Cover Image: Sister of Mine

Sister of Mine

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Member Reviews

I received an ARC from Netgalley for a review. I really wanted to like this story, but just couldn’t get into it. The style of writing just wasn’t my cup of tea, and I found the plot moved too slow and I had to keep going back and re-reading pages. There was a lot of character development, which was good, but I need to like at least one character in a book to enjoy it and I didn’t like either Penny or Hattie. It was touted as a thriller but after the last few “thriller” books I have read this just didn’t cut it for me. This is a personal view, so some readers will totally love this book. 2 1/2 stars

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All I can say is - what a pair! Penny and Hattie are closer than most sisters. That they have a dark secret involving Penny's husband only compounds that situation. BUT, now something has gone off, in part due to a new man (surprise!). To be fair, things have gone even MORE off. This is a quick read, with good tension and suspense. It's more character driven -Penny and Hattie in particular, as well as Iain- than plot driven. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

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This book is a slow burn that keeps you on edge throughout. Petrou has a way with words, and she keeps your interest sparked from beginning to end! Follow Hattie and Penny’s journey as their deep secrets ignite a flame that will captivate you until the very last ember. A crackling good read.

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Penny is Hattie’s older sister as well as her best friend and guardian. When circumstances force them to become partners in crime their lives will be tainted with jealousy, resentment and secrets which must be kept. Cracks will appear in their lives when the sins of their crimes become too much to bear.
This book was written in a raw, intriguing and very honest way. I was stunned at the strength of the connection between the two sisters and their secrets which had the power to destroy everything. I alternated between disliking and liking the girls who seemed at times brave, controlling, loving, selfish and more. Their secrets could have resulted in the loss of something they loved and I felt like reaching into the story to make them see what they were doing to their lives.
I’ve never missed not having a sister and after reading about this compelling and complex relationship I’m kind of glad I don’t.
This is a great read full of suspense and I couldn’t help feel involved in some way..
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of this book in return for an honest review.

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Thanks to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and Laurie Petrou for the opportunity to read this book - I thoroughly enjoyed it!

This is the story of Hattie and Penny - two sisters in a small town where they were born and raised and still live in their parents' home. The sisters have an intense love and rivalry and have so very many secrets between them. Secrets that can't be shared with anyone and serve to draw the sisters even closer in their strange bond. They each hold the other in a twisted blackmail and you owe me mentality. When a new man comes into their lives, he adds even more secrets to the mix.

I was so intrigued by these sisters and the emotions they evoked while reading this book. This would be an interesting book club selection.

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Sisters, love them or hate them or something in between. How far would you go for your sister? What would you do for her whether safe or dangerous? Petrou introduces two sisters bond together by a big secret that devours them inside and out. It's the story of their love and rivalry through their chldhood, teens and into adulthood. How does a family home tie two people together? What secrets does your home hold? What are the secrets of Hattie and Penney whose lives in their small little town could be so beautiful and loving, but keeping secrets can be down right difficult when you never leave the safe confines of your small town. No I didn't share a whole lot about the story but the questions should grab your attention and lead you to pick up the book. Let Petrou take you for a suspenseful and roller coaster ride through the lives of 2 women, husbands, and child. You won't be disappointed.

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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.

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Sister of Mine by Laurie Petrou is a well written and intriguing thriller. I thoroughly enjoyed this book about two sisters, who have secrets. Big secrets.

Penny and Hattie, sisters orphaned at an early age and Penny, being the oldest, assumed the mother role. Penny marries Buddy and goes to live on his farm. Buddy is abusive, so Penny sets fire to the home with Buddy in it. Enlisting her sister’s help, there is the obvious cover up. Enter Jameson, a new man in the small town and the three become inseparable. But Hattie is attracted to Jamison and so it begins.

Good character development and well written, this is a book that you simply don’t want to put down. It’s the perfect thriller book for summer, something that holds your interest and not too dense. It's a definite fun read that you will have trouble putting down.

Thank you to the publisher and #NetGalley for a pre-publication ebook in exchange for an honest review.

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Sister of Mine is an interesting story about the very complicated relationship of two sisters, their lives in a small town and the net of secrets that binds them together and also threatens everything they have.

The story was told by Penny, there was only her point of view all along and i loved that. I don' know why but from the beginning i was imagining the story in sepia-fogged images, with the voice of Penny, a slow drawling voice, narrating it. It is not what the author had in mind i guess, but it stayed that way the whole story. Maybe because Penny seemed sometimes detached from the problems around her or that she was cols at other times.

Anyway, the story was interesting. Two sister loving each other, hating each other, couldn't live together all the time and yet couldn't live apart either. Such a complicated situation, made horrible by the "death" of Penny's husband and then a new man came into their lives.
Although the story was not exactly surprising there were some interesting elements.
I guess what i liked most was that we only got the opinion of Penny on everything, only her perception of people and actions, something that made her seem like a victim sometimes or that gave her the right to do what she did, but there were also other people and other point of views and i kept imagining how they saw the same situations.

In a period when most of the books i read have the different point of views approach, this book was quite refreshing.
I enjoyed it and i would recommend it.

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Sisters are often privy to secrets, but not like these two.
Hattie and Penny have been reliant on each other for a long time. Both sisters have got used to depending on each other since their father abandoned the family and their mother died. Dysfunctional from the off, and these two are the talk of their small town.
As time goes on, Penny tries to make a life of her own. Her husband, Buddy, is abusive and the two sisters take drastic steps to ensure their safety.
The trouble with secrets is that they have a tendency to be revealed...eventually.
Inevitably, the secrets these two stack up in their desire to settle the debt each feels they are owed become dangerous. I’m just amazed that it took so long for things to come to a head.
Thank you NetGalley for granting me access to this prior to publication.

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Sister of Mine is a well written book. I was pulled immediately into the plot and could not put this book down. I highly recommend this book. My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this arc. This is my honest review.

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Thank you Netgalley for the free E-Galley.
With the majority of the books this season having "Sister" in the title, I feel like books have to do something insanely special to stand out. I think Sister Of Mine accomplished that. I enjoyed the narrative, I enjoyed disliking the characters, and I was really a fan of the writing style. Nothing to over dramatic or unrealistic. Just good steady writing that built to a great ending. I am so glad that I got to read this one.

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Thank you Crooked Lane books for a copy of Sister of Mine for review. I am not a fan of the characters in the book, and that made this story a long one for me. It is a lot of character development and talking about the fire and their childhood on repeat. I felt there wasn't enough driving the story or my interest. If you are a fan of character development and domestic drama, you'll probably enjoy this story a lot more than I did. Sibling drama can be hit or miss for me and unfortunately this one was a miss. Sister of Mine publishes August 7, 2018.

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3.5 stars
As an only child, I’m intrigued by the ties and bonds of siblings. That ability to often hate and love someone at the same time. Here, two sisters have a really twisted relationship. What do they owe each other?

In the beginning, the writing style is a bit disjointed, like the author is purposely trying keep you off balance. Or at least it felt that way to me. But then it gets going and it’s a fast paced ride to the finish.

Nothing liking the same man to really screw things up. And there were some serious mental health issues as well. Add in a few ominous characters on the fringes. You just know things aren’t going to end well, the only question is how it’ll go bad.

I enjoyed this and found it an interesting psychological thriller.

My thanks to netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advance copy of this book.

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4 chilling stars to Sister of Mine!

Sisters always have their share of secrets, but Penny and Hattie’s are dark and world-shattering. Their mother passed away in a tragic accident, and their father walked out on the family. Penny, as the oldest, was the caregiver for Hattie, the younger and more carefree sister; however, their relationship is complicated and dysfunctional.

When Penny’s husband becomes a tyrant and physically abusive, an accident involving a fire is orchestrated resulting in her husband’s death. Not long after, a detective is hot on the heels of solving the cases of a string of arsons, which may in turn unfurl all of Penny and Hattie’s deceit.

Sister of Mine is described as a domestic suspense, which is a great fit for this title. It is a quick, engaging read, well-written, and full of tension. The narration by Penny is uncomfortable and haunting. These two sisters with their back and forth feelings towards each other were enmeshed, and each needed the other to survive, to cover up all the secrets, and to keep up the charade.

Overall, I found Sister of Mine to be a stirring, original, and captivating story of two sisters using their symbiotic relationship to hide their sinister behavior.

Thank you to Sarah at Crooked Lane for the invitation to read Sister of Mine. All opinions are my own.

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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.

My Thoughts: Sisterhood bonds can be sweet and loving, but they can also be tight and destructive. Sister of Mine is a mix of all these ingredients, but with the passage of time, the tight and destructive bonds would be their undoing.

Orphaned and living in a small town, Penny and Hattie Grayson often feel the eyes of the judgers upon them. Sometimes the scrutiny makes Hattie, the younger sister, act out more. She loves the center of attention, and she also enjoys stirring up rivalry with her sister. Their mother nurtured that spark of competition between them, and remembering her reignites it.

What deep, dark secret strengthens the ties between the sisters, and not in a good way? As we immerse ourselves in their story, a slow burn brings the dark secret into the light, and it is only near the end of the book that we fully realize what had happened one dark and dangerous night.

Hattie moved in and out of the home over the years, and each time she left, Penny savored the freedom from her sister’s constant reminders and taunts. The legacy of their secret.

How does adding a man and a child into the mix up the ante for the two of them? Why do some of the more troubled townsfolk continually tug away at the past until everything comes tumbling down?

As I turned the pages of this dark and sinister tale that shined a light on a truly dysfunctional connection, I couldn’t stop reading. Parts of the story were repetitive, but in the end I awarded 4.5 stars.

***My e-ARC came from the publisher via NetGalley.
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ARC received via Netgalley for an honest review

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.

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Penny and Hattie, sisters with issues, jealously, love, hate and secrets. I like when the author drops hints throughout the book to give a glimpse of something that is going to happen, not enough for you to figure it out, but enough for you to keep on reading to see if your assumptions were correct. This book did that several times. The story has an ominous feel when reading because as you know, things are not as they seem.
I did enjoy this book, but it does have foul language in several instances, if that offends you, beware. I liked the storyline and the author did a nice job of rapping it all up in the end.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Crooked Lane Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This one gets 3***’s.

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Really enjoyed this book! Great story & character development. Would definitely recommend to others who would enjoy it.

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3.5 Stars.

"You owe me." "You owe me." "You owe me."

Two sisters......forever bonded. The younger, a wild and vivacious beauty of a redhead, the older, a tortured soul of a brunette. Add to the mix a handsome man desired by both, a secret that must NEVER be revealed and you have one complex and volatile relationship.

A tragic loss exacerbates the on-going sibling rivalry, a policeman becomes an eerie threatening presence and a dangerous, evil man causes HEATED upheaval.

SISTER OF MINE is a fast, easy to read entertaining novel with a bit of drama, a bit of mystery and a family home that seems to hold two sisters captive for life.

Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books for the reading opportunity via NetGalley in exchange for review.

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