Again - another average for Sophie McKenzie and maybe now is the time for me to hang up the YA book hat.

Similar to the first in the series - I wouldn’t rant and rave about it, but it was okay to read as a filler book

A really great teen mystery book about separated twins. Willow is such a well written character that the reader so easily becomes attached to. As usual, Sophie McKenzie knocked it out the park!

Sophie Mckenzie has done it again with Secret Sister. She has written another compelling page turner that you won't be able to put down. With characters you fall in love with and a story that will warm your heart but also shock you.

I love a book about separated twins. Gripping. Tense. Race against time towards the end. This is a fast paced book you don’t want to miss.

I am a massive fan of Sophie McKenzie and my excitement when I got approved for this book was massive. Another gripping, page-turning, thriller that I binged in one go.

Although, this book was well written and intriguing, I did prefer Sophie mcKenzie’s other books.

I felt that this plot was a little weaker but it was still interesting and revolved around twin sisters.

I would purchase for our library as the students do enjoy this kind of book.

Another good book in the series though I am probably a bit older now than the target audience. Another good book in the series though I am probably a bit older now than the target audience.

Secret Sister is the latest YA novel from the Queen of teen thrillers Sophie McKenzie. It’s told through a dual-perspective narrative, sharing the perspectives of both Asha and Willow, twins separated as toddlers. The story had me gripped from the very beginning, even as an adult reader. It is very well-paced and packed full of tension and drama, making it a fantastic YA crime thriller for teen and adult readers alike. Although Secret Sister exists in the same universe as the Girl, Missing series, the links felt tenuous so the story felt like more of a standalone book and could easily be read as one.
The cult-like island community Asha lives on was very carefully crafted and had me hooked. With a storyline involving this community and kidnapping, Sophie McKenzie has definitely continued her record of not shying away from hard-hitting topics in her YA fiction but, as always, she explores them in a way which feels age-appropriate to the target audience. This makes her books the perfect introduction to the world of crime thrillers for young readers.
One of my favourite things about Sophie McKenzie’s books is that she writes authentic teenage characters. This was particularly captured by her portrayal of the self-confidence issues that are so common in teenagers, particularly surrounding their appearance. Both Asha and Willow were very well written, strong, determined female characters with strong voices who will be relatable to teenage readers. I would have liked a slightly more in-depth exploration of Asha and Willow’s experiences getting to know the sister they didn’t know they had/thought they had lost but do appreciate that this may not have fitted in with the tense, high-action plotline very well.
I did find that the resolution of the story felt rushed and anti-climatic as a result. It would definitely have been more impactful to drag out the tension by a few more chapters. I do also think it would have been nice to have a more depth exploration of some of the other members of the island community. They were all ultimately very complicit in the illegal actions of the main antagonists of the story but this wasn’t explored in any major depth.
Overall, Secret Sister is a good YA crime thriller novel which will be enjoyed by teenage readers. I’m excited at the prospect this has of introducing a whole new generation to the world of Sophie McKenzie’s writing. I hope they enjoy it as much as we did.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I have posted an extended review on my blog www.yourschloe.co.uk and the post is linked.

I adored this! Just as I have loved Sophie Mackenzie's other books, this certainly did not disappoint! I read this in one sitting and I was gripped from start to finish.

Asha and Willow are sisters who have been separated for all of their lives, one didn’t know the other existed and the other believed her sister had died.

This was a tense and enthralling read which my 12 year old daughter really enjoyed. The connection between the girls was very well written and emotional. My only criticism would be that the ending did feel slightly rushed.

I always enjoys Sophie's books. This is no exception. This isn't as good as her other books. But it's still an intriguing and interesting read.

Intriguing setup, but a pretty bland execution. I was fascinated by the twins separate-as-toddlers premise, and the rather unexpected take of one of them being raised in a secretive religious cult that doesn't believe in modern tech (convenient, but plausible). But overall it felt much too simplistic for a YA novel. Towards the end, the nonstop coincidences, and everything that could go wrong going wrong one after the other, got tiresome.

(Review copy from NetGalley)

#SecretSister #NetGalley

YA, mystery/thriller, long-lost twin sisters, dual pov
Asha has lived in a remote island community founded on trust for as long as she can remember. When she discovers she has a secret sister called Willow, her life as she knows it comes crashing down.
Willow has always believed her twin Asha died when they were infants, but a late-night message from a girl claiming to be Asha leaves her questioning everything.

Secret Sister is a new instalment in the Girl, Missing series that works perfectly as a standalone, but I do want to acknowledge that I haven’t read the previous books, so I can’t comment on this book regarding the others.
One thing that has always bugged me when reading YA is that young characters often don’t quite feel true to their age. Sometimes that is throw-away lines about the latest social media trend or slang that you can tell were written by someone with little perspective and knowledge on that age group; other times, it’s a child demonstrating rationality or understanding of the context that they realistically would not have. Not only does this break my emersion in the story and make me like the book less, but I also just find it really cringey and sometimes will have to DNF it. What I loved about this book was that I never once felt like I wasn’t completely in the mind of 14-year-old Willow and Asha. Secret Sister addresses some tricky topics, and because of that, I probably would’ve given it a pass if I found a couple of moments where the age felt a little off, but I was incredibly impressed with just how well these topics were addressed while still remaining true to their age. Sophie never shies away from exploring the ethics of what Rose did through Willow and Asha’s point of view and their differing emotions and opinions on the situation, but it stays true to both their individual experiences and their age.
The book also starts in the midst of things which I haven’t enjoyed in previous books, but this works well with the pacing and adds to the intrigue, in my opinion. I would recommend this to younger readers looking for an intriguing and easily digestible mystery or thriller. I would also recommend it for older fans of YA mysteries/thrillers told through a well-written young teen point of view.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have read from Sophie McKenzie before as a teenager and have never been disappointed. This was ok for me.

The story follows two different points of view from twin sisters Asha and Willow. Willow always believed that her twin sister died in alongside her mother in a car accident when she was a baby. However, this changes when she gets a message stating that Asha is in fact alive. The story then proceeds in a mystery manner of Asha and Willow navigating why they have been lied to and what actually happened years ago!

This story was such a fast paced read and kept me wanting to read more however, it seemed a ling book for the story to be executed perfectly and seemed to be going backwards and forwards with what was happening in the sense of one thing happened, then that event was dismissed and so on. None the less I did enjoy reading the story and will definitely pick up from McKenzie again as I know I enjoy her works.

Even if I'm a bit over the target age I found it gripping and well written. The dual timeline and the characters are fleshed out and well rounded.
The plot is fast paced and gripping.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

To start with I want to say thank you to both NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for allowing me the opportunity to read this book before it has even hit the bookshop shelves!

First off I just wanna say Sophie McKenzie is a great author I’ve loved every other book she has in the Missing series.

However, that being said for some reason I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I thought I would. Whether that be because it’s her sixth book in the series and they are starting to seem repetitive or for some other reason, I can put my finger on why.

That being said, something I always enjoyed about Sophie’s writing is the way she writes her characters. In this next instalment of the Missing series, we get to meet both Willow and Asha. Twin sisters in which one thought the other was dead and the other not even knowing they had a sister let alone a twin.

The whole set up of how this situation came about is really interesting and from the off set screamed “Cult” to me.

Even though I only give this three starts I still recommend giving this a read!

Willow is about to celebrate her birthday but as with each year this is a sad moment as it forces her and her father to recall the deaths of Willow's mother and twin sister.
Asha and her mother live on Dimity Island, a secluded commune where technology is banned and life is simpler. Asha is about to celebrate her birthday as part of the spring equinox celebrations.
But this year, Silas drops in on Willow and tells her that her sister, Asha, is alive and living in seclusion in an island-based commune. Asha has found information about herself that rocks her world and her sense of who she is and what she and her mother stand for.
In this duel narrative YA adventure story, McKenzie builds strong female characters, not always likeable, and a highly adventurous narrative arc. Tension is built as both girls learn more about the past and the impact that past decisions have had on their present situation. Willow has always felt loss while Asha never knew her sister or father even existed. So both must face cracks in their identity story to make room for the other in their new life.
A thoroughly enjoyable story. Well constructed with strong voices and young characters that you find yourself caring about. Recommended for KS3 readers of all ages.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to read this ahead of its July 20 publication.

Another great book from Sophie McKenzie! She was one of my favourite authors when I was younger and is still writing great fiction for this age group. I loved the premise of this book - two sisters separated who eventually find each other

3.5 stars

I first read the Girl, Missing series years ago, back when I was a tween/young teen, and loved them. Coming back to the series with SECRET SISTER was a lot of fun (though I am certainly not the demographics it's aimed at anymore.) I thoroughly enjoyed rediscovering a lower YA series, which I can add to the list of books to recommend to friends looking for this overlooked age group.

It has been a very long time since I read this series, enough to have forgotten basically everything, so to me, this book read like a standalone unconnected to the main series (some googling informed me that these two girls are the nieces of the love interest in the main series - a very unlucky family, clearly.) I'm sure someone more recently familiar with the series would have found a lot of easter eggs I missed, but I enjoyed it as a standalone.

It's a pacy tale about separate sisters trying to find out the truth when they don't know who to turn to. I appreciated that some of the adults are very responsible and try to shield the kids and take on some of the decisions. (Does it work? Not really - it is a YA after all so the kids need to solve the issue themselves, but at least they tried.)

I used to love Sophie McKenzie as a child so I requested this for pure nostalgia reasons. YA is probably too old a genre for this and I don’t remember her other books being quite so young, and definitely too young for me now so I was pretty disappointed. It was quite uneventful, far too many convenient coincidences and generally just a boring plotline. Unfortunately didn’t live up to the standards I expected .