Book Review - The Ugly Sister by Jane Fallon

                                       

The Ugly Sister by Jane Fallon

My rating: ★★☆☆☆

Goodreads: 3.43/5

Before writing novels, Jane Fallon was originally known in the T.V world were she produced This Life, Teachers and 20 Things To Do Before Your 30. I believe she was a producer on Eastenders as well.

The Ugly Sister is Jane's forth Novel. Her previous novels are Getting Rid of Matthew, Got You Back and Foursome. 

Jane has also written six further novels which are Skeletons, Strictly Between Us, My Sweet Revenge, Faking Friends, Tell Me A Secret and most recently  Queen Bee.

Synopsis

When it comes to genes life's a lottery . . .

As Abi would be the first to know. She has spent her life in the shadow of her stunningly beautiful, glamorous older sister Cleo.

Headhunted as model when she was sixteen, Cleo has been all but lost to Abi for the last twenty years, with only a fleeting visit or brief email to connect them. So when Abi is invited to spend the summer in Cleo's large London home with her sister's perfect family, she can't bring herself to say no. Despite serious misgivings. Maybe Cleo is finally as keen as Abi to regain the closeness they shared in their youth?

But Abi is in for a shock. Soon she is left caring for her two young, bored and very spoilt nieces and handsome, unhappy brother-in-law - while Cleo plainly has other things on her mind. As Abi moves into her sister's life, a cuckoo in the nest, she wrestles with uncomfortable feelings.

Could having beauty, wealth and fame lead to more unhappiness than not having them? Who in the family really is the ugly sister?

My Review

Jane Fallon's The Ugly Sister was a very disappointing book. I was looking forward to a fantastic story-line about sibling rivalry, self confidence and a twist of romance, but instead I got repetitive descriptions of the two main characters flaws and dislikes which, just became boring and a plot that didn’t go anywhere. The overall plot could of given us some juicy story-lines, with some strong characters but nothing was really explored and just when you thought it was about to start to head somewhere good, it fizzled out. It did explore Abi's self confidence a little but even that I don't feel was tackled to its full potential. As for romance it just sort of skirted round the subject and again stopped before it got started.

The end was the biggest disappointment of all as nothing had really changed from the beginning. There was no comeuppance for the selfish sister Cleo, no romantic reunion between Abi and her brother in law. Did Abi even get into the course and fulfil her dream in the art world? It just sort of stopped as if the author couldn’t decide what was going to happen so didn’t bother to write anymore. 

This was my reason for giving two stars, I didn't hate it, I can see the potential within the book and I was able to finish it, but just felt it lacked in so many areas.

This was the first Jane Fallon book I had read and after seeing so many good reviews on her writing, I was looking forward to my first experience but although it was easy enough to read, it just did nothing for me. Maybe one day I will try one of her other novels but for now I would say I am not a fan of this book and have no interest in reading anything else by her at the moment.