Chapters on Wheelz

Sometimes having everything isn’t the same as having what you need.

There are some books in a series that you read because you need to know what happens next.

And then there are books where, somewhere along the way, you realise you’ve become completely invested in the people inside them.

For me, The Sun Sister by Lucinda Riley is very much the latter.

This is book six in Lucinda Riley’s much-loved Seven Sisters series, and this time the spotlight finally falls properly on Electra D’Aplièse — the beautiful, famous and incredibly wealthy sister we’ve seen glimpses of throughout the earlier books.

If you’ve been following my journey through The Seven Sisters, you’ll know that I’ve become rather attached to these books. Each one has taken me somewhere completely different, introduced me to another sister and another part of the world, while slowly adding another piece to the enormous mystery surrounding Pa Salt.

But The Sun Sister felt different.

It’s glamorous, heartbreaking, frustrating, hopeful and incredibly emotional all at once.

And yes… it’s another very big book. 😂

But once again, Lucinda Riley manages to make a huge story feel like a journey you don’t want to leave.

Meet Electra D’Aplièse

Electra is probably the sister who is easiest to look at from the outside and think: What could she possibly be unhappy about?

She’s beautiful.

She’s successful.

She’s a world-famous model.

She’s wealthy.

She’s famous.

She has a life most people could only dream about.

But underneath all of that glamour, Electra is struggling.

Badly.

Following the death of Pa Salt, Electra turns to alcohol and drugs to try to cope with her grief, and the carefully controlled life she appears to have from the outside begins to fall apart.

And this is one of the things I really appreciated about The Sun Sister.

Lucinda Riley doesn’t try to make Electra instantly likeable.

Instead, she lets us see the difficult sides of her.

She can be selfish. She can be angry. She can push people away. She makes mistakes.

But underneath everything is a young woman who is hurting.

And that made Electra much more interesting to me.

Rather than simply being the glamorous sister, we finally get to understand what is going on underneath the surface.

And that is where her story really begins.

From New York to Kenya

As with the other Seven Sisters books, The Sun Sister follows two timelines.

Electra’s present-day story takes us into the glittering world of New York, while the historical storyline transports us to Kenya in 1939 and the years surrounding the Second World War.

And honestly?

The Kenyan setting is one of the things I loved most about this book.

Lucinda Riley has such a talent for making you feel as though you’ve actually travelled somewhere.

I could picture the wide-open landscapes, the heat, the wildlife and the sheer scale of the African setting.

But this isn’t simply a beautiful holiday-postcard version of Kenya.

There is another side to this world too.

The historical storyline explores colonial society, privilege, race, relationships and the enormous differences between the people who had power and those who didn’t.

And as the story develops, those themes become increasingly important.

That made the book feel like much more than a romance or family mystery.

Cecily’s Story

The historical storyline centres around Cecily Huntley-Morgan, a young woman from New York who arrives in Kenya in 1939 after a broken engagement. She stays with her godmother Kiki Preston and is suddenly thrown into the very different world of colonial Kenya and the infamous Happy Valley set.

Cecily was a character I found particularly fascinating.

She begins the story as someone who has lived a relatively sheltered life, and suddenly she’s surrounded by people, places and situations that challenge everything she thought she knew.

There is romance, of course — this is Lucinda Riley we’re talking about! — but there is so much more happening underneath it.

Cecily’s story becomes one of choices, survival, love and sacrifice.

And there were definitely moments when I found myself thinking:

How on earth is she going to get out of this?

Obviously, I’m not going to tell you.

But I will say that the historical storyline becomes increasingly compelling the further you get into the book.

The Happy Valley Set

One of the things that makes the historical part of The Sun Sister so fascinating is its setting within Kenya’s infamous Happy Valley society.

There is glamour. There are parties. There is wealth. There are complicated relationships.

But there is also an enormous amount of hypocrisy.

Lucinda Riley explores the contrast between the privileged expatriate lifestyle and the realities of the country around them.

And I found that particularly interesting.

The book doesn’t just use Kenya as a beautiful backdrop. It brings in questions about race, privilege, power and belonging, while also introducing the reader to different communities and perspectives within the country.

Electra’s Journey Is the Heart of the Book

For me, though, the real heart of The Sun Sister is Electra.

Her journey isn’t simply about discovering where she came from.

It’s about discovering who she is.

That might sound a little cheesy…

But honestly, it works.

Electra has spent so much of her life being looked at.

As a model, her appearance is literally part of her career.

People see the beautiful clothes, the photographs, the fame, the money and the glamorous lifestyle.

But who sees Electra?

Who knows what’s actually going on inside her head?

That’s what makes her story so emotional.

Her journey forces her to confront things she has spent a long time trying to avoid.

And slowly, she begins to understand that she doesn’t have to remain the person everyone expects her to be.

A Very Different Seven Sisters Story

One thing I’ve really enjoyed about this series is that every sister’s story feels different.

The Sun Sister is no exception.

There is still the familiar Seven Sisters formula — the present-day sister, the mysterious past, family secrets, romance, different countries and the search for answers.

But Electra’s story also brings in subjects that feel much heavier.

Addiction.

Grief.

Identity.

Race.

Privilege.

Recovery.

And the idea that sometimes you can have absolutely everything and still feel completely lost.

I think that’s one of the reasons Electra’s story surprised me.

Before reading this book, it would have been very easy to look at her life and think she had nothing to complain about.

But Riley makes you look beyond that.

Because money doesn’t automatically make you happy.

Fame doesn’t automatically make you feel loved.

And being surrounded by people doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t lonely.

The Family Mystery Continues

Of course, I couldn’t talk about a Seven Sisters book without mentioning the bigger mystery.

Because by book six, I was very invested in Pa Salt.

😂

Every book gives us more information, but somehow also leaves us with even more questions.

That’s one of the things that makes this series so addictive.

You think you’re finally getting somewhere.

Then Lucinda Riley gives you another little piece of information.

And suddenly you have another ten questions.

The Sun Sister continues to build that bigger picture while still giving Electra her own story.

I loved seeing the connections between the sisters and the wider family story appearing throughout the book.

By this point in the series, it really does feel as though all these individual stories are beginning to form one enormous tapestry.

And knowing that there is still The Missing Sister to come made some of those moments feel even more significant.

The Characters

There are a lot of characters in The Sun Sister.

And I mean a lot.

😂

But that’s part of the experience with a Lucinda Riley novel.

There are characters from different generations, different countries and completely different walks of life.

Some I loved.

Some I absolutely did not trust.

Some frustrated me.

And some I wanted to reach through the pages and shake.

Which, to me, is a sign of good character writing.

I don’t need to like everybody.

I just need to care about what happens to them.

And I definitely did.

The Romance

Of course, there is romance.

There are relationships in both the present-day and historical storylines, and they’re woven into the wider stories rather than simply being there for the sake of having a love story.

I particularly liked that the relationships aren’t always straightforward.

There are complicated emotions, difficult choices and plenty of moments where love isn’t necessarily enough to solve everything.

And that felt much more realistic.

The Sense of Place

One thing Lucinda Riley does incredibly well is make her books feel big.

Not just long.

Big.

The Sun Sister moves between New York and Kenya, across different generations and historical periods, and yet both settings feel like characters in their own right.

New York has its own energy.

Kenya has an entirely different atmosphere.

And the contrast between the two works beautifully.

The Kenyan landscape in particular is incredibly atmospheric, and the historical setting gives the story a feeling of adventure that I really enjoyed.

It’s the sort of book where you can almost feel the heat coming off the page.

Was Electra My Favourite Sister?

This is a difficult question.

I went into The Sun Sister not really knowing what to expect from Electra.

Of all the sisters, she had probably felt the most distant to me.

And yet, after spending this much time with her, I came away feeling that I understood her so much better.

I wouldn’t necessarily say she became my favourite sister — I think that would be incredibly difficult at this stage because I’ve become attached to all of them in different ways.

But I will say that Electra’s journey was one of the most powerful.

Watching her begin to take responsibility for her life and realise that she doesn’t have to remain trapped in the version of herself that other people see was incredibly satisfying.

She has a long way to go.

She makes mistakes.

She doesn’t suddenly become a completely different person overnight.

And that’s what makes her development believable.

Did I Enjoy The Sun Sister?

Yes.

Very much.

But I don’t think this is necessarily the easiest Seven Sisters book.

There are some heavy subjects here, and Electra’s struggles can be difficult to read at times.

There are also sections that are incredibly detailed.

And if you prefer a short, fast-paced read, this probably isn’t going to be the book for you.

But if you love sweeping family sagas, historical fiction, romance, secrets, complicated characters and stories that transport you around the world, then this is exactly the kind of book you can disappear into.

And at this point in the series, I think the length almost becomes part of the experience.

You don’t just read The Sun Sister.

You live with it for a while.

My Favourite Thing About the Book

My favourite thing about The Sun Sister was probably the transformation of Electra.

Not because everything suddenly becomes perfect.

It doesn’t.

But because she begins to understand that her life can be about something more than being beautiful, famous and successful.

She starts to discover her own worth outside of those things.

And I loved that.

There is something incredibly satisfying about watching a character who has been completely lost start to find her way back to herself.

Would I Recommend The Sun Sister?

Absolutely.

Especially if you’ve already read the first five books in The Seven Sisters series.

In fact, by this point I don’t think you could possibly stop.

You’ve come this far!

😂

If you haven’t started the series yet, I would definitely recommend starting with The Seven Sisters rather than jumping straight into Electra’s story.

These books are designed to build on one another, and while each sister has her own story, the bigger family mystery develops throughout the series.

And trust me — you will want those little details.

Final Thoughts

The Sun Sister is a story about what happens when the life everyone envies isn’t necessarily the life you actually want.

It’s about grief, addiction, family, identity and learning to let people help you.

It’s about discovering that your past doesn’t necessarily have to dictate your future.

And it’s about the idea that sometimes finding out where you came from is only the beginning.

I started this book wanting to know more about Electra.

I finished it feeling as though I’d finally met her properly.

And perhaps that’s the greatest compliment I can give it.

Lucinda Riley once again took me across the world, gave me characters to love and dislike, wrapped everything up in a huge family mystery and somehow made me want to keep turning the pages even when I knew I should probably be doing something else.

The Sun Sister is emotional, dramatic, beautifully atmospheric and completely absorbing.

And now there is only one more main Seven Sisters story left.

Which is both incredibly exciting…

…and slightly heartbreaking.

⭐ My rating: 5/5

Have you read The Sun Sister?

Are you Team Electra, or do you have another favourite Seven Sister?

And if you’re working your way through the series like me, I’d love to know which sister’s story has been your favourite so far. 💕