Claire’s marriage breaks down whilst caring for her father who has dementia. Claire’s husband Luke thinks her father should be in a home where he can be cared for properly, and this put added stress on their marriage. Thinking that Luke is having an affair, Claire tells him to leave. Struggling to look after her dad and daughter on her own, Claire gets a mysterious message from Sophie who says she is her half-sister. Unable to get the truth from her father, Claire meets Sophie and before long Sophie has moved in with Claire and is settling into their lives…

I’ve read many books by this author and have enjoyed them all. This book is a tense and gripping thriller which will have you turning the pages quickly to find out what is going on. I liked Claire and Luke’s characters yet wanted to bang their heads together at times so they could sort themselves out! It was obviously difficult for Claire to have this unknown sister turn up and not able to get any straight answers from her father, but I did think she was very naïve in how she dealt with the situation with Luke and of course, with Sophie!! It did go to show how lonely Claire was to open her arms willingly and welcome Sophie into the family without really knowing anything about her. Luke is an interesting character and I seemed to swing from liking and rooting for him to thinking how stupid he was being!

I guessed pretty early on what was going to happen, but this didn’t detract from the enjoyment of the book – I just waiting for the characters to catch up with me!! They did eventually, and this resulted in a great twist in the tale which was placed at just the right time in the story! It certainly kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the book and I couldn’t put it down for long before the need to pick it back up took over! It was a deliciously dark and unsettling thriller which I would definitely recommend!

The Family Secret or (The Perfect Sister? My Netgalley download has one title and the cover of the book has another... ) By Sheryl Browne is a psychological thriller. Claire is going through a devastating divorce from her husband and caring for her Father who is declining from dementia. She is also raising her daughter who has a life threatening illness. On top if all this, she receives a surprising phone call from a women claiming to be her half sister. As she tries to uncover the truth musterious things in her life are happening that she can't explain.
This story started off strong for me. I was quickly intrigued and engrossed with the story. I felt for the characters and felt sorry for the Husband. There were a few things in the book that didn't work for me and that I'd love to rant about but can't without giving away any spoilers. Overall it was a quick read and even though I saw the twists coming, I did finish it. I would rate this book a 3 out of 5.

I believe now the book is called The Family Secret and not the perfect sister.

Whoa, what can I say. There was a lot going on in this book. I'll be honest, it was hard to put down. and there are a lot of twists going on through out it. I don't want to give too much away, but you will not be able to forget this book!

I love Sheryl Browne’s books and this is a great read.
Claire and Luke are struggling to cope with her father who has dementia and Luke spending a lot of time at the pub isn’t helping.
Claire is sent a photo of him kissing another woman so asks him to leave.
She then gets a message from a woman who says she’s her half sister and her once simple life, becomes very complex.
Her daughter Ella immediately loves her new Auntie Sophie but something is definitely off about Sophie.
Luke is under investigation as the woman he was staying with has disappeared and there was blood left behind.
I did feel like shaking Claire at times and Luke just drove me mad.
The story had me hooked but I guessed what was happening and was then just waiting for it to all come together.
This is a great read if you like a gripping psychological thriller.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Sheryl Browne wrote a twisted, quite a familiar tale, which was enjoyable purely on the basis of the author’s words. I was sure she was one of the authors who had dark synaptic brain waves when she sat down to write.

Claire had a somewhat loving husband, a daughter with hemophilia minor trait, and an unknown sister who contacted her via Facebook (the mention of that social media raised my antenna, and I knew the story line). Without thorough investigation, she started trusting her until things became intolerable. Husband’s infidelity and father’s slow decline of mental facilities led her to make poor decisions. But was Claire really so naive and was the sister so perfect?

Having read many of the books by this author, I was eager to get my claws…err hands into this one. And the winding roads that the characters took made me realize I was the most sane amongst them… The book kept me flipping sides at all times. Were the characters innocent or guilty? Were they guilty of the expected or the unexpected?

The ending line twisted the plot and made me shake my head at the antics of the human psyche… I meant the author’s, not her characters’. After all, it was she who wrote about that twisted lot. Barring the child, they were all weird, their reactions went into a hyperbole at all times… At one point, I had to tell them to stop reacting and start thinking… But nah they never listened to me. I was sure they didn’t listen to the author, just went about their merry ways, doing irrational stuff.

The writing kept me on the edge as I didn’t know how the author would turn the plot… Characters were unlikable, not really sure if any of them were intelligent. None of them went to work… (how did they manage their bills?) The story was entertaining purely because the author kept me guessing if she would twist the plot where I expected her to.

I have read other books by this author and loved them but this one not so much. I kept wanting to scream at Clarie because she kept jumping to conclusions about everything without any proof of any wrongdoing. The plot was also predictable by at least halfway through who took away from the fun for me. I am just going to wait for her next novel and hope it is more like her previous ones. I would still recommend this book because it is a good read.

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to read this ARC for my honest opinion.

This book was really good and had me guessing right to the end. I could not wait to see what happened next! I did feel sorry for a character though!

I’d like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Family Secret’ by Sheryl Browne in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Although Claire wants to personally take care of her father who has dementia, she decides that for the good of the family, Luke and four-year-old Ella, it would be better for him to be in a home where he can be cared for by experts. Claire thinks Luke’s having an affair and insists he moves out and when she receives a message from someone called Sophie saying that she’s her half-sister, Claire contacts her and soon Sophie’s moved into her home and is infiltrating herself into their lives. Then Ella disappears in the middle of the night and Claire starts to wonder who Sophie actually is and whether she’s been too trusting of her half-sister.

‘The Family Secret’ is a well-written and totally addictive psychological thriller that becomes more tense as it gains momentum. Though disturbing, the story is compulsive reading with intrigue, drama and a complex plot, and I’ve been unable to put it down until I’ve reached the end. It has interesting and believable characterisations, unexpected twists and turns on every page, and the conclusion is so surprising that I’ve had to read it twice. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this novel, it’s worthy of five stars and I and can thoroughly recommend it.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat from the very beginning until the surprising end. Claire and Luke are married and have a 4-year-old daughter, Ella. Claire's widowed father Bernard, who has dementia/Alzheimer, lives with them and she is his caregiver. Luke is out to the bar with his friends one night and meets Anna and the trouble begins. Claire receives a text from a woman named Sophie who claims to be her half-sister. This books takes on a lot of twists and turns and is told from different POVs. I did enjoy this book but I found the characters to be all very unlikeable. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this very interesting book in exchange for an honest review.

A fast-paced psychological thriller. This is not a slow burn start - it opens quickly with the main characters facing problems and showing cracks appearing in their worlds. The story gathers momentum as the cracks widen and I found I wanted to read on to find out what was coming next. New characters appear & being of suspicious mind, I was doubting everybody and looking for unexpected twists and turns, which came aplenty.
The scenes were set effectively and I had clear pictures of all the settings as they were brought into the story, so they must have been described well, I was involved so didn’t pause to think about it.
There were a few moments when I wanted to shake both Claire & Luke to make them see sense and connect the dots, I was obviously involved in the story. There are definitely some tense moments and twists as you would expect in this genre, an enjoyable read.

First I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture, and Sheryl Browne for this advanced copy.

I was really excited when I was approved for this ARC because this is the first book of Browne's I have read, and who doesn't love to find a new to them author? What I found was an extremely well written book, with great character development. To me, this was more family drama than a psychological thriller. I was able to pick up on the mysterious Anna, and what her involvement in the story was going to lead to.

What I really enjoyed in The Family Secret:
- I loved the alternating narratives. It was enjoyable to read different viewpoints and it made it a quick read.
- I did really enjoy the ending. The last few pages seemed a bit rushed, but Browne was able to throw a curveball in there.
- I really enjoyed Lukes character. He was handed a difficult situation with his father in law,and with trying to be a good person and help Anna out ( yes he made a mistake), his life rapidly went out of control.

I look forward to reading more from Sheryl Browne.

3.5/5

This book was next level. It was action packed and full of drama. This is the ideal book to cuddle up with on a rainy day and it's a book you binge. The writing was fantastic and never felt like the book was in a lull. I can't wait for people to read this!

This book is hard for me to review because I have torn opinions about it. I wanted to give it a higher star rating but after giving it some thought I will give it 3 1/2. The author does a good job at plot and character development, but I did feel like the ending was lacking. I also guesses a lot of the plot twists/secrets and while that is ok sometimes I want to be surprised, at least a little bit.

The Family Secret is about just that. A family secret. Claire is absolutely exhausted at this point in her life. She has to take care of her elderly father, Bernard, who has reached the violent stage of vascular dementia, as well as be the perfect wife and mother to her husband, Luke, and their daughter, Ella. After a particularly trying day she gets a message from Sophie, a woman claiming to be her illegitimate half-sister, Bernard's daughter. At first, Claire is skeptical but with her family life getting even more chaotic, she finds herself drawing closer to Sophie, even trusting her with Ella. However, she soon realizes that things may not be what they seem and she begins to worry for Ella's wellbeing around Sophie.

I could not stand the characters in this book. Luke was, quite frankly, being a bit of an idiot. I could not understand the logic behind most of his decisions and found myself wanting to throttle him. I found myself wondering what kind of relationship Claire and Luke had for her to suddenly believe the things that were being said about Luke without even giving him a chance to explain. And Sophie was blatantly obvious about what she was doing throughout the whole book.

I guessed most of the surprise very early in the book, which probably added to my irritation even more. I was not even part of the story but I could see what should have been so clear to Claire and Luke. I was not too sure about the ending though because other than what I had already guessed, the rest was a bit confusing. If anybody could understand it better than me, I would love an explanation.

To me, there were a lot of very odd occurrences during the book. The call Claire got at 4:30am was decidedly very odd to me. Without going into too much detail, I felt like that call should have happened at a different hour of the day but that is just my opinion.

Honestly, the plot was good and the part of the surprise I guessed was a nice little twist. However, the plot holes and the muddled ending threw me off quite a bit. Like I said, maybe other people will understand the ending and explain to me but I did not get it at all.

Violence: Moderate
Sexual Content: Mild. Some mention of sexual practices but not too much detail
Profanity: A few instances of proganity
Religious Themes: None
Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: One of the characters drank a lot of wine. A few scenes with drunk characters

Thank you Netgally for the advanced copy!

I am 40% into the book and I just can’t......I can’t finish. I am not enjoying any of the characters and Claire...I find her annoying which as one of the main characters I actually should feel empathy towards. This is a DNF for me unfortunately.

Thank you to Netgalley, Bookouture and Sheryl Browne for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This was a fast paced read! Once I got into it I found it to hard to put down.
Lots of twists and turns and surprises!
My first read by this Author and won't be my last.

Claire has a lot on her plate. Mostly caring for her ailing father who is struggling with the cruel disease of dementia. She has moved her husband, daughter and herself in with her Father and tries to care for him as best she can. But incidents make his care extremely difficult plus the mounting tensions between her and her husband over their new living situation is making life harder. Not to mention that their 4 year old daughter is a hemophiliac who also requires vigilant watching as one cut or fall could prove fatal.

When Claire’s husband Luke goes out to the pubs to help a friend choose a venue for the friend’s stag night, he has just had another argument with Claire. Heavy drinking leads to an encounter with a woman he thinks he’s protecting from a violent ex. But “Abby” has other ideas. A kiss between the two is captured on film by one of Claire’s friends even though Luke breaks off the kiss and tells the woman he can’t he’s married. Acting her best as distraught, she has him walk her home and he comes in briefly to see if she is going to be all right. That’s when accusations begin to fly and Abby has rung the police to say that Luke has attacked her. Now the police are on to him and Claire just can’t believe that her husband would move on and cheat so quickly after a disagreement. With photo evidence Claire feels she has no other choice but to kick him out.
But things at home are progressively getting worse with Claire’s father. When broken wine glasses are found in her child’s bed and on the stairs, Claire feels she has no choice but to have him put in a home where he can get round the clock care that he requires. When Claire is contacted by someone named Sophie claiming to be her half sister and that they both share the same father Claire can’t ignore the flashbacks she remembers of her childhood and what her mother said right before a horrible accident claimed her life.

Having no one to turn to she eventually meets up with Sophie and soon forms a close bond that helps to stave off the loneliness and all that Claire is going through. But things aren’t adding up. Inconsistencies can’t be explained and her husband’s legal woes are mounting. What on earth is going to happen next?

As you can see there is a lot going on in this book and while it was easy enough to follow, things moved at a rapid pace making me question at times some of the story’s credibility.

But all in all, I was very entertained by the novel and was never bored. A satisfying read and a big thanks to Netgalley and Bookoutre for my ARC of another good novel by Sheryl Browne.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

This is a fast paced domestic thriller which has kept me on the edge of my seat. I haven’t wanted to put this one down and have raced to the end in a matter of hours.
There are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing throughout this book. This is my first read by this author but it definitely will not be the last. I have really enjoyed reading this book and it has definitely captivated my attention and kept me hooked.
This is most definitely a page turner, if you’re a fan of psychological thrillers I’d definitely recommend this book.

One secret, one lie, one vague memory and one chance meeting all adds up to a page turner.

That one secret spirals out of control and what a mess you have !!

Claire is looking after her father who has Alzheimers , she doesnt trust or believe in her husband Luke anymore and to top it off she meets her half sister.

Everyone has their own truth; who can you believe?

Twists and turns will keep the lights on.

Dont want to give anything away, pick up this book for a great read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for a page turning read.