Review: The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

The Good Sister

by Sally Hepworth

Publisher: St Martin's Press

Pages: 320

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  From the outside, everyone might think Fern and Rose are as close as twin sisters can be: Rose is the responsible one and Fern is the quirky one. But the sisters are devoted to one another and Rose has always been Fern's protector from the time they were small.

Fern needed protecting because their mother was a true sociopath who hid her true nature from the world, and only Rose could see it. Fern always saw the good in everyone. Years ago, Fern did something very, very bad. And Rose has never told a soul. When Fern decides to help her sister achieve her heart's desire of having a baby, Rose realizes with growing horror that Fern might make choices that can only have a terrible outcome. What Rose doesn't realize is that Fern is growing more and more aware of the secrets Rose, herself, is keeping. And that their mother might have the last word after all.

Kritters Thoughts:  The age old story of the good twin and the bad twin is confronted in this story as the reader is trying to figure out who is the good twin and who is the bad twin!  Rose and Fern are twins born on the same day, but that is where their sameness ends.  They are physical opposites and while grew up in the same dysfunctional home, had vastly different reactions to their upbringing.  

For me, the big thing that set this book apart from others was reading about a woman who is probably on the spectrum.  We often hear about men on the spectrum, so it was interesting to see how this same disease manifests in a woman and how that affects a different gender from what we typically think of.  I have personal experience and often in books there are males who are on the spectrum, so to see a woman living life on the spectrum was so interesting and eye-opening.

I love the twists and turns of the story, but even more so, I loved how the author conveyed the story.  With one twin recounting the current storyline while the other twin was writing journal entries, it made the book unique and of course without spoiling, it honestly really made the story work in general.  

I have read half of Sally Hepworth's work and have loved each of them.  I want to get caught up on her backlist in hopes that what I haven't read is just as good!      

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2021 Challenge: 39 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from St Martin's Press.  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.