Like a Sister

A young woman who is estranged from her sister and father - a popular internet influencer and a highly-successful entertainment mogul respectively = needs answers when her sister is found dead in the Bronx, assumed to be an accidental overdose. That would never happen. She hated needles. And she would never be caught north of Manhattan. Unless she was trying to connect with the sister she hadn't spoken to ever since a fateful car accident.

I struggled a bit at first with this book. Though our protagonist is level-headed, rides a bike to get around town, and lives with an aunty in an unfashionable area while going to graduate school, there's a barrage of brand-dropping to the point that it seemed to be more about wealthy excess as a way show more of life than about solving the mystery. (I also felt the narrator's constant use of metaphors were sometimes a stretch, though there's certainly a precedent in American crime fiction to use clever similes going back to the hardboiled tradition.) But the more I read, the more absorbed I was. The damage done by excessive consumerism and display of wealth through social media is a major theme, and it's refreshing to read a Black author writing about Black people without focusing on poverty, but at the same time being honest about how racism shapes the lives of even the most successful people living in a racist society. It's honest without making it the focal point. And that's one of the strengths of the novel, it's not about white folks. I ended up really enjoying it, and it has some great twists and turns. show less

I keep going back and forth between 2 stars and 3.

I really liked this one. Sure, the sh*tnuts every other page was a bit distracting but nothing the good writing and interesting story couldn't get around. And I didn't always quite make the the leap the MC did to get to certain conclusions but again, I was drawn in to the story and didn't mind.

But I just cannot wrap my brain around the conclusion - who done it and the why. I was completely game on the reveal - surprised because I hadn't been drawn there at all. But when the evildoer's confession was given, I just. . .what?! I couldn't make the final leap and that meant it was a let down at the end.

I also don't understand what the cover has to do with anything.

I love Kellye Garrett and her writing. While this book is definitely different than her Hollywood Homicide books, it's still another great one. This audiobook is very well done and the narrator, Bahni Turpin, is talented. I always love listening to Bahni Turpin as the narrator on audiobooks and she did great with this one. She really brought the story to life, also the characters, and brought their personalities out, which added to the listening experience.
This story is a good one. It's a mystery/thriller about Lena Scott and her half-sister, Desiree Pierce is found dead. Lena becomes the unofficial detective in the case of her half-sister's death, which they claim is due to a drug overdose, but Lena doesn't think it adds up. As Lena show more starts to investigate, she finds more questions than answers to everything. Lena checking into things and trying to find/figure out what happened with Desiree brings out complicated family dynamics and relationships that have to be navigated to help figure out what happened. I love Lena and her character and this engaging and great thriller.
Thanks so much to Hachette Audio for letting me listen to and review this ALC. Make sure to check this out and give it a listen. All thoughts and opinions are my own. show less

Lena is a smart graduate student at Columbia, who is estranged from her rich hip hop mogul father and her hard partying influencer half sister, Desiree. But when Desiree is found dead on a playground, Lena suspects that this was not a simple overdose and begins to investigate her sister's life and death. While the middle section dragged a bit, Lena was a great character and I enjoyed the secondary characters as well. I look forward to more books by this author!

Like A Sister is a page-turning mystery that I found hard to put down. It is an easy read and kept my attention - so much so that I finished it in two days! Lena and her sister, Desiree, could not be any more different. Desiree was a lot to handle and Lena had not spoken to her in a few years. When Desiree dies from an accidental overdose, Lena knows that cannot be right and she begins her search for the truth. Great story, good character development, highly recommend!

When Lena's sister Desiree is found dead, no one but Lena believes it is murder. Everyone thinks Desiree just died from excessive partying. Lena knows that it isn't possible and she sets out to find who did the crime. Lena questions Desiree's friends, retracing Desiree's actions in the last weeks before she died. Finally, Lena discovers the truth, but in doing so, puts herself in danger. No one is above suspicion.
I was really excited to read this book because I read some reviews that were great, but I found it to be just OK.

A good solid mystery. Very traditional, despite all the trappings of influencers,apps,online communications,etc.A fair number of red herrings and a bit of an exploration of race,identity and family.Everything you could ask for in a mystery