We were sisters 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this advanced copy. 

If I could give this book three.seven five stars I would. I was hooked from the beginning and I really thought I had the twist figured out twice before finding out I was so wrong. Not everything is as it seems, and not everyone’s story is what you think it is. I wish the ending was played out a little bit more. I was picturing this novel as a movie or tv series and the ending was a little too abrupt for me.

All Kelly wanted when she was younger was a sister and a mum & dad who loved her. 
There was quite a few foster children but none stayed very long until Freya came and Kelly thought she had got the sister she had always wanted . But it was not to be. 
Years later Kelly is married with twin daughters & a son . Strange things keep happening is Kelly imagining it or is someone trying to tell her something.
This story is told by Kelly in the past and the present.
Thanks Netgalley

We Were Sisters is a thriller full of betrayal, self-doubt, and mystery. Author, Wendy Clarke, takes us on a journey of loneliness that ends in death, or does it? 

I was immediately drawn to this novel because the cover is amazing! It looks so spooky yet beautiful at the same time. The description gave me goosebumps. I couldn’t wait to dive in and get to know everyone and see how this thriller would surprise me.

Unfortunately, I had a challenging time with this book. I found no redeeming qualities in any of the characters, even the kids were unlikeable. None of the characters had any redeeming qualities.   There was so much angst and friction that it was difficult to keep reading.

I figured out the twist early in the book and the ending just fell flat, however, I could not reconcile it with the rest of the novel at all. I will say that the suspense and thrill did ramp up toward the end, but the ending did not fit so I felt let down. 

As such, I award We Were Sisters 3 out of 5 stars. If you are a hardcore fan of thrillers you may not enjoy this one but as someone who is coming into the genre for a good beginner read, this novel is a good one.

A good solid psychological thriller. Lots of twists and turns as the book goes on, chapters left on cliffhangers etc. The book moves between the past and present which allows the reader to understand Kelly's fears and anxieties,  I think it was possibly a bit let down by the ending only because the book had built it up to be so much more. But a good solid read that comes reccommended.

A good unique story with dark undertones.  This covers mental health, disfunctional families and the stress of a mum with young children.  Some great twists and surprises along the way.

I loved this thriller! It kept me in suspense through most if not all of the book! I couldn’t stop reading! I kept trying to guess the twists but was surprised by them! This read had me really stressed out waiting for it all to be unraveled. Definitely a page turner! And I’ll be checking out the other novel by this other for sure! I loved that the author showed a real side of motherhood and I felt a kinship with the protagonist as a mother myself.

We Were Sisters by Wendy Clarke was a slow read for me and it didn't grip me like "What She Saw" sadly however, I did enjoy this book.

Kelly has a perfect life, Twin girls and a new born boy called Noah.She's happily married.

Its Kelly's twin daughters first day at school. She ushers them into their classroom, whilst leaving the pushchair with her newborn in out side the classroom. When, she turns to where she has left the pushchair, the pushchair is gone! her heart racing and fear come over Kelly. 
Kelly searches for Noah, and finds him and the push chair parked in front of a different classroom! Kelly reaches to check and comfort Noah and she finds something tucked beside his blanket. A small locket that belonged to her sister Freda. A locket she has not seen for a very long time. Since the day Freda died.

Who put the Locket that belonged to her Sister Freda in Noah's pushchair?

As a few day pass........Kelly’s perfectly-ordered life begins to unravel Secrets come out...............

Big Thank you  to Bookouture and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. 
All opinions are my own and are in no way biased.

Book Review
I loved the blurb on this book when I first read it. I was completely intrigued by it.
This book will grip you from the onset.
It's a fast paced, engrossing and emotional read...
You know reading it, I was almost on tenderhooks wondering what her character Kelly was up to and if she was going to do something to her sister .
Then again her sister Freya was an equally complex character, a troubled young girl...
I found it quite a strange relationship between the foster sisters.
Oh but it was such a dark read I thought. 
I could almost feel the hairs standing on the back of my neck as I turned the pages wondering. 
I could feel something was about to happen.
I did love the dual timeline of present day Kelly and Kelly growing up. 
It gave me such a great insight into her life..
I was particularly interested in the fostering aspect of the storyline.
The subtle way the mother treated Kelly differently to Freya, everything given to Freya was that little bit better wasn't it...
I couldn't help wondering why she did that...
But why does Kelly want to forget her past. Why has she never spoken to her husband even about what her life was like growing up 🤔🤔
So many questions...
Really enjoyed this one...
Well worth taking the time to check it out..

Admittedly, this is a little bit of a lower rating than I was hoping for. We Were Sisters was well written and was truly interesting. There was quite a bit of suspenseful bits that left you trying to work out what was going to happen. However, the story fell a little too flat for me. There were a lot of great twists and turns, plus surprises and fast-paced, nerve-wracking parts. There was just a bit that could done with a little more "whoa". 

Kelly as a main character was unique in how she was raised and how she used counting as a coping mechanism. I wish that it had dug a little bit deeper into why she felt the need to be so "pleasing" all of the time. It is like she never wanted to rock the boat -- it was a little too forced feeling for me. I love the idea that she had twins and that the girls were polar opposites in personality. Freya, she was interesting. I wish that she had played a bigger role. 

I think what let me down the most was towards the end. There was another plot twist that just did not hit the mark. It felt thrown in at the end and just meh. I would have loved to have seen that played up and really honed in on. Not to mention, I wish it had been a little more diabolical or sinister. 

In the end, I really did enjoy this read. It was quick and did keep my attention! I would have loved to see a little more character development in the supporting characters and a little more "oomph" on the plot twists.

It's the first day of school, and Kelly is walking her twins to class. She leaves baby Noah in his stroller by the door for just a moment so she can say goodbye to the girls. When she leaves the classroom the stroller is nowhere to be found. After a few minutes of panic, he's quickly found at the door of a nearby classroom. Kelly then discovers a locket hidden in the stroller. A locket she hasn't seen in years. It belonged to her sister Freya, who was wearing it when she died. 

So begins the promising story of Kelly, whose life begins to fall apart from that moment on. I felt like it was slow and didn't really go anywhere. The story was more focused on Kelly's unraveling mental health than the actual end point, which fizzled out. 
But I will say this. Her husband is an idiot and without spoiling too much, when someone cuts someone out of their life, you don't get to decide to include them anyway. 

*I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in exchange for my review. 3/5

I read and enjoyed Wendy's debut novel 'What She Saw' and I couldn't wait to read her follow up novel.  The wait is over because Wendy's second book called 'We Were Sisters' was released on 8th August 2019.  Overall I did enjoy it but more about that in a bit.
I wasn't quite sure to make of Kelly at first and even now after having finished reading the book, I can't say that I took to her at all.  I think that Kelly's personality and behaviour can best be split into two groups - Kelly as a child and Kelly as an adult with a firm line down the middle.  I hope that makes sense.  Child Kelly lives with her two parents but they don't have the happiest of family lives, as there is definitely some tension between the parents.  Kelly's mother fosters children and Kelly has seen a long line of foster children come in and out of her life.  I got the impression that Child Kelly was a bit jealous of the attention that the foster children got and she feels that to a degree she is ignored and that her needs are not a priority for her mother.  Her father seems rather distant.  Another foster child called Freya comes to stay with the family.  Something happens which changes Kelly from being a child and becoming an adult.  Adult Kelly is paranoid, extremely security conscious, extremely hands on with the children, she suffers from mental health problems and she has obsessive compulsive disorder, although she has managed to hide that from her husband, who can't seem to do anything right in her eyes.  Adult Kelly experiences some unsettling moments and she is left wondering if they actually happened or is her mind or somebody else playing tricks on her.  
It took me a while to get into this book but that has more to do with the fact that I was tired when I started to read the book and can't be taken as a criticism of the author.  Once I got into the story, I had to keep reading to find out just what had happened in the past to make Kelly the person she is today and whether or not she is losing her mind or is somebody playing tricks on her.  I would say that after I reached the half way point of the story, I seemed to race through the last half of the book.  I became increasingly desperate to find out how the story ended and what the truth of the matter really was and as my desperation increased, so did the speed with which the pages were turning.
'We Were Sisters' is well written.  The author certainly knows how to grab your attention from the start and keep it throughout the story.  The story starts off slowly but much like a snowball rolling down a hill, the story gathers momentum and the level of tension greatly increases as a result.  That's how I felt at any rate.  Wendy has created a cast of characters who are scarily life like.
In short and overall I did enjoyed reading 'We Were Sisters' and I would recommend it to readers who enjoy psychological fiction books.  I will definitely be reading Wendy's future work.  The score on the Ginger Book Geek is a well deserved 4* out of 5*.

So first of all, this book was creepy! I love horror movies and I rarely get that same scared feeling from a book but this one delivered. I had to stop reading it some nights - it was that good!
The story flowed back to the main character’s (Kelly) past life with her foster siblings and her current self as a parent of her own. Something happened with her odd foster sister Freya, and the past is coming back to haunt her and her family. 
This book was a solid 5 star for me throughout. I was so intrigued and every twist I thought I had figured out was completely wrong. My only problem is the ending! I was so disappointed in the final reveal and I feel like it lessened the rest of the story. I’d honestly give the ending 2 stars but this book was so well written I had to give it 4 overall. Definitely worth the read but don’t get too caught up in the ending.

I've read a few books by Wendy Clarke and We Were Sisters lived up to my expectations! It's clever and fast paced and offers plenty of unexpected twists and turns. I sometimes feel I read too many books in this genre, but this one was a standout!

This book was an average read. I had been expecting more but it was still an ok book. 
Writing style and pace were of average quality 
An ok book

I very much struggled with this book.  The story sounded good but it just didn't keep my attention and just didn't like the character at all.  

I know some would like this book but it just wasn't for me.

When I read Wendy Clarke’s first thriller, I was intrigued to see how her short story skills would translate to a new genre – the answer, of course, was quite superbly. And if that book proved to be compelling, original and so well-written… well, I think she might have done it again.

I am going to admit though that I perhaps didn’t love this book quite as much as her first, but that had more to do with me than the book itself. I often have difficulty with engagement when parts of a story are told from a child’s perspective – although I really must say that the way it’s done here was entirely convincing and heartbreakingly real. The story is told by alternating between the past and present, rather showing how damage inflicted in childhood results in damaged adults: Kelly’s anxiety and paranoia, the OCD counting to secure outcomes, all stemming from her personal history and far more than the pressures of motherhood or the result of disturbed nights, was exceptionally well done.

The story’s very different, with unexpected twists and turns that wrong foot you repeatedly – the source of the threat in the present day is intriguing and keeps you on the edge of your seat, although the pacing isn’t fast, and the dramatic climax and its outcome comes as a real surprise. I liked the setting too – the author’s excellent at creating atmospheric scenes, and the tree and abandoned firing range are pivotal in a few of them, and easy to visualise. The author’s emotional touch is good too – in particular my sympathies were often with the young Kelly and the absence of love from her parents, feeling the hurt and injustice from their actions, as the foster child – her long awaited and longed for sister – received everything and threw it back at them.

This book perhaps wasn’t quite what I’d expected it to be – but I did very much enjoy it, and will look forward to seeing what Wendy Clarke does next.

(Review copied to Amazon UK, but link not yet available)

Wendy Clarke has written a tense complex story that kept me invested throughout. There really was a lot going on in this book. Told entirely from Kelly‘s perspective bouncing between past and present. Kelly is now seemingly living the perfect life a lovely home, a devoted husband, two beautiful twin daughters, and a baby boy. But Kelly’s life is really just one wrong move away from falling apart. Kelly also had a bit of a tragic past. Parents who never truly loved her and a foster sister Freya who has forever haunted her. However as much as I sympathize with Kelly throughout this book the girl frustrated me so much! And I try not to get all judge mental when it comes to parenting, but Kelly could’ve use my expert advice, LOL! OK well maybe not my advice, but there were some major red flags. One of her twin daughters Sophie was scared of her shadow and the other one was a bit of a bully. Then on more then one occasion rather than taking baby out of the stroller and bringing him with her, she left him outside the classroom or the store and went in? I had a baby and a kindergartner at the same time and all I’m saying is I would have taken my baby out of the stroller and brought him in with me, a lot of the drama in this book could’ve been avoided had this been done! As I said the girl frustrated me! And it wasn’t just this....

 This is not to say I did not like the book I found it compelling and it definitely kept my interest. Kelly‘s past was devastating and her relationship with Freya was interesting. Kelly‘s relationship with her husband was also interesting, he did some questionable things that I’m still not quite sure what to make of. I liked how the story unraveled. I had many theories, none of them right. All in all this was a well told thriller with characters I wish I liked a little bit more, even the kids got on my nerves a bit.

*** thanks to Bookoutur for my copy of this book ***

EXCERPT: Noah is getting restless, squirming in my arms. Quickly, I place him back in the pram, but as I tuck the blanket around him, my hand touches something cold. Picking it out from the covers, I see it's a locket. 

My first instinct is that it's mine. That the clasp must have come undone and the necklace fallen into the pram as I picked Noah up. My hand rises to my chest, but immediately my fingers make contact with the telltale shape of the locket beneath my jumper. 

I stare at the one in my hand, not understanding. It looks just like mine. 

Easing my thumbnails into the crack, I prise the two halves apart. Even though I know it's not possible, I half expect it to contain photographs of my children, but of course it doesn't. Both sides are empty. 

I turn the locket over, a feeling of unease creeping up my spine. On its smooth surface, someone has scratched a word. 

Sister. 

The necklace slips through my fingers onto the tarmac. I know this locket. I haven't seen it in fifteen years. It's the one Freya was wearing the day she died. 

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Kelly is taking her twin daughters to their first day of school, ushering them into the classroom, her heartbreaking to think they might not need her anymore when she turns around and sees that her newborn baby is gone.

As a desperate search ensues, baby Noah is quickly found – parked in front of a different classroom. But when Kelly reaches forward to comfort him, she finds something tucked beside his blanket. A locket that belonged to her sister Freya. A locket Kelly hasn’t seen since the day Freya died.

And then Kelly’s perfectly-ordered life begins to unravel…


MY THOUGHTS: I never really got into this book. I didn't like the main character, Kelly, at all and felt quite sorry for her poor husband, Mitch. Nor did I like Freya.

We Were Sisters was slow and drawn out with a lot of unnecessary introspection on Kelly's part. The book lacks suspense and as I read on, I became more and more frustrated, both with the characters and the lack of plot development. 

The story is set over two timelines, Kelly and Freya's childhood together, and Kelly's adulthood. Some chapters are interspersed with letters: we don't know who has written them, or who they are to, until later in the book.

Overall, I thought the plot was poorly developed, the supposed surprises very hit and miss. This certainly isn't the heart-pounding suspense thriller that the blurb promised. 

This is the second book I have read by this author, and my reaction to both books is almost identical. I think that this author's writing style just doesn't suit my tastes, but I know that a lot of people will enjoy this read so, if after reading the EXCERPT this book appeals to you, please pick up a copy and read it. 

Lovely cover. 

#WeWereSisters #NetGalley 

🤔🤔.5

THE AUTHOR: Wendy Clarke has had over three hundred short stories published in national women’s magazines. With a degree in psychology, and intrigued with how the human mind can affect behaviour, it was inevitable she would eventually want to explore her darker side. What She Saw is her debut psychological thriller, published by Bookouture. Wendy lives with her husband, cat and step-dog in Sussex and when not writing is usually dancing, singing or watching any programme that involves food!

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Bookouture via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of We Were Sisters by Wendy Clarke for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. 

For an explanation of my rating system, please refer to my profile page on Goodreads.com or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

Wow! This roller coaster of a ride will leave you wanting more. It will keep you up at night. Wendy Clarke Makes it so you feel for Kelly as she is in turmoil that seems to be messing with her marriage, children, and her sanity. Gripping, dramatic story will keep you reading until the very end, leaving you with a hangover and disappointed that it's over. Thank you to Wendy Clarke and Bookouture for the arc in exchange for an honest review. 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2 stars for this lovely piece of work!

This was a great read by the pool, as it had a great plot and characters.  It was a fast read and an enjoyable one.