3.25 Stars
Maddy and Grace are seniors at an exclusive private school where Grace is a popular athlete and Maddy is an introverted writer. Every year the senior class takes a weeklong trip called the Senior Sabbatical to a lake house an hour away. It is the highlight of everyone's year, and they come away from it with a deeper understanding of themselves and their relationships. But this year Maddy and Grace go missing on the last night. Grace is found with a head injury, and can't remember anything from the week. Maddy is still missing, though. Grace knows that she needs to recover her memory so that she can help figure out what happened to Maddy.

This story is told alternately by Grace in the present, and Maddy during the Senior Sabbatical. The dual POV/dual timeline is really well done and I was very engaged in the story. While I did predict the twist coming at the end, it didn't ruin the story because I still needed more details. The reason that I didn't give this book a higher rating is because the end went on way too long for me. In an effort to wrap some things up I felt that it almost got preachy, and would have preferred it ended 10 pages sooner than it did. I still would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a light thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

This book follows two sisters, they both went missing on a school trip and only one of them is found. She is trying everything she can to find her missing sister.

This was a great book! It was full of suspense and many different twists. I loved the sister relationship that was explored as well. This book is YA so it might not appeal to everyone, but I would recommend! I thought the mystery was intriguing and the characters were relatable and easy to follow.

The writing of this one was great, especially as a debut! I would definitely recommend this book to readers looking for a twisty YA book with heart.

Grace and Maddy are sisters going on a week long school trip. Each student in their school becomes part of this special trip designed to develop community and to provide an atmosphere where students can learn more about themselves. One sister is outgoing, friendly and has lots of friends. The other is quiet, shy, unsure of herself, and has no friends. One becomes missing and the other determines to discover what happened to her. The whole situation was a bit bizarre, and the ending was not believable to this reader. Lots of other books are better. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc and no pressure for a positive review.

Silent Sister by Megan Davidhizar, 352 pages. Delacorte Press (Random House), 2024. $20.
Language: PG (5 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence; PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
APPEALS TO: SEVERAL
The Stoll sisters, Grace and Maddy, went on the Senior Sabbatical trip in the same group of senior class members, but only one made it home. Waking up in the hospital with no memory of the week of the trip, there is nothing she wouldn’t give to remember and bring her sister back safely. But it might already be too late.
The points of view switch between chapters, revealing what happened on the senior trip as it becomes relevant to readers—a back and forth that felt like the right ratio of holding back and then giving at the most meaningful time. Suspense novels are nearly synonymous with twist endings, but I don’t know how I feel about this one. I like the twist because of the hints that lead readers in the right direction while still allowing for an aha moment; but I’m not sure I buy the reasoning behind it. A little suspended belief goes a long way in enjoying Grace and Maddy’s story.
The majority of characters are implied White. The mature content rating is for underage drinking; mentions of drugs, nudity, and pedophiles; and innuendo. The violence rating is for mentions of murder, self harm, and suicide.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

I was expecting to go into this book reading a typical YA murder mystery. Most of the book does lead you in that direction, but by the end you realize it is so much more than just a “whodunnit”. One thing I really loved about this book was the emphasis on how helpful therapy is. The characters completely normalize it and openly talk to each other about how beneficial it is for them. I liked how the book focused on the idea of communication: how important it is for us to talk to the people in our lives about what is really going on, even if it’s hard, and how we have to stop assuming we know how someone will act/react when we do talk to them about it. These are all incredible things for a young adult to be learning along with the characters.
I really am only taking one star away because I think the ending/twist may be a little confusing to some of my students. I was slightly disappointed that the book was not exactly what I believed it to be when I started it, but I think overall this story has many important lessons and take-aways for the YA audience.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Megan Davidhizar for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Silent Sister coming out August 6, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I was intrigued by the summary of this book. I was excited to check it out. I love suspense thrillers. I love sister stories. I really enjoyed the dual perspectives from the sisters. It’s typical to have two complete opposite sisters, but I enjoyed it anyway. I think there was some suspense surrounding what happened to the girls. I don’t want to give anything away, but the only thing is I was a little let down by the twist. I think I’ve just read a lot of books and it felt the other books I’ve read. I could see it coming. I just wanted a little more for the last third of the book. But overall, I really enjoyed the story. I would definitely check out more books by this author.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys YA thrillers!

The strongest YA mystery-thrillers are built around teens keeping, sharing, and rumoring about secrets, and Silent Sister measures up to the best of these. The Senior Sabbatical, Forest Lane Academy’s weeklong retreat to provide students an opportunity to engage in some soul searching before they graduate and move on in life, provides the perfect setting for reveals - partial and complete, willing and unwilling. Grace and Maddy Stoll, sisters separated by interests, talents, and personality traits, even have secrets from each other. After facing various levels of traumatic experiences during the Sabbatical and after, the sisters struggle with knowing who they can trust, if anyone. Excellent job with the development of the psychology of these characters.

The author also successfully builds interesting tension between characters, getting us into the heads of Grace and Maddy, and moving the story at a fast and engaging pace. As an educator, I particularly appreciated the guide at the end that includes ideas for mentor and (a broad variety of) paired texts, discussion questions, theme analysis, etc. This is a great tool for a great read!

Thank you to Random House Children's, Delacorte Press, Netgalley, and the author for early access to this gripping story.

Maddy and Grace were born ten months apart, but they look so much alike people believe they are twins - when they notice Maddy at all. Grace is outgoing, athleic, and a social butterfly while Maddy is quiet, intropective, and a poet who feels, even with her own family, that she is unseen. When they go on their senior trip, Maddy goes missing and Grace can't remember anything that happened becausse of a serious concussion. The police are struggling to find where Maddy is, so Grace takes it upon herself to find her sister, even with memroy flashes that don't paint a positive picture. The book is told in the perspective of both sisters and jumps between the senior trip and the present. Mystery and thrills abound with the unreliable narrators built upon secrets, inner turmoil, and the final reveal of the truth keep the pages turning for teens that wnat a good thriller-mystery to read.

This was so good, that I really had a hard time putting it down. If I wasn’t so busy with family when I picked this one up I could have easily read it in one sitting. This is definitely one that you want to add to your vacation reads this summer.

The story is told through two timelines. There is one that goes through the events that happened before one of the sisters disappeared and one about the aftermath. Each is told through a different perspective, but the sister that survives is a bit unreliable. She has no memory of what happened the night they both disappeared, and gets really bad headaches when she tries to. I really liked both timelines, and found both of them to be compelling stories. Even though the sisters were not close, they still cared about each other, and I was glad to see them resolve some of their issues by the end of the story.

Maddy’s story is a bit more compelling than Grace’s was. She is the wallflower and feels that her parents don’t see her as much as they see older and more outgoing Grace. But she does find herself opening up a bit on the school trip and begins to make connections with some of the other students that she didn’t expect. I loved the little poems that we got at the end of the chapters. They were wonderfully done and really captured how Maddy was feeling. Grace was a bit harder to like, but I was still happy that she was able see Maddy for who she truly was.

It is hard to talk about the story without giving anything away. It is fast paced, has lots of good twists, and the characters are well drawn and believable. I did figure out one of the twists pretty early on, but I was ok with that. The event that happened at their old school was a bit of a shock when it was finally revealed and I could totally see why that was what sent them on the path they were on. There is even a little romance which I actually quite liked and loved that it didn’t dominate the story. I was expecting the ending to be a bit more nefarious than it was, but in retrospect I really liked the way everything came together. This book has its moments but it will keep you riveted until the end.

A very smart and exciting debut. If you enjoy YA mystery thrillers this is one that you want on your list. If you can, read it this summer. It is one that you don’t want to miss. I will be keeping an eye out for the next book by this author. She will be one to watch.

Grace and Maddy are sisters in their senior year of school. They attend their senior sabbatical and jealousies arise and they both go missing. Grace is found covered in blood with no memory of that night.
This is an exciting story that I couldn’t hardly put down. Thanks NetGalley and Random House Children’s for this eARC that will be released August 6, 2024!

I always love a good mystery! This book was amazing! A must read for me! This was a first by this author but I am definitely going to be looking into her backlog of books to read more by her.

Grace and Maddy vanish during their senior class trip. Grace is later found injured, with no memory of the trip and how she came to be found by the side of the road. The search for Maddy begins, unraveling the mystery of their disappearance while at the same time exploring sisterhood and one's need to be seen.

An incredible read! The story alternates between Maddy's perspective before the disappearance and Grace's perspective afterward, keeping you on the edge of your seat. With its fast pace and unexpected twists, this book is a true page-turner. I would definitely read it again!

Highly recommended for fans of YA thrillers and mysteries.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story was intriguing, thoughtful, and a great mystery. I loved how the author shared the sisters stories and showed us their relationships with others. It was so well done.
This book is so worth reading. Give yourself some time and plunge in. You won't be disappointed.
Enjoy!

Book Title: Silent Sister
Author: Megan Davidhizar
Publisher: Random House Children’s ~ Delacorte Press
Genre: Teen/YA, Mystery
Pub Date: August 6, 2024
My Rating: 4.19 Stars
Pages: 352

'Irish twins' Grace and Maddy are only 10 month apart. They look alike and are in the same grade at school. Something bad happened at their last school and the family moved thinking it best to put the girls in private school.
Maddy is an introvert, the younger of the two, and also quieter. Maddy isn't as popular as her outgoing sister Grace Maddy wants to be a writer and disappointed she didn’t get into her dream college; whereas Grace got into a highly selective college.

Now on their senior class trip, Maddy goes missing.

This was a great read
As a high school guidance counselor I do enjoy a great YA story. I also believe anyone who likes a good mystery would enjoy this story!

Want to thank NetGalley and Random House Children’s~ Delacorte Press for this early eGalley!
Publishing Release Date scheduled for August 6, 2024

While I was intrigued by the premise and the set up for the mystery, I was ultimately a bit unsatisfied by the reading experience as the pacing felt a bit off. The initial exposition really sucked me in but boy did that middle feel like a bit of a slog. The timeline jumping also felt confusing at times--I have seen a jumping back and forth timeline done well and I think that this one missed the mark because of the fact that we weren't jumping back and forth between stable and clear points. I can see where people will love this, but it just didn't end up working for me or being a story I liked a ton.

This was a good YA mystery about the relationships between sisters and the secrets we keep. Told in alternating pov and timeline, I was captivated by the story of two sisters on a school trip who disappeared together and only one is found. Quick pace and a good story. If you like Natalie Richard's books or have enjoyed A Good Girls Guide to Murder, this book is for you. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for an ARC of this book!

With this book, the final puzzle piece was not what I expected and it was a great twist! It's very well written and is a good book for teenagers and adults!

I could not put this book down. As a fan of true crime, it was refreshing to not have everything just work out when the main character was looking for information to solve the mystery on her own. The characters felt real, the plot seemed well-researched, and the author took a careful look at grief that we don’t often see in the murder mystery genre. This was a book that a finished and immediately wanted to reread.

After finishing this book, I have some mixed feelings! I enjoyed the premise and the unreliable narrator, but the middle third of the book really drug on for me. I think it was partly because I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters. There is also a lot of jumping around in the timeline, which became confusing at times. I typically love dual timelines, but there needs to be more clear delineation for me. I also felt a bit let down by the ending. There was a big buildup and it just felt anticlimactic for me!

I definitely think a lot of readers will enjoy this book. There are definitely some good twists, but I just couldn’t fully get into the story.

Silent Sister was so good. I can't wait to buy it when it comes out. I was shock at the end and crying. This book broke me in a good way. Thanks so much for the review copy.