I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

I guarantee you've never read (or listened to) a book like this. A story with family, love and complicated relationships. Each child in a family has their own unique perspective on events and memories.

I don't think I've ever read a book that was based on a famed puppeteer, but this sounded interesting so I was excited to read this.

I loved this family drama, and felt like it was a character driven story, which kept me engaged while listening to the audiobook. Narrated by Lauren Ezzo, I thought she was a great choice for narrator, as the story follows a family of girls , three sisters from famous Puppeteer Walter Gray, who is now suffering from dementia, and shares a shocking secret that he has a fourth daughter.

*many thanks to Dreamscape Media and netgalley for the gifted copy for review

The Puppeteer's Daughters by Heather Newton was an audiobook for me and narrated by Lauren Ezzo. I highly recommend listening to it. The narrator was excellent and made this story enjoyable to listen to.
This literary fiction was well written and steeped in family. I didn’t know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised by it. It follows a family of girls that will face the struggles that may break their relationships or maybe it could heal them instead.
Thanks Dreamscape Media via Netgalley.

Family dramas, for me lately, have been a love it or hate it situation. The Puppeteer's Daughter ended in the love it category. It had just the right amount of quirkiness and drama.

Three sisters share the same famous Puppeteering father but each have vastly different mothers. Each had a different upbringing and a different relationship with their father and in current times have different feelings about his legacy.

When the three sisters come together to celebrate their father's 80th birthday they happen upon his will. Their father no longer has his memory and his health is declining so when they find the stipulations to get their inheritance in his will they are each shocked. He left each of them one personalized task that addresses unique struggles they each face. Add on to that the fact he asks where his fourth daughter is at the party and now the family must solve the mystery of the missing daughter while also reckoning with the tasks set forth in the will.

It is a story of personal struggles and a story of growth. It is a story of relationships and finding ones way.

I would recommend the audio of this one to anyone considering giving it a listen.

This book dealt with family, love and complicated relationships. Grief makes us re-evaluate our past and present experiences with family. This book explores that aspect of history in this complex family

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* this was, different. it was good but not what i thought i guess? would recommend though.

Entertaining story about siblings, aging parents, legacy, purpose and meaning. Audiobook was well narrated.

ARC from publisher via NetGalley, but the opinions are my own.

THE PUPPETEER’S DAUGHTERS ⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️by Heather Newton

Jumping back and forth in time, the story drops you into capital F, family capital D, drama. When the birthday and will of the Patriarch of the family and Master Puppeteer reveal conditions to his three daughters as well as a surprise unknown fourth sister; the sisters think back to childhood experiences surrounding their father, personal decisions, and just what brings them joy.

NOTE: I was provided an ARC in exchange for an honest review. (Thanks NetGalley & Dreamscape Media!)

This was very clever. Good characters, nice plot. Would be fun to discuss.


Review copy provided by publisher.

2.5 stars rounded down.
I listened to the audio version.
In my opinion, this novel was mediocre. Puppets gave me the creeps as a kid, and this book is about the daughters of a famous (fictional) puppeteer. Puppets giving people the creeps was actually mentioned in the narrative, which I appreciated.
The premise of the story is that the father treats his daughters like his puppets, pulling their metaphorical strings to control their lives. The author even states something like this in the text. She should have left this to the reader discover through interesting storytelling and character development. Nope, it was spelled out as though the reader is not clever enough to figure it out. Now dad has dementia and is living in a care home. He added a codicil to his will insisting each daughter do something in order to inherit. This amounts to his efforts to control them from beyond the grave. The premise is so blatant that becomes a cliche. The novel would have been more successful had the author been more subtle.
It's an interesting idea but not well executed. I am giving it 2.5 stars because it could be a fun, if mindless, read for those who enjoy women's fiction and family stories.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book I've read by Newton. I was drawn in by the beautiful cover.

Pros:
Getting the "behind the scenes of puppetry
Multiple relationship types
Use of fairy tales
Its plot was more than I expected
Rosie's story had depth and development
The audio was easy to follow along with

Cons:
Some parts were concluded too easily and took away from the story
The writing was not the best
I was disappointed in most of the characters storyline and development

Thanks #netgalley for this book in exchange for an honest review. Listened to the audiobook and the narrator was good. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of positives about the book. I wanted to like it but I kept waiting for the mystery (the unknown sister) to be a larger part of the book or to even have an interesting part of the story. Can't recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook ARC.

I highly enjoyed The Puppeteer's Daughters. This multi-generational family drama had some interesting twists, and definitely kept my interest throughout. I found the characters to be intriguing, and enjoyed the drama of them trying to find common ground as adult siblings.

Quality narration by Lauren Ezzo helps to bring the story to life even more. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys family dramas or literary fiction.

I was so excited. I don't recall reading any book with a puppet, and all the puppet things did not disappoint me. The puppeteer's psyche and attachment to the puppets felt realistic, and may very well be; I didn't fact check. I enjoyed those sections of the book immensely. I had a few wow and I didn't think about that moments.

I didn't care for the daughters. Their part in the story was disappointing. There were times when I was confused as to who I should be thinking about as I was bored and let down by the familial angst.

The narrator was okay, however, I do believe with all the characters and the busyness of the story another narrator or possibly two could differentiate better.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for accepting my request to read and review The Puppeteer's Daughter.

This was pretty good. I liked the writing and it held my attention. Walter was something else and seemed to leave kids everywhere. Walter was famous for puppets and let his daughters know there was a fourth daughter. This takes you on the ride of finding who were Walters biological daughters.

I will push it to 3.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and author and for the free ARC of this audio book.
The book is not my normal go to, but it kept my interest. It was fun hearing about the sisters from their siblings POVs and the earlier making of the marionettes.

I never imagined I would read a book about a puppeteer, but I thoroughly enjoyed The Puppeteer's Daughters by Heather Newton! This was a wonderful story about love, sisterly bonds and the power of connection.

The Puppeteer"s Daughters book is a moving family drama about an aging, dementia suffering, famous puppeteer (think Jim Henson and the like) and his three adult daughters: Jane, Rosie and Cora. The three women are surprised to learn about the possibility of a fourth secret sister, a revelation that leads them on a multi-layered journey of family discovery.

I loved the exploration of relationships in this book, especially those between the three daughters. Jane, Rosie and Cora are half sisters, each born to a different mother in a different phase of Walter Gray's life. Because of this their childhood experiences varied wildly. It was moving to see how this continued to affect the women throughout their lives. Their struggle to overcome these conflicting childhoods, and come together as sisters, was very poignant.

It was also fascinating to learn about puppeteering! I don't think I ever really knew all of the incredible details that go into the making and performing of marionettes and hand puppets. It was really fun to learn about the magic of the craft!

The audio book version of The Puppeteer's Daughters was read by Lauren Ezzo, and she did a fantastic job. There were many voices in this book (including a few puppets) and she brought each of them to life with distinction and clarity.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ALC of The Puppeteer's Daughters. My voluntary review contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.

Totally out of my genre, this book captivated me!! The personalities of the three sisters couldn’t be more opposite. Each one had a totally different upbringing. Jane was growing up as her father struggled to make ends meet. Rosie was born out of wedlock to a drug addicted mother. Cora was born after Walter made his millions. Jane shuns the puppetry world, Rosie longs to be included and Cora takes over her fathers company. Now the three sisters team up to figure out in such a heartwarming way! I want to be part of that family! As a parent, i totally understand Walter and can relate to the things he did to keep his daughters happy, even if it went unnoticed 💕

In a Nutshell: Slightly different from what I had expected. But interesting nonetheless. Medium-paced, family drama. Character-oriented.

Story Synopsis:
Famous puppeteer Walter Gray, suffering from dementia, makes a shock announcement at his 80th birthday party: he has a fourth daughter. His three daughters aren’t sure if this declaration is a figment of his demented mind or there is a genuine but unknown fourth claimant to the family fortune. His eldest, Jane, is the rigid rule-follower who is fed up of having no benefits but only responsibilities courtesy the Gray surname. His second daughter, Rosie – the offspring of an illicit relationship – hopes to be finally seen as a legitimate part of the family. His youngest, Cora – the only daughter to have enjoyed Walter’s fortune and currently handling his business – is desperate to pursue her own dreams away from the company. The story focusses on each of these daughters, their relationship with each other and with their parents, and their lives before and after the shock announcement.

Where the book worked for me:
💜 The biggest USP of the book is its use of puppets and marionettes in the storyline. You get an inside view of how puppetry and puppeteers work.

💜 I loved how the author used plot points from fairy tales to introduce her chapters. All of these were apt for the content to come – well done!

💜 This is a book about relationships in various forms – parent-child, husband-wife, exes, new romances, office colleagues, and friends. These are written in a fairly realistic way. None of the relationships are perfect, and they are depicted as such.

💜 For a literary fiction, its characters have to be sketched in detail without going overboard with the “telling”. This book handles this quite well. Walter Gray is known as a ‘master manipulator’ for his handling of his marionettes, but that term also applies to how he handles his family. Each of the daughters has a distinct personality and it shows in their behaviour not just with each other but also with their father and the rest of the family members.

💜 The timelines is not your typical straightforward, linear narrative but has lots of shifts back and forth. Add in the complication of having multiple points of view (all from the third person perspective) and you get a complex plot structure. Worked for me because of how intricately it was structured without losing the threads of thought any time. Might not work for some readers.

Where the book could have worked better for me:
⚠ Fat-shaming elements: This is a tricky one. One of the conditions Walter Gray keeps in his will is that Rosie must lose a 100 pounds by his death if she wants to inherit her share of the fortune. While it serves to depict what kind of a jerk Walter was, the result is that there are several scenes that border on fat-shaming. I don’t want to go into spoilers, but some of the statements could be triggering. Then again, it isn’t the author’s voice but the characters’ personalities that demanded some of those scenes. So this point could go either way depending on how you choose to see it.

⚠ Some of the plot turnarounds towards the end were a bit too convenient.

⚠ There was nothing I hated outright. But somehow, the writing didn’t impact me as much as I thought it would. I felt like a bystander watching the proceedings without any emotional investment in the plot or characters.


The audiobook experience:
The audiobook, clocking at just 6.5 hrs, is narrated by Lauren Ezzo. She handles the reading nicely, especially considering the number of characters and back stories she has to cover. She gives a distinct voice to each of the characters. While her male voices are okay, she shines in her portrayal of the three daughters. At the same time, the plot is very complex because of its inherent structure. I wouldn’t recommend this audiobook to audio version newbies. They would be better off reading it.

All in all, pretty good. Kept me invested. Loved the fairy tale and puppet elements and the complex characters. Recommended if you are looking for an intriguing family drama written in lit-fic style.

3.75 stars.

My thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ALC of “The Puppeteer's Daughters”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.