This story started out strong, with a visit between estranged sisters and a flashback to the past. I struggled to finish the story as the middle section seemed drawn out, it was slower paced and the true purpose of the storytelling seemed uncertain.
In the end I finished the story, which had a mostly satisfying conclusion.

Kat and Eleanor are sisters. Eleanor is the main character. Kat is beautiful, charming and the clever one. Eleanor knows she cant compete with her. The sisters couldn't be more different from each other. The girls have had a difficult upbringing. Their father was a strict clergyman and their mother has mental health issues.

The story alternated between the sisters at different stages in their lives. It starts off slowly and seemed to drag on at times. The characters are complex. Some parts of the book are sad and difficult to read. The story covers from Kat and Eleanor's childhood right up until the present day. The girls lives are very different to each other. I liked the authors descriptive writing. The second half of the book was better than the first especially when it hit around the 60% mark. A really nice read.

The characters, their relationships, and even the storylines in Good Girls created enough of a pull for me to keep me intrigued and curious to continue reading throughout the beginning, but I sadly and admittedly skimmed through a large part of this book. I’m not sure what exactly was missing for me and I wish I felt differently. I would certainly read another book by this author because I did appreciate and like her writing.

I had a hard time connecting with this book. The synopsis made it seem like something it wasn’t I was hoping for some light suspense and I got a bunch of people living miserable lives and feeling sorry for themselves. It dragged on and I just didn’t feel anything but frustration trying to finish it. Just blah for me

It’s really difficult to find the proper words to review this. In the beginning I was ready to completely dislike the book as it started slowly and seemed to just drag on and drag you into the feeling of sadness along with the characters so that you’re practically drowning in their sorrow. But as the story progressed you spot little sparks of hope, and discover that this book covers so many of life’s little ugly truths, such as the fact that life is so fragile. Despite my thoughts that I didn’t like it very much by the time I got to the end I felt as if I had read something great, something going places many novels don’t go.

Unfortunately just not for me. I found it quite dull and dragged out, and couldn't believe the seemingly unending list of sad circumstances that occur in one family. A tad too melodramatic for me. If i'm honest I ended up skimming most of the second half of the novel as I just really didn't care that much for any of the characters.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

This book was seriously great. Amanda Brookfield is a talented author to say the least.
The storyline was unique and easy to follow. The story itself was so easy to read and keep my interest from page one. The characters were well-developed and easy to like.

I'm seriously considering this as a book club read for my online bookc lub.

Huge fan of "The Love Child," so I was excited to read this book. Unfortunately, this just wasn't the book for me. I didn't love any of the characters and pretty much hated reading about Kat. Howard was such a loving husband and father and Kat was simply dreadful, especially to her sister. The story moved at such a slow pace for me. All the relationships throughout the book were completely dysfunctional. I felt like all the characters were completing to see who could be the worst person. Donna was definitely at the top of the list. Was anyone ever happy in the book? I felt like their could have been more about Kat and Eleanor's mom. Then Eleanor learns Kat's secret and is alone to deal with it. Would have loved to learned how Nick survived.

I say give the book a try, it just wasn't my cup of tea. Love the cover of the book. I do look forward to reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Boldwood Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Kat and Eleanor Keating are sisters, Eleanor the older of the two and this fascinating story is about their lives from childhood until the present day. They are so different physically, emotionally and with the intelligence bestowed upon them. Eleanor is grounded, hardworking and is not as beautiful as Kat, whilst Kat is a great beauty, just like her mother, whilst Eleanor’s looks are more angular and favours the paternal side of the family. Kat is the wild child, the rebel and the risk taker. Eleanor goes off to Oxford University and thereon to become a ghost writer and teacher, whilst Kat escapes their unhappy childhood as soon as she can, hits the city, becomes a model and loves socialising. Eleanor is more reserved and careful in everything she does; she lacks Kat’s self-confidence and easy friendliness.
They lose their mother to a tragic death when they are both young girls, indeed Kat hardly has any memories of her at all, apart from the fact that she was always lying on the sofa. Their mother always seems to be ill, their father, a Vicar hiding the truth from both girls and then, when he is widowed he clams up, discourages any talk of their mother and buries himself in his parish duties. The secrets of the past festered on and this is no good thing.
In adolescence the sisters lose their familiarity with each other and drift apart, Eleanor keeping a safe distance from Kat and nothing ever seems the same again. Their father is still deeply involved with his vocation and both girls cannot wait to leave the Vicarage and their closed up community. The rift between them grows and their rivalry ensures that they are destined to be distant sisters
Fast forward to adulthood and Kat is very happily married with three children, a boy and then two girls. She is self-sufficient and life seems good. Conversely Eleanor is single and lonely. She has never really mastered the conventions of making friends, indeed she has only one friend who met Eleanor when they were Freshers and stuck together as a matter of convenience at first. Then Eleanor and Kat are reunited and from thereon in they reshape their relationship to an easier level and eventually Kat begins to understand her younger sister and the ghosts of the past are at last revealed. But is it too late to settle matters once and for all?
I found the story quite a challenge at first as it seemed very slow moving. Of course the lyrical descriptive writing has to be admired and the character development was faultless. I found myself having more and more to admire about the storyboard and actually became engrossed in the story, eagerly turning the pages and enjoying every minute of this tender love story. I thought the relationship between the two sisters was really intriguing, but I liked Eleanor best of all. She was loyal and did a really good job of coming to an understanding of her sister’s actions and motives. I was shocked by her father’s remoteness and his actions, even more so as the story reached ahead towards the final few chapters. I loved the cleverly woven but unexpected finale.
I received a complimentary copy of this novel from publisher Boldwood Books through my membership of NetGalley. Thank you for my copy sent in return for an honest and unbiased review. This novel warmed up to be a good read after a slop beginning. It’s a 3.5*review from me.

Overall: 2/5 Stars
Characters: 2/5 Stars
Blurb: 2/5 Stars
Believability: 3/5 Stars
Personal Opinion: 2/5 Stars

I struggled to get through this one. The blurb on this simply does not match the story at all, giving you the sense at least that Kat is something of a perfect favorite and there would end up being some sort of intrigue or suspense surrounding that. It isn't.

Instead you get an incredibly slow and drawn out story about a variety of people living miserable lives and being kind of horrible to each other while they do it. There wasn't a character in the entire book that was appealing to me. For the most part I was either bored or trudging through some rather depressing material with no real sense of things improving. I spent most of the book waiting for something interesting to happen or for the overall mood of the book to lift and it never really did, unless you consider the last maybe 10% of the book as a lift. I didn't, so I really was not a fan of this one.

*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. Opinions stated are honest and my own.

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story of two sisters ranges far and wide, from their difficult upbringing (father stern repressed clergyman, mother sparkling and mentally ill) to their relationship to one another, and through to their various partners and friends. I liked the changing POV and time jumps, it kept me on my toes when the story got a bit long-winded and dragged on. There is redemption and resolution on various fronts, but there is a lot of darkness too (aforementioned mentally unstable mother who commits suicide, cancer, abuse of child by father). The ending was very satisfying, but for my taste it took too long to get there.

Goodreads review here (direct link not possible): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2978247459

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review.

I was really excited to read this book as the blurb is really good. It started out really well. I loved how it alternated between different characters at different times in their lives. It started dragging towards the end though and I did skim a bit to see how it ends. Overall it is a good book but just a bit slow towards the end.

I would recommend this book as I am sure others would enjoy it.

I absolutely loved this book
The authors writing style brought depth to the character.
This is a book about love and friendships and it made me feel uplifted

Unfortunately this book was not for me. I read all of the reviews and was super excited to try it, but I just could not get into it. Started off very slow and truly never picked up for me.

What a truly delightful book - there was sadness and joy, but overall it was just a really well written story, I enjoyed every page.
I think Trevor was my favourite person!

And sometimes the happy ending is absolutely justified - this is one of those times

I was a little hesitate going into this. I feel like I've read this story over and over. But this was definitely a really good book that I wasn't expecting. I loved the writing and how it drew you into the story. Great book.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher’s description: Everyone that meets Kat Keating is mesmerised. Beautiful, smart and charming, she is everything a good girl should be.

Her sister Eleanor, on the other hand, knows she can't compete with Kat. On the awkward side of tall, clever enough to be bullied, and full of the responsibilities only an older sibling can understand, Eleanor grows up knowing she’s not a good girl.

This is the story of the Keating sisters - through a childhood fraught with secrets, adolescent rivalries, and on into adulthood with all its complexities and misunderstandings. Until a terrible truth brings the sisters crashing together and finally Eleanor begins to uncover just how good Kat really was.

************
I had a really hard time getting through Amanda Brookfield’s “Good Girls.” Slow-moving through about 50% of the book, I couldn’t connect with the characters, which I think is critical in a coming-of-age story as this is presented. Eleanor felt so much older than her 40 years, which might be what the author wanted, but I kept picturing her in her 60s and had to constantly remind myself that she was younger.

While we see so much of Eleanor and Kat’s childhood in detail, there were many gaps in the current day that I would have preferred to see. And I think it might have been helpful to see hints in their childhood of what was revealed about 60% of the way through the book. I felt like this was supposed to be a book that tugged on your emotions, and the suspenseful and surprise elements really detracted from that.

And the tragedies just kept piling on. By the end, I was really thinking to myself, “Enough already,” as opposed to feeling sympathetic.

There are clearly others who loved this book, and I suspect there will be more. I really think anyone reading this could go either way to loving it or not. For me, it was a bit of a miss.

Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. This title is scheduled for release on October 8, 2019.

I found this book about two sisters spanning many years to be very good and engaging. I feel this would be a good book club read.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

4.5 stars for this book. I became really engrossed in the story, which flits between past and present and between 2 character’s stories fluidly throughout. Eleanor, our main character is easy to like, and I found myself rooting for her throughout. I also loved Nick, the other main character, and found his story really engaging. The author gives depth to all of the characters, with beautiful descriptions that help you to imagine the settings and emotions clearly. Although some parts are sad and make for difficult reading, it is ultimately a book about love and friendship and perseverance and I came away from it feeling uplifted. I’m now off to read some of Brookfield’s other books!
Thank you to netgalley, the author and publishers for gifting this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunatly this one wasn't for me, i found it very slow and hard to get into, i actually gave up a quarter way through which i would normally never do.