Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

South & Sexy #5

The Wrong Sister

Rate this book
An alternate cover edition can be found here , here and here.

Fiona Delaporte has an impossible assignment - to care for her newly widowed brother-in-law and his tiny daughter. (The newly widowed tall, dark and delicious brother-in-law she's secretly wanted for five long, frustrating years.)

Christian Hartley would rather spend time with anyone except the tempting woman who reminds him so much of his cherished wife. But she has six weeks leave from her cruise-liner job on the other side of the world, and seems determined to do her family duty. How can craving the wrong sister feel so right?

WARNING:Contains one hot man who always gets what he wants - in bed and out.

208 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 15, 2011

234 people are currently reading
803 people want to read

About the author

Kris Pearson

55 books147 followers
Kris writes sizzling contemporary romance, pure and simple. Well, maybe not that pure! They're sexy stories about couples who fall in love, and into bed along the way, just like real people do.

The Scarlet Bay series about the billionaire Wynn family consists of Summer Sparks, Summer Secrets, and Summer Spice.

Her South & Sexy books are set in her capital city of Wellington so she can make use of the beautiful harbor in the plots.

Her Heartlands series follows the girls who live deep in the New Zealand countryside.

Her all-time bestseller is 'Taken By The Sheikh', and there's 'Desired By The Sheikh' too.

She's now writing the Merry Summerfield cozy mysteries - lots of cats and dogs and amateur sleuthing. The first title is Murder in the Aisle, followed by Xmas Marks the Spot, Murder! they Meowed, and Body! they Barked.

For good measure, she's cloned herself! You'll now find some of her books in new, much sweeter editions under the author name of Kerri Peach.

Kris/Kerri is an advertising copywriter and a decor specialist, and the author of 'The Boat Builder's Bed', of which more than two million were downloaded free. Giving away this taste of her work kick-started sales of all her other novels.

Five of her novels are available in Spanish. There's a Spanish version of her website http://www.krispearson.com - click the flags at the top right of it to change languages.



Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
234 (27%)
4 stars
240 (27%)
3 stars
228 (26%)
2 stars
109 (12%)
1 star
51 (5%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
Profile Image for Jac K.
2,517 reviews488 followers
January 30, 2024
Ok, a little tame for me… but I love the drama. I know the double-dipping sister genre isn’t for everyone. I can get on board but prefer them to be soapy/OTT dramatic with the other sister being evil, annoying, or a bitch. I also like it when she’s alive and the H chooses the “nice” sister over the conniving one. ( Out from Under You & The Wrong Bride & The Wrong Wife) Here, both sisters are/were “nice” and the OW sis is dead.

The timeframe might be too fast for some readers. The sister has only been dead a few weeks when they start messing around. They take a break for a few months, but the entire book takes place within 7 months.

Bottom Line- Ok. The subject matter/relationship dynamic didn’t bother me… I just found it a smidge slow moving much of the time… and I wasn’t really getting many major feels. They sort of denied/put off their feelings for proprietary sake, but never had to overcome any obstacles. (no drama) The sister was mentioned A LOT and remembered lovingly by both… she even paved the way for them to be accepted. It just felt forced and awkward rather than authentic and the kid felt like a prop.

Like Fiona’s thoughts as she’s actively trying to get in his pants.

Fiona was secretly glad he still wanted reminders of Jan close to him. Somehow it proved the strength of his commitment to his lovely dead wife.

OR the random cancer PSA thrown in the middle of a conversation between the H and his MIL.

“Early detection is crucial,” Rebecca said, swinging into doctor mode. “Fiona knows to examine herself every month, even though there’s no reason to be overly suspicious. I hope you’re doing your testicles?” “Er…?”“Every month. Feel for lumps. As I said, early detection.

Or this speech after proposing…

You must have known? Jan was the love of my life, the mother of my child, but you were the spark which ignited something else entirely. So yes—I stayed away from you.” Your parents were speechless when I stopped in at Auckland and showed them my letter.” “Fancy getting rid of their son-in-law and then finding they had him back again for another go!”

I will say, I never felt like he was hung up on Jan. I thought he was loyal to her and didn't want to disrespect her memory, but I do think he thought of Fiona as an upgrade. Yes, I don't believe he would've ever left her, but the h didn't feel second best either.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Cc.
1,228 reviews153 followers
September 5, 2025
5⭐️'s of enjoyment.

4th re read, I guess ppl have a problem with the hero moving on so quickly but I take it as the hero fell for her at his wedding to her sister, he loved her and stayed away from the heroine of this one to avoid any issues while the wife was alive. I can see the issue for others, but I read a lot of things that are questionable and enjoy them, so no squicky for me. And I like this authors writing style. It does give good rage read if you want to feel offended for the dead wife/sister but I'm of a mind that the sister is in a much better place. Honestly, I watched someone very close to me get remarried 2 weeks after his wife died from a very long illness and she encouraged him to do so before her death. He was a great husband to her while alive and loved her but death is final to me, doesn't do any good to keep hurting after such a horrible few years of cancer. Doesn't mean you don't love them still, just means you have enough of a heart to love another person. Anyway, I enjoyed this and no, I wouldn't care if my husband married the day after I died. He's been amazing to me, he'd be amazing for another woman, too, and the thought of him hurting is hard to think about. He'd say the same thing for me.

og read
I really liked this one, pushed a few of my buttons. Read ages ago, but it's on KU now, so I'm rec'ing to folks who like this trope ~ bc, no harm no foul, right?

Edited to add that I like the smirk on her face, lol.
Profile Image for Tonileg.
2,243 reviews26 followers
August 10, 2012
This is a sweet romance between two people that shouldn't get together because they are family. Fiona's sister Jan died on a week ago and she is at her house trying to take care of her 2 year old niece and her brother-in-law Christian Hartley. Only thing is... she is in love with Christian since the first time she met him (at her sister's wedding!) So she hides her attraction well, only thing is... he is in love with her too! The chemistry works in this story which rides the fine line of socially acceptable without being actually incest.
I did respect that Fiona and Christian never acted on thier attraction for each other in the five years of Christian and Jan's wedded years. But it is too quick that only a week after her death, or perhaps it was a month when they jump into the sack together. I did like the waiting afterwards for months before making their relationship known to the family and friends.
This does touch into the dangerous gray area of how long a widower should wait before starting a new relationship, as well as the dating (loving) of sisters (even if one has died before the new relationship).
There were quite of few missing words which threw me out of the story, the dialogue needs to be worked and edited better.
3 stars for a cute story.
203 reviews
January 2, 2012
Im not sure how I feel about this book.. If the timeline had been a bit longer- instead of days and weeks after the H's wife and h's sister passed I think I would have liked it better.. That was a hold up for me.. It had its moments but just not enough for me.. Thank Goodness it was free
Profile Image for Clare O'Beara.
Author 25 books371 followers
May 29, 2019
In this story, a man has been widowed when breast cancer took his wife and the mother of his small child. Her sister comes to stay over Christmas. I was quite uncomfortable with the fact that the wife was a week dead and these two adults were lusting after each other. To be fair, so were they. I think they could definitely have made more effort, even arranged for someone else to visit too.

We do get a discussion of breast cancer and relatives, a well considered touch. The later part of the story leaves the city and visits the New Zealand countryside, before the lady has to return to the cruise ship on which she works. See what you think.

Mature romance scenes make this novella a tale for adults.
I downloaded a copy from Instafreebie. This is an unbiased review.
Profile Image for Milena.
414 reviews3 followers
June 28, 2012
Different that's for sure. The short period in which Fiona and Christian got together after Fiona's sisters death really ruined it for me. To think that Christian was married to one sister but desiring the other - to me it's still the same as cheating - yuk! I found myself skimming a lot of pages just to get through it. At least the ending justified the means.
Profile Image for Xiamera.
434 reviews16 followers
October 11, 2016
There was just something creepy about this book. It wasn't the subject matter. Instead, it was how it was approached and how Christian kept remarking that Fiona was a better version of Jan. I didn't like that basically from the time the characters laid eyes on each other, they were attracted to each other and it was so bad that they had to avoid each other during the time Jan was alive. I'm reminded of a book I read but in that instance the two women were friends and not sisters. In that book, the budding relationship was handled better. In this one, we don't even get a reaction from the parents. There's a lot of self-castigation on each side which was pointless to me. I might have liked it better if it had been a slow building romance that came from the Fiona being a comfort to Christian instead of him basically regretting that he hadn't met Fiona first instead of Jan. They could've just gone full steam ahead, hit a road block (parents/friends being shocked) then the offended parties reconciling with the idea when they see how miserable they are apart. I didn't find anything sexy or romantic about the story and if I hadn't committed to reading it for a challenge, I would've marked it dnf.
Profile Image for Beth.
2,907 reviews26 followers
June 23, 2017
Just couldn't do it...way too high an ick factor. I gave it a while but after the lusting scene where it specifically says his beloved wife has only been dead for eight days I just couldn't keep reading. Just felt wrong. It may be that later there is some explanation to make it less repugnant (probably the sister left letters for both of them saying she always knew they had the hots for each other and they should go for it and be happy!! Too cliche and ridiculous!) but I need to like the characters in a book I'm reading and want them to triumph and get their HEA. I just couldn't do it here.
Profile Image for shms.
1,414 reviews
November 8, 2016
I picked this up because I remember a Sally Tyler Hayes book which I really enjoyed about a widower and the h was his sis-in-law. That I enjoyed, this was a no no, sooooo messed up. Others have mentioned this, but the time line was all wrong. Just too soon after the wife/sister dying for me to feel in anyway comfortable even reading this. 20% in I skimmed the rest. I was surprised at my strong reaction, it really made me feel icky.
Profile Image for Lissy LeBlanc.
56 reviews1 follower
March 21, 2020
It leaves a bad taste in my mouth, I agree with Milena, it's kind of borderline cheating I think. It is so damn weird af.

Aside from that starting plot, I would be more fine with the storyline starting that the H has a falling out relationship with his wife, because of his job or something... And so his wife cheated on him and got in accident... And then this happened, the attraction to her sister happens after a few month... Like you can continue with the h has to stays with the H to take care of her niece....

I like how through out the story the sexual tension panned out

But what dampened it, the shadow of his wife and her sister... Gahhh yikes. This is sooo complicated. I mean author would you like to be in the wife situation, looking in your husband and your sister together?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
149 reviews
March 2, 2016
Falling in love with your sister's brand new husband at their wedding is bad juju!

Fiona didn't meet Christian until her sister, Jan married him, but there were some pretty serious electrical currents swirling around them from that first sight. Over the years, they coped with the situation by avoiding each other when Fiona would come to visit. Christian would take off with his friends or business associates to avoid the temptations. For Christian's part, he loved Jan, but there was something about Fiona that tempted him unlike any other. Luckily, Fiona worked aboard a cruise ship that sailed in the Med and they didn't see each other very often.

Fiona's sister, Jan, got sick with breast cancer after she had their daughter and eventually died from the horrible disease. Fiona took time off to be with her family, Christian and her little niece and to help them adjust to not having Jan. Neither Christian nor Fiona knew how the other felt about them and the circumstances couldn't have been worse. How do you cope with knowing you love your recently deceased sister's husband, but can't do anything about it?

It sounds like a horrible situation to deal with, and then mix in Fiona getting hurt in Christian's garage and it becomes a morbid comedy that steals your heart. Give it a chance and enjoy the unlikely love of Christian and Fiona.
Profile Image for Amber Daniels.
Author 3 books28 followers
June 27, 2016
Ok so in this book the sister has just died and the little sister has come to help take care of the child. The widow doesn't want her there but not because it bothers him to see his sister in law all the time but because he has the hots for her and she has them for him too. but neither will act on it out of guilt. I couldn't finish this book because I just think that it would be poor taste to have a thing for your recently dead sisters husband and to know that the whole time said sister was dying you were staying away from her because you didn't think you could keep your hands off her husband. seriously just not for me!
Profile Image for Will Decker.
Author 23 books17 followers
March 24, 2016
I think at some point in time everyone has encountered someone they view as 'forbidden fruit'. They may be forbidden to you because of your current relationship, or their current relationship, or a completely different set of reasons. But whatever the reason, this story is something most people can relate to on some level. The author did a fine job of elongating the sexual tension throughout the story and keeping it interesting without becoming overly repetitive. The editing could be cleaner, but all in all a nice romantic piece.
Profile Image for E.
122 reviews8 followers
January 2, 2023
It was a nice adult romance read. It was free on amazon kindle so I thought why not?
I was a little bit uneasy with the whole situation at first. You have Fiona who's been crushing on her brother-in-law for years, there's Christian, a newly widower, who also has strong feelings for Fiona but tries to fight them because of the recent death of his wife. I was curious at first as to how the author would develop the characters' relationship. I really like how things turned out in the end. It was sexy, heart-warming and a very nice read :)!
Profile Image for Lucia.
591 reviews6 followers
May 14, 2017
4.5☆ - Heartwarming second chance romance that stems from a painful heartache.

The Other Sister is a heartwarming second chance romance that stems from a painful heartache. When I first started reading this book, I was initially hesitant as to how the book would play out given the blurb and title but this book is beautifully written with such delicacy and sensitivity, despite appearing fast paced, that it makes a really enjoyable, emotional, and unique read.

Would definitely recommend to any romance fans!

*Purchased The Wrong Sister on Amazon UK
Profile Image for Tia.
Author 10 books142 followers
August 8, 2012
It was well written but it bothered me because the relationship the hero and heroine have is based on society views. You can't help who you fall in love with or who you are physically or sexually attracted to. Yet in this book they fight the feelings believing they are wrong. It was sad to watch them struggle. Especially when all they had to do was to tell the world to screw themselves and follow their heart.
Profile Image for Kelly.
1,523 reviews
October 23, 2020
The wrong sister

Meh, i struggled with this one. How much could he have loved his wife if he's had feelings for the sister all these years. If the attraction was that instant he should never have gone through with the wedding, i don't know maybe that would have made a better book, i just thought he was a coward who took the easy way out and made himself scarce when she visited. He should have manned up and gone for what he wanted in the first place!!
Profile Image for Coco.V.
50k reviews132 followers
Want to read
January 27, 2022
🎁 FREE on Amazon today (8/23/2020)! 🎁
23 reviews3 followers
October 23, 2025
Good idea, bad execution, and who lusts for your wife’s sister a week after her death?

I couldn’t get into it and after trying for weeks, I finally gave up. Here’s the thing: it’s been a week or so since your sister’s death and you come to “help.” 40% in I see no actual help. The both MMCs spent years avoiding each other after they met before her sister and he got married. Because they wanted each other so bad that for years they couldn’t be around each other???? To prevent the cheating???? Why did you even get married then? You spent your marriage longing for her sister? My heart breaks for the wife!
Then as I’m reading, I start to realize that there’s no story that involves the actual wife who just died. we know nothing about their marriage, we see nothing about his actual grief, there’s no storyline that shows memories or heartbreak for him. There’s one line somewhere like I was so angry to lose my darling wife. And then it moves right back to his lust for her sister. Those little clips here and there are the extent of his grief. I just didn’t feel like the characters were built out. Even now as I write this, I can’t even remember the daughter’s name or her age. It’s sort of feels like the book was written just for the opportunity to write as much constant lust as the author could, and not have to worry about building and growing the characters. This was an absolute no for me. The premise could’ve been so good. But the characters needed to grieve, and they need way more time in between the sister’s death and their greed for one another. DNF’d.
Profile Image for Kelly.
225 reviews
September 4, 2020
Kris Pearson sure knows how to pull the heartstrings! I loved the first book in this series and, although this was a much different topic, I also found this one compelling. The topic could definitely be considered controversial but it's also very thought provoking, as Christian has just lost his wife after her 2 year battle with breast cancer and he's left to care for their 2 year old daughter. His sister-in-law, Fiona, has taken time off from her job to help him temporarily. Fiona's always been attracted to Christian and has avoided him as much as possible when Christian and Jan were married and is very uncomfortable being so near him. Fiona and Christian's method of handling their new circumstances is difficult and uncomfortable and I'm not sure what I would have done if I'd been put in the position that they are thrown into.
Profile Image for Janejellyroll.
985 reviews2 followers
October 15, 2025
The author lost me when the MMC and FMC waited mere days after he lost his wife and she lost his sister. To top it off, he's constantly thinking about how he never really love his wife and always wanted the sister . . . no thank you. .

Also, if I saw this when I was with a guy, I would book an exorcism:

Profile Image for Lucia.
591 reviews6 followers
May 14, 2017
4.5☆ - Heartwarming second chance romance that stems from a painful heartache.

The Wrong Sister is a heartwarming second chance romance that stems from a painful heartache. When I first started reading this book, I was initially hesitant as to how the book would play out given the blurb and title but this book is beautifully written with such delicacy and sensitivity, despite appearing fast paced, that it makes a really enjoyable, emotional, and unique read.

Would definitely recommend to any romance fans!
Profile Image for Tracy Campbell.
141 reviews1 follower
August 22, 2021
Emotional and Sexy this book is both. Her sister is gone.
She felt the loss for herself, for her sisters' husband.. and she yearned... burned for him too.
As he her.
They stayed away from each other for so long, now this. Loss bound them. Togetherness tore them. It was oh so wrong, nothing about loving his wifes' sister was right but it burned, smouldering, lingering as they got through the day to day of grief searching for something brighter for the future.
Expertly written, had me on the edge of is this right or is this totally wrong.
Profile Image for Leonara Golosa.
162 reviews8 followers
April 19, 2022
Heartwarming very steamy tale of loss and triumph

I don't think this plot leaves any room for improvement. It's tight, full of character development for the main players, and makes perfect sense. Even though Christian seems to have built a successful business empire without ever having held a business meeting over Skype, I longed to teach him how to use that tool.

Very enthusiastically recommended for fans of steaming romances with obstacles aplenty to be resolved by enticing actors.
318 reviews2 followers
March 24, 2021
Sweet bubbling love story

So, the time line of moving on after the death of a spouse, or even your cat, is a highly personal decision. The MC's here took their time to process and then they were ready. So no point in waiting. Time's a wasting. How they proceeded through that time is the essence of this story. It seemed like the natural progression of things. Not too fast at all. There's always room in a heart for more love.
Profile Image for Jennifer Alvarez.
1,068 reviews42 followers
July 18, 2019
Christian and Fiona

Wow. An explosive story. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes Christian and Fiona must rise from the devastating loss of Jan and somehow move forward. They’ve been avoiding each other for years and the time has come for them to face their issues. Such a powerful and sweet story.
96 reviews2 followers
April 1, 2022
Maybe, just maybe, the right sister?

Death of a loved one is always hard & Pearson brings those feelings to the fore; along with the conflicted feelings of being drawn to a person at the wrong time & wrong place. Is it possible to overcome all the roadblocks ( personal & social ) to find your soulmate?
Profile Image for Cynthia.
3,201 reviews101 followers
December 29, 2017
Touching

Fiona lost heart sister, Chris lost his wife, Nicky lost her mom. This was all one person Jan. But each us coping so differently. Fi has had a crush on her brother in law forever but stayed away. Chris thinks she is the vibrant form of his late wife.
392 reviews1 follower
February 10, 2024
The wrong sister

The wrong sister is the story of Christian who looses his wife and her sister comes into his life to help him and his daughter in their grief. Enjoyed the story greatly but at part a bit long winded for me. Some great HOT scenes
Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.