I always love it when I find a new author that I really enjoy, especially if I’ve come across them when they have a few books for me to catch up on! We Were Sisters is a creepy, tense and addictive thriller that I just couldn’t put down.

The story is told from Kelly’s point of view and is divided into two timelines of Now and Then which alternates every chapter. The ‘Now’ follows Kelly as a married mother of three and the ‘Then’ chapters tells the story of Kelly when she was younger and Freya, a foster child who comes to live with Kelly’s family.

Kelly is a very interesting, complex character and from the start the reader is very aware that there is something not quite right with Kelly. She’s extremely anxious and has to count things almost continuous to keep that under control. This anxiety is made worse by a fractious, unsettled new born who doesn’t sleep and Kelly’s insistence that she does everything herself. At the start it’s easy to dismiss this as post natal depression but as her past is slowly revealed it becomes very obvious that there is much more to it than that. My feelings towards her kept changing between sympathy at all she had experienced and frustration with her attitude. I felt there was lots more to her than she was letting on and I had to keep reading to find out what it was.

I read this book in a day, which is no easy feat for a mum of three kids, as I just couldn’t put it down. Jobs went undone, the kids were allowed far to much screen time as I just got lost in the story. I kept promising myself only one more chapter only for something big to happen which meant I had to keep reading to find out more. The tension in this book is almost unbearable at times as the reader is very aware that something bad happened all those years ago, weird things are happening now and that none of the characters are what they seem. The ending was very unexpected which took me by surprise as I thought I’d figured everything out.

Huge thanks to Noelle from Bookouture for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley.

Goodness, this book is fabulous! There’s so much suspense and tension in it, and the plot just keeps you guessing, with unexpected twists and turns.

I felt so sorry for Kelly as I read about her childhood, and could see the effect it had on her in adulthood. She’s a likeable character, but I did wonder if she was just being a bit paranoid, or if there was really someone out to get her. But as the plot thickens, the suspense builds.

This is not a book to pick up and then put down and save for later. You will want to devour this one, so clear your diary!

Thrilling and suspenseful, highly recommended

A twisty kind of a read where the author Wendy Clarke kept my brain swirling trying to figure out what was happening. I read the prose carefully, the lines and in between the lines to get to the hidden secrets. The author was clever in keeping them so deep in the psyche that I really didn't know what was the truth.

Kelly lived with her twin daughter, son, and husband when she felt that there was someone watching her. Her OCD increased due to stress, and it was really hard to see her struggling all alone dealing with everything. She couldn't seem to share any of her past with her husband. Her past and the present made it difficult. I liked how different facets of her character were etched.

Written in dual timelines from her own POV, Kelly now and Kelly then provided me enough red herrings to keep my attention strictly on the story. A sense of someone following her and trying to scare her was well written. What started as psychological games soon showed that it was something more, you could say, a warning of how the past and present were welded together.

Wendy Clarke has done a good job keeping the fear and insecurity alive. A little cohesiveness in the prose, depth to the characters, and more thrill would have made it a perfect read for me.

Overall, it did keep me from sleeping and made me want to keep reading till the end. At the end, I realized the story ultimately did resemble the symbol for zodiac sign Gemini ♊. Two lives running parallel both connected in the past and the present.

Well written, gripping and a great read.  Kelly’s baby’s pram has been moved. Ans when she finds it a locket belonging to her dead sister is inside. Grips you from the beginning. 

I will look out for more from this author.

Kelly is walking her twin daughters to their first day of school. It is not a pleasant experience. For one thing Kelly has OCD so the walk is wrought with problems - such as counting to a certain number while a light changes from red to green. Meanwhile, one twin is over-exuberant about her first day, while the other twin is terrified, thus leaving Kelly's nerves extra raw. Along for the walk is Kelly's baby Noah.

Kelly parks Noah's pram near the door to hand over her daughters to their teacher. After only turning her back for a moment, she realizes Noah is gone. She flies into a panic, but then notices his pram a few classrooms down. When she reaches in to comfort Noah, she grasps a locket. The locket belonged to her sister Freya. How could this be? Freya died years ago and Kelly has never seen the locket since.

With Kelly already being frazzled, Noah's pram apparently being moved, and the locket being discovered makes matters far worse for her. However, despite having a good relationship with her husband, Kelly feels she can share her fears and concerns with him. Instead she tries to focus on caring for the baby all while helping the girls adjust to school.

This story goes back and forth from past to present. Kelly had a very unhappy childhood, and was always seeking the love and approval of her parents. Meanwhile, her mother seemed always looking for something, or someone, and thus Kelly had various foster siblings when she was a child. Kelly really hoped that Freya, when she came into her home, would be her real sister. Why then, after leaving home many years before, does Kelly suddenly find Freya's locket in Noah's pram? 

Things become rather sinister in this story. What happened with the locket was only the start of rather terrifying things for Kelly and her family. This was indeed a thrilling book, one that I read in one sitting. I was eager to know what the mystery was with Freya and also wanted to know the depths of Kelly's emotional problems and whether or not they would impact her role as a wife or a mother.

Wendy Clarke did a fantastic job holding my attention from the very first page. I loved the mix of family drama and mystery. The inclusion of mental illness was handled gingerly and respectfully..The conclusion was thrilling, thus rounding out a very well-written story.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.

2 for 2! Wendy has done it again! After reading Wendy’s debut in the psychological thriller genre What She Saw, I was blown away by it and for We Were Sisters, she has blown me away again! Wendy absolutely nails it and is now not just a rising star in this genre, she is now a star of this genre!

Right from the first chapter I was taken hostage and was not released until the final page. Wendy really excels in getting the readers attention right from the beginning and keeping you enthralled throughout. This is an intriguing tale that is filled with suspense, secrets, lies and betrayal that keeps you on the edge of your seat till the jaw dropping conclusion. Also I cannot go without mentioning the cover of this book. It is so striking and lets off an ominous vibe that compliments the story well.

Wendy has created a tightly woven well researched story, that takes the reader on an emotional rollercoaster. It is told from the perspective of main character Kelly and uses the present to the past aspect extremely well throughout. We are given a thorough insight into Kelly’s character and how her relationship with her parents as well as her foster sister Freya, have shaped her into the person she is in the present. The blurb tells enough of what the story is about that I don’t want to say anymore on this as I don’t want to reveal any spoilers.

The range of characters for me, were both a mix of likeable and unlikable. I really resonated with Kelly and felt sympathy for her and was rooting for her throughout. Her husband Mitch on the other hand, frustrated me to no end with his lack of empathy towards his wife’s struggles and her mother was just a horrible human being with how she treated her.

With Freya, I instantly had a feeling of unease with her. in saying that I did feel sympathy towards her as I can’t even begin to imagine what it would feel like going from one foster family to another and the effects that would have on you mentally. She has been written perfectly to make me feel both of these conflicting emotions and definitely comes to life within the pages.

I really love Wendy’s writing style. With the short snappy chapters, everything just flows effortlessly with one chapter turning into one more, then one more until there was no more left and even though I was disappointed that the story was over, I did walk away feeling satisfied that I had just read another addictive first class 5 star read!!

We have definitely been spoiled with two books from Wendy this year and I for one cannot wait to see what she will have in store for us next.

Thank-you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Wendy Clarke for allowing me to read an advance copy of We Were Sisters which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

This book started out strong. Loved the beginning, and I read it in one sitting, but the ending was a little bit of a let down. I don't think I liked the main character very much either.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

We Were Sisters by Wendy Clarke was such a lovely, unexpected surprise and I really enjoyed it. 

What it's about: Kelly has a lot on her mind when she takes her twin daughters to school for the first time. Her newborn is colicky so she's running on very little sleep, and she is stressed about letting the girls out of her sight for the first time. She walks into the school to drop them off and when she comes back out the pram and her baby have disappeared. She quickly finds him in front of another classroom, so she caulks it up to stress and very little sleep. But as more strange things start to happen to her, she feels like she might be going crazy. Also, what about the locket she found in her baby's pram at the school? The locket that belonged to her dead sister Freya, that she hasn't seen since she died... Life as Kelly knows it is about to unravel, and she is going to have to deal with the darkness from her past.

We Were Sisters was such a fast read, and it didn't even take me 4 hours to finish. This could easily be a book you could read in one sitting, and the chapters are also wonderfully super short. Everything is told from Kelly's point of view and the book switches back and forth between past and present time, past being when Kelly is growing up. Her past was pretty heartbreaking, and this might be a bit of a tear-jerker for some. Her parents made me angry and I did a lot of cringing throughout the book. 

The mystery surrounding Kelly and Freya's past was really intriguing, and I liked the way the author slowly unraveled their history until you find out just what happened. I also thought Kelly seemed like a bit of an unreliable narrator which kept things interesting for me. Kelly's husband was a piece of work, and he wasn't really my favorite character of all time, but I did mostly like Kelly and empathized with her. 

There were a lot of things going on in this book, and for the sake of not giving anything away, I will keep this review short. I think it will be a good choice for people that like fast reads that deal with heavier subjects.

Song/s the book brought to mind: Apologize by Timbaland & OneRepublic

Final Thought: The ending of We Were Sisters really surprised me, and kind of left me a bit open-mouthed. It was very unexpected for me and I loved that. This book has a great mix of drama and mystery that was able to hold my attention the entire time. I will definitely be looking forward to reading more by Clarke!

My thanks to Bookouture for an eARC via NetGalley of Wendy Clarke’s ‘We Were Sisters’ in exchange for an honest review.

The main character, Kelly, is the mother of twin girls and a three-month old son. She is quite anxious about Sophie and Isabella starting school and on their first day has a bit of a scare when she discovers that Noah’s pram isn’t where she left it. While it is located quickly, Kelly finds a locket in his blanket with the word ‘sister’ scratched on its back. She recognises it: “I haven’t seen it in fifteen years. It’s the one Freya was wearing the day she died.”

This raised so many questions. The narrative is split between Kelly in the present day, which she narrates, and the ‘then’ of her youth, which is written in the third person.

I would probably class this as domestic suspense rather than a psychological thriller. I found that Kelly’s personality did rather grate on my nerves. The themes of fostering and sibling relationships were interesting though.

It was readable but just failed to excite me. If it wasn’t an ARC I likely would have set it aside as family dramas don’t particularly engage me.

I certainly feel that it will appeal to many readers but just wasn’t quite my thing.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Kelly has three children, twins Isabella and Sophie, and baby Noah. She is struggling a bit with baby Noah as he doesn’t sleep and her anxiety is sometimes too much. She counts, as this seems to calm her….if she can count to twenty before Noah wakes then everything will be ok…even down to the steps between lampposts, just to calm down…

Then one day, Noah’s pram is moved and she finds a locket in his blankets….she recognises it…..it belonged to Freya, her sister who died many years ago.

Is lack of sleep causing her to imagine things or is someone trying to send her a message?

This is told from Kelly’s point of view, both Kelly before and Kelly now….showing her loveless childhood and her relationship with Freya…..the heartbreak of her death and the secrets kept by her parents…

It also covers the care and foster system and the effects of constantly moving children around different homes and the trauma this can cause. A truly emotional, gripping psychological thriller full of secrets and breathtaking revelations…I can thoroughly recommend it…..

Thank you to Bookouture, the author and NetGalley for a free copy of the ebook. This is my honest and unbiased review.

This was my second book by the lovely author Wendy Clarke (I read What She Saw earlier this year).  We Were Sisters is out TODAY, published by the brilliant minds at Bookouture.  Special thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my copy in exchange for an honest review and tour stop.


Description:


I turn to where I left my baby in his pushchair and pull up short. With a racing heart, I look around wildly, fear gripping my stomach. I only looked away for a moment. The pushchair and my baby are gone. 

Kelly is taking her twin daughters to their first day of school, ushering them into the classroom, her heart breaking to think they might not need her any more, 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…

We Were Sisters is a heart-pounding suspense thriller that will grip you until the very last page. Fans of Behind Closed Doors, Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to stop reading this incredible book.



My Review:

You guys.  This book is insane.  This is the type of book I find hard to review, simply because I don't want to give spoilers away!  Kelly is a mess.  She's exhausted from her fussy baby, desperately attempting to take care of twins (one is fiercely independent, and the other is SO NEEDY).  Her husband really isn't much help, simply because he just doesn't understand her needs.  Coming from a family I hide from my own fiance because they're terrible like Kelly's, I felt for her so much.  I understood why she kept things to herself, and quite frankly it stressed ME out when people would force her to open up.  Stop trying to make fetch happen.  Let us introverts be.


The story itself goes back and forth between Kelly as a child/teen around her sister Freya, and adult Kelly now as she struggles to maintain her grasp on reality.  Reading the parts about Kelly's mother broke my heart.  It was like the poor girl never had a chance at a normal life.  She did the best she could by pretending her past didn't exist, but it found her anyway.


If you love twisted thrillers, obviously this book will be a great pick up.  I really enjoyed it.  I found it impossible to put down at the end of my lunch break every day.  I read it in about 4 lunch hours at work-obviously I would have been much faster with it had people just left me alone.  Maybe I need a reading tent for my office...


Solid 4 stars for me.  It would have been 5, but I'm burnt out on the husband's viewpoint of "my wife is just having post-partem issues and that's why she's acting out of the ordinary."  It's a minor point for me, but I really wish society would get away from that type of thinking.  We've come a long way, but we still have a long way to go in terms of accepting mothers and their feelings after delivering babies.  Maybe I'm just sensitive, given that we're going to try to start our family at the end of the year and my hormone imbalance makes the feelings struggle an ongoing battle.


Still, I loved this book.  I love Wendy Clarke.  I will gladly read anything she wants to write.

(Also posted on my GR account!)

We were Sisters started out marvelously, I'd say. 

I followed the journey of Kelly taking her daughters to their first day of school with her fussy newborn. When she counted the steps, when she waits on the crossroad, they were nicely written. I even enjoyed the air of mystery and Kelly's personal baggage at first.

Crossing 50% mark, I started to wonder when would I get the glimpse of the <i>mystery</i> since we had to take a long detour to her childhood. I understand that the background was essential in her plot but why it had to be that long? At first, it was Kelly and Freya, age 10, then Kelly and Freya, age 16 which made little difference because both acted like they were 10 yos anyway.

Close to the, supposedly, climax part, it still... felt flat. Usually, I already knew what's going on, who is who, etc. around 70% point or less. We were Sisters drag the plot up to 80% and even then it wasn't satisfying. Don't get me started on the resolution. I don't need an amazing twist because (at least at first) I cared about Kelly, but the 'why' factor robbed me from the joy of a mystery thriller book. The ending was disappointing to me.

Not to mention, Kelly grate on my nerves towards the end. Mitch had asked her, repeatedly, about her family, her past, and Kelly always said no, she won't say anything. And when Mitch did something wrong, Kelly yelled 'you never asked' and I was like, really? OK.

We were Sisters, I think, is best marketed as a family drama with a hint of tragedy instead of a psychological thriller.

The description of <i>We Were Sisters</i> immediately grabbed my attention and I knew I had to get my hands on this book. Right from the beginning, when Kelly believes her newborn son was taken from his pram, my heart skipped a beat - especially when we discover he’s safe and sound, along with a piece of Kelly’s past that she thought was dead and buried. Literally. 

Clarke did a fantastic job with character development for both Kelly and her sister Freya. As you move through the novel and learn more about the past and the histories of both women, you learn to love (or hate) things about them (and personally, when you begin to feel things for characters, I find that the mark of a great book—even if the feelings are of hatred—I’m looking at you, <i>Gone Girl</i>). 

So many twists and turns will have you reeling until the end. Definitely give this one a go, especially if you love psychological thrillers!!

This story is about Kelly, happily married with twin girls and a newborn. It goes back and forth between Kelly's past and present. Her relationship with her parents and her foster siblings, specifically one called Freya.

At present day, it was the first day of school and Kelly has had little to no sleep because of the baby, Noah. She's taking her twin girls to school. After she's dropped the girls in their classroom, she noticed that the pram was not where she parked it. The baby was found immediately.. Was she just tired from having no sleep or was her baby's pram moved away? She also noticed a locket in the pram. The one that's exactly the same as hers and her life started to unravel. She's seeing things on her window, doors unlocked.

The story was definitely a thriller. The story about Kelly and Freya kinda slowly unraveled between past and present. As you I went along, I thought I'd figured out the story, but was I wrong. I was totally off with a couple of characters. Kelly's husband did make the story interesting. He is a suspicious character and his past was kind of kept hidden until much later. There were a couple of mysterious characters on there and I love that about this book. 

The one thing that didn't appeal much to me was the ending. I expected something so much more explosive from a couple of characters and I expected a lot more revelation from Kelly's foster sister and mother.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. It seems that I have been reading a lot of books about missing children etc lately,  I enjoyed this but was the same really as all the others.

I loved this author's previous book but I couldn't seem to enjoy this one.

The story is told from Kelly's point of view and switches between her childhood and the present day.

Although I felt sorry for how Kelly was treated as a child I just wanted the book to finish. There were no dramatic twists and I was quite disappointed.

Others seem to have enjoyed it so obviously it's just not for me.

We Were Sisters has elements of a psychological thriller and will keep you on your toes,  but at its core it is a book about family, love (or lack there of) and how our experiences as children make us into the people we are today.

The book is told from Kelly's perspective,  alternating between her past as a young girl whose parents regularly fostered children, while ignoring her,  and the present where she is a stressed mom of three with a husband with secrets of his own. I was particularly drawn to the present time, as we learn with Kelly about secrets her family kept buried and how her understanding of her own past may not be true.

I would have liked to learn more about Freya's past (another book perhaps!?) and what made her into the child and woman she turned out to be.

Thank you to @Netgalley and Bookouture for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This psychological thriller kept me turning pages until the early morning.  Kelly, who tells the story, is a stay at home mom with twin daughters and a newborn son.  She loves raising her children but the baby is quite demanding and wakes up several times at night.  While trying to manage the household and and spend quality time with her husband and daughters, she is physically and mentally exhausted.  Kelly tells her story alternatively from the past and present day.   She was the only child of a standoffish dad and a mother that suffered with mental and physical issues.  Throughout Kelly's childhood her parents were foster parents so there was a lot of children that would come in and out of the house.  One of the foster children, Freya, was close to Kelly's age and they quickly bonded together.  Unfortunately, Freya suffered an asthma attack and was removed from the home.  Kelly thought since she was the only child in the home that maybe her parents would take more interest in her, but she was mistaken.  Freya eventually returned to the home a few years later but she was no longer a quiet, innocent reserved child.  On a rainy stormy night Freya  betrays Kelly.  In her mind, Freya was gone forever.  A few years later, Kelly has some strange things happen that makes her question her sanity and her ability to safely raise her children.  As Kelly tries to understand why or how these things are happening, startling revelations are brought to her attention that changes her and her families entire lives.  A great book with a, for the most part, enjoyable cast of characters that gives you startling surprises along the way.  I look forward to more of Wendy Clarke's works!! Thank-you to Netgalley, Bookouture and Wendy Clarke for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.  Review will be posted on Goodreads, Amazon and Kobo

We Were Sisters is a gripping, psychological thriller which follows the story of Kelly, a mum of three who grew up with parents who fostered other children. In particular there was an incident with one of these foster children, Freya, that Kelly has never gotten over, and now it looks like Kelly's past is coming back to haunt her...

The story is told from Kelly's perspective and switches between her past as a child, and the present. Some of the chapters from Kelly's younger years are a bit difficult to read at times as she didn't have the best childhood, and you can't help feeling sorry for her. As an adult it's interesting to see how her past has influenced the way she is with her children, and in particular the way she treats her twin girls.

I don't want to give away any of the story, but I think it builds up well. I found myself racing through to find out what happens, and just when I thought I'd figured it out another twist came along! However, for me I was a little disappointed with the actual ending. There was a lot of build up to quite a dramatic showdown, but then I just felt the end was a bit anticlimatic.

Overall another good read by Wendy Clarke, with some great atmospheric writing. I feel she really captures the world around her characters.

Thankyou to netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review

A casual read that didn’t really cause any emotion either way if I am
honest
Kelly is desperate for a Sister and all her dreams come true when her parents foster Freya, will they become close Sisters and best friends?
Freya comes with a troubled past and it seems a troubled present/future too awaits her!!
Tragedy strikes and Kelly and Freya are separated and never see each other again...
And now present day we find Kelly struggling with  3 infants and a past she wants to forget.....of course though that past is intent on re-appearing and will the truth of the ‘Sisters’ be known, once and for all?
Some very good descriptive writing of the Mum and how she treats her daughter in comparison to her foster daughter and the reasoning behind this
The OCD that Kelly suffers with  is described well and you can feel the frustration this is causing her 
The characters were in the main unlikeable though and the ending was lacklustre and kinda ‘oh’ instead of ‘OHHHHHH’
Not a bad read just an average one 

5.5/10    3 ( just ) Stars