Not My Sister – ARC Book Review

Quick review- Gripping and makes you feel like you are on the edge with an unpredictable ending.

Rating:- 4.5 stars

-siblings

-mental health

– abuse (mostly parental)

-mental health awareness

-sickness relating to allergies

A girl stands on the doorstep, her hands tremble and her eyes glisten with tears. My sister has finally come home after six long years.

I gasp in disbelief when I meet my younger sister’s gaze. I can’t believe I’m looking at Lydia’s sweet face again. We’d been so close as children. Then one day she didn’t come home from school, and she disappeared without a trace.

Having Lydia back at home is the best thing that’s happened in years. Only I can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right. She doesn’t remember any of the stories I tell about our childhood, she’s even forgotten her long bouts of illness. When I ask about the day she vanished, she says she doesn’t recall what happened.

I want to be close to my sister again more than anything. But when I find a strange message hidden in her room, I begin to suspect the girl who came home isn’t my sister at all. Who is she? And what really happened to Lydia?

I’m convinced I’m living with an impostor. And I will stop at nothing to expose the truth…

An absolutely gripping and addictive psychological thriller that will keep you turning the pages until late into the night. If you love The Housemaid, Gone Girl or The Other Daughter, you’ll adore Not My Sister.

This is a book with a setting of a tense atmosphere that talks about the relationship between mother and daughter and possibly parental favoritism and abuse.

After many years, Lydia, Wendy’s youngest daughter returns back home. Lydia refuses to tell anyone about the ordeal she went through and doesn’t want the police to get involve, citing she wasn’t ready to face the drama. Wendy, who has doted on Lydia more than on her oldest daughter Annabel did not want to lose Lydia again that she would do anything to keep Lydia by her side. Meanwhile, Annabel, refuses to believe that Lydia is back as she noted some strange things about the newcomer. And Annabel knew that whoever this person is, is actually not her sister but someone else entirely. Annabel is determined to expose this out.

The story is written in two POVs–Annabel and Wendy. From the start of the story, you notice that Wendy and Annabel do not really have a good mother daughter relationship with each other. As a reader ( to me) I mostly felt sympathizing with Annabel’s character more than Wendy. I feel Wendy is not really a good parents, showing off favoritism–treating her two daughters in different ways. We are also painted with an image that Annabel can somewhat be a mentally disturbed person and that she almost killed her own sister. However, tension arises as you read through the book, the relationship between Annabel and Wendy deteriorates further and further and Wendy literally would do anything to prevent Lydia from disappearing again. The whole story is fast paced, that will keep the reader at the edge. There are twists and turns but the biggest twist comes at the end of the book. It was actually a completely unexpected twist and didn’t really see that twist coming. It was unputdownable and I actually liked this thriller.

Overall this book is worth 4.5 stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

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