Missing sister by Joshilyn Jackson

This author never disappoints. Now that I've finished racing through "Missing Sister", I can't decide what I value most: the quirky characters, the plot, or the unique way Ms Jackson wields language to craft prose that is both natural and a Fabergé egg (for those who've read the book, yes, the metaphor is intentional). 

As always with Ms Jackson's books, it's difficult to put it firmly in a genre box, and that is a good, good thing. Mystery, yes. Family drama, also yes.  A milieu story, less so than some of her previous books. Bestseller, for certain.

I love all the Albrights and would be honoured to have them over for dinner. But, my favourite character? Gand.  Hope to meet him again in a future book.

Joshilyn, thank you for writing your wonderful books. They make my life better.

(Release date 3 March 2026)

With My Little Eye

 I! Love! Joshilyn! Jackson! And! I! Love! Her! Books! More!

That's all you really need to know. But okay, some of the things I valued about "With my little eye" were:

• the beautiful prose
• the quirky, super-interesting characters
• the heart-tugging plot
• did I mention the prose?

Read it already :-)

For those who need a blurb:

It started with the letters…

For actress Meribel Mills, disturbing fan mail is part of the price of fame. So when she starts getting creepy letters written in fruit-scented marker she is mostly unphased and diligently files them along with her other messages from unhinged fans. After all, she’s a single mom approaching forty, not the kind of hot young celeb who sparks dangerous obsessions. But there’s something different about Marker Man…

He’s been in her home…

Meribel’s sheets smell of unfamiliar cologne, and objects have gone missing around the house. Plus, the letters have become more perverse, with drawings of a naked Meribel tied up or chopped into pieces. While the police insist that stalkers hardly ever escalate to violence, Meribel has played the dead girl one too many times on TV to risk becoming her in real life. She and her daughter move from Los Angeles to Atlanta for a fresh start—but no distance is great enough.

He’s watching her…

Years of being in front of a camera have given Meribel a superpower—she can feel eyes on her, a creeping sensation like bees inside her skin. And someone definitely has her in their sights. Could Marker Man have followed her all the way across the country?

Who else might be watching—her ex-husband? The lover she left behind in LA? Her new neighbor? Suddenly, every man in her life is a suspect, but she can’t keep herself and her daughter safe from a monster she can’t identify. When the paths of all of these men collide, Meribel will find herself alone in the fight of her life, desperate to protect those she loves as danger closes in from all sides.

Mother May I

Another riveting read from my favourite author, Joshilyn Jackson. Although a stand-alone with brand-new characters, "Mother May I" continues the themes found in "Never Have I Ever". So, transgressions from the past. So, is the adult-you with children a different person from the teenage-you who committed said transgressions. And so, therefore, should you disclose everything about your history to your prospective spouse, and if you don't, is their love for you less genuine because they don't know the real you? And you - can you wrap up your wild university adventures in layers of adult life and can you store them in the past forever?

Yeah, sounds like a lot, but it's all background thinking. At the foreground we have a fast-paced domestic suspense thriller, with a missing child and a mother determined to do anything and everything to get her baby back safely.

Written in the uniquely Joshilyn voice, with her beautiful turns of phrase.

Can't wait to read it again.

Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson

Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson is a thriller, literary fiction and women's contemporary fiction all at once. Take the best characteristics of those genres, add the author's uniquely beautiful voice, mix in her beautifully unique protagonists, a role-model heroine (with a very imperfect past), a high-adrenaline plot and deep issues, and there you have it. A book that's shaping up to be the best one I've read in the last 12 months.

Joshilyn Jackson's writing voice is so ensnaring, that it almost doesn't matter what she chooses to write about: adoption, racial issues, quilting, mysterious boxes in the attic or, as is the case with Never Have I Ever, a small town mothers' book club and the guilty secrets its members hide.

The premise is straight-forward: what if you had a secret so big that exposing it would risk losing everything, from your children through your husband to your best friend? What if someone blackmailed you?

I know what you think. You expect the next line to be: How far would you go to silence them? Right? And yet, that's not the point of the book at all.

Never Have I Ever is about families, dysfunctional parents and good stepmoms. It's about friendships and eating disorders and first love. It's about scuba diving and forgiveness.

And yes, it's also about playing the game. The action moves at a truly thriller-like pace, with many unexpected-yet-in-hind-sight-totally-logical twists.

You will fall in love with the characters. You will wish the book were a lot longer. And if this is your first Joshilyn Jackson, you will be reaching for another one. Guaranteed.

The Opposite of Everybody

It's no secret that I love Joshilyn Jackson and her books. I love her and her books so much that I waited all this time (almost two years) to read "The opposite of Everyone".

The reason? Because my copy is sighed by the author, personalised for me, one of the earliest fans. And I didn't want to risk the book getting splattered on during breakfast or soaked in the bath or wear out in my briefcase.

Okay, this sounds creepy. It's not. I think.

So eventually I bought an Audible version and had the book read to me while I ate, drove, chopped, bathed and bleached. The author reads her books herself, and she does a brilliant job of it. I prefer reading with my eyes, not with my ears, but having the author read to you adds a dimension of special.

Right, This is also verging on creepy.

So. The book. Darker than most. Equally compelling. A strong unique heroine with a lovable semi-love interest. A great story. Beautifully told. You will be mesmerised.

The Almost Sisters - Joshilyn Jackson

"The Almost Sisters" by Joshilyn Jackson - in a word: WOW!

If you don't know the beautiful, slightly off-kilter, heart-warming world of Joshilyn Jackson's books, do yourself a favour and get shopping. These are books you want on your shelf, to greet you at the end of a long day; and in your car on CDs, and on your e-reader for when you have five minutes to spare at the dentist and you want to read a few pages of gorgeous prose.

"The Almost Sisters" revisits some themes from "Gods in Alabama" - racism, maternal love, the bond between not-necessarily-biological sisters, old secrets - but it offers a totally different plot and a brand-new set of characters.

You will fall in love, just as I did.

Only read the blurb if you have to. I didn't, and was happy to let the book take me places at its own pace.

BLURB:

Superheroes have always been Leia Birch Briggs’ weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comics convention, the usually level-headed graphic novelist is swept off her barstool by a handsome and anonymous Batman.

It turns out the caped crusader has left her with more than just a nice, fuzzy memory. She’s having a baby boy—an unexpected but not unhappy development in the thirty-eight year-old’s life. But before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood (including the fact that her baby is biracial) to her conventional, Southern family, her step-sister Rachel’s marriage implodes. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Birchie, is losing her mind, and she’s been hiding her dementia with the help of Wattie, her best friend since girlhood.

Leia returns to Alabama to put her grandmother’s affairs in order, clean out the big Victorian that has been in the Birch family for generations, and tell her family that she’s pregnant. Yet just when Leia thinks she’s got it all under control, she learns that illness is not the only thing Birchie’s been hiding. Tucked in the attic is a dangerous secret with roots that reach all the way back to the Civil War. Its exposure threatens the family’s freedom and future, and it will change everything about how Leia sees herself and her sister, her son and his missing father, and the world she thinks she knows.

The Novel I'm Not Allowed To Blog About

Have you ever wondered how books get all those glowing reviews just minutes after they become available on Amazon? It's because some advance copies are sent out to reviewers ahead of time, of course. Simple when you think about it.

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of reading an advanced review copy of SOMEONE ELSE'S LOVE STORY by my favourite author, Joshilyn Jackson.

The upside? It's the best book I read this year (and that's including gems like MEMOIRS OF AN IMAGINARY FRIEND and THE FAULT IN OUR STARS). Possibly the best book I've read since Joshilyn Jackson's previous novel, A GROWN UP KIND OF PRETTY.

The downside? I'm supposed to wait till November before I write the review.

So for now, take my word for it: you want to buy the book. Although it discusses difficult themes, it won't rip out your heart and stomp on it. What it will do, it'll fill you with the beauty of its words and the beauty of its world.

Diarise 19 November 2013 - that's when SOMEONE ELSE'S LOVE STORY comes out.

You can't wait. Trust me.