☆ The Secret Sister ✓ Brenda Novak

☆ The Secret Sister ✓ Brenda Novak

Title: The Secret Sister

Author: Brenda Novak

ISBN: 9780778317807

Page: 264

Format: Paperback

☆ The Secret Sister ✓ Brenda Novak - The Secret Sister, The Secret Sister Did she once have a sister Has her mother lied all these years Why After a painful divorce Maisey Lazarow returns to Fairham the small island off the North Carolina coast where she grew up She goes

Brenda Novak

It was a shocking experience that jump started Brenda Novak s bestselling author career I caught my day care provider drugging my children with cough syrup and Tylenol to get them to sleep while I was away, Brenda says It was then that I decided that I needed to do something from home However, writing was the last profession she expected to undertake In fact, Brenda swears she didn t have a creative bone in her body In school, math and science were her best subjects, and when it came time to pick a major in college, she chose business Abandoning her academic scholarship to Brigham Young University at the age of 20 in order to get married and start a family, Brenda dabbled in commercial real estate, then became a loan officer When I first got the idea to become a novelist, it took me five years to teach myself the craft and finish my first book, Brenda admits I learned how to write by reading what others have written The best advice for any would be author read, read, read Brenda sold her first book, and the rest is history Many of her novels have won or placed in contests such as the National Reader s Choice, the Bookseller s Best, the Write Touch, the Award of Excellence and the Beacon Award for Published Authors Brenda and her husband, Ted, live in Sacramento and are the proud parents of five children three girls and two boys She juggles her writing career with her children s softball and soccer games, field trips, carpool runs and homework sessions.When she s not spending time with her family or writing, Brenda is usually working on her annual fundraiser for diabetes research an on line auction held at her website May 1st May 31st Her youngest son, Thad, has diabetes, and Brenda is determined to help him and others like him She also enjoys traveling, watching sporting events and biking she rides an amazing 20 miles every day Brenda s Facebook page facebook pages Author

Commentaires:

Jonetta

Quick summaryMaisey Lazarow returns home to Fairham Island following her failed marriage, writer s block and need to reconnect with her troubled brother, Keith She wasn t prepared to be reunited with her high school fling, Rafe Romero who s a very different man from his teenage persona What workedThe story was interesting as Maisey s story unfolded slowly, filling in the blanks as she first seemed elusive She was frustrating at times as she appeared to lack conviction, especially when confrontin [...]

Julie

The Secret Sister by Brenda Novak is a 2015 MIRA publication I found this story to be very fascinating, with Gothic undertones, which is right up my alley Reeling from a series of emotional punches, children s author Maisey Lazarow returns home to Fairham to be closer to her brother, Keith, a man suffering from addictions, who recently attempted to take his own life But, Maisey refuses to stay at the sprawling manor she grew up in, due to the torn relationship with her overbearing and controllin [...]

Emma

Be warned, this book is neither a romance nor a romance suspense, despite its being marketed as such and the author s specialisation in the genre It all reads like a very boring report on some vaguely delineated dysfunctional family and ends with a hastily tied pink ribbon around it without ever addressing the million gaping plot holes crying to be addressed It is, in short, a tepid mess of a book that should have never been published, at least in its present form For the life of me, I could not [...]

Paula M. of Her Book Thoughts!

but secrets don t remain secrets forever Well, wow The Secret Sister is full of intensity that I did not fully expect From the second chance romance that kept me asking for to the nail biting mystery, The Secret Sister is perfect for every readers looking for an engaging and thrilling read Maisey went home in chance of helping her troubled brother What she didn t expect to wait for her though is a web of secrets that surrounds her family And Rafe, who she didn t expect to interact with either B [...]

Carrie

After her divorce and the loss of her child Maisey Lazarow returns home to the small island of Fairham in hopes of helping her brother who has had some problems of his own However, Maisey has not been looking forward to the reunion with her controlling mother after all the years that had passed Instead of staying in the family home Maisey moves into a cottage but finds herself living next to Rafe Romero who has been contracted to fix up the cottages Maisey has a history with Rafe and finds herse [...]

Betul

This story started out really strong It s of a contemporary romance with a bit of mystery thrown into it I was hooked and couldn t wait to see what would happen My favorite characters were Rafe and his adorable daughter Laney She definitely stole the show for me in this book I wish there were scenes involving her I love single parent romances I didn t know what to think of Maisey She couldn t make up her mind and that resulted in me not being able to make up my mind about her There were a coup [...]

Cristina Valencia

This book was a solid five star read It was the perfect combination of mystery and romance At times it felt like I was watching an episode of CSI, I kept coming up with theories of what could ve happened What I loved most was that in the end, I didn t see it coming Sometimes books can be a little predictable but not this one The Secret Sister kept me guessing until the very end when all the loose ends came together perfectly The conclusion was satisfying and it left me feeling really good I was [...]

Jae

That was not an enjoyable read Everyone was so hateful and selfish Not a single person was remotely like able And the story wasn t much good either Total and utterly MEH in an annoying way Another series by BN that left me fuming Still, her Whiskey Creek series takes the cake for most irritating characters story lines Book 2 next, maybe Of Course NOT Reading is my happy place And I m not happy when I m fuming So, thanks but H3LL TO THE BELLS NO.

Rose

Initial reaction Leave it to Brenda Novak to keep me up during a late night glued to one of her stories The Secret Sister falls quite firmly in the romantic suspense category revolving around a family with many complications in their relationships and a mystery that threatens to tear them apart for purported events I found myself drawn into the carefully developed characters and the overarching mystery, though I ll admit I was still left with questions that were either loosely expounded upon or [...]

(Tori-Smexybooks) smexys_sidekick

Originally posted at SmexyBooks smexybooks 2015 07 review RATING C A family, their secrets, and the consequences of those secrets sets the stage for Novak s newest mystery suspense by introducing the main players and explaining the complicated facets that make up their relationships A somber tone punctuated with bits of quiet humor and a lightweight romance permeates the story as Novak takes great pains to make us understand the volatile nature of this family s dynamics that exist under its plac [...]

Amy

I was given a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review The Secret Sister is the first book in the new Fairham Island series by Brenda Novak Novak s Whiskey Creek series is a favorite of many, but I have my ups and downs with it While I enjoy the characters and relationships that Ms Novak creates in that series, sometimes the subject matter she touches upon is a bit too dark for my taste But with this Fairham Island series, I knew going in that it was going to be a roma [...]

Rhonda Ruff

this is my first Brenda Novak book and it wont be my last Very good story and a nice sweet change of pace for me Glad i picked it up

Louisa

Oh, man, this was a really awesome book It is a bit of a mystery book, so it was like her mystery trilogies, and that was awesome, I ve been starting to miss them So awesome, can t wait to see what s going to happen in this series

Heidi

Four stars A suspenseful thriller blended with an enticing romance.Maisey stomach clenches with anxiety as she returns home to her hometown and her brother and mother Maisey and her mother have had a difficult relationship to say the least, but Maisey is coming home to support her brother Keith Keith has spent years strung out on drugs, and recently he tried to commit suicide So Maisey, despite the ruins of her own life heads home Once back on Fairham, Maisey decides to live in her family s bung [...]

Danielle

One thing I can say about Novaks writing is that she can keep me entertained and engrossed in reading her books.At first when I received this book I knew it would be different from her others but I wasn t sure if I was going to read it or sit on it for a bit while I decided I decided to read it and I m so glad I did.This book had a lot mystery then the previous books I read by her but it also had romance I have to say I m glad the romance came first in the storyline because If the mystery of th [...]

Mary Mooney

Brenda Novak has a way of pulling you into a story and makes it hard for you to leave until the end This is a new series and when I got the email wanting to know if I wanted to read it, I automatically said yes Brenda is a favorite go to author for me, I will read anything of hers and I do have some catching up to do with her other series, which I have loved reading too.Maisey has gone back home to Fairham, an island off the coast of South Carolina, to lick her wounds and try to pull he life bac [...]

Pamela(AllHoney)

Maisie Lazarow returns to South Carolina She has lived the last 10 years in New York But two years ago she lost her daughter and then her husband cheated on her Now she has no reason to remain in New York and her brother needs her But instead of moving in with her controlling mother she choses to move in one of the small bungalows her mother now owns Also living in the bungalows is Rafe Romero, the guy who took her virginity at age 16 Rafe was hired to renovate the bungalows I have loved Brenda [...]

Gail

Another great book by Brenda Novak This first book in a new series is filled with mystery and intrigue Maisey after a nasty divorce returns home to North Carolina but she refuses to stay with her overbearing brother and her brother Keith needs her and wants her to stay She ends up staying in one of the bungalows that was not too much damaged from the hurricane She ends up living next to Rafe who is living there alone raising his daughter Rafe was her first love experience when she was 16 There i [...]

Lexxie (un)Conventional Bookviews

I received a free ARC of The Secret Sister from MIRA via Netgalley in exchange of an honest and unbiased review The Secret Sister is simply fabulous The mystery unfolds slowly, and the characters are very complex, and Josephine is the kind of mother I m so happy I didn t have growing up and even later.Full review to come soon.This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog un Conventional BookviewsCoyer scavenger hunt item 29 Read a book with no magical or futuristic elements 2 po [...]

Sadie

This was an incredibly hard book to rank Especially knowing that I was lucky enough to receive this book thru NetGalley and would be writing a reader review So, grain of salt here, people.The first page of this book immediately reminded me what it was like to pick up something by an extremely talented author I d been reading okay writing for a few weeks a lot of which I DNFd so there s no reviews in my feed But Ms Novak s words felt so organic, as if it was a transcript of real life, not words p [...]

Heather Jasinski

Holy Cow I loved this book Brenda sure knows how to write a well written detailed interesting story filled with mystery, romance, and a dysfunctional family I liked the setting, characters, and the plot Maisy Lazarow returns to her hometown of Fairham after her divorce to help her heal She also returns to help her brother, Keith Maisy s mother, Josephine lives in Coldiron House which Maisy doesn t want to stay there So she ends of staying in Smuggler s Cove and the guy next door, Rafe, she knows [...]

Maureen

In The Secret Sister we meet Maisey Lazarow, a woman in her thirties who moves back to the town she grew up in to help out her brother, and to start over after her divorce But moving back doesn t only mean she can start over, it also means she is forced to have contact with her very controlling and harsh mother When Maisey moves in next to an old friend Rafe, who is very handsome and also single, she isn t so sure about this move any All Maisey wants to do is get back on her feet without any dis [...]

Nancy Stopper

This book is so much than women s fiction, or a contemporary romance its real life The author gives us a look into the lives of Maisey and her wonderful, complicated family and Rafe and his life, which USED to be simple until Maisey came along.Josephine, Maisey s mother, is hard to like I didn t like how Maisey kept bowing down to her, but in reality, its how she and her brother have learned to survive The descriptions of treatments hefted on brother were disturbing it s no wonder he turned to [...]

Marjorie

Secrets that go back decades are a mystery, especially when trying to find out what happened When an unknown sister is discovered to have existed, Maisey must and won t stop searching and talking to anyone she can to find out what happened to her The incite into how the different characters think, act, and feel are brilliantly developed by Brenda Novak I wish I could have been there to help, especially since it takes place on an island off the coast of South Carolina Maisey, who has returned wit [...]

Heather

Brenda Novak has done an amazing job again The characters of The Secret Sister are beautifully flawed and full of emotions The plot was full of mystery and surprises, and I could not wait to see what happened next I loved the different directions Maisey and Rafe s relationship took I also enjoyed the tension within Maisey s family, and all of the secrets as well The way everything was revealed was great Maisey kept stumbling upon these little things, which turned out to be very significant While [...]

Vicky

OH MY GOODNESS, I love this story The Secret Sister takes place on Fairham Island, South Carolina, where Maisey grew up She returns home to help her messed up brother and to escape the memories of her life in New York City.Because she has been estranged from her mother, Maisey not wanting to deal with her , decides to stay in one of the family rental cottages She reconnects with Rafe, who she knew from her youth Their relationship heats up, as they get to know each other again As the plot develo [...]

Lisa

Gripping from the beginning I didn t want to put this book down, when I did I was very eager to pick it back up again The heartache, love interest and mystery had me captured A well thought out story, written amazingly Brenda Novak always captures the emotions and actions in each chapter seemingly effortlessly Looking forward to the next instalment to the Fairham Island Series.

Karen

I really enjoyed The Secret Sister I normally read contemporary romance but since I love Ms Novak s other books, I decided to try this one as well I loved it The perfect combination of romance, suspense and mystery

Pam Nelson

4 The Secret Sister Stars Audible Review HERE You know what, I don t know what I was expecting but I can tell you that wasn t it In a good way, this book took me by surprise I love a small town feeling kind of book And though this book was a little like that, it didn t have the cast of characters you expect from a book like that This was an hmm and what and huh, kind of feel And there were some sad things too I think who stole the show for me was Rafe and his little girl He was himself no matte [...]

Agnes (BeaderBubbe)

Another great story The only reason I did not finish in 3 days like her other books is that I had to return to work and therefore couldnt read during the day But again this book has you wanting so I purchased 2 of Fairham Island series and cant wait to get started.Maisey gets a divorce and returns to the island from NY to reunite with her mother who is not the easiest to get along with She moves into the bungalows owned by her mom and being renovated by Rafe who along with his daughter who is b [...]

☆ The Secret Sister ✓ Brenda Novak

Brenda Novak 264 Brenda Novak

The Secret Sister