continues to deteriorate, but we don’t get to experience that though the story. The author just tells us these things, which made it hard to feel invested in what was happening.

The scenes with the two detectives were entertaining and I would have liked to see more of them. The city of Chicago was its own character, playing a big role in the book, and I enjoyed learning more about its history. With her language and her use of magical realism Pelayo also does do a good job creating an ominous and spooky backdrop for the story. There were a couple of creepy moments that really got me.

The concept for this book was intriguing and there was a lot of potential there but ultimately it just fell flat for me.

Thanks NetGally and Thomas & Mercer for this advanced copy.

FORGOTTEN SISTERS is another solid read from Cynthia Pelayo. Eerie and atmospheric, it is part haunted house/ghost story, and part noir detective/history lesson. At times, early on, I felt caught in a loop with the storyline, which, to me, felt repetitive. That may have been on me as I only spent short clips with the story. The author created a great sense of place and space in the telling of FORGOTTEN SISTERS. The sisters, Anna and Jennie, have their mysteries and their quirks. Their dynamic is a sad one of family responsibility and multi-layered heartache. The two detectives were a special treat—infrequent as their POV was, but the story was not really theirs. That said, I wanted more of them. I’m probably a weirdo, but I think my favorite part was the history of Chicago and its river. There are loads of breadcrumbs hidden in this book that could be easily overlooked, and yet, that ending!

I just finished it yesterday! I’m still trying to process on how I feel about this book. For those that loved Pelayo’s poetry books, I think you will love this book. It really felt like reading a beautiful and brutal dream about the sisters I love her poetry books so I really love this style of writing.

I also loved that it was inspired by The Little Mermaid but it’s still as dark as the real story by Hans Christian Andersen not the Disney version.

But what always stands out in Cynthia Pelayo’s novels is her love for Chicago! The Chicago River is at the heart of this story. I feel like I learned so much from it.

I did get a bit lost in the middle. A lot of descriptive words and lots of info dumps but overall it was a good book!!!

3.5/5 stars rounding up to 4

A crime mystery tale with a horror aspect, Forgotten Sisters (2024) by Cynthia Pelayo is based on the children’s fairytale of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. Two sisters, Anna and Jennie Arbor live in a historic house overlooking the Chicago River. Anna cares for her ailing sister and makes a podcast called Chicago Vault, that recounts tales of the city’s horror history. The centuries-old home is noisy and the sisters can hear a tap dripping but find no leak. There are also cups rattling, doors opening and the sound of voices speaking. Meantime, daily news reports update the details of young men’s bodies found in the Chicago river. As Detectives Kowalski and Rodriguez investigate, they discover a blue symbol near each body and wonder if they are somehow connected. A riveting narrative with building tension, spooky occurrences and an eerily satisfying mix of police procedural and family-haunted home. Whilst not usually a horror buff, I must admit that this sophisticated mix of astute psychological and believable strange events makes for a four and a half star rating. With thanks to Thomas & Mercer and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without inducement.

Grief stories always get me, and 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 definitely reeled me in. It’s beautifully written, very dark, kind of magical, and just so sad. I loved the main character, I loved the haunted home, the mystery of who is killing these men and how it kept me thinking I knew what was going on, while still not quite knowing. I love feeling like I’m in a fever dream, so this one really worked for me. I liked the end twist and the modern take on a favorite childhood fairy tale. 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 will be published 3/19. Thanks to Kaye Publicity and Thomas and Mercer for sending me an ARC. 🖤

**3.5 stars**

I loved Ms Pelayo’s creepy and dark Children of Chicago and was hoping The Forgotten Sisters would be just as creepy. It was good but not as good as the Children of Chicago.

I like how when you read her books you also get a history lesson. While reading I looked up Sears houses, the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago, the Chicago River, and the boat accident. I love that her love and interest in her city comes across so clearly in her work. I also appreciated her dark fairy tale reimagining of The Little Mermaid, very unusual and unique.

I did not care for the tedious repetition of how much our main character Anna loves their house, the multiple descriptions of her cleaning the house, and the repetitiveness of how they can never leave the house. That got old for me.

While this book is not nearly as creepy and dark as The Children of Chicago I did like it overall.

**Thanks to the author and publisher for the e-arc I received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Before my NetGalley request had been approved I had preordered a Kindle copy which I am keeping.**

I received a free arc copy of forgotten sisters via NetGalley for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the book Forgotten Sisters. I really liked the way the author melded a mystery/thriller novel, with a retailing of the little mermaid set in Chicago. I loved the incorporation of some of the dark history of Chicago and the history of the Chicago river in general. The murder mystery aspect of this novel was very hard to predict, and the big reveal at the end was absolutely mind blowing.

The characters were extremely well developed and interesting, as well as the clearly toxic relationship between the two sisters, who were the main protagonist of the novel. I like the way that the information about the city was introduced through one of the sisters who had a podcast. I thought that was a very unique and water and spin to the novel. I also enjoyed the relationship between the main sister and her boyfriend throughout the novel.

The only criticism I have is that sometimes the history part of the novel could get a little bogged down and drag on a little long. But overall it was still very welcome within the novel.

That being said, I will absolutely be reading more by this author. I felt her writing was very lyrical, concise, and gave a great atmosphere to the story.

Forgotten Sisters is a beautifully written, genre crossing story set in Chicago. I suggest going in blind and avoiding spoilers to get the full impact of this story. A great ready for horror fans who enjoy crime noir and fairy tales. While Forgotten Sisters is lyrical in its prose, this was not a great fit for my reading taste but I definitely think I will be in the minority on that.

Thank you to that Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for this ARC.