One of Refinery29’s “Best Psychological Suspense Novels to Read After Gone Girl” For fans of Sarah Pinborough and Liane Moriarty comes a “twisty, claustrophobic” domestic suspense novel about the lies we tell to hold our lives together (Entertainment Weekly) Sisters, like secrets, are best kept close. Sisters, like secrets, are best kept close. Penny and Hattie, orphaned sisters in a small town, … close.
Penny and Hattie, orphaned sisters in a small town, are best friends, bound together to the point of knots. But Penny, at the mercy of her brutal husband, is desperate for a fresh start. Willing to do anything for her older sister, Hattie agrees to help. A match is struck and a fire burns Penny’s marriage to the ground. With her husband gone, Penny is free, and the sisters, it seems, get away with murder. But freedom comes at a cost.
More than a year after the fire, a charming young man comes to town. Hattie and Penny quickly bring him into the fold and into their hearts but their love for him threatens the delicate balance. Soon long-held resentments, sibling rivalry, and debts unpaid boil over, and the bonds of sisterhood begin to snap. As one little lie grows into the next, the sisters’ secrets will unravel, eroding their lives until only a single, horrible truth remains: You owe me.
A compelling novel of suspense from a talented new voice, Sister of Mine asks us to consider the bonds of family, what it takes to commit the unthinkable, and how far you’ll go to protect the ones you love.
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I requested Sister of Mine by Laurie Petrou from NetGalley earlier this year after the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, contacted me about this new 2018 release. It sounded fantastic, so I added it to my August 2018 TBR queue. I enjoyed this family drama with a few twists and look forward to more from the author.
Fires are dangers. Sometimes they burn out. Sometimes they kill people. And even worse, sometimes, they’re deliberate. From the very beginning, you know something bad happened between these two sisters, but you don’t truly find out the extent until close to the end of the novel. Along the way, they fight over a man, raise a child together, learn how to hate and love one another… all the while trying to live a normal life. Is that even possible after all they’ve been through?
Petrou is a new author for me, and I’m glad to have connected with her book. I enjoyed the writing style and the in-depth analysis of the relationship between Hattie and Penny. I immediately liked one and disliked the other, but my attachments waffled a few times before the end. A good author can cause readers to doubt what they’re thinking… then bring it all together with a final and powerful ending. While it was powerful, I’m not sure I liked the ending for this one, if I’m being honest. I felt it could have gone a different way, but I still enjoyed the entire ride.
Kudos to the author and publisher. I will look for more from Laurie Petrou and recommend this as a good book to read one weekend… or by a nice cozy fire!
Fantastic read! Loved the unexpected twists. How far does family loyalty go.
By turns taut and lyrical, often startling, always unpredictable, Laurie Petrou writes about the thorny challenges and gauzy longings of sisterhood and parenthood with brash immediacy and perilous insight. This book is a cracked mirror — sharp, disquieting, impossible to look away, refracting our worst fears and best hopes back at us.
This book had lots of twists and turns. The ending was nothing I ever expected. Great read!
Laurie Petrou writes with stunning elegance to weave a unique and complex story of sisterhood and secrets that ends with a twist you won’t see coming… a fabulous read from start to finish.
This is my first time reading this author and she has produced a thrilling and engaging story. I loved the blurb for this book, and it did not disappoint. This is an extremely well written story about two sisters who are close and when one can take no more of her abusive husband the other sister steps up and helps her to kill him. Everything is going well for them both until a new man arrives in town and the sisters begin to argue and sibling rivalry raises its head threatening to destroy the peace and love they have for each other. The author does a wonderful job of ringing these two sisters and their lives to life and bringing the reader into their world. This is a story that due to its subject matter of domestic abuse may be difficult for some readers. If you are able to read this book, then I implore you to do so as it’s a really mesmerizing book to read.
An addictive portrait of a fascinating, complicated, and in the end, shocking relationship between two sisters. Beautifully written, insightful and thought provoking, with twists I did not see coming. A thrilling read.
3.5 Stars
Penny and Hattie … sisters bound by love, hate, secrets and lies. Theirs is a complex, twisted relationship on the brink of breaking wide open.
Penny’s abusive husband is killed in a house fire. A year later, a new man appears in her life … a man that Hattie is also attracted to. As their feelings grow for this man, resentment sets in and sibling rivalry rears its ugly head.
This is a well-written debut novel of psychological suspense. The sisters are finely drawn and the central focus remains on their volatile relationship throughout. Secrets are best kept close, as are sisters. What happens when that closeness snaps?
Many thanks to the author / Crooked Lane Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of SISTER OF MINE. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
I devoured Laurie Petrou’s wonderful novel in a single sitting. Laurie’s prose is stunning, but it was the complicated relationship between the two sisters, and the secret that threatens to destroy them, that had me furiously turning the pages. A fantastic debut novel.
I don’t know how I feel about this book. I did not like Penny and felt she was delusional most of the book. I felt really bad for Hattie for what happened to her and how she was treated by Penny through out her life. Penny holds so many secrets from people even herself that I’m not sure how she lives with herself. I might have liked this book more if I actually liked Penny. As she is the one talking the whole time in the book, all I kept thinking is you have no idea what you are talking about.
*I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.*
This was an interesting look at how you can love and hate a sibling at the same time and the bond between sisters. I had a bit of trouble with this book as I have a fantastic relationship with my sisters and had trouble imagining a relationship like these two sisters had – plus I really didn’t like either sister and neither of them were able to get my sympathy. That said, I found this an interesting look at how secrets can ruin a relationship even among sisters.
Penny and Hattie are sisters in a small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business and will hold things against people for years. Both girls were bullied in school after their father left the family and that made their bond with each other even stronger. Penny always looked after Hattie and tried to take care of her, especially after their mother died in a freak accident. The story is told by Penny when she moved back into the family home after her abusive husband is killed in a fire. The secrets that the two sisters share about this fire, makes their relationship even more of a love/hate relationship. It seems as if they love each other but much of the time don’t really like each other. How long can they keep the secret about the fire before the truth comes out and their relationship is broken?
This was an interesting look at love within a family and how secrets can affect everyone involved with the family.
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
Hattie and Penny are sisters who share a home and a lot of secrets! They have been living together amiably until Penny brings a new man into their lives and then things really begin to unravel. The level of dysfunction between them is a bit unbelievable but the secrets that both of them are holding on to will keep the readers of psychological suspense captivated until the very end. I particularly enjoyed the way the author hinted at the secrets and gradually revealed them, and her character development was spellbinding. The author has written an exceptionally good book with difficult topics including domestic abuse and arson. I really did not have a favorite character in the book since Penny and Hattie were equally deceptive. Readers of psychological suspense will enjoy this twisted read that takes you down a road with a lot of dark secrets.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”
3.5 “you owe me” stars
I don’t now where to start with reviewing this book. Suspense, betrayal, family – it has a bit of all of it.
Penny and Hattie are as close as sisters can be, however I am thankful that my relationship with my own sister is not like theirs. Their relationship is a toxic codependency that can’t be good for either of them.
I won’t like, I didn’t really like Hattie much at all in this book. She came across as selfish, a user, and whiney when she didn’t get what she wanted. As the story progressed I could understand more why she was the way she was, however it didn’t make me like her much more (until the last couple of chapters at least).
Penny, well I wanted to shake some sense into her, tell her to stop giving up everything for Hattie, but again, I could understand why she was like she was but it didn’t make me any less frustrated at either lady. Even when she tries to make changes, Penny allowed herself to be drawn back into the vortex that is family.
My heart hurt, I got frustrated, I got angry, but most of all I wanted Hattie and Penny love and be loved.
This was my first Laurie Petrou read. I enjoyed her writing style, the story flowed well, and I was drawn into this story which I read in one afternoon.
I will be checking out more of her work in the future.