The Other Twin @LucyVHayAuthor @OrendaBooks

About The Other Twin

A stunning, dark and sexy debut thriller set in the winding lanes and underbelly of Brighton, centring around the social media world, where resentments and accusations are played out, identities made and remade, and there is no such thing as the truth

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 wellheeled families, The Other Twin is 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...

My review of The Other Twin

The Other Twin is like a breath of fresh air. Never before have I read a book and had absolutely no clue about what was going on. This was one twisty, gut wrenching and punchy book that quite literally kept me guessing until the very end.

The novel revolves around Poppy, a woman who returns to her family home in Brighton after learning about the death of her sister, India. Poppy has lived in London for many years and had not spoken to India for a long time. She returns to find out what happened to her sister, as she believes that her sister was pushed from the bridge, that she did not jump. She believes that her sister would not take her own life. It is this personal investigation that leads Poppy into the twisted lanes of Brighton during the night time hours, and into the seedier side of Brighton life.

This novel pulls no punches, it really doesn't and I loved the blunt, and almost brutal way in which the novel is written. The language is incredibly direct, it helped me to feel as if I knew these characters, inside and out. The plot is similar to those lanes in Brighton, it is  incredibly twisted, and I was kept in the dark for most of the novel about what was actually going on, but this was the great lure abut this story, the not knowing. This though, for me, was only really part of the story. The other part was about the colourful characters, learning about who they were and their relationship with one another. They all fascinated me, and although not incredibly likeable, I wanted to know more abut them.

Poppy is fascinating. A young woman, a teacher, educated and full of life who fled to London for a different kind of life, but who feels like she has never been away, once she steps off the train in Brighton. The ties of family are heavy in this book, the ties that bind and the ties that define who you are. For Poppy, The Other Twin is very much a story of self discovery, and that she is really still finding her place in the world.

This novel is hugely current and uses social media and online blogging to great advantage. Chunks of the novel are exerts from India's blog, which help Poppy to learn more about her sister, the sister that she lost contact with and who no loner knows. Modern day life is there, on screen, for everyone to read about, and this novel will surely create conversation about the modern day blog and that personal thoughts and secrets are no longer personal.

The Other Twin is incredibly clever, a tale of family, of identity and of believing in who you are. It is a book for our modern day world. It is a chilling and compulsive read with razor sharp writing that echoes the themes of our modern day society. This is a disturbing read, but an important one. It left me thinking about the characters, the decisions they made and the society that we live in. This really is a thought provoking novel and a highly recommended read.

With thanks to Orenda Books who sent me a paperback copy.

The Other Twin published by Orenda Books on 3 July 2017 can be found on Amazon here.

Exquisite by Sarah Stovell #blogtour #bookreview

 

 

 

 

About Exquisite

 

 

A chilling, exquisitely written and evocative thriller set in the Lake District, centring on the obsessive relationship that develops between two writers...

 

Bo Luxton has it all - a loving family, a beautiful home in the Lake District, and a clutch of bestselling books to her name.

Enter Alice Dark, an aspiring writer who is drifting through life, with a series of dead-end jobs and a freeloading boyfriend.

When they meet at a writers' retreat, the chemistry is instant, and a sinister relationship develops... Or does it?

Breathlessly pacey, taut and terrifying, Exquisite is a startlingly original and unbalancing psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the very last page.

 

 

My review of Exquisite

Exquisite is a beautifully written, domestic thriller that I hungrily devoured in a day. This is a dark, sexy, disturbing and indeed 'exquisite' read that had me guessing until the final page.

We are introduced firstly to Bo Luxton, a successful novelist, a woman in her forties who is married with two little girls. She lives in a picture postcard cottage in the Lake District. When we are first introduced to her, it seems that she is living the perfect and idyllic life, but is everything truly as it seems?

It is during a writing retreat that Bo has organised, that she is first introduced to Alice Dark, a young woman with a loser boyfriend who wants so much more from life. She wants to escape her dreary Brighton bedsit and make a name for herself as a professional writer. She's lost her way and writing could be her salvation.

Both women are polar opposites. One respectable, married, a successful writer, the other has none of these qualities. But, they surprisingly share a similar upbringing which is partly responsible for the bond that begins to tie them together. A sinister relationship begins, an all consuming one, based upon manipulation, control and power. But who is telling the truth? Who can we believe?

Exquisite is told in alternating chapters, in first person narrative. We read the thoughts of both Alice and Bo, sometimes the same scene is retold via an alternative viewpoint and this helps to give perspective on what has happened. We also get to read email correspondence from both women, which further help to clarify matters, and allows us to peel back the layers to see who exactly is telling the truth.

This book is about passion, obsession and the creative process. Both women are skilled writers, and it is this urge to create, especially when they are together at the writing retreat that sparks are formed. This is a hugely believable novel about the power one human can have over another, that emotional connection, the need to be as close as possible to that person who truly understands you. It is about all consuming love, the kind that clouds judgment, until you cannot see what is real or true any more. It is a shocking read, a disturbing read, made all the more unnerving because it is scarily real.

The imagery and language that are used are sublime, in that they help to evoke the oppressive and compelling drama that is unfurled before us. The surrounding of the cottage in the Lake Distant becomes a reflection of Bo, just as the flat in Brighton, a jumbled mass of chaos, takeaway boxes and drunken bodies, echoes the life that Alice is living and the life she so desperately needs to leave behind.

Exquisite is a compelling, thought provoking and page turner of a read. It is quite brilliant. This psychological thriller is going to be huge!

 

 With thanks to Anne Cater and Orenda Books for an Advanced Reader copy.

Exquisite, published on 15 Jun. 2017 by Orenda Books can be found on Amazon here.

 



 

 

About the author

 

Sarah Stovell was born in 1977 and spent most of her life in the Home Counties before a season working in a remote North Yorkshire youth hostel made her realise she was a northerner at heart. She now lives in Northumberland with her partner and two children and is a lecturer in Creative Writing at Lincoln University. Her debut psychological thriller, Exquisite, is set in the Lake District.

 

 

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