Beautiful Lies

A few days after finishing this book, and I'm a bit confused. Which sister? ( )

I won a copy through the Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
Wow, such a page turner! I could not put this book down. Very glad that I won a copy of this. I'll have to keep an eye out for other books by Jessica Warman. ( )

This review is also posted at The Bawdy Book Blog.

Beautiful Lies lied beautifully to me…all the way through to the end. I’m still not sure how I feel about it. Did I love it? Did I hate it? This review is going to help me figure that out, so let’s go on a little adventure!

Rachel and Alice are identical twins. They are so identical, in fact, that their aunt and uncle cannot tell them apart. They are a rare kind of twin that shared an amniotic sac in utero, when typically the survival rates of such twins are low. It’s mentioned briefly in the beginning of the novel that twins run in their family – four sets of twins were born in three generations (although not all are necessarily identical).

Since Rachel and Alice are so rare, they share a connection that seems to go beyond the deep connections twins usually already possess: when something happens to Rachel, Alice feels it (and sometimes it actually happens to her, too – like if Rachel chokes on something, Alice feels the choking sensation as well). It’s like they are the same person. They can communicate to each other through dreams, without words, across distances. It’s endlessly fascinating for someone who is not a twin, but has twins all over her family (I’m talking about me here). I’ve found twins and the idea of twins captivating all my life. To start out life from the very beginning with someone else is really something special; we’re usually born alone, and we usually die alone. But there have been stories of twins who have died on the same day, within hours of each other: Julian & Adrian Riester died at age 92, and Joan & Patricia Miller died within what authorities believe to be hours of each other as well. And Google will bring you dozens more stories. There is something sacred in knowing you’ve got someone else forever.

I’ve digressed.

What if you could be a fly on the wall and find out what other people really felt about you? If you were a twin and you could switch places, and nobody would know the difference, would you do it? Even if the intent isn’t to find out what people think, that’s still an outcome you have to know will happen, so is it really worth it?

So I’m telling you all that because I’m not sure if Beautiful Lies was trying to be a book about paranormal twins (you know, twins with all kinds of weird, freaky sh*t happening to them), or trying to be a young-adult thriller. Rachel, the “good” twin, goes missing while the twins have switched, and Alice feels she must continue to pretend to be Rachel in order to find her. And why not, you know? No one can tell them apart. She has her reasons.

Except…why? Alice is the bad twin. People expect bad things from her. You learn this very early in the book so I’m not spoiling anything for you. Why not just out yourself so there is a sense of urgency to find Rachel? The more I think about it, the more this didn’t make sense to me, weird paranormal happenings, mental disorders and psychosis aside (say what? Yeah, just read it). The reasons for doing this were spelled out, but I didn’t buy them.

This book overall is very complicated and web-weaving…I really don’t want to go too much further into it (even though I have a LOT to say about it!!!), because anything I could say would spoil the whole thing for you. However, I did have a gut feeling I knew who the bad guy was, and I was right (so…always trust your gut!). But there were a lot of other surprises in this book that blew me away.

Jessica Warman’s writing is superb. It just flows naturally from page to page, with a nearly lyrical quality to it. I had a hard time putting Beautiful Lies down, for the writing and just wanting to find out what the hell was going on. Her characters are realistic and keenly felt; my heart broke for them as she delved into their histories.

I actually gave serious thought to not reviewing this book at all. I think my thoughts are coming across as jumbled and, well, just not linear. I’m normally better than this, but this book took me for a wild roller coaster ride and I still feel like throwing up a bit. I do not recommend this book for people looking for a light read. Not at all. I think I want a whiteboard so I can draw out all the characters and relationships and timelines. I’m dead serious.

Okay, I didn’t hate it. Any book that makes me think that hard…I can’t hate it.

The ending… Jessica Warman has some big cajones to mastermind an ending like that. ( )

Didn't read it. Bought it for the library because it looked intriguing. Gave it to a reader who I respect and she wasn't crazy about it so now I'll wait to get a few more opinions.

In Beautiful Lies we read about identical twins, Rachel and Alice who share a rare link. Not only are they identical but they shared the same placenta when in utero. Since their childhood, they've literally felt their twin's pain and their bodies reflect the hurt and damage that their twin suffers. While the twins look exactly alike, their temperaments are distinctly different, possibly a reflection of the trauma that they suffered during the car crash that killed their parents. Alice was conscious of the entire trauma while Rachel had been rendered unconscious. Now, in their teens, Alice is the gifted artist, the emotional, troublemaker, and less stable twin. Rachel is more solid both in school, in her friendships, in dealing with their aunt and uncle who serve as their guardians, and in accepting "reality".

In early October, Alice and Rachel spend the evening with friends in the local carnival. Alice skips out on the group but never arrives home. Rachel is certain that something has happened to her sister but after Alice's many escapades it is difficult to convince her family and the police that there is something wrong. As Rachel desperately tries to find her twin, we begin to wonder who to trust and what is true.

I loved Beautiful Lies - it begins as a well written, engrossing Young Adult novel. As the tension mounts and the novel progresses, I began to realize just how carefully crafted and masterfully written it is. Some novels have twists and turns but in Beautiful Lies, Jessica Warman delivers a rare gift of a mystery. ( )