Member Reviews
Wow loved this book i was glue to it did not want it tp end a real page tuner i live the stype of writting fab read
This author has a great way of writing. Her books are interesting, fast paced and keep you on the edge of your seat.Its a psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself with a stalker and doesn't know who to trust. You can totally feel yourself in the character wondering who and why. Having read several of Shalini Boland's books already I knew I would be in for a good read before going into this one.
Started at about 4pm and finished by 11.30 pm - a true unputdownable book. This is best described as a cracking good read. Shalini Boland is such a good writer, you can feel Lizzy’s fear and frustration. A geat tale with a nice twist.
The silent sister
I’m ashamed to say The Silent Sister is only the second book I have read by Shalini Boland when someone on TBConFB recommended The Secret Mother to me (bloody amazing by the way!). I have loaded up my Amazon wish list with many more of her books - exciting!
I was completely captivated by this book and really begrudged having to do normal daily things like *ugh* go to work...!
How would I sum up this book? Creepy. Addictive. Intriguing. Unsettling.
I will be recommending this author to all my bookworm friends from now on! And it’s only 99p on Amazon right now!
4.5 stars
Thanks to Bookouture for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Wow! I didn’t see that coming...or that! When I started this book I thought, hmmm, a simply written, predictable story. The Silent Sister has more twists and turns than a wild roller coaster at Magic Kingdom!
When a book has to have a subtitles of "An utterly gripping psychological thriller" it probably isn't. This was disappointing. The twists weren'the really twists they were left turns that came out of nowhere. The ending was a surprise only because there were no clues along the way..
I received an arc copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. This book is about the bond between sisters and how strange it can be. Lizzie is being stalked with notes and finds out that her estranged sister of five years, Emma, is receiving the same notes. I enjoyed this book but without giving spoilers, I feel like the author could have added more suspense to it.
Brilliant! The suspense built throughout the book and as each revelation occurred I was pulled into a different direction. I thought I had it figured out a number of times only to have to rethink when my deductions were proven wrong. A fantastic story with a final twist that shocked me in a total OMG moment!
The Silent Sister just wasn't the psychological thriller I was hoping for.
Lizzy Beresford starts receiving disturbing letters from someone and it sends chills down her spine. But who could be sending them - a stalker? The mysterious sender seems to know everything about Lizzy, but how? She suddenly begins to doubt those that are the closest to her - her boyfriend, her estranged sister, her best friend, even her neighbors. As these letters increase she realizes that they won't stop until they have destroyed her life. Will Lizzy discover who sent these mysterious letters before it's too late?
The premise of the story was good, I had such high hopes, but soon after it started to drag on and fell flat to me. That is, until the epilogue. The epilogue is what saved this book and gave it a nice twist.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I have always enjoyed Shalina Boland’s Books but I thought this one was even better. It has it all, romance, mystery, intrigue,a very good psychological thriller. I was gripped from the very first chapter.
Lizzy lives with her boyfriend Joe. Everything in her life is good until she finds a letter, addressed to her, sticking up in the floorboards and then her nightmare begins. Lizzy then receives more of these anonymous threatening letters and realises she is being stalked. She suspects everyone from Joe to her sister, Emma, who she has not spoken to in years following an argument involving Joe.
This is a captivating book that kept me guessing. Everyone is a suspect but the final twist left me gasping. An excellent read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.
Tense psychological thriller,with a surprising twist or two. Suspense builds gradually to a quite surprising ending.
The Silent Sister is a quick paced fairly short psychological thriller.
Lizzy lives with Joe near Bristol in a rented house, contented with Frank the cat, that is until Lizzy finds a faded envelope addressed to her sticking up from the floorboards, although it is addressed to her and even has that days date on it, it looks like it’s been there years. As time progresses more letters appear and other weird things happen but who is behind it and what do they want? Well you’ll have to wait till the end to find that out and to be honest even though that person was on the shortlist I didn’t really believe it was them and never came close to the reason why they were doing it.
This is fairly fast paced and on the whole I did enjoy it, it was a quick read and didn’t take me long to finish it. Good characters and all a suspect!!!!
I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.
Excellent story. Wonderful characters and plot line. I really enjoyed it. I would recommend this book.
Another brilliant book by Shalini Boland. I still think The Child Next Door is my favourite, but The Silent Sister is just as fast-paced and thrilling. I absolutely sped through it, neglecting my own book (!) to finish it, and I have no regrets. I didn't guess the twist, so the reveal was shocking and exciting. Loved it!
EXCERPT: I could have kept my distance.
I could have carried on with my pathetic life as though nothing had changed. But that wouldn't have been right. Because everything has changed.
I'm not stupid. I know that life isn't fair. I know that some people get lucky, and others get the shitty end of the stick. But I 'm tired of it. And I can put up with a bit more shit for a little while longer if it means I get what I want in the end: to even things out a little.
Call it karma.
ABOUT THIS BOOK: ‘You don't deserve a sister…’
When Lizzy Beresford discovers a threatening letter addressed to her, the words on the old, tattered paper chill her to the bone. But who sent it? Living in pretty cottage in a quiet country village, Lizzy’s never made any enemies in her life…
Except her sister.
Lizzy hasn’t spoken to Emma in years. Not since the argument which tore their relationship apart. Would her sister really want to cause her harm after all this time?
As Lizzy receives more disturbing messages, she begins to doubt those closest to her – her boyfriend, her best friend, her neighbours.
Because the mystery sender seems to know everything about her. And after a series of malicious incidents, it’s clear they won’t stop until they’ve destroyed her life.
Lizzy knows she must confront her sister. But can she trust her? And will she realise the shocking truth, before it’s too late?
MY THOUGHTS: After absolutely loving The Child Next Door, I was looking forward to The Silent Sister by Shalini Boland. But while this is a quick easy read, it fell flat for me. The heart-pounding suspense that abounded in The Child Next Door is missing here. We keep being told that the situation is tense, but I just didn't feel it. And that, for me, is a major problem. I like to feel, to be immersed in the story line rather than being told the story.
We didn't get to know any of the characters in any real depth. It was all quite superficial. Lizzie irritated me no end. Spineless and mercurial are two words that come to mind. Selfish and immature are two more. No, I didn't like Lizzie. Or Joe. But that doesn't impact on my enjoyment of the book. I have detested the characters in some of the books I have liked the most.
There is a double twist at the end of the book. The first twist I thought was great. And in my honest opinion, the book should have ended there. It may even have earned an extra half star had it done so. But the author went and put in a second twist that was, for me, completely over the top. But that is just my opinion and I am probably in the minority here.
And I know I have said this before, but I will say it again and probably not for the last time, but I do not want to be told that there is a nail-biting twist! I want it to sneak up on me and catch me unawares.
THE AUTHOR: Shalini lives in Dorset, England with her husband, two children and their cheeky terrier cross. Before kids, she was signed to Universal Music Publishing as a singer/songwriter, but now she spends her days writing suspense thrillers (in between school runs and hanging out endless baskets of laundry).
She is also the author of two bestselling Young Adult series as well as a children's WWII novel with a time-travel twist.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Bookouture via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Silent Sister by Shalini Boland for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.
This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
The Silent Sister, the story of Liz, she lives with her boyfriend Joe and her cat Frank, manages a store and hasn’t spoken to her sister in years. Someone is out to get her but who is it? Her boyfriend, the estranged sister, the neighbor, a random stranger. Liz Zu is scared and needs to find out who is stalking her. The plot twists on this one may leave your jaw hanging opening all the way until the last page!
I'm a fan of Shalini Boland, and I believe I've read five of her previous books and rated them all highly. This one was not a total winner for me, which was surprising. It was likely because of a relatively weak lead character. I just wasn't enjoying reading about her as much as I'd like. She was too wishy-washy and made terrible decision after terrible decision. It was too rare that she showed any good judgement or strength, and that was a negative for me. I just wasn't buying all her decisions and how quickly she could go from being afraid of someone to trusting them. This one is rated highly on Good Reads, so a lot of readers enjoyed it a bit more than I did. What's good is that it is a very quick and easy read. Definitely easy to fly through in one sitting. (view spoiler)
Lizzy receives a creepy anonymous letter from a stranger... in her own kitchen. It looks old, but it has today's date on it. First suspecting her boyfriend is being a bit odd or playing a joke, she soon realizes he has no idea what she's talking about. The letters don't stop there. She can only think of one person who might be responsible: her own sister. They had a falling out years ago and haven't had a relationship since. But why now, and why like this? Or is it someone else entirely? As Lizzy begins to feel more and more vulnerable, it becomes clear she is in real danger.
I received a copy of this book from Net Galley and Bookouture, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.
I am a massive fan of this author’s books and I am always eagerly awaiting her next release, so as soon as I saw that this one was being released I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it!
Her writing style is brilliant and this book is no exception. I loved the characterisation and was gripped right from the start, to what was a fantastic ending!!
I loved the twists and I was guessing right through the story about what would happen. It was tense where it needed to be and I loved the whole thing.
Her books just keep getting better and better for me – very highly recommended and no hesitation – it is yet another 5 stars read from this author!!
Lizzy was living a happy life with her boyfriend Joe till she starts receiving threatening notes from her stalker.Informing the cops too does not help much and when the threat escalates she starts suspecting everyone around her even her estranged sister.
The Silent Sister is a fast moving suspenseful thriller.Even though I was able to guess the suspect the epilogue caught me completely by surprise and would definitely look forward to reading more by Shalini Boland
I would like to thank Bookouture & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.
WoW, what a brilliant book The Silent Sister by Shalini Boland. This author is one of my favourite psychological thriller writers to date. I just love all her books, the way she writes with lots of twists and turns, have you guessing right till the end and you will be hooked from the first few pages - Warning..........So don't open this book before you go to sleep. So this book grabbed me from the first few chapters and kept me awake all night.....Phew!!!! So glad I never had work the next day!
Brilliant Book - Big Fat 5 * from me.
I would like to thank Net Galley and Bookouture for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review