The Perfect Sister by Sheryl Browne

☆☆
ebook, 398 pages
Expected publication: January 29th 2020 by Bookouture
About the Book:
Claire is shocked when she receives a message out of the blue from Sophie, a beautiful young woman who tells Claire that she’s their father’s secret child. Having spent years nursing her sweet little daughter Ella through a life-threatening illness whilst dealing with the emotional fall-out of a devastating marriage breakdown, Claire feels tentatively excited to meet Sophie. Perhaps she might finally have someone in the family to lean on. As Claire welcomes her sister into her life, she’s delighted to see just how much Ella loves her new Aunt Sophie. But as the pair spend more time together, Claire begins to wonder where exactly her perfect new sister came from and what kind of person she really is. With their elderly father’s mind rapidly deteriorating, is it possible that he’s hiding something from Claire about Sophie’s sudden appearance in their lives? When Sophie suggests a family day at the seaside, little Ella is beyond excited. But as Claire takes an important phone call from her demanding ex-husband, leaving Sophie in charge of Ella, something unthinkable happens. And as Claire rushes into the ice-cold sea towards the small, limp figure of her daughter, she realises that Sophie was watching the whole time. But why would Sophie want to hurt Claire’s precious daughter? Was trusting her new sister with Ella the biggest mistake of Claire’s life?

Almost everything in this book fell flat for me. Everything was really predictable, I didn't connect to any of the characters, and I didn't care what happened to them. The blurb on the book led me to believe that there would be a lot of suspense in this book, and to me, there was none. I honestly was bored throughout most of it, and there were a number of times I almost walked away from it and marked it as DNF. Additionally, I've see other reviewers mentioning that they felt it was fast-paced, and I didn't feel the same way. It could be because I was so bored, but I felt like the story dragged on, and considering the book was less than 300 pages, that's not a great thing.

I can't say I'd recommend this book, though the book has decent reviews, so I'm clearly in the minority here. I have a few other books by Sheryl Browne on my list, and I'll have to do some more research to decide if I still want to read them. The one thing I will give her is that she's a fine writer. I had no issue with her writing, just issue with the way it was executed, the end was so bad, and the story-line itself was unbelievable.

Thank you NetGalley, Sheryl Browne and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.

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