Member Reviews

A story about a girl in search of her missing sister. I really enjoyed the different views from multiple characters. This gave the book more depth. There are a couple moments that were great twists what left me at the end of the chapter saying….what?!?!? This kept me wanting more and more. Solid mystery thriller that left me wanting to know the future for a lot of characters. Maybe a sequel or prequel in the future?
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this advanced copy!
Pre-order now for your copy coming July 16, 2024!

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I love thrillers like this one, where secrets of the rich come back to bite them. I was riveted with the setting, the characters and wondering who did what.

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Do you ever get the feeling someone named the title of their book while thinking of you?

🙋🏼‍♀️

My girl has named a book after me…

The Perfect Sister

Ok, jokes on me, but I’m going to go with it. Let me live.

It’s no secret, Stephanie DeCarolis, rocks my world. Pumping out these wild thrillers that only get more intense as she gets deeper and deeper into the thriller world.

You think you’ve read them all but you haven’t read THIS one.

Check out your next “new” favorite book:

Alex Walker has always looked up to her perfect older sister. Maddie has succeeded in all the ways Alex has not: She escaped their hometown and seems to have put the memories of their unstable childhood behind her. But despite the different paths their lives have taken, the two sisters made a pact to spend one week together every summer. It was a promise they’d never broken . . . until now.

When Maddie suddenly cancels her annual trip home, Alex begins to worry. But when Maddie stops returning her calls altogether, Alex is certain something is wrong. Relying on the only clues Maddie left behind, Alex follows her sister’s footsteps to the Hamptons where she meets the Blackwell family—the last people to have seen Maddie before she vanished into thin air. The Blackwells seem to have it all: wealth, beauty, and a beachside mansion on a private stretch of Hamptons real estate. It’s a world unlike any Alex has ever known, but she quickly discovers that looks can be deceiving, and that a life of luxury always comes at a cost.

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I requested to read and review this book for free from Bantam an Imprint of Random House. No matter your wealth or social status people have secrets. Some secrets are little while others start little and become big. What happens when someone tells you a secret and now it become yours. What is the secret turn you into someone else but you can tell anyone because your perfect the way you are. What happens if the truth comes out to everyone. What happens if the secret spirals into many secrets? Who can be trusted. When Alex sister goes missing and no one takes it seriously. It's up to Alex to find out what happened to Madison and why? When you uncover that the person you thought they were might not be what do you do? Will Alex get the answers she is looking for? Will she find Madison? And if she does what happens then? This is for a mature audience and can be read anywhere.

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I received an early copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity!

The Perfect Sister was such a great read; I felt like the characters were so well written and the way it bounced between point of views was so seamless. There were so many twists that I just was not expecting, but they tied together SO well! It was a pretty quick and easy read, no gore or smut really at all.

We follow Alex as she is hunting for her older sister Maddie, who has seemed to vanish into thin air. No one has heard from her, no one seems to care…and Alex slowly starts unraveling way more than she anticipated. Maddie isn’t who she thought she was, and her whole life is suddenly being brought into question.

Would recommend to anyone who loves thrillers!

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Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an advanced e-copy of The Perfect Sister, in exchange of an honest review.

'The Perfect Sister' by Stephanie DeCarolis is a gripping mystery/thriller that will transport you to the lavish/rich world of the Hamptons. The novel follows Alex, a woman desperate to find her estranged older sister, Maddie.

Determined to uncover the truth, Alex embarks on a journey to the Hamptons. As she digs deeper, she connects with Lily, the daughter of a wealthy family who reveals that Maddie had been staying with them. With each revelation, the mystery slowly unravels, exposing layers of secrets and deceit.

One of the standout features of the novel is its multifaceted narrative. The story is told through the perspectives of multiple characters, allowing readers to delve into the minds of each individual and understand their motivations. This intricate storytelling technique adds depth and complexity to the plot.

As Alex uncovers the truth about her sister's disappearance, she finds herself entangled in a web of lies and danger. The novel is filled with thrilling moments that keep readers on the edge of their seats. The twist at the end is both shocking and satisfying, leaving readers with a sense of closure.

'The Perfect Sister' is a highly recommended summer read for those who enjoy gripping mysteries and suspenseful thrillers. Its well-crafted plot, compelling characters, and unexpected twists will keep you captivated from beginning to end.
4 Star read!

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This was a good book with a solid plot and twist at the end. What I really enjoyed was that the novel was told in multiple viewpoints. It was great to see into the minds of all of the main characters to see what their motivations might be. A great summer novel filled with thrilling moments and mystery!

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This was a great book. Twist and turns kept me coming back for more!

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this

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Well this one kept me interested and engaged! I really enjoyed this thriller, which had excellent character development and a plot that moved along at a perfect pace. Add in the settings of the Hamptons with all the allure and fun that brings, and it was a perfect summer book! Will definitely recommend!

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Such a great thriller! Very engaging. Nice to have a happy ending!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

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Wow. This book had me guessing the entire time. Just when I thought I had things figured out, another twist was thrown. Aside from the few typos, (I read the Kindle version) this book was well written. I enjoyed this author's writing style.

The characters were well developed and the plot was descriptive without dragging on. At one point or another, every one of the characters was suspicious. I think they all have a secret dark side they are concealing in order to maintain their high-status appearance. I enjoyed reading the same story line from each of the characters' point of view.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend! Thanks to #netgalley for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. #ThePerfectSister

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Overall, this book as just ok for me. There were A LOT of details that I felt were unnecessary and irrelevant to the story. The first 50% of the book was also very, very slow. It took a lot just to get through the first half (I kept falling asleep), but once I hit the halfway mark, it really picked up. I think if the book were about 30% shorter, this would’ve been a 4-4.5 star read for me.

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Had an ARC of this book. I really enjoyed it. It’s the fast paced story of Alex on the hunt for her missing sister Maddie… after not hearing from Maddie on her birthday, Alex heads to the Hamptons to track her down. I feel like this story kept me on my toes the entire time… good pace and solid ending. 4.5 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Maddie and Alex are as close as two sisters can be.

Their father left them when they were young, and their Mother has recently passed away, so when Maddie suddenly cancels plans to celebrate Alex’s birthday with her, Alex BEGINS to worry.

And, then, when Maddie’s phone starts to repeatedly go straight to Voicemail, Alex becomes CERTAIN that something is wrong.

Alex follows her sister's footsteps to the seaside resort known as “The Hamptons”. Soon after arriving, she meets the Blackwell family, who offered Maddie a place to stay in their pool house.

But despite the beauty of Blackwell Manor, Alex senses malevolence in the air. The family claims that Maddie left voluntarily with plans to return to her life in New York City, but Alex isn’t buying their story.

Patriarch James, Matriarch Katherine, and their two children, Theo and Lily, all seem to be hiding what they know.

And, ANY of them might be behind Maddie’s disappearance.

They will offer up their pool house to Alex as well-Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?

As Alex follows the clues that local law enforcement seems keen to ignore, she will put herself in harm’s way, stopping at nothing to find her sister.…

The story unfolds from MULTIPLE POV’s with a few mystery chapters that take place from “The Wharf”.

I DID want to find out what happened to Maddie, but despite my curiosity I DIDN’T find this to be an “edge of your seat” type of thriller.

The pace was slowed by the background information from the sister’s childhood, and the present day narrative went in a direction I didn’t care for, making the story lose plausibility.

Maddie’s reason for choosing to go to The Hamptons was lost in the noise, and Alex’s relationship with Ben felt underdeveloped. I would have liked to have more focus on these two plot points.

Still, I rated the author’s debut novel, “The Guilty Husband” 5 stars, so although THIS story wasn’t a favorite, I will be eager to read what she pens next.

3.5 stars rounded down

Expected publication date: July 16, 2024

Thank You to Bantam for the gifted copy provided through NetGalley. As always, I have offered a candid review.

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This story started out a little slow, but it really did pick up!! It's a great thriller about the haves and the have nots. I really could not figure it out and it was frustrating, haha. It gets you with a great twist at the end!!

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for allowing me to read and provide an honest review of this ARC.

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This was a new author for me. I enjoyed the book. I would read it again. There was good intrigue and mystery. However, I figured out some of the twists pretty early on so the shock factor wasn’t there.

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Twists and turns kept me reading and following Alex on her journey to find her missing sister, Maddie. Just when you think you have it figured out, think again! The Perfect Sister is the type of book that made me go back and reread parts just so I could make sure I read that correctly and got the character right since each chapter is named a characters name which was somewhat confusing at times.

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Sisters Alex and Maggie were all each other had growing up. Their father wasn’t around and their mother struggled with addiction. When Maggie leaves Alex behind to pursue her dream of attending medical school in NYC, Alex is left to take care of everything by herself. But when Maggie misses Alex’s birthday, the forgotten sister knows something is wrong. Alex finds herself in the Hampton’s at the manor home of the mysterious Blackwells in search of her lost sister, but she ends up finding way more than she bargained for.

This is my first Stephanie DeCarolis novel, but it absolutely won’t be my last. I loved all the twists and turns this book took! It kept me guessing until the very end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for this honest review.

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I really enjoyed this book. It was filled with so much drama, secrets, and lies. It definitely has you guessing until the end what really happened.

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Thanks to NetGalley for my early reading copy of The Perfect Sister.

This was a fun although somewhat predictable (for me) thriller. Alex is in search of her sister Maddie and heads to the Hamptons to hunt her down at her last known location, Blackwood Manor.

It’s a fun mystery filled with lots of red herrings as well as SO many povs. The povs were overkill here and muddled the storyline a bit for me.

Overall, I will def read more from this author and I think it’s a solid debut for sure. I did love the sisters here, and they were the only like able characters for me. It’s sort of a throw everything at the plot line type of book (sex, drugs, affairs etc) but it works and this is an entertaining thriller.

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