Review: The Favourite Sister

The Favourite Sister by Jessica Knoll
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Netgalley, MacMillan and Jessica Knoll for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.


Kelly’s sister, Brett, is dead and she is somehow responsible - or, at least in her own words, not innocent. So, by jumping from present to past, in alternating chapters, through different characters points of view, we find out what happened. Not only has there been a murder, but practically everyone has a vested interest in lying. Is it just to protect Brett’s image or is it for more selfish reasons on their part? The women in this story are all part of a TV reality show called Goal Diggers. They must be young and successful in their own right to qualify. Each woman has secrets to hide and uncovering them might lead to the answer of who killed Brett. You have Jessie, the producer of Goal Diggers, who controls whether or not you will get asked to come back for another season and seems to be willing to do anything to create an exciting storyline. She knows what happened to Brett and is complicit in keeping the truth a secret. Her underling, Lisa, does all of her biding and is known to manipulate the cast members. Lauren is the dumb blond who has a drinking problem and Jen is the vegan health guru whose empire would crumble if her fans knew she chowed down on bacon in private. Stephanie is a famous author and Brett’s best friend. She is married to Vince, a beautiful man who loves to live off of his rich wife. Is their marriage as fairy tale as it seems? Once inseparable, Stephanie and Brett had a feud at the end of last season that has divided the loyalties of “The Diggers”, as the girls are known. Brett’s sister, Kelly, is the latest cast member and Brett isn’t too happy. They are business partners but their sibling rivalry runs deep. As each chapter unfolds, you realize no one is who they seem, especially off camera. Each has their own set of secrets that, if discovered, could lead to their ruin and each of them has a reason for wanting Brett dead.

So, a little while ago I read “Bachelor Nation” by Amy Kaufman. (find my review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). One of my complaints was that I didn’t feel like I got enough reveal of what it was like behind the scenes. I admit it, I am a reality TV junkie. I watch all the Housewives and was always curious how scripted these shows actually were. Were they really fighting? Were producers feeding false information to rile them up? Did they behave in outrageous ways because they know if they don’t have a hot storyline, they will be fired? I think that I learned more of what it is like to be on a reality TV show from “The Favorite Sister”, a book of fiction, than I did from Kaufman’s non fiction, supposed tell-all. (Yes, I know Kaufman’s is about The Bachelor but there are similarities) For me, this was the most interesting and exciting part of the book. You really got to see how they shape storylines, how they retake “spontaneous” conversations four times and how production will interfere to get cast members riled up. Oh, and yes, the alcohol flows!

The murder mystery held its own and I wanted to read to the end to see what happened. The characters were well developed and complex. There were two major issues, in my opinion, that weakened the story. First at those junctures when the plot would start to move along, you would be inundated with tons of extra information that took you in different directions. At first, I would reread these parts, thinking that there was some important clue that I needed to know, or that I was missing something, but nope, it was just a bunch of junk. This really detracted from the any kind of suspense build up or sequential storytelling. Also, sometimes there would be these rantings about women’s plight in society and it felt like the author’s voice bleeding through rather than that of the character’s. This, for me, took me out of the story, making the characters sound disingenuous, and I personally don’t like being preached to, even when it is something I happen to agree with. My other issue was with the characters’ big reveals. I am all for surprises, unexpected twists and turns and being led down a path, just to have the rug pulled out from under you. I enjoy it! These didn’t seem that clever, well thought out, or even true to the character. It was just opposite. So I’ve told you all these facts and I’ve spent all this time building these characters but actually just forget it - here is something out of left field. After a while I became fatigued and just started to not believe anything I was reading. I just waited until the reveal. This is dangerous because you lose your investment in the characters. You pull out emotionally of the story.

That being said, I still enjoyed the story, it held my interest and the ending was a surprise.

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