It was a case of mistaken identity. As you can imagine, it happens often with twins, and especially with Summer and Iris Carmichael. A set of mirror twins, Summer and Iris split in the womb at the very last moment, leaving Iris with all of her organs on the opposite of her body from her sister. Iris was also left with a burning desire to be Summer, as she has always felt herself to be the lesser twin, the "wrong" twin. Her life would be so much better, if only it was Summer's.
Iris has been in competition with her lookalike her entire life, but the rivalry between these two sisters flares up when their millionaire father dies when they are just 14. He bequeaths his massive fortune to the first of his seven children to produce an heir, and as you can guess, the race is on. While Summer says she doesn't care about inheriting a 100 million dollar fortune, Iris does, and for once she is determined to best her twin. If she can't beat Summer in looks, personality, and popularity, maybe she can surpass her in riches.
The contest comes to a head when, in their early 20s and still childless, Iris and Summer meet up to sail their family's yacht to the Seychelles. But something terrible happens as the sisters sail across the Indian Ocean, and only one twin shows up in the Seychelles - Iris. Before Iris can decide if she should tell the authorities the truth about what happened to Summer out on the open water, Summer's husband Adam mistakes Iris for his wife. Iris has always wanted Summer's life, and now here's her chance. She goes along with the blunder and slips into her twin's life without a second though. As she becomes more entrenched in her lie, however, Iris finds herself teetering on the edge of pulling off the biggest switch ever and being exposed for the fraud she is. Can she truly have her happy ending?
Rose Carlyle's debut novel The Girl in the Mirror is a finely crafted, heart-pounding novel of suspense. The women's suspense/thriller genre has long been a favorite of mine, but I have found the market to be over-saturated with less than exciting novels as of late. The Girl in the Mirror is just the book I needed to spark and renew my interest and keep me on the edge of my seat. I listened to an audiobook production of this novel and I always find it to be a mark of a good story when an audiobook can capture and hold my attention through commuting and exercising. The Girl in the Mirror did just that.
Carlyle meticulously lays down and layers the plot of The Girl in the Mirror to create a thrilling story that is tense and twisty. Although she has stolen her sister's life, I was rooting for Iris, and was anxious to discover if she was actually going to pull off the ultimate deception. Carlyle slowly feeds readers information throughout this novel, and when the twists start happening, it is great fun to look back and see that the signs were there all along. I was truly wrapped up in this taut tale and didn't want it to end.
Recommended to anyone looking for something fresh and exciting to come out of the women's suspense genre! Also recommended to readers who enjoy stories about rivalries between sisters, and especially twins.
Availability: Book; Large Print Book; eBook & eAudiobook in cloudLibrary
Rating: ***** Stars (I loved it)
Reviewer: Brooke, Public Relations Librarian
ARE YOU AND THIS BOOK A GOOD MATCH? DISCOVER MORE WITH NOVELIST APPEALS! The Girl in the Mirror
GENRE: New Zealand Fiction; Psychological Suspense TONE: Suspenseful
STORYLINE: Intricately Plotted
WRITING STYLE: Compelling
LOCATION: Australia
SUBJECT: Boating Accidents; Deception; Identical Twins; Imposters; Inheritance & Succession; Married People; Pregnancy
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