My review is written with thanks to Pigeonhole for the opportunity to read and review The Secret Sister.

Blurb:

Can you trust a sister who is a stranger?

Ella Matthews has it all. A beautiful house, a charming husband and a precious baby daughter – her life has pretty much turned out exactly as she planned.

But when Ella’s mother tragically dies, her perfect life starts to crack. Her mother had been harbouring a life-long secret. Ella has a sister – an older sister – called Colleen.

Excited by the thought of no-longer being an only child, Ella can’t wait to find her.

But Colleen has a whirlwind past of her own. Desperate to escape her troubles, she is ready to go to any length to start afresh.

As their paths collide, someone is keeping secrets… and when Colleen mysteriously disappears without notice, Ella can’t help but question if she should have started looking for her at all…

Review:

I’m always intrigued to know how a writing duo split their work and make it run smoothly. In Secret Sister,  one writer takes the character of Ella and one takes the character of Colleen and the chapters alternate. This works really well as it highlights the differences between the two sisters and their life experiences. Despite their differences, I really wanted them to get to know each other and build a relationship.

It is not just Ella and Colleen who are well crafted characters, but those around them also contributed to an intriguing novel. The development of Jake, Gabriel, Greg and Alfie meant that I was never sure who to trust. There was always a sense of foreboding in the air that kept me wanting to read on.

Although The Secret Sister was a little slow to start, it did gather pace towards the middle. As it did so, the tension was massive and I found myself gripping the edge of my seat, unable to be patient as I waited for the next stave.

The Secret Sister is available from Amazon.