The Twin by Natasha Preston

The Twin by Natasha PrestonThe Twin by Natasha Preston
Narrator: Emma Galvin
Published by Listening Library
Published on 3 March 2020
Genres: Girls & Women, United States, Young Adult
Format: Audiobook
Source: my local library
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RRP: $18.99
2 Stars

In this twisty psychological thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of THE CELLAR, Ivy finds out that her twin sister, Iris, is trying to push her out of her own life--and might be responsible for their mother's death.

After their parents divorced, 10-year-old twins Ivy and Iris were split up--Ivy lived with Dad, Iris with Mom. Now, after a tragic accident takes their mom's life, the twins are reunited and Iris moves in with Ivy and their dad. Devastated over Mom's death, Iris spends the first few weeks in almost total silence--the only person she will speak to is Ivy. Iris feels her life is over and she doesn't know what to do. Ivy promises her twin that she can share her life now. After all, they're sisters. Twins.

It's a promise that Iris takes seriously. And before long, Ivy's friends, her life at school, and her boyfriend, Tyler, fall under Iris's spell. Slowly, Ivy realizes she's being pushed out of her own life. But she's just being paranoid, right? And Mom's accident was . . . just an accident. Right? It's not like she--or Dad--or Tyler--are in any danger. . . .

Time for a blurb decontruction!

That is NOT the book I was promised.

Iris didn’t spend the first few weeks in almost total silence, only speaking to Ivy. She jumped right in with the cheerleader crowd and befriending Ivy’s friends. She was a total social butterfly.

Ivy absolutely did not promise Iris that they could ‘share her life’ – i know, because I specifically listened out for this part. That was the big selling point that made me want to listen to this novel. And it NEVER happened. Iris just started pushing Ivy out of her life, certainly not by invitation. Ivy never wanted to – and more specifically, never offered to – share anything.

It also mentions that Ivy’s boyfriend Tyler falls under Iris’ spell. I was hoping for one of those ‘I slept with your boyfriend because he thought I was you’ moments but it never happened, because Tyler never fell for any of Iris’ bullshit. He was the one character, besides Ivy, that never believed Iris.

The final point that did not happen is that while Ivy may have been in danger from Iris, the Dad and Tyler never were, and Ivy never considered them being in danger. That was so disappointing, like if Iris could murder her mother, she could murder her father too, but Ivy never even thought about that possibility!

So that’s the three major points of the blurb that made me want to listen to the book, and not one of them actually happened. I AM LIVID. WHERE IS THE BOOK I WAS PROMISED.

Why why WHY, in a novel that makes a plot point of a ‘burner phone’ only having calls and texts, and Ivy had a smart phone because she went on Facebook and Instagram on it, why on EARTH did Ivy not View Spoiler »

The other ending I was hoping for was that when View Spoiler » But there ya go, I just pulled two completely different endings out of my ass for anyone who wants an actually satisfying ending.

I also didn’t have a great experience with this audiobook narrator. My favourite narrators are the ones who change their voices when they’re speaking for other characters. January LeVoy does this brilliantly. This narrator didn’t change her voice when she spoke as other characters, and combining this with Preston’s inability to use dialogue tags, I was often confused with what was being said thought, what was being said aloud, and by whom. The narrator gets to view the punctuation marks that we as listeners don’t get to see, so maybe this wouldn’t be as much of an issue if reading the book rather than listening to it.

Nemo
Nemo

About Nemo

A lover of kittens and all things sparkly, Nemo has a degree in English Literature and specialises in reviewing contemporary, paranormal, mystery/thriller, historical, sci-fi and fantasy Young Adult fiction. She is especially drawn to novels about princesses, strong female friendships, magical powers, and assassins.

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