Look Closer: The Other Twin by Lucy V. Hay @OrendaBooks @LucyVHayAuthor #BlogTour

This review has been sitting on my laptop forever, I am so relieved to be able to share it with you now! Don’t forget to check Rae Read’s stop today, too! And if you haven’t already, go read all of what bloggers have been saying about The Other Twin!!!

Title: The Other Twin
Author: Lucy V. Hay
Publisher: Orenda Books
Date of publication: July 2017
Format: Digital Review Copy
Source: Publisher
Number of pages: 300
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half

When India falls to her death from a bridge over a railway, her sister Poppy returns home to Brighton for the first time in years. Unconvinced by official explanations, Poppy begins her own investigation into India’s death. But the deeper she digs, the closer she comes to uncovering deeply buried secrets. Could Matthew Temple, the boyfriend she abandoned, be involved? And what of his powerful and wealthy parents, and his twin sister, Ana? Enter the mysterious and ethereal Jenny: the girl Poppy discovers after hacking into India’s laptop. What is exactly is she hiding, and what did India find out about her? Taking the reader on a breathless ride through the winding lanes of Brighton, into its vibrant party scene and inside the homes of its well- heeled families, The Other Twin is a startling and up-to-the-minute thriller about the social-media world, where resentments and accusations are played out online, where identities are made and remade, and where there is no such thing as truth …

Have you ever heard of cover love? Take a look at The Other Twin and fall in love. I am used to judging books by their covers, let’s face it, but this particular cover is a review of the book in itself. I’d like to thank and congratulate the cover designer for capturing the essence of Lucy V. Hay’s work into a mesmerizing and eye-catching masterpiece.

Now, I’ll admit it once again, I’m fascinated by twins. They all say there is a special bound reuniting two people from the same egg. Here, we do have twins in the story, and we get a pretty good idea of what it means to have a better half, or rather, an other-half. Matthew and Ana Temple were a great example of this special link and I adored trying to uncover their feelings, to imagine how far you’d go for someone so close to you. I’m an only child so I can only live vicariously through books what it is like to have siblings. In The Other Twin, the author puts a strong emphasis on this subject and I fell for Poppy and her sister, I was intrigued by their different personalities and their relationship. It amazes me how two people who grow up under the same roof can be so different. I experienced this thanks to the book, as well as so many other explorations of relationships in this complex and thrilling tale of a fight for the truth.

Women are so obvious in their crusades to find a man, mould him and call it “true love”.

Poppy had left behind a family, an ex, a background of rich families sure that the world belonged to them, and she’s not sure she wants to be back. Every interaction was dutifully scrutinized by my hazel eyes, and boy does that town have a lot to say! If you’re like me, you’ll appreciate the depth and veil the author has carefully put all around this little world.

Looking for the truth, now, eh? Well, in The Other Twin, you will have to work to get it! In this story, truth and emotions are mixed, one leading the other, one hiding the other. I felt as though I was in the middle of a rounded room, facing a million doors. That is the effect this book had on me. So many questions but all were enveloped in feelings, every character acting on them, and the author has a wonderful and cutting knack for making those emotions crawl under your skin until you are part of the equation.

I am being extremely vague, even more than usual, because The Other Twin is a ball of thread, you tug at one and it slowly comes your way, but it gets tangled with other pieces of thread and when you think you catch a glimpse of the Truth with a big T, you end up discovering more lies, more paths, more questions.

I understand, perhaps too late, how pain makes people desperate.

The characterization is absolutely spot-on and, along with Poppy, your opinion on everyone will change as events unfolds. Poppy doesn’t believe her sister killed herself. But what does Poppy know? They haven’t been close for so long. From the beginning, you’re treading on unsteady ground, and it only becomes more and more unstable as the tension grows. People who ask questions are never very welcome, are they? And people who find clues when no one wants to see them are very annoying, aren’t they? I felt claustrophobic in this town where the past is heavy, the families seemingly close-knit, the rich are being rich. And no one is willing to disturb the quietness of the place for a young girl who acted stupidly.

Lucy V. Hay’s cleverness lies in how she immerses her story into a pool of emotions, capturing every event and painting it with feelings, leaving hints and hiding them in a blanket of lies, allowing the tension to creep closer to you with every page, until the curtain is drawn and everything comes to light, a blinding, surprising, and extraordinarily painful light.

The icy fingers of anxiety tear inside his ribcage, like a tiny creature clawing its way out of his chest.

The Other Twin is a terrifying mirror reflecting a portray of our society and revealing its flaws through our own favorite tools: social media, perfect families, money, and lies, a portray through which a magnificent and emotional writing cuts and frees the truth, and truths of life.

This unbiased review is my thank you to Orenda Books and the author for providing me with a copy of this book and for offering me a place on the blog tour.

Lucy V. Hay is a novelist, script editor and blogger who helps writers via her Bang2write consultancy. She is the associate producer of Brit Thrillers Deviation (2012) and Assassin (2015), both starring Danny Dyer. Lucy is also head reader for the London Screenwriters’ Festival and has written two non-fiction books, Writing & Selling Thriller Screenplays, plus its follow-up Drama Screenplays. She lives in Devon with her husband, three children, six cats and five African Land Snails.

Follow Lucy on Twitter: @LucyVHayAuthor

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