YA, mystery/thriller, long-lost twin sisters, dual pov

Asha has lived in a remote island community founded on trust for as long as she can remember. When she discovers she has a secret sister called Willow, her life as she knows it comes crashing down.

Willow has always believed her twin Asha died when they were infants, but a late-night message from a girl claiming to be Asha leaves her questioning everything.

Secret Sister is a new instalment in the Girl, Missing series that works perfectly as a standalone, but I do want to acknowledge that I haven’t read the previous books, so I can’t comment on this book regarding the others. 

One thing that has always bugged me when reading YA is that young characters often don’t quite feel true to their age. Sometimes that is throw-away lines about the latest social media trend or slang that you can tell were written by someone with little perspective and knowledge on that age group; other times, it’s a child demonstrating rationality or understanding of the context that they realistically would not have. Not only does this break my emersion in the story and make me like the book less, but I also just find it really cringey and sometimes will have to DNF it. What I loved about this book was that I never once felt like I wasn’t completely in the mind of 14-year-old Willow and Asha. Secret Sister addresses some tricky topics, and because of that, I probably would’ve given it a pass if I found a couple of moments where the age felt a little off, but I was incredibly impressed with just how well these topics were addressed while still remaining true to their age. Sophie never shies away from exploring the ethics of what Rose did through Willow and Asha’s point of view and their differing emotions and opinions on the situation, but it stays true to both their individual experiences and their age. 

The book also starts in the midst of things which I haven’t enjoyed in previous books, but this works well with the pacing and adds to the intrigue, in my opinion. I would recommend this to younger readers looking for an intriguing and easily digestible mystery or thriller. I would also recommend it for older fans of YA mysteries/thrillers told through a well-written young teen point of view.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.