The Good Sister

My rating: 4 stars

This story is told from the alternating perspectives of fraternal twins Rose and Fern. From the outside it appears as if beautiful, petite Rose has the perfect life: married to her kind and handsome husband, Owen; thriving in her career, and trying to start a family. Meanwhile, Fern - who is on the autism spectrum and has sensory processing disorder - lives a very different life. She works as a librarian and lives a very orderly life with a strict routine and little disruption. Having had a difficult life, growing up in foster care following their mother's overdose when they were 12, the sisters have always been extraordinarily close, with Rose acting as Fern's surrogate mom. When Fern meets Rocco Ryan, a tech millionaire who shares some of her autistic traits, it disrupts her perfectly structured routine and her relationship with her sister, revealing the truth behind some long-held secrets between the girls.

That is the basic plot intro for this novel and all I can say without giving anything away. While this is classified as a domestic thriller, I don't think that genre is quite accurate. I would classify this as high family drama. There are certainly some “mysterious” events, and thrillery bits and pieces, but it is all quite predictable. It was fairly easy to see where the story was going to go pretty early on. What keeps the story interesting is how events affect the sisters' relationship and exactly what extent Rose will go to to keep Fern beholden to her.

I really enjoyed this book. While it was very easy to figure out exactly what would happen long before anything was revealed, the writing was engaging and the plot was fast-paced. The way the relationship between Fern and Rocco played out was quite enjoyable to read about and I found myself rooting for them. Overall this was a fun read and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick, interesting story with some drama but nothing too over-the-top.