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3.18 AVERAGE
3.18 AVERAGE
I enjoy exploring books about cults and characters with amnesia. Where You End has both, so when I read the premise I was immediately hooked. It reminded me of a documentary on Netflix called, Tell Me Who I Am, so I couldn't wait to get stuck in. This book fits in nicely within the genre, reminicient of This Might Hurt by Stephanie Wrobel and Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel. The story focused on realistic characters with tragic pasts but surprisingly, was not as dark and twisted as I'd anticipated. I liked both protagonist's, Kat and Jude, equally and understood both of their motivations. Kat relied on Jude to fill in her past, and Jude (remembering the abuse they'd endured) saw an opportunity to right the wrongs and give Kat a fresh start in her new life.
The story gripped me initially however, after the first act the pace slowed until the final scene ramped up the action again. The flashback scenes are still vivid, including the one involving King Bash losing his eye. The animal masks/costumes felt surreal and at times weren't easy for me to grasp, including the mind control exercises the children were trained to perform. The themes of sisterhood, memory, and trauma are very clear throughout, expressed through the mirror twin concept, the girls' secret language, and their shared trauma. The end made sense once all the characters' true identities were revealed, and the twins completed their "mission" which had started right before Kat's accident. I would have liked to know more about their father's past and what transpired between both parents. The prose was smooth, and the author's voice was very compelling to read. I'll definitely check out more of her work.
For readers who enjoy slow burning suspense, cult themes, and character driven stories.
The story gripped me initially however, after the first act the pace slowed until the final scene ramped up the action again. The flashback scenes are still vivid, including the one involving King Bash losing his eye. The animal masks/costumes felt surreal and at times weren't easy for me to grasp, including the mind control exercises the children were trained to perform. The themes of sisterhood, memory, and trauma are very clear throughout, expressed through the mirror twin concept, the girls' secret language, and their shared trauma. The end made sense once all the characters' true identities were revealed, and the twins completed their "mission" which had started right before Kat's accident. I would have liked to know more about their father's past and what transpired between both parents. The prose was smooth, and the author's voice was very compelling to read. I'll definitely check out more of her work.
For readers who enjoy slow burning suspense, cult themes, and character driven stories.
This was ok for me, the writing wasn’t bad but it just never really got to the point where I was tense or scared and I figured out the plot twist basically as soon as they flashed back to their childhood .
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A slow-burn type thriller. It's satisfying to have a dual POV where each POV is interesting. Same with dual timelines. This isn't one of those "the one I'm bored by and the one I'm interested in."
Took me a while to get through this book. Creepy and weird. Unsure if the lack of proper quotation marks was intentional or an editing mistake.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thanks NetGalley, Henry Holt and Abbott Kahler for an advanced reader copy of this book for my honest review.
This is the story of mirror twins Kat and Jude. They are inseparable and even have their own language. Kat is recovering from a horrific car crash and has lost her memory. With Jude's help, Kat is relearning the detail of her past and is trying to make a new life for herself. When Kat catches Jude telling her lies, she starts to wonder if what she is learning about her past is really true and questions what reasons Jude would have of altering her past.
I was first drawn to this book by the cover art. I absolutely love it. The story is written in a dual timeline and the narration switches between Kat and Jude. This worked really well for this story because the reader is learning what is happening in the present and at the same time learning the past that Kat is missing in her memory. The author had me guessing the twists until the very end. Several times I thought I knew what was going to happen but I was wrong. I also liked that the author introduced me to mirror twins. I had never heard of this before and found it very interesting. The reason my rating is three starts instead of four is that I thought the middle of the book dragged a bit and a few times I got confused and had to go back and reread a few pages.
I would recommend this book for people to like psychological thrillers.
This is the story of mirror twins Kat and Jude. They are inseparable and even have their own language. Kat is recovering from a horrific car crash and has lost her memory. With Jude's help, Kat is relearning the detail of her past and is trying to make a new life for herself. When Kat catches Jude telling her lies, she starts to wonder if what she is learning about her past is really true and questions what reasons Jude would have of altering her past.
I was first drawn to this book by the cover art. I absolutely love it. The story is written in a dual timeline and the narration switches between Kat and Jude. This worked really well for this story because the reader is learning what is happening in the present and at the same time learning the past that Kat is missing in her memory. The author had me guessing the twists until the very end. Several times I thought I knew what was going to happen but I was wrong. I also liked that the author introduced me to mirror twins. I had never heard of this before and found it very interesting. The reason my rating is three starts instead of four is that I thought the middle of the book dragged a bit and a few times I got confused and had to go back and reread a few pages.
I would recommend this book for people to like psychological thrillers.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I listened to this suspenseful novel about mirror twins who survive a cult, only to have to re-live some of their trauma after one of the twins experiences amnesia. It was dark, but compelling for the most part.
OH I thoroughly enjoyed this thriller! I'm a sucker for a good cult story, and this one had enough eerie specificity without falling back on the trope-iest horrors that would have been easy shorthand for "young women escaping cult are traumatized forever." The ways the twists and turns unfolded felt less shocking than inevitable, and while the story felt a bit slow getting started at first, once I was really in it I felt like the pacing was perfect. I would have liked more characterization and details about the relationship between Jude and Violet so that the pain of that betrayal hit a little harder, but I was pretty satisfied with the way all the plot threads tied up, and goddamn those murder scenes were cathartic.