Book Review: The Third Twin

The Third Twin by CJ Omololu

Released: February 24, 2015

Read: April 2016

Publisher: Delacorte

Format: Paperback, 326 pages

Series: Stand-alone

Description on Goodreads:

    When they were little, Lexi and her identical twin, Ava, made up a third sister, Alicia. If something broke? Alicia did it. Cookies got eaten? Alicia's guilty. Alicia was always to blame for everything. The game is all grown up now that the girls are seniors. They use Alicia as their cover to go out with boys who are hot but not exactly dating material. Boys they'd never, ever be with in real life.

    Now one of the guys Alicia went out with has turned up dead, and Lexi wants to stop the game for good. As coincidences start piling up, Ava insists that if they follow the rules for being Alicia, everything will be fine. But when another boy is killed, the DNA evidence and surveillance photos point to only one suspect: Alicia. The girl who doesn't exist. As she runs from the cops, Lexi has to find the truth before another boy is murdered. Because either Ava is a killer…or Alicia is real. 

Review:
    This novel left me speechless. Okay, not literally; I was screaming and couldn't stop grinning. With bodies piling higher by the day, and the suspect list narrowing, I couldn't put it down. The main characters, Lexi and Ava, although naïve at times, were very well written, and had very different personalities, which I like about twins. Ava was the out-there, social, party-all-the-time fashioniesta, while Lexi was the overachieving, anti-social book nerd. This contrast shows you that if people paid attention, they would be able to tell the difference between them. It's weird that even some of the people close to them couldn't tell.
    Okay, I don't want to give anything away, but I was completely shocked when I realized who Lexi was suppose to be with. I mean, come on, the person I liked was killed out of nowhere! I didn't think he was actually going to die in the end!
    And finally, I didn't see the murderer coming, although I usually do. That's one of the top reasons why this book was so amazing. I didn't understand how this person could be in so many places at once, and how he/she could be taking selfies of Lexi/Ava if the murderer wasn't one of them (and I'm not saying the murder actually is or isn't one of them). 

Favourite Quotes:

• " Ava's the beauty and I'm the brains, and it always amazes me when people can't tell us apart." 

Rating: 8.5/10

Recommended if you like: murder, mystery, crime, thriller, twins, flings, high school parties

Keep flipping pages,

Lauren 

Book Review: The Killing Jar

The Killing Jar by Jennifer Bosworth

Released: January 12, 2016

Read: December 2015

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Format: ARC, 352 pages

Description on GoodReads: 

“I try not to think about it, what I did to that boy.”

Seventeen-year-old Kenna Marsden has a secret.

She’s haunted by a violent tragedy she can’t explain. Kenna’s past has kept people—even her own mother—at a distance for years. Just when she finds a friend who loves her and life begins to improve, she’s plunged into a new nightmare. Her mom and twin sister are attacked, and the dark powers Kenna has struggled to suppress awaken with a vengeance.

On the heels of the assault, Kenna is exiled to a nearby commune, known as Eclipse, to live with a relative she never knew she had. There, she discovers an extraordinary new way of life as she learns who she really is, and the wonders she’s capable of. For the first time, she starts to feel like she belongs somewhere. That her terrible secret makes her beautiful and strong, not dangerous. But the longer she stays at Eclipse, the more she senses there is something malignant lurking underneath it all. And she begins to suspect that her new family has sinister plans for her…

Review:
   The Killing Jar was nothing like I expected it would be. It completely took me by surprise. When I first saw the cover, I have to admit, I thought it would be a typical love story with a twist. Oh, I was sooo wrong.
Constantly battling her inner demons and pushing her emotions to the side, Kenna had a troubled childhood. She couldn't fully enjoy any situation and was always at risk of killing someone. She had to grow up by the time she was ten, and take care of not only herself, but her twin sister who was dying from many different conditions. Her family life was a mess; between barely knowing her mother and the chance of her sister falling dead at any moment. It's details like these that set the stage for a fantastic novel.
   As soon as Kenna arrived in Eclipse, I knew something weird was going on there. How was Anya, Kenna's mom, so familiar with the town? Why didn't they want visitors there? What were they hiding? Why did Jennifer Bosworth describe everyone with a wide age-range?
   All my questions were answered in the end, but slowly, over time, which made me all the more intrigued in finishing the book. I haven't read anything that compelling in what has felt like ages, and I am extremely glad that I had the chance to read this novel. 

Favourite Quote:

• "I walk the world alone without fear." -Jennifer Bosworth

Rating: 9/10

Recommended if you like: thriller, murder scenes, mystery, supernatural (I mean beings, not the TV show, even though you can still read the book if you do ;) ), music, aliens

A recipe for disaster,

Lauren