3.5 Stars

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Date of publication: August 7th, 2018

Genre: Thriller, suspense, mystery

Where you can find Sister of Mine: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Book Synopsis (from Amazon):

Penny and Hattie are sisters in a small town, bound tight to the point of knots. They share a secret they cannot escape, even while it pulls them apart. One night, a match is lit, and Penny’s terrible husband is killed – a marriage going up in flames, and offering the potential of a new life. The sisters retreat into their family home – a house of secrets and memories – and try to live in the shadow of what they put in motion. But Penny’s husband is not the only thing they are hiding, from the outside world and from each other. Under a cloud of long-held resentments, sibling rivalry, and debts unpaid, the bonds of sisterhood begin to crack. How long will Penny and Hattie demand the unthinkable of each other? How often will they say, “You owe me,” and when will it ever be enough? 

My review:

Sister of Mine had a complex plotline. Penny and Hattie are sisters who are living in a small town. They closer than close due to a secret that they share. That secret is a drain on their relationship. Their relationship, strained, gets more strained when Jameson comes into the picture. When Penny does the unthinkable one drunken night, that the bond breaks. Hattie descends into mental illness to escape and Penny is left picking up the pieces. But, when the police look into Penny’s husband death, new questions arise. What happened that night? And who lit the match? The answers to those questions test the remaining strands of Penny and Hattie’s bond.

I didn’t like Penny during the first half of the book. She rubbed me the wrong way. Her lack of grief over her husband’s death struck me as odd. Even with the explanation of what he did to her, she came across as flat. Almost emotionless when retelling it. It rubbed me the wrong way. So, when she stepped away to allow Hattie to have her relationship with Jameson, I was a little skeptical. The last half of the book, though, my dislike turned into begrudging admiration. She came back to pick up the pieces when Hattie came apart.

I felt bad for Hattie. Up until Penny went to school, she had to deal with Penny telling her how she was to blame for her father leaving. Then she was to blame for their mother dying. No wonder she had mental health issues!!! But my pity for her evaporated in the middle of the book. At that point, she lost her damn mind. She made poor decisions and those decisions affected everyone around her.

The mystery angle of the book was fantastically written. As was the suspense.

I did have an issue with the dropped storylines. Mainly the one about Penny and Hattie’s father. There was no closure. I was left wondering what happened to him.

I am not going to get into the rest of the book. I will say that I was surprised by the huge twist at the end of the book. I was thinking one thing and was left with a huge WTF moment when the secret was revealed. I was also surprised by what that person did and where they ended up.

What I liked about Sister of Mine:

A) Penny and Hattie’s relationship

B) The mystery angle of the book

C) the twist at the end of the book

What I disliked about Sister of Mine:

A) Penny and Hattie’s relationship

B) Hattie losing her damn mind the last half of the book

C) Dropped storylines

I gave Sister of Mine a rating of 3.5 stars. I didn’t like Penny and Hattie’s relationship. I also didn’t like Hattie losing her damn mind in the middle of the book. But, what I didn’t like was the dropped/unfinished storylines. That is why Sister of Mine got a 3.5  instead of a 5-star rating. I did like Penny and Hattie’s relationship at the beginning of the book. The relationship after their childhood but before Jameson. I also loved the mystery angle of the book. Which goes with the huge twist at the end of the book.

I gave Sister of Mine an Adult rating. There is sex but not explicit. There is violence. There is language. I would suggest that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I am on the fence about rereading Sister of Mine. I am also on the fence about recommending it to family and friends.

I would like to thank Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Sister of Mine.

All opinions stated in this review of Sister of Mine are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**