Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman

Title: Beautiful Lies
Author: Jessica Warman
Publisher: Walker & Company
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 81% or B-
Buy It: Amazon

Rachel and Alice are an extremely rare kind of identical twins—so identical that even their aunt and uncle, whom they’ve lived with since their parents passed away, can’t tell them apart. But the sisters are connected in a way that goes well beyond their surfaces: when one experiences pain, the other exhibits the exact same signs of distress. So when one twin mysteriously disappears, the other immediately knows something is wrong—especially when she starts experiencing serious physical traumas, despite the fact that nobody has touched her. As the search commences to find her sister, the twin left behind must rely on their intense bond to uncover the truth. But is there anyone around her she can trust, when everyone could be a suspect? And ultimately, can she even trust herself?

My Thoughts::
I've always had a decent interest in twins and I always liked to think that they could sense each other. Those were the immediate reasons why I wanted to read this book. The second reason was that I can't turn down a high stakes mystery. I knew the tension and suspense would be building so much in this book and I wanted in on it.

This book did something for me that is rarely done with books anymore: It surprised me. Sure, I was able to predict some tidbits, but I was unable to predict the outcome of the book. There were a couple of big twists that I could have never seen coming that totally made me do a double take. These twists switched around everything that you know so far and make you think about everything that happened so far in a completely different way. At times the plot got a little boring, but you still felt that urgency which made you not want to put down the book.

I liked that we get to know two characters very well just through the eyes of one. The bad thing is, is that this book is pretty much just about these two characters. The are a couple of characters off to the side, but not until the end do any of them matter very much. A couple of times while I was reading this book I had to really think and consider if the narrator was sane. She was unreliable at times and I wasn't sure if I could believe what she was saying. It had the feel of a psychological thriller many times throughout the book. My mind was being bent trying to understand and figure out what was going on.

Overall I think that this was a great suspenseful read that played into my interest with twins. I'm glad it kept me on the edge of my seat but I wish that there was some more character development going on.