The Twin's Daughter
Author: Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Series: ---
Publisher: Bloomsbury
How Received: book fairy
Comes Out August 31 2010
Lucy Sexton is stunned when a disheveled woman appears at the door one day…a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Lucy's own beautiful mother. It turns out the two women are identical twins, separated at birth, and raised in dramatically different circumstances. Lucy's mother quickly resolves to give her less fortunate sister the kind of life she has never known. And the transformation in Aunt Helen is indeed remarkable. But when Helen begins to imitate her sister in every way, even Lucy isn't sure at times which twin is which. Can Helen really be trusted, or does her sweet face mask a chilling agenda?
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I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I started The Twin's Daughter. Was it a mystery? A family story? What?
What it ended up being was a very long book. One worth reading, I think, but it was long. Maybe it seemed longer because I was sitting in a room without air conditioning while I was reading it, but I thought I would make that observation.
The Twin's Daughter has plenty of interesting characters. I'm huge on characters - a great character can make up for a lacking plot, but an amazing plot can't make up for a horrible character. And The Twin's Daughter was going to need the amazing characters to go along with the amazing plot. We have Lucy, who annoyed me for a little bit at the beginning, but then reminded me more of me as the book went on. Kit, her handsome next door neighbor - if you read it, you'll understand what I mean when I say "camels." (Seriously; you should read it JUST for the camel jokes in the last eighth of the book.)
I loved Aunt Helen, though her character underwent a sudden transformation that didn't seem natural. On the other hand, so did Lucy's mother, and I loved her at the beginning, too. That was part of the story, though - people aren't all what they seem.
And DAMN! This plot! I can honestly say the the reason I kept reading in an un-air conditioned room in 100 degree heat was because I had no idea what was going on, in the best possible way. I had my suspicions of what was going on, and Lucy had hers, and we kept chugging through to wait and see if we were right. And we were right! And then we were wrong! And then we realized nothing is ever as it appears! (Though I was proud of myself; I did call a couple of the final points, though not the overall final one.)
Overall Rating & Final Comments: 8/10. It's long. But worth it, because you have to really be thinking hard to figure out how this ends. And Kit = awesome.
Cover Notes: I have the ARC, but I may have to go buy the final copy JUST for this cover. SO GORGEOUS!
Author's Other Works?: On top of her other books, Lauren also wrote The Education of Bet, another Victorian era novel that has gotten fantastic reviews.
The Twin's Daughter comes out August 31, 2010. Don't forget to check out your local bookstores that day, or pre-order it online.