Forgotten Sisters by Cynthia Pelayo is a masterpiece of a dark fairy tale and readers are going to love it!

This book follows two sisters Jennie and Anna in Chicago in their family's home. Anna runs a popular podcast where she discusses the grisly and heartbreaking stories of those who have died tragically in Chicago. Anna through this project meets a new love interest, who begins to threaten Anna and Jennie's long-standing family bond. Or at least so Jennie thinks. The resulting story is a beautiful and shocking thrill ride that I enjoyed.

This was my first Cynthia Pelayo novel, but it absolutely will not be my last. Cynthia Pelayo is an INCREDIBLE writer. Seriously, some of the passages in this novel are just exceptional and I cannot wait until this book is out so that I can purchase this novel and share some of those final passages. They are just beautifully written and they pair with this dark fairy tale so well.

In addition to the writing style just being fun and thrilling, so are the action and mystery elements that Pelayo added in. I think they pull the reader into this story and ensure that you aren't going to be released until the very last second. I did not know how this book was going to end and the twists at the end had me gasping out loud late into the evening. Readers are going to delight in this novel, so be sure to get your copy, and don't miss out on this one!

This book is perfect for fans of dark fairy tales, and dark beautiful fiction. Also great for fans of Where They Wait by Scott Carson.

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this. The book is muddled and poorly written. It has serious problems with decent characterization, narration and all of the fundamental elements that compose a novel. I have never come across any book put out by a major publisher that's in this sort of condition. I'm not sure what Thomas & Mercer is up to, but I'm more suspicious of the quality of their titles after reading this book. It's on par with something that a lower-ranking, self-published author without much experience would put out on her own.

The chill wind of Chicago seeps into every page of Forgotten Sisters; a fairytale-laced gothic ghost story, it's rife with modern elements while still maintaining an air of classicism. Pelayo masterfuly weaves magic through the story, meshing it with elements of a police procedural, and perhaps, most notably, never allows the reader to feel settled. The prose is stunning and the story is deeper than the Chicago River. Pelayo is to Chicago as Lehane is to Boston.

This book sounded very intriguing, and I was excited to dig in. However, I found it to be a bit odd, and rather confusing. There was a lot of point of view switching and it was difficult for me to keep track. I also found it hard to connect to the characters, probably because I spent most of the book in a state of confusion. These are books that make me wonder why I don’t give up, then I remember I am stubborn and want to see how things end. I found certain elements of this book to just be bizarre and I am still shaking my head trying to figure them out, but I guess the author is tying in The Little Mermaid? I don’t know, it didn’t work.

While I did find this story compelling, I think that this book had structural issues that I couldn’t reconcile and it took away from my enjoyment.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a rare DNF for me. I do not like to give up on books, but I read about 25% and could not get into it. Anna and her sister Jennie live along the Chicago River in a home passed on from their grandparents. They rarely leave, except for walks. Anna hosts a crime podcast from their home and Jennie likely has mental health issues as she mostly stays in her room donned in elegant pajamas. In the meantime, two homicide detectives (one about to retire and one new to homicide) are investigating a series of drownings in the river involving young men. The premise was promising, however, the pacing is very slow and the writing regarding the sisters' storyline is almost floaty and dreamlike most of the time.

Tethered together by an unforgettable past, Anna and Jennie live in a historic bungalow on the river. Not even the bumps in the night can convince them to leave their family home. To keep her loneliness at bay, Anna has a podcast where she tells tales of Chicago's unforgettable past. It's not until Anna captures the attention of a male listener that she considers a world outside...

Forgotten Sisters is definitely not a typical read for me. This book had a lot of elements I wasn't expecting yet I found myself completely intrigued by this story and couldn't help but want to know more. I'm glad I decided to check this book out.

Forgotten Sisters is a mystery, but not just a mystery; a love story but not just a love story; a horror story but not just a horror story. This layered and lush novel about sisters, grief, murder, and Chicago drops the reader into the story just after a major trauma has occurred, and ruminates in the aftermath of that horror through the eyes of Anna.
The crime podcaster lives in an old house with her sister Jennie, who doesn't seem to be doing well after the drowning deaths of their parents. The house itself seems to be grieving, and Anna is struggling to take care of her sister and herself. A string of drowning deaths in the city of Chicago sets off a series of events that pull Anna into the mystery, and her search for answers brings to light details of her own life that she isn't prepared to examine.
The story switches perspectives between Anna and two Chicago detectives who are investigating the drownings, and the switch keeps the reader guessing as to who is telling the truth and who is an unreliable narrator. And the novel is very squarely set in Chicago, so lovingly detailed that you can feel the city surrounding you.
Cynthia does a really wonderful job here, the writing is gorgeously laid out and the asides that are so clearly researched add so much depth to the plot. I really enjoyed this: the mystery is satisfying, the love story is sweet and hopeful, and the relationship between Anna and Jennie is so real. There are moments of dread throughout, and some supernatural elements that borrow from dark fairytales (The Little Mermaid is featured quite heavily).
This is the first I've read of Cynthia and I'm eager to read more!

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the copy of Forgotten Sisters by Cynthia Pelayo. The flowery and old-fashioned dialogue was hard to read so I never engaged with the story. The podcast was well researched but not very interesting to read. The idea of the story was great andI loved the description of the book. I should have looked at the genres for it in Goodreads, because I don't enjoy horror fantasy, but if you love those genres, you might love this book.

I really struggled with this book. It sounded so interesting, but I ended up baffled by it. The characters don't speak normally which made it impossible to understand what they were talking about most of the time. The detectives were okay, but they weren't in the book very much. The boyfriend was kind of just there. He didn't add much to the story and it was hard to accept this great love they supposedly had. We were told about their love, but I never actually felt it. I honestly didn't understand this book and really don't know what to say about it. I'm not sure who the right reader is for this book, but it certainly isn't me. The dogs were cute though and nothing bad happens to them so that was good.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC.

I was excited by the premise of this book - a haunted house, mysterious murders, scenic Chicago, and a little flavoring of true crime/morbid history themed podcasting? Sounds great.

I struggled with the writing style, though I feel this was a personal mismatch between myself and the book. Pelayo knows how to apply moody, richly detailed language to create an atmosphere. This was neat...for the first few chapters. I found myself skimming a fair amount of the descriptions towards the second half of the book.

I also didn't love the dialogue between characters. My favorite interactions were probably between the two detectives, which makes sense, as they're the two most 'ordinary' of the cast. By the end, I could see the reason for why Anna and Jennie spoke the way they did, but I never grew to love it.

I'd still recommend this book, but only to people with specific reading tastes. It just didn't quite work for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing an advanced copy to review

First, I want to point this author out by saying...Cynthia Pelayo is a multiple Bram Stoker Award-nominated author. She combines true crime with fairytales while also adding suspense, thriller, and love stories! I am a true crime/horror lover so this book stood out immediately.

Nothing is as it seems in Anna and Jennie's handed-down haunted mansion by the Chicago River. It is worth millions but the house will not let the sisters leave. Anna is the star of this book, she ensures the house is immaculate and upgrades it. The house is so happy it leaves her small gifts. Anna also takes care of her sister Jennie. Both Anna and Jenny suffer from "episodes" of PTSD from a car accident that occurred years prior. Anna's sole purpose is to take care of the house, Jennie, and find true love with the help of her "fairy" who lives in her fairy garden.

Anna is brought her true love by the true crime podcasts she creates about truly horrifying incidents people forget about. In the midst of all this, murders of men in their 20s continue to show up in the Chicago River drowned behind her home. Why?

Anna has to dive deep to solve this mystery while juggling her crazy life at just the age of 23. While she is solving the mystery, Anna takes you through multiple true crime stories (that are true and explain a lot in detail) so there is not a boring part in this book! I also want to add that when the true crime and horror of incidents are explained, they are horrific and will fuel horror lovers with pride!

I rate this book 5 stars and highly recommend it!

I was so intrigued by this novel, but unfortunately for me I just got confused and felt like the story was disjointed and did not deliver the way it should have for me.

I just finished reading "Forgotten Sisters" by Cynthia Pelayo, and I'm still reeling from the experience. This book is not just a mystery novel; it's a deep dive into the complexities of human relationships, the power of secrets, and the blurred lines between reality and fantasy.

The characters are so well-crafted that I felt like I was part of their lives, invested in their struggles, and rooting for them until the very end. The writing is masterful, with a pace that's both suspenseful and introspective.

As someone who loves a good mystery, I was impressed by the author's ability to weave together a web of clues and red herrings that kept me guessing until the final reveal. But what struck me most was the empathy and compassion with which Pelayo approaches her characters.

She doesn't shy away from exploring the darker aspects of human nature, but she does so with a sensitivity that makes you feel like you're in the hands of a wise and understanding storyteller.

"Forgotten Sisters" is more than just a book; it's an experience that will leave you thinking long after you finish reading. So, if you're ready to immerse yourself in a gripping and thought-provoking story, then this is the book for you.

Trust me, you won't regret it!"

I mostly enjoyed this gothic novel of possession, but I think one more developmental edit would really help make it stronger. The unreliable narrator is done well, as is the foreshadowing, but other aspects remain weak, including the whole romance aspect, which is very thin and hard to believe. The protagonist--when her own persona is in charge--is also lacking in weight, and while her weirdness in changes of diction and vocabulary is explained at the very end, she needs a bit more heft to come to life. Just a bit more development, please!

As always the author manages to mix Chicago history and fiction perfectly. I’ve lived in Chicago my whole life and never heard about the SS Eastland or the stockyards. Such a beautifully sad story.

Really loved how the story connected in the end (can't say much because of spoilers). It's also very interesting how the city, the crimes in the Chicago River, and the sisters' story are intertwined. Loved to know about the ghost stories around Chicago, the haunted places, all based on real facts.

WOW! WHAT??
This book was madness. Was this poetry or was this prose?
This was perfect. And, it really made me think. I think i filled the whole book with highlighters, the words were like poetry. And, it was so unique. Really made me look at The Little Mermaid differently. Every part of the whole book is beautiful. Cynthia Pelayo really played with words here.
I would give this book a hundred stars, really.
Definitely recommended,
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for letting me have an ARC of the book. It was an honour.

This one didn't grab my attention like I thought it would based off the description/synopsis. I think people will like this story, but I just couldn't quite get into it. If I can find this for a reasonable price after to releases, I may try to get a physical copy for the library.

Rumblings beneath those dark and eerie waves of the Chicago River.

The Chicago River winds itself through the city noticed and unnoticed. The waterways have darkened and thickened over time. But what you can't deny is the fetid air in some sections and its fetid past. Chicago, itself, has been plagued with a history of disasters through fire, cholera, typhoid fever, and epic tragedies visited upon the river itself. Bodies continue to surface. This year, in truth, has added to those rumblings of a possible serial killer in the midst of this river's edge in 2023.

Cynthia Pelayo is a Bram Stoker Award winner. She's immersed Forgotten Sisters in the waters of Chicago history. If history is not your thing, keep walking rather than cast a stone. Pelayo is also a master at creating characters with the woowoo factor. Believe me, there's plenty of that in Forgotten Sisters. So pull up a chair and switch on the night light. Ya gonna need one.

Anna and Jennifer are highly unusual beings. We'll find that out as we enter into their 1912 Craftsman bungalow along the Chicago River. They've inherited this grand dwelling when their parents died. Before that, it belonged to their grandmother. Anna is but twenty-three and her sister, Jennifer, is twenty-six. They take the upkeep of this home seriously. It's been drilled into them. But there is no doubt that they are not the only occupants. Strange happenings are happening every moment. Anna is the stronger of the two and hovers over Jennie who has a "condition". Anna is a blogger of The Chicago Vault which is dedicated to haunted Chicago.

And the river runs through it. Bodies of young males have been found floating in the Chicago River as of late. A woman had been spotted in the vicinity. Connection or not?

Soon Homicide detectives, Kowalski and Rodriguez, show up to investigate. Kowalski is just about ready to retire . He resents his younger partner, Rodriguez, for being the newbie. But things will soon take on a darker persona. Pelayo's fiction will meet Chicago's actual true crimes face-to-face.

Forgotten Sisters is ladened with Chicago history. It's interesting and uncanny at times. But it will all come to the surface as the fate of the sisters is revealed. There's a hazy vibe throughout this one that can't be denied. Something other worldly is going on here. Just ask those residents.......both the living and the dead.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Thomas & Mercer and to the talented Cynthia Pelayo for the opportunity.

WOW

DIOS MÍO

First thing first, thank you Netgalley for the arc of this book. Second, I am bewitched by this authors style and narration. The story is woven with such expert pacing. I was hooked til the very end.