Review: Secret Sister by Sophie McKenzie*

  *I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.

Title: Secret Sister
Author: Sophie McKenzie
Genre: YA Crime Thriller

Trigger warnings:  Car Accident, Cult, Death Of A Parent, Kidnapping

Rating: ★★★★  

Two sisters, two very different lives: the next edge-of-your-seat thriller by Sophie McKenzie, author of the bestselling, Girl Missing.

Asha has spent her life on an island community built on the principle of truth. But she discovers she has been lied to about something huge – a secret sister called Willow.

Willow has always believed her twin sister died years ago. So when she receives a message in the middle of the night from a girl claiming to be Asha, she doesn’t know what to think.

Can they piece together the truth about their pasts and find their way back to each other?

Secret Sister is the latest YA novel from the Queen of teen thrillers Sophie McKenzie. It’s told through a dual-perspective narrative, sharing the perspectives of both Asha and Willow, twins separated as toddlers.

The story had me gripped from the very beginning, even as an adult reader. It is very well-paced and packed full of tension and drama, making it a fantastic YA crime thriller for teen and adult readers alike. Although Secret Sister exists in the same universe as the Girl, Missing series, the links felt tenuous so the story felt like more of a standalone book and could easily be read as one.

The cult-like island community Asha lives on was very carefully crafted and had me hooked. With a storyline involving this community and kidnapping, Sophie McKenzie has definitely continued her record of not shying away from hard-hitting topics in her YA fiction but, as always, she explores them in a way which feels age-appropriate to the target audience. This makes her books the perfect introduction to the world of crime thrillers for young readers.

One of my favourite things about Sophie McKenzie’s books is that she writes authentic teenage characters. This was particularly captured by her portrayal of the self-confidence issues that are so common in teenagers, particularly surrounding their appearance. Both Asha and Willow were very well written, strong, determined female characters with strong voices who will be relatable to teenage readers. I also appreciated the blended family representation as it’s so important that young people see themselves and their family type represented in the fiction they are reading. I would have liked a slightly more in-depth exploration of Asha and Willow’s experiences getting to know the sister they didn’t know they had/thought they had lost but do appreciate that this may not have fitted in with the tense, high-action plotline very well.

I did find that the resolution of the story felt rushed and anti-climatic as a result. It would definitely have been more impactful to drag out the tension by a few more chapters. I do also think it would have been nice to have a more depth exploration of some of the other members of the island community. They were all ultimately very complicit in the illegal actions of the main antagonists of the story but this wasn’t explored in any major depth, which I thought was a shame as it could have been a really interesting plot point.

Overall, Secret Sister is a good YA crime thriller novel which will be enjoyed by teenage readers. I’m excited at the prospect this has of introducing a whole new generation to the world of Sophie McKenzie’s writing. I hope they enjoy it as much as we did.

I wanted to end this review by saying that the opportunity to read and review a new Sophie McKenzie book made me quite emotional as her books are so nostalgic for me. Her ‘Girl, Missing’ series was a favourite of teenage Chloe and still holds a special place in my heart (and on my bookshelf). It was the first book series which really had me completely enthralled and the first novels that I read in single sittings. I remember taking the first book out of the school library one day, reading it in one sitting that evening and running back to the library at lunchtime the following day to take out the rest of the series. Sophie McKenzie’s writing is so special to me for this reason and I want to thank her and Simon & Schuster for this reviewing opportunity.

Review: Stateless by Elizabeth Wein*

*I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.

Title: Stateless
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction

Trigger warnings:  War, Antisemitism, Gun Violence, Violence, Suicide, Plane Crash

Rating: ★★★★★

Stateless tells the story of the Circuit Of Nations Olympics Of The Air, Europe’s first youth air race taking place in August 1937. Although this air race is fictional, it pays tribute to the air races during the ‘Golden Age Of Flying’ in the 1920s and 30s. Our protagonist Stella North is seventeen years old and the only female competitor in the race so she is determined to prove her skill as a female pilot. Stella is representing Great Britain although she is technically ‘stateless’ since fleeing her native Russia as a toddler as part of the exiled aristocracy. On the first leg of the race, as she crosses the English Channel, Stella is witness to a horrifying attack when a fellow contestant’s plane is forced out of the air and crash lands. Although the accident is ruled accidental, Stella and the other pilots launch an investigation of their own, trying to determine if it truly was an accident or if it was actually a premeditated attack which leaves them all in danger.

Elizabeth Wein is one of my standout authors of young adult historical fiction so I had high expectations for her latest novel Stateless and it certainly did not disappoint. The fast-paced gripping murder mystery plot is perfectly executed through the captivating storytelling she has become known for and it had me on my toes throughout my entire read. The frequent twists and turns made it nearly impossible to put the book down and even made me audibly gasp at one point.

The narrative is split into multiple parts, each focusing on an individual leg of the race and taking us right across Europe. We’re given a map of the race route at the beginning of the novel and this was such a nice touch; there really is a special place in my heart for books containing maps.

Stateless provides a really interesting commentary on the politics and international relations of Europe during in the inter-war period, particularly at the time where Europe found itself on the brink of another war. The narrative explores the international understanding of what was going on in Germany under Nazi rule, including the rise of antisemitism, the work of the Gestapo and the opening of the first concentration camps. Through the character of Sebastian, the German competitor and a Luftwaffe pilot, we also get an insight into how Nazi Germany used propaganda to deceive the German population as, prior to meeting the other pilots, he has no idea about the German involvement in the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.

As with all novels by Elizabeth Wein, Stateless was clearly meticulously researched and history is seamlessly woven into the story. I particularly liked the little nods to lesser-known historical elements within the story such as Nansen passports and the 1930s Hamburg music scene.

The emotive description of Stella’s experience flying directly over the battlefields of the Great War, where the outline of the trenches remained visible as a reminder of what happened there and how recently, was truly moving. The quote “This broken landscape, these thousands upon thousands of ghosts, were our vivid reminder of what happens when there is no peace.” was particularly brilliant.

The growing friendships and camaraderie between the young pilots was fantastically written. However, one of my biggest gripes with the book is the small detail of the physical description of the Swiss pilot competing in the race. He is described as having “acne-ravaged skin” and that is the extent of the description we really get of his appearance. I’m passionate that acne should not be used as a negative appearance descriptor full stop as people, fictional or otherwise, are more than the appearance of their skin, so this was a disappointing thing to see in the story.

Throughout Stateless we have a beautiful slowburn will they or won’t they romance between Stella and Tony, although it was nice to see this included as a small supporting plot line rather than becoming the sole focus of the story, like romances can in some historical fiction works. It did seem to hint at times towards a love triangle between the two of them and Sebastian but this never went anywhere and I have to admit I was a tad disappointed. I did find myself charmed by the German pilot and I felt it would have added another layer to Stella’s inner conflict surrounding trusting someone who is meant to be the enemy.

One aspect of the narrative I didn’t enjoy was the repeated use of chapter changes mid-way through a conversation between characters. There seemed to be very little point to this and it broke the flow of the dialogue. I did also grow incredibly tired of hearing the phrase “hell’s bells” but I do appreciate that it was a commonly used phrase during the early twentieth century.

The ending of the story does open up to a potential sequel and I think it would be really interesting to return to the characters later down the line, particularly during the Second World War. I for one don’t feel ready to part with any of the characters from Stateless so would welcome a second novel with open arms.

Overall, Stateless is a powerful and incredibly gripping piece of historical fiction which has truly cemented Elizabeth Wein’s reign as queen of young adult historical fiction. It really has potential to be the best historical fiction book of 2023.

Review: The Headmaster's List by Melissa de la Cruz*

      *I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.

 Caution - This review does contain spoilers.

Title: The Headmaster's List
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Young Adult Crime Thriller

Trigger warnings:  Car Accident, Gambling Addiction, Stalking, Drugs, Underage Drinking, 'Troubled Teen' Behaviour Camps (including suggestions of child abuse), Cheating

Rating: ★★★★

The Headmaster’s List centres around a car crash involving four high school students. One is killed, one seriously injured and one of them is arrested for death by dangerous driving. Spencer was seriously injured in the crash and her ex-boyfriend Ethan is the one facing the charges but Spencer is not convinced he is guilty and decides to work to prove his innocence, despite having no memory of the events. She enlists the help of Jackson, Ethan’s best friend, and together they work to try and uncover the truth of the crash.

The Headmaster’s List is a really interesting concept and it is delivered through a fast-paced story. I wanted to love the book and it did keep my interest but overall, it just wasn’t executed as well as I would have liked. The plot seemed to move quite far away from reality in a lot of aspects and this was disappointing. For example, simple details about the crash seemed to be completely ignored by the police and the lawyers involved in the case and a teenager run true-crime podcast was able to get hold of confidential police documents that they wouldn’t even allow one of the victims to see. Spencer also recovers from a traumatic brain injury and returns to school only a week later and she is expected to recover from PTSD brought on by the crash without any proper therapy and just with the use of a therapy dog.

The narrative is broken up with extracts from other things which provide more context and support the world-building within the story. This includes podcast transcripts, extracts from the police report and extracts from Spencer’s bullet journal and it overall was a real asset to the story.

I did really like the protagonist, Spencer. She was a really likeable character who was well written and has really good morals, evidenced by her determination to prove her ex-boyfriend’s innocence despite him cheating on her for over a year. The character of Jackson also had real depth to him but – apart from therapy dog Ripley who has my whole heart – that’s about as far as likeable characters go. The Headmaster character gave me beyond creepy vibes (framed pictures of his favourite students in his office is a red flag and don’t even get me started on the elitist list of his), Spencer’s parents make practically no appearances in the story and the Detective character gives police everywhere a bad name. I did think his behaviour hinted towards some kind of involvement in the accident or in the threats towards Spencer but it never went anywhere. There are a lot of other characters introduced during the story which can be a lot to get your head around. The author’s intention may have been to build the tension by adding in additional potential suspects but I think for any of them to be considered viable suspects they needed to be properly introduced and developed rather than just mentioned in passing, like in the case of Ethan’s stalker. I would also have liked the character of Olivia to play a more prominent role in the story. Despite being Spencer’s best friend, she’s scarcely mentioned for most of the narrative, so much so that I’d even forgotten she existed until Spencer forgot her birthday party towards the end of the book.

One of the aspects of the story I struggled with is the fact that we find out very little about Chris, the teenager who died in the crash, and what we do find out doesn’t make us warm to him as he’s a pretty dodgy character. Partially this may be down to the fact that the crash opens the book so we don’t encounter the character at all when he was alive but it ultimately made it difficult for us to truly care about getting justice for him, as harsh as that may sound.

We do have non-binary representation through the character of Tabby but it honestly felt like Tabby was only pointedly identified as nonbinary as part of a diversity box ticking exercise. They are misgendered multiple times during the narrative and it’s disappointing this wasn’t spotted during the editing process.

There are big twists in the closing chapters and I won’t lie, it did make me scream and threaten to lock the book in my cellar to think about what it did. I was infuriated and it did ultimately ruin the book for me. I considered how to write this review without including any spoilers but ultimately as it was the twists which decreased my star rating, I thought it only right that I acknowledge them. Two of the big twists were predictable from very early on in the story but the third twist ultimately didn’t make sense. Nick being the person guilty of threatening Spencer was predictable as he was always a shifty character and from the opening chapters I could have told you that it was going to end up being Spencer that had been driving the car but it’s Jackson’s involvement in the car accident and his actions in the closing chapters which infuriated me beyond belief. Although I had considered Jackson’s involvement in the accident at the very beginning of the story, the character development we saw in him, the blossoming relationship between him and Spencer and the focus on him not being like his dad (a criminal serving a long prison sentence) really veered me away from this theory and made me hope the book would follow a different direction. It was ultimately really disappointing that they chose to make the character do a complete 180 just so it was something the readers didn’t see coming.

In the closing chapter we also get hints towards Spencer forgiving and reuniting with Ethan which was beyond frustrating and really went against Spencer’s character development. Whilst taking the blame for the accident might have been a very nice thing to do (if not just completely bonkers on Ethan’s part but don’t even get me started on that), it does not excuse him cheating on her.

Overall, The Headmaster’s List is a really interesting concept but it was disappointing overall. It was an easy read which did hold my attention and I did find myself desperate to have the crime solved but the book was ultimately taken in a direction which I don’t think was in keeping with the characters or story overall so I can’t rank it any higher than 3*.

The Headmaster's List by Melissa de la Cruz will be published on 2nd March.

Review: How To Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

 Caution - This review does contain spoilers.

Title: How To Kill Your Family
Author: Bella Mackie
Genre: Crime Thriller

Trigger warnings: death of a parent, descriptions of murder and death, descriptions of sex acts, references to suicide, references to drug use.

Rating: ★★★★

The Plot

Our protagonist Grace Bernard is a young woman living in London who discovers that her absent billionaire father had abandoned her and her mother both emotionally and financially, leaving her mother to bring Grace up as a single parent with a very low income. He had even rejected her dying mother's pleas for him to support Grace, who at that point was a pre-teen, after her death. As a result, Grace hatches a revenge scheme again her father and his immediate family. Grace one by one kills these family members but, before she can complete the final of her schemes and murder her father, she finds herself in prison, and for a murder she did not even commit. Whilst in prison, to kill time and avoid having to speak to her cellmate, she writes her story and this retelling forms the narrative for the novel. 

My thoughts

 As a fiction debut for author Bella Mackie (the Sunday Times bestselling author of Jog On: How Running Saved My Life), I found How To Kill Your Family to be a real page turner and one which I was able to consume over just a couple of days. Also, is it acceptable to give a book bonus points in a rating for having a title which quite frankly terrifies everyone who sees you reading it? 

You don't often expect to find humour within a novel about murder yet Bella Mackie has successfully woven comedy throughout the book. The majority of the killings take place in ridiculous ways which are almost satirical and therefore not triggering to the reader, which was one of her aims as an author. As a result of this, How To Kill Your Family is not a book full of blood, guts and gore, despite being about murder. Bella Mackie was interviewed on the Book Off! podcast shortly after the release of the novel and it was a fascinating listen. She talks about her inspiration for how she pitched the violence within the story and explained it was in response to the general misogyny of the coverage of crime. So instead of a story which focuses on the gory violence committed by a male against a nameless faceless female victim, she wanted to write a story where the violence was almost a background feature and the reader's focus was on the story and the motive.

How To Kill Your Family does lack character development in any character other than the anti-hero protagonist Grace but I found this to contribute effectively to the unusual situation where we as readers are rooting for the serial killer protagonist and feeling very little sympathy for her victims. I delighted in how clever and well thought out each of her plots actually were and we, as readers, get to inhabit Grace's mind and follow along as she plans and executes (if you pardon the pun) these murders, anticipating the details of each murder as we go along.  And dare I say it but we actually get some satisfaction when they happen, or at least I was satisfied when they took place and you can take from that what you will about my personality! 

In terms of pace, I found the narrative to be largely medium-paced although Mackie has skilfully woven in some narration of a slower pace and some faster-paced scenes. Personally I found this to be very effective as I think when you are writing something which is ultimately the written version of a character's inner monologue, you need to account for the ways in which human thoughts can vary in terms of both depth and pace dependent on a multitude of factors. There is also very little dialogue to contribute to the pace.

My original star rating of How To Kill Your Family was 3* as I found the ending, with a new character introduced in the final chapters who altered the course of the ending, to be very disappointing. But upon further research into the novel and the author's inspiration behind the plot, I've given it an additional star as the explanation this gave showed how effective a literary choice this was; I just required a little help to realise it. Reading her explanation triggered a lightbulb moment in my head when suddenly it all made sense and therefore my attitude to the ending changed! In an interview with Marie Claire magazine Bella Mackie said "This book is all about men having power over women and the system being rigged to make men win." and this provides really sums up how the introduction of Harry, a male character, was used to alter the destiny of the protagonist. Grace's primary aim in the killing of her father's immediate family was to cut off any other potential lines of inheritance for her father's million pound fortune, therefore leaving all of the money to herself. But suddenly Harry comes into the mix and gets to take that win away from Grace. I think it is also very effective that there is no dialogue or interaction between Grace and Harry in those final chapters, the ending is told through Harry's voice, reiterating the idea that in society men get to win and women don't get a say in it. It is an infuriating ending for the reader but this really emphasises the message about the female role in society Bella Mackie was trying to convey. I do, however, wish that there could have been more clarity on the reason for the ending without me as a reader having to research myself. This could have been effectively done in the form of an afterword. Based on other reviews of this novel I've read, this clarity was definitely needed for most readers as it really takes a lot of thought before you have that lightbulb moment of understanding.

I also found the subplot of the crime she didn't commit (yet found herself in prison for) very predictable from an early stage. It is difficult because I loved the concept and irony of her being imprisoned for the one murder she didn't commit yet this part of the plot fell very flat for me. I potentially would have liked this subplot to cause more tension, through a possibility of it linking Grace to her actual crimes for example. I also found this 'crime' to be very frustrating as she is ultimately convicted of something when the entirety of the case for prosecution was based on eyewitness testimonies of people who weren't even on the balcony. I understand that these flaws in the case were part of the reason she was able to launch the successful appeal needed to get her out of prison and able to carry on her murder missions but it just missed the mark for me.

Overall, How To Kill Your Family is a fantastic read for anyone with a dark sense of humour and anyone who wants a crime thriller focused on the motive and carefully planning of the killings, instead of drawn-out descriptions of violence and gore. It is a fantastic debut fiction novel from Bella Mackie and has made me very excited to read her future works.

Have you read How To Kill Your Family? I'd love to hear your thoughts!