This is an easy read, a quite enjoyable story touching on fantasy elements of psychic minds and time travel.
It takes almost 75% of the book to address these issues though having only included a couple of dramatic experiences earlier on.
As the book is reaching the climax, the time travel theme develops more.
The characters in the celebrity world are not at all likeable and the first part of the book is focusing on this group. The story improves as it develops but I felt disappointed that the main love interest could be spotted from the first chapter.
For me the story felt disjointed as the main character suddenly leaves her life and moves into a new one in a few hours - suddenly remembering a house left to her by her family but so far unused!

I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. This book was a complete departure for me from the books I normally read but it was absolutely brilliant, the characters and the story was superb, I will be recommending it to everyone I know.

Tudor history is not a period I’m usually interested in but after a slow start I got into this book. I found the present day story a little trite and the characters weren’t appealing, but maybe that was the point.

At first I found the parallel storylines very hard to follow as it jumped back and forth between present day and history.

But as I got further into the book, the relationship between the two stories became more clear and drew me in more.

Definitely an interesting way to present a historical story.

All in all an enjoyable read though I'm not rushing out to read anything similar.


**Many thanks to the publisher and netgalley for providing access to this book in return for an honest review.

The Forgotten Sister is a clever novel. It is a dual time story which uses pyschrometry as a link between past and present. The book contains a conceit., the paralleling of a whole group of characters past and present. Personality traits are reflected in the present, as indeed are names of the Elizabethan characters. For example, Elizabeth I is reflected by a famous star Lizzie Kingdom, the novel's protagonist. The book's narrative centres around the death of Amy Robsart, wife of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and the mysterious similar death of the present day Dudley's wife. The death of Amy Robsart s a well-known Historical puzzle. Was she murdered to allow Dudley freedom to marry the Queen? Was her death a suicide? Was it a terrible accident? Nicola Cornick has researched this thoroughly and offers possible and plausible theories. As an historian I found the present day characterisation initially difficult to grasp and accept. I thought them overly contrived. Once the story gathered pace and past and present interacted I began to see to see this book's brilliance and importantly it's point. It is structurally excellent. There are beautifully expressed details of place. There are surprises. Elizabeth changed as events proceeded. She became extremely likeable. The novel was page-turning and I was hooked. It has a terrific ending with an appropriate sense of closure. It's beautifully written. This is a delightful and unusual take on the Historical Novel. A world turned upside down and swirling through space and time is put to rights in another time in true Shakespearean fashion. Brilliant.

Lizzie Kingdom is a children's TV presenter, her best friend from school Dudley Lester is the lead singer in a rock band. When Dudley's wife Amelia dies in mysterious circumstances Dudley and Lizzie fall under suspicion. But there are parallels with events which happened in Tudor times where Amelia's ancestor Amy was married to Robert Dudley, first Earl of Leicester and lover of Queen Elizabeth.

Alternating between Lizzie's POV in the present day and Amy's POV in the 1500s we learn of how Amy Robsart married Robert Dudley but all too soon her husband's obsession with his childhood friend the Princess Elizabeth draws them into the often lethal politics after the death of Henry VIII. How Amy and her sister Anna sit on opposite sides of the religious division, Anna married to a papist supporter of Princess Mary and RObert Dudley's family supporting Lady Jane Grey and Princess Elizabeth.

In the present day Lizzie comes to realise that she has put her trust in the wrong people, things are not what they seem and it falls on her to uncover the truth about the Robsart family and a pattern that has repeated itself throughout history.

I guessed the truth behind Amelia's death quite early on,(view spoiler) but I really enjoyed the insights into the political machinations of Dudley and his family, the way in which a family could rise to power one minute and then be locked in the Tower of London the next.

Part history lesson, part mystery, part romance this was an engaging read that kept me on tenterhooks right to the end.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I just couldn't get into this book. I found the present day character Lizzie irritating and all of the names of the people mirroring the Elizabethan names was a bit annoying.
Sorry.

A beautiful, atmospheric, time slip novel that sweeps you off to another place and another time.
Fans of Lucinda Riley and Kate Morton will love this book, it is just sublime.

I liked the premise of the book, but it didn't quite deliver. I found it a bit formulaic and while it made pleasant enough reading didn't stand out for me.

The Forgotten Sister, Nicola Cornick

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: General Fiction (Adult) , Historical Fiction

I didn't realise this was a historical/contemporary story, thought it was a straight historical one but it wasn't an issue, as I really enjoy those kind of reads too. This reminds me very much of Susanna Kearsely's reads, stories I used to devour but somehow haven't read for ages. Having dipped back into the genre maybe I'll look for more.

Anyway, the story is in an alternate chapters past and present format. I've always felt a bit sorry for historical Amy Robsart. Back then ladies were married off for family and political allies, were just pawns in the scramble for power, and poor Amy ended up married to a fiercely ambitious man who became a favourite of the Queen. Childless, she was left languishing on his rural estates or shipped off to stay with others, while he courted the realms of power and intrigued with Queen Elizabeth 1.

Present day Amy seems in the same trap, married to a man who seems to spend more time with his childhood friend Lizzie than he does with her. Its not as simple as that though, and the parallels from the past enmesh with the present day characters. I wanted to say to Amy, shout at him, rage, don't let him get away with it but of course it doesn't work like that.

There's some great characters here. I really liked Lizzie, Arthur and Johnny, but found it hard to warm to Amy and her sister Anna. Amy seemed weak, passive and her sister Anna was angry against the world after their mother died. As for Dudley, well, sadly there are a host of selfish characters like him in all walks of life, he really was shallow and obnoxious. Its difficult to write much about the actual story with giving away details that may spoil it for some.
The supernatural element added an extra frisson of excitement and danger, and was played out in a very believable way. I'm kind of open minded about supernatural events, think back to earlier periods in history where electricity would seem like magic, where a camera that could reproduce likenesses would be seen as mysterious, and maybe its just that we don't yet fully understand everything in our world. Then read this book with that mindset and you'll really enjoy it if you like this kind of romance, very gentle and subtle but wrapped up in a delicious historical mystery.

Stars: Four and a half, a really fun read, merging past and present perfectly.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publisher

#TheForgottenSister #NetGalley
I couldn't put it down. Perfect for the fans of historical fiction with mystry.
1560: Amy Robsart is trapped in a loveless marriage to Robert Dudley, a member of the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Present Day: When Lizzie Kingdom is forced to withdraw from the public eye in a blaze of scandal, it seems her life is over.
Told in two POV'S and it did justice with both of them.
Highly recommended.