Penny and Hattie are sisters who live in a small town. Penny resembles her Mother and Hattie her Father. When they are young Hattie takes a pair of her Mother’s earrings to give to Penny. This act ultimately causes the breakup of the parents’ marriage. The girls remain very close throughout their teens, but after finishing high school, Penny moves to the city and meets and marries Buddy and returns to the small town. Buddy is immature and abusive and eventually dies in a fire in the home he and Penny share while Penny is at her sister’s. As years go by Penny meets Jameson, brings him home for dinner where he meets Hattie. They soon link up and Hattie wants a child but appears to be unable to conceive. Once again the horrible dysfunctional connection between the family comes into play and Elliot is born. More years go by and more troubling circumstances arise and the complexity of the family grips the reader. It is well written and plotted and a psychological study worth spending some time with. Thanks to Net Galley and Crooked Lane for an ARC for an honest review.

Sister of Mine Written by Laurie Petrou Reviewed 6/14/18
Sisters, like secrets, are best kept 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.
What did I like? Having two sisters of my own and being active, rambunctious girls, we had secrets and I believe those secrets will be kept and will go to our graves. I personally never experienced the cruelty that Penny went through but one of my sisters did, so I understood what she was going through. I could totally feel for both girls and put myself in both of their shoes. Would I have done what they did, I am not sure! I am glad that I was never put in that position to have to make that decision.
What will you like? This is a well written domestic suspense novel by a new author and we should make room on our bookshelves as this girl is going to be heard from in the future as well. She crafted an awesome storyline about the what happens when lies are told and what we must do to keep our lives in check. How far would you go? I know that my sisters are important to me even if we don’t see each other. Very involved and complicated webs of lies that lead to an unbelievable ending! I highly recommend this book to everyone. I received this from the author and Net Gallery for an honest review with no other compensation.

I picked this book up because of the cover. It was an interesting and intense read. I would recommend this one to those who enjoy thrillers.

This story was good; it is a tale of two sisters that would do anything for each other. They share a secret that they cannot escape. They try to live their lives after what happens but things do not work out that way when guilt eats away at one of the sisters.
I loved the authors style of writing I read it in one sitting I really couldn’t put the book down it had me turning the pages to find out what was going happen this is my first book by this author and will not be my last I can’t wait to see what she brings us next.

This novel contains a good combination of suspense and family relationships. Penny and Hattie are two young women that are sisters. They have had quite a bit of heartache in their lives-having their father leave when they were children, and losing their mother to a tragic accident. Now they share a secret, one that could eventually be uncovered and change their lives dramatically. Suspense builds as they learn how to live with the fear and guilt of their secret. Sisterly ties are damaged as each sister acts through their guilt. After Jameson comes into their lives and marries Hattie things become even more troubled. Will their secret be found out? How will the relationships between Hattie, Jameson and Penny and Hattie and Jameson's son Elliot develop? Easy to read in a day.

This book was a little difficult for me to read, because the mixture of love-hate in a sister relationship is so real.
The book is the dark tale of two sisters, their relationship, what they did and the secrets they hide. The end has its own surprising twist. A true psychological thriller.

Sister of Mine by Laurie Petrou is a story about two sisters. The story is told by Penny, the oldest sister. Penny tells us the story mostly in the present, but at times shares memories of the past. Slow at times, but Ms Petrou has enough twists to keep the reader interested. I was given an early copy to review.

This is my first book by this author and will not be my last. I believe it may be a debut? If it was, I was very impressed. Very well written and kept me engaged until the end!

This story is about Penny and Hattie, two sisters that are very close and who have a lot of secrets. A great read about the bond between sisters and just how well they handle all the secrets they share when things heat up... I will be looking for this author's next book!

I would like to thank Crooked Lane Books, the author and NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy of this book, greatly appreciated!

Oh, this is a thrilling beach read!

Our two sisters are very unexpected. There's a lot of darkness in this book and it went in completely different directions than I anticipated.

I honestly didn't like either of the sisters, though for very different reasons. Even at the end of the book, when shocking secrets were revealed and I finally knew who these people really were, I hated them.

But, even as I hated them, I loved to read them. The book simply kept me riveted (and horrified) all the way through.

This is definitely a 4-5 star thriller. Really delves into that sister bond, and what people will do to protect their sisters. It's a very twisty thriller, with many shocks and surprises, but one that makes sure the reader is engaged and continues.
Will highly recommend in Chapter Chatter Pub closer to release date!

An acclaimed professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, Dr. Laurie Petrou has written a book that won a literary prize before it was even published. “Sister of Mine” was awarded the Half the World Global Literati Award, a substantial literary prize that honors unpublished work featuring women as lead characters. After reading the novel, I applaud the decision of the celebrated panel that sorted through entries from 59 countries before making the award.

“Sister” is a riveting thriller that examines family loyalty, secrets between loving siblings, deception, and the ever-threatening threat of exposure of committing a deadly crime. Petrou, a neophyte writer, pulls it off with great dexterity while displaying a talent that is astounding.

The first pages of the book describe the death of Penny’s abusive husband in an intentionally set fire. The incident constitutes a secret shared by her and Hattie, her younger sister, a secret that churns throughout their life. As Petrou discusses in a blog, where is the limit of keeping a secret? In this book, that limit is stretched over and over, with a devotion that each sister has for the other keeping lips sealed … at first. But cracks appear in the wall caused by increasing tension, the suspicions in human nature, and increasing annoyances. The bond begins to crumble. The characters are motivated by an overwhelming sense of honor to each other but that slowly changes into destructive divisiveness. The suspense of the book is if the secret will be kept.

There’s a stunning grace to Petrou’s writing style. Her prose and characterizations are fluid and coordinated. Tremendous insight permeates every thought in the novel. I strongly suggest that you don’t miss the opportunity to read this riveting and somewhat disturbing book. This is a talent to celebrate.

(If I could, I would rate it 3.5/5). I wasn't quite sure I was going to finish this book. I read a little ... contemplated stopping ... then decided to give it one more chapter. By the time I got to Chapter 6, I decided to keep going. Overall, it was a decent story about sisters and how far they would go to protect each other.

How far would you go to help your sister? Penny and Hattie have always had a very close, if dysfunctional relationship, and now that Penny needs to escape her vicious husband, she’ll enlist the help of her sister. A tragic fire leaves Penny a widow, and for a time at least, the sisters are content. But a year later, a new man enters the picture and threatens to awaken a bitter rivalry between Penny and Hattie, and soon the little favor that one sister did for another threatens to surface. A solid thriller about the bond between sisters, the good, the bad and the really ugly