In the age of reality TV programmes this book is as believable and surreal as it gets and does make me wonder how “close to the knuckle of truth” it is – apart from the accidental murder of one of the characters – but I don’t want to put any spoilers in here.
The relationship between the five main strong and self made rich female characters of “Goal Diggers” – Stephanie, Brett, Kelly, Lauren, and Jen is fascinating and the author makes it clear that each character has her own desires and ambitions.
I found The Favourite Sister a tough book to get into as it did not grip me from the start. But I persevered and midway through as the character started to develop that underhanded ruthlessness, I started to get more and more intrigued.
Although I really don’t get the love people have for reality programmes, to me it’s all just so fake.
The bitterness and rivalry of all the characters in this book was cleverly written by Jessica Knoll, always adding a deceitful edge to each woman as they endeavoured to climb the ladder to be Top Queen of reality TV.
The book tells the story of vicious backstabbing, false friendships and scathing accusations on social media every day of the week from each “Goal Digger” and the producers adding fuel to the fire, all in the name of TV ratings. Truly a great insight into what probably goes on behind closed doors on actual reality television programmes these days. Thankfully in real life without the murder mystery to solve.
Having seen other reviews on this book I feel I’m not alone in finding this book a bit underwhelming and had guessed the ending long before the author revealed the conclusion. So for me it was not a “must have” read, but if you like reality tv then this is the book for you.
I haven’t read Jessica Knoll’s previous bestselling debut novel of Luckiest Girl Alive but maybe that’s one for the future, as it certainly had better reviews than her follow up book The Favourite Sister.