My Review:Grace hasn't been the same since the death of her best friend Charlie. She is haunted by Charlie's words, the last time she saw her, and in a bid for answers, opens an old memory box of Charlie's. It soon becomes clear there was a lot she didn't know about her best friend.
When Grace starts a campaign to find Charlie's father, Anna, a girl claiming to be Charlie's sister steps forward. For Grace, finding Anna is like finding a new family, and soon Anna has made herself very comfortable in Grace and boyfriend Dan's home.
But something isn't right. Things disappear, Dan's acting strangely and Grace is sure that someone is following her. Is it all in Grace's mind? Or as she gets closer to discovering the truth about both Charlie and Anna, is Grace in terrible danger?
There was nothing she could have done to save Charlie ...or was there?
I regret not DNF'ing this -- it got so ridiculous half-way through that I am sorry I even finished it. The first 40% felt eerily similar to The Girl on the Train, which I didn't love but at least was well thought out if predictable, but the last 60% was pretty much awful. When I say ridiculous, I mean it -- the MC/narrator Grace starts having a lot of shitty things happen to her at once -- someone frames her to lose her job, her cat goes missing, she has two severe allergic reactions in one day to food that her new friend has given her, someone starts moving in on her boyfriend, someone hacks her email and starts a social media smear campaign against her and more -- what a coincidence that this all starts happening when she meets a new "friend" that is curiously the half sister of her best friend Charlie who has just died and who she never knew about? And yet, she is not suspicious at all? I don't know, it got super contrived and the ending was just a let down by the time it happened. There was also a lot of size/fat shaming in this book, which I didn't care for.
I really would skip this one -- there have been so many other recent and amazing thrillers lately - I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Just Fall, I Let You Go, All the Missing Girls - that this one seems rather poorly done. The Sister came out last week on July 7, 2016, and you can purchase HERE.
Grief is crushing, isolating, lonely. We have both lost Charlie, but Dan doesn't know how I feel, not really, and how can he? At first I was mute with shock, unable to contemplate the simplest of tasks, to operate appliances I'd used a thousand times before. My toast was burned, clothes wrinkled. I lost my ability to communicate. Words knotted themselves on my tongue until I swallowed them, and they collided with the mass of emotions swirling inside me. If I couldn't pinpoint how I felt myself, how could I express it to him?
Yikes kind of sounds like a hot mess. I hate when I finish a book and think I should have DNFed. Sorry this didn't work out for you!
ReplyDeleteAhhh! That's such a shame you didn't like this one, Eva. And it bothers me that it's so similar to that other book. A disappointing ending too? I'm definitely not picking this one up.
ReplyDeleteI hope your next thriller is a better read!
If I'm tempted to DNF and make myself finish, I rarely change my mind about the book. Sorry this was disappointing!!
ReplyDeleteJen @ YA Romantics
wow crazy stuff happening here!!! Seems like a bit overkill right? I do have issues with books that turn out this way, just makes for a not fun experience for the reader.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty bad when you regret not DNF'ing it. So sorry this wasn't the read for you. Hope your next is better.
ReplyDeleteHa! Grace's day sounds like a few days in my life recently. Murphy's law and all. I wish this one had been better for you. I love the cover! I also loved The Girl on the Train (not at 5 stars, though), but I don't want to re-read it. I've regretted not DNFing a few, too. We read and learn.
ReplyDeleteOh I hate it when I keep trudging on with a story, hoping it will get better only to get to the end and it doesn't! It feels like such a waste of time! It's frustrating when the culprit is so obvious and yet the MC just doesn't piece it together. I'll definitely take a pass on this one. Great honest review, Eva! :)
ReplyDeleteEw, this sounds awful! The shaming REALLY angers me. Like bad enough that the book sucked, but then add insult to injury? Yikes. It does sound like something I'd be rolling my eyes at pretty hard. Ugh. Sorry that this was such a mess for you!
ReplyDeleteOh my! Sorry this one was so awful for you. I hope your next one is MUCH better. I think I'll skip this one for sure.
ReplyDeleteOh geez, what a mess. Don't you hate when you feel the need to keep pushing through? All the ridiculous coincidences have me rolling my eyes just reading about them.
ReplyDeleteI hate oblivious characters. It's even sadder when the author thinks the reader won't figure it out if the narrator is clueless. What a waste.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad I read the book. Heart pounding, twists when you think you have it figured out. You like some of the characters and others you want to shake.
ReplyDeleteZia
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