Two Sisters by Mary Hogan
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Buy the Book: Amazon
The third child in a family that wanted only two, Muriel Sullivant has always been an outsider. Short, dark-haired and round, she worships her beautiful blonde sister, Pia, and envies the close bond she shares with their mother, Lidia. Growing up in their shadow, Muriel believes that if she keeps all their secrets—and she knows plenty, outsiders always do—they will love her, too.
But that was a long time ago. Now an adult, Muriel has accepted the disappointments in her life. With her fourth-floor walk-up apartment and entry-level New York City job, she never will measure up to Pia and her wealthy husband, their daughter, and their suburban Connecticut dream home. Muriel would like nothing better than to avoid her judgmental family altogether. One thing she does quite well.
Until the day Pia shows up to visit and share devastating news that Muriel knows she cannot tell—a secret that will force her to come to terms with the past and help her see her life and her family in unexpected new ways.
Kritters Thoughts: A family of 5 that didn't start on the best foundation and from the parents to the children they all had issues. The book unfolds in the present with flashbacks into the past when the parents of the family met and "fell" in love. As a reader, I definitely had to pay attention as it switched in the middle of the chapter to the past and then back to the present story.
As a product of a fantastic family and childhood, it is hard to read about characters who have it rough from the moment they are born and well into adulthood. It was easy to care for Muriel as she is the outside and you just want her to find an independence and depart from the dramas of her family. I definitely talked straight to the characters in this book, they irritated me a few times!
There are a few twists that I of course can not share, but they definitely took the book to a different level and I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to finish it. It took about 100 pages to get to a few twists and once there I thought it started picking up and finished well.
Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours. I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
I'm glad that you enjoyed this one in the end. Thanks for being on the tour!
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