“Sister Dear” by Laura McNeill

“Sister Dear” by Laura McNeill is a heart-wrenching novel to read.  Allie Marshall has been convicted and sentenced to prison for a crime that she did not commit.  She has spent ten years of her life in prison and is finally released on parole.  She returns to her home town, to the little girl she left behind in the care of her sister, Emma.  Caroline is now fifteen years old and not a bit happy that her mother is back in town.  She feels stigmatized by her mother’s actions and is treated not very kindly by her fellow students and teachers.  Her Aunt Emma has been her “mother” in the sense that she has raised her ever since Allie went away.  Caroline pressures Allie to prove that she did not kill the coach that night so long ago.  Allie has been warned by her parole officer, the sheriff and others in the town not to pursue anything connected with the murder of the popular coach.

However, there are signs that all was not as it seemed with the coach and his players.  Someone knows something and Allie just has to find out what the truth is and prove to her daughter that she is innocent.  Emma tries to keep Caroline from being hurt and her methods are suspect to the reader.

I thought that this book was a great story.  I had many theories about the murder as I read the book, and was on the edge of my seat towards the end.  I was sent a free print copy of this book from Litfuse Publicity and Thomas Nelson Publishers, and a free Kindle copy from NetGalley.com in return for my honest review.