Category: Adult Fiction (18+), 448 pages
Genre: Women's Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Lake Grove Press
Release date: August 2025
Content Rating: PG: Very mild profanity, mild romantic scene with some kissing.
Many of our posts contain affiliate links.
affiliate partner.
Four sisters. Four clashing personalities. Four different ways of living in the world.
Sister Acts explores the impact of loss on three generations of one family –- in particular, the degree to which, to paraphrase Phyllis Chesler, women are capable of inhumanity toward other women. At times heartbreaking and at times hilarious, the novel illuminates the resilience that can come from knowing one’s roots and the estrangement that can result from trying to escape them.
Sophie Malinsky’s sudden death leaves her Left-wing Jewish family in disarray. Rather than bringing her young daughters closer, the loss creates a tangle of jealousies and recriminations. Rose, the eldest, recognizing their father’s limitations, at first tries to become a surrogate mother for her three sisters. But they resent her efforts, each one channeling – or repressing – her grief in a different way. In the absence of Sophie’s love and guidance, two sisters lose their way. Naomi moves to Mexico and tries to shed her Jewish identity. Betti ends up in Nashville pursuing a dream, never realized, of stardom as a rockabilly musician. A fourth sister, Marla, strives for dominance from an early age. Her jealousy of Rose leads to a toxic rivalry that persists well into middle age, affecting their own daughters as well. Lurking behind the conflicts is a family secret that Sophie had planned, but failed, to reveal. Decades later, when Rose finally uncovers it, the Malinskys’ saga finally comes into sharp focus.
Sister Acts Brings a Well-Developed Emotional Family Drama to Readers. The author does an excellent job of exploring the life events, challenges, personalities, and family dynamics that unfold over time. For the Malinsky family, grief, dysfunction, jealousy, and drama shape the characters (and influence their paths in life). For readers, this emotional drama is well-organized, well-developed, and realistically portrayed, making it an intense page-turner.
Expect to Find a Relatable, Provoking Story. I am an only child, so I do not have experience with my own sibling dynamics. However, I have seen complicated relationships in other families, especially after grief resolves (or doesn't). The author presents the sisters' lives and relationships very realistically, giving each a relatable personality that readers will either connect with or love to hate. I felt for Rose, understood Betti and Naomi, and know many women who are very much like Marla. While the story is built on the loss of the girls' mother, it includes family secrets, drama, events and challenges to keep the storyline moving and engaging from beginning to end.
Would I Recommend Sister Acts by Sharon Adelman Reyes? If you enjoy family dramas with strong, imperfect female characters that are emotional and thought-provoking, this novel is very well done. As the author explores the sisters' relationships and their life paths, readers will grow to understand the characters on a deeper level — and will encounter thoughts that linger after the last page.
connect with the author: goodreads
