Favourite Daughter is a raw and emotionally charged novel about trauma, addiction, and the lasting scars of abandonment. After the death of her estranged father, Mickey must attend therapy sessions with Arlo—unaware Arlo is her half-sister. I appreciated the dual perspectives, which gave depth to both women’s pain. Most characters were unlikeable, but still evoked empathy. The writing was choppy at times, jumping abruptly between scenes, which made it hard to stay fully immersed. A compelling premise, though the execution didn’t fully deliver for me.

3/5

I enjoyed this from the complexity of characters and relationships to the darker themes of death, addiction, friendship and values. Well worth a read.

A fascinating story about family, grief, mental health, addiction and recovery told through the eyes of Mickey and Arlo. These two estranged sisters are thrown together when their father dies and their lives change forever. This book has great characters and dark humour, and I found this complicated family intriguing.

A story of 2 dysfunctional half sisters from a toxic family background, dealing with death, grief, mental illness, addiction and abandonment. I found the two sisters to be deeply unlikeable characters. The novel is well written, albeit with a somewhat contrived storyline. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy

I would say a definite emotional and provoking read. Really enjoyed it and became totally immersed in the life of the two sisters, rooting for them. Fantastic debut and looking forward to seeing what else she writes in the future, would recommend the book!

Loved this story of Mickey and Arlo who have the same dad but have never met until their dad died and left everything to Mickey as long as she attended seven sessions with a therapist.
When Mickey visits Arlo and starts to talk about her father Arlo realises that she is her sister who her father left everything too even though Arlo looked after her father when he was dying. Mickey has anger issues as her father walked out on her and her mum when she was seven which she feels is why she does not trust any man.
This is a story about two sisters who find a way through their problems while dealing with difficult mothers and emotions a brilliant read.

I really enjoyed this book told from the points of view of two half sisters whose alcoholic father has brought them together after he died by disinheriting one and giving his first daughter the money but with provisos. Both the women have been damaged by their relationship with their father and his departure in their lives. This book looks very closely at what shapes people, what is grief, what does love look like. I imagine this book could be triggering to some people but I really appreciated Morgan Dick’s honest portrayal of a family in crisis.

Such an interesting book about addiction, families & to a certain extent, abuse. I didn’t particularly like the central characters but through the course of the book I found a certain empathy for them. The description of addiction was powerful and helped the reader comprehend what the addict was feeling & why they were compelled. It was very sad in many ways too. Enjoy might not be the right word but did appreciate & would recommend

The story is about two sisters, who share the same dad, but have never met. Micky’s dad left and never returned. He then went on to have another wife and his daughter Arlo.

After the death of their father brings them together, without them even knowing. Will the reality of their lives bring them together or tear them apart.

This book deals with some serious issues with family relationships and addiction. It is such a good read

Half sisters, Mickey and Arlo have never met. When their father dies, he shockingly leaves his fortune to Mickey, the daughter he abandoned as a young child when he met Arlo's mother, but with the condition that she attends counselling with Arlo.

My expectations: A gritty, family drama, maybe with a bit of a twist and some dark comedy,

vs. reality: An alcoholic and a spoilt brat who discover they're sisters after a very drawn out narrative. A solicitor who, despite dealing with a multi million dollar estate, sleeps in his office and gets way too involved in the personal lives of both women.

Most of the story focusses on Mickey's alcoholism and it didn't grip my attention.

2 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

A nicely crafted book - not a lot of surprises, but the relationships between the various characters are cleverly developed. I found it hard to put down.

Favourite Daughter by Morgan Dick is a novel about grief, sisterhood, and the tangled mess of family—both the kind you choose and the kind you don’t.

Mickey and Arlo have just lost their father. What they don’t know (yet) is that they’re also half-sisters. They meet at a time when everything feels raw and impossible, but somehow, they keep moving forward. Their resilience makes you root for them, even when they’re frustrating, even when they make choices that hurt. Because grief is messy, and so is family.

This book is tender, frustrating, sad, and hopeful—exactly what you want a literary fiction novel to be. It lingers in the quiet spaces between loss and understanding, where healing isn’t linear, and love isn’t always easy.

Thank you so much for letting me read Favourite Daighter early.
We follow Arlo and Mickey, half sisters though never met, until their alcoholic father past away and a bombshell hit Arlo who was a Daddy's girl.
After caring for her father her entire life, right up till he took his last breath. She later found out that he left her nothing in thr will.
Mickey, a teacher who counts down till 5pm for a drink, gets in trouble at work, finds out that the father who was always drunk around her when growing up, left after she turned 7, happend to leave her 50 grand, however the conditions of getting the money, Mickey had to attend 7 therapy sessions with a therapist he picked out, which happend to be her half sister.

I very much enjoyed how this book was written

Although I really enjoyed this book, I also found it a little unsettling. Mickey is a functioning alcoholic and teacher who gets into trouble for returning a pupil to his home rather than getting the authorities involved. This is on the way to a meeting with a lawyer who tells her that her absentee father had died and left her a substantial amount of money providing she adheres to his condition which is to attend 7 therapy sessions with a particular therapist. Unbeknownst to Mickey, the therapist, Arlo (short for Charlotte) is her half sister.

Arlo seems to have it all together, working with a renowned psychologist and getting on with her life after her divorce.

Things start to unravel for both girls the further you travel in the story. There are some very uncomfortable parts with both girls reliving their times with their father and what it meant to them.

Parts of this book are very amusing and parts are incredibly sad and distressing.

All in all it is a good read which deals with some sensitive subjects

A gripping read, flew through this as I felt invested in the story from the start. Well written and pacing, a perfect holiday read!

I’m not sure what I expected from this novel but I requested an ARC from @NetGalley because I liked the sound of the blurb.
The cover wasn’t especially eye-catching, but there’s nothing I disliked about it either.
However, it belies this great story.
Full of heart, honesty and raw emotion, Morgan Dick’s novel about two sisters who discover each other after the death of their alcoholic father is gripping and bursts with character growth.
Charlotte (Arlo), the dutiful daughter who nursed her millionaire father through the final stages of his illness, is devastated when her entire inheritance is left to the step sister she’s never met. Well, hadn’t met, until her dysfunctional father made therapy a condition of Mickey’s (said step sister) inheritance. Did I mention that Arlo is a therapist?
You can imagine the chaos and moral dilemmas that abound as a result of this irresponsible plan. Mickey has her own troubles, not least of which is an alcohol dependency, along with complete ignorance that her therapist is her step sister.
Definitely check the trigger warnings on this one, but definitely read it!
It’s a story about love, compassion, facing your demons and battling the little buggers on a daily basis. It’s a story about finding your truth and getting up, no matter how many times you get knocked down.
I lost myself in this story. Five stars from me, with thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK for the chance to read an ARC.
Favourite Daughter releases on 1 May.

While this book is well written, it is not for me. It centers around two half-sisters and addresses themes of loss, grief, addiction and abandonment. It opens with a bang where Mickey learns that her recently deceased and estranged father has left her a fortune, on the condition that she attends therapy. Then we meet her half-sister Arlo at his somewhat chaotic funeral. From there the book switches perspectives back and forth.

There was an element of the “White Lotus” among some of the characters, who were loud, amusing, chaotic and highly self-important! For me, neither daughter was particularly nice, so I found it hard to empathize.

Despite the heavy themes, it is an easy soap opera kind of a read.

Firstly thank you for reaching out and giving me an e-arc for this book.
This book was so full of emotions, both the sisters were not good great people, they were both flawed, however i love when characters are written with such multitude. I loved the plot and how it was concluded and the core emotions of the books.
If anyone read and liked blue sister's by coco mellors this one is for them.

I really resonated with this, my dad died in 2022 from liver failure and I had only been in contact with his for 3 years beforehand as we were estranged grieving him has been difficult and my sister and he were really close- fab writing, really understood grief and addiction

American half sisters, drunken father who dies leaving his daughters barely capable of surviving in modern America.
Not the kind of book that I would normally read.
It is well written, with interesting characters, a good story line and an educational theme.
The author investigates the characters of the half sisters, who meet due to the deviousness of the father, and rub along and some how everything turns out alright in the end.
Lots of people will love this book.
I liked it.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.