#Review #TheSister by Louise Jensen @Fab_Fiction @Bookouture @LittleBookCafe @LittleBrownUK

JENSEN WEEK DAY SEVEN

Louise Jensen shot to fame last year following the release of her debut novel The Sister.

Selling just short of half a million copies within six weeks, Jensen’s psychological thriller was the book on everyone’s lips and kindles!

And now, just over a year later, Little, Brown imprint, Sphere have purchased the rights to the paperback and it hit the bookshops and supermarkets on Thursday! This is obviously VERY exciting for both Louise and the publisher. The Sister is available in Asda, Sainsbury’s, and WH Smith now and in Tesco from 7 September!

To celebrate this wonderful news, I will be posting an exclusive character spotlight or guest post every day for the next week, each one will focus on a different character from Jensen’s books, The Sister, The Gift, and her next novel, The Surrogate, which is out on 27 September.

On Thursday, Louise joined me to talk about Charlie Fisher, one of the lead characters in The Sister and you can read that here.

On Friday I was joined by Grace’s grandma from The Sister and you can read that post here.

Saturday saw us move to The Gift and Louise joined me to talk about main character, Jenna McCauley and you can read that here.

Sunday I was joined by Jenna from The Gift , you can read that here.

On Monday, we moved to The Surrogate, Jensen’s new book which is out on 27 September and Louise joined me to talk about one of the main characters, Lisa, you can read that here.

Yesterday, we met Kat from The Surrogate … you can read that here.

Today … well today I am sharing with you my review of The Sister.

This review is so special to me and to Louise. It was one of the first reviews I had written and it was the start of a friendship that I will treasure forever. Louise contacted me after reading this review to say that I had made her cry – happy tears of course! And she now has this printed off and on her desk and I know she sometimes reads it if she’s having a writing blip. Since then, we have shared our own personal journeys, wading into a world that we had both been looking in to for years and are now completely absorbed in, in very different ways but still, we have been each others’ cheerleaders and I am so proud of what she has achieved over the last eighteen months. She is a remarkable woman!

Sitting here and re-reading this review, I have goosebumps. I can remember exactly how I felt when I was sobbing into my pillow at 2.00 a.m. whilst reading this book, I still remember my husbands face when he woke up wondering what terrible news I’d just received – I was so emotionally invested in these characters that I was heartbroken for them in places. I remember the first bookhangover I had ever had, I couldn’t read another book for several days afterwards!

Anyway, time for me to stop harping on and share with you my thoughts on the amazing debut novel, The Sister.

My thoughts …

Wow.

Just Wow.

Well, not just wow, I am going to give you my thoughts but for a moment, just WOW!

 

In The Sister, we meet Grace, whose best friend Charlie has recently died, leaving a massive hole in her life that nothing can fill. Having been through so much heartache in her life already, Grace is really struggling to carry on as “normally” as possible. With her job and relationship on the line, will anything or anyone be able to help her? Then along comes Anna, Charlie’s long-lost half-sister. Who better to take fill the void left by Charlie than her actual sister?! But all is not as it seems, is Anna really in this for the right reasons? Can Grace ever really get to the bottom of Charlie’s secrets and move on from her heartache and guilt?

 

Jensen spins an intricate web of lies and deceit, leading the reader up and down the garden path and back again. With the story flashing back to the day Grace and Charlie met, and brilliantly moving through their lives together, switching from the past to the present, Jensen vividly allows us to see how they grew together, and what effects those formative years have on the present day.

Jensen delivers an intense and gripping narrative with shocking twists and turns that will leave you breathless, your heart in your mouth, and your emotions in tatters.

 

There are books that you will read in your life that you hate and can’t finish, there are some that you will enjoy and then forget. There are some that you will read, enjoy and perhaps recommend to your family and friends. Then, there are THOSE books, a real select few that will leave an impression on you, never to be forgotten, which you will shout about from the rooftops. I have a few of those, Enid Blyton’s Mallory Towers, Judy Bloom’s Just as Long as We’re Together, Nick Hornby’s About a Boy, Jackie Collins’ Lady Boss – all for different reasons – have stuck with me over the years and I just know that The Sister by Louise Jensen is going straight on that list.

 

The Sister is an absolutely superbly written psychological thriller; an emotional rollercoaster that will make you love, hate, cry, and loathe. But most importantly it makes you feel …

 

I genuinely cannot believe that this is Jensen’s first novel. Nothing like starting with a bang!

 

The way Jensen writes is unbelievable, I was totally absorbed in this book, the raw emotions surrounding death are heart wrenching and I can only assume that this emotion is drawn from real experiences. It is written in such a way that your heart will swell for the characters and, even if you are lucky enough to have never lost a loved one, you will be left knowing what it feels like. This book should be sold with a box of Kleenex and Pro-Plus because you will not sleep until it’s finished. It’s books like this that make me wish I didn’t have a day job!

 

There is not much more I can say without giving away spoilers, other than thank you. Thank you Louise (if I may?) for going to that writing class, thank you to everyone in her acknowledgements for not letting her give up on this book, thank you Bookouture for publishing it and thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read it in advance, in exchange for my honest review … But most of all, and again, thank you Jensen for bringing these characters to life and for taking that risk.

 

Jensen is most definitely top of my “to watch” list, I cannot wait to see what else she has in store for us.

If you haven’t already read this, you can get your copy over at Amazon

You REALLY REALLY REALLY SHOULD!!!!!

About the author …

Louise is a USA Today Bestselling Author, and lives in Northamptonshire with her husband, children, madcap dog and a rather naughty cat.

Louise’s first two novels, The Sister and The Gift, were both International No.1 Bestsellers, and have been sold for translation to sixteen countries. The Sister was nominated for The Goodreads Awards Debut of 2016. Louise ‘s third psychological thriller, The Surrogate, can be pre-ordered now and will be published in September.

Louise loves to hear from readers and writers and can be found at http://www.louisejensen.co.uk, where she regularly blogs flash fiction.