Reviews

Twice Lived by Joma West

mhughson's review

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.25

elle12's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

aznnerd13's review against another edition

4.0

Interesting concept. Took me longer than I care to admit to fully follow but as the book went on it all clicked. Then I had to find out how it would end!!! It didn’t end how I had hoped, but it was a good ending.

ashtonlp's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

okevamae's review against another edition

3.0

Some people are born as shifters, living two lives in parallel worlds which they shift between at random, splitting their time between the two. But most people settle in one world or the other in early childhood. This is the story of a teen girl – Canna in one world, Lily in the other – who hasn’t settled yet. And unlike with most shifters, Canna and Lily are distinct and separate personalities. They don’t talk about each other’s lives and try not to even think about them. But lately things are changing, and aspects of one life are bleeding into the other. Settling means one or the other of them will lose everything – but if they don’t settle, they might both be lost.

It took a little time to wrap my head around what exactly was happening, but I’m not sure if that’s down to the clarity of the writing or just me not getting it, but I figured it out after a while. This story explores some interesting territory - family and loss and the complexity of both living while waiting for the other shoe to drop and mourning someone while they are still there. The novel is complex and fascinating emotionally as well as conceptually, because you genuinely like both Canna and Lily and their families, and it feels impossible to choose which one should win out.

Unfortunately, I think the author was caught in the same dilemma and the route she chose was, to me, unsatisfying. I honestly loved this book right up until the end. The ending just felt... like not an ending. Like, I am sincerely hoping that this is the first in a series and they just haven’t announced the next one yet, because if this is a standalone novel, the ending is... disappointment is the wrong word because the story would have to be properly wrapped up for the end to be a disappointment. Instead, it just feels unfinished. The situation was so complicated and I was dying to know how the author was going to bring everything to a suitable conclusion and then... they just didn’t. Would have been 4.5 stars, probably rounded up, but with that ending, sadly, it’s a 3. UNLESS there's a second installment announced (fingers crossed!)

Representation: POC Characters (including main characters), LGBTQ+ characters (including main characters)

I received an advance copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

venneh's review against another edition

4.0

I will freely admit that I'm amused by the people saying that the world building here sucks, because West has always been more of a vibes over lore writer. Would I have liked some more information about the different worlds, and how they figured out more about shifters? Absolutely. However, I feel like that wasn't the main focus of the story. I'm also a huge sucker for font differences being how the different aspects of the story were told. This leans heavy into craft to tell the story of two girls who share a body that shifts across different universes, and what happens as they come to the time where the oldest known shifters start to settle, and the people around them. I also liked the inherent challenge of the ending, because you don't always get to know why it happened, just that it happened this way and you have to live with it now. Pick this up from your library!

hexed's review against another edition

3.0

Great concept, but the more you learn, the more some things don't make sense. I wish some characters had been more fleshed out and I do have a question about the ending....

cuppat3a's review

4.0

I loved this book - I loved the premise, the articulation, and the execution. Two have two lives, as two people, yet one body?

At first, I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy the book; the ARC font was rough the first couple of chapters, but you eventually got the hang of which font was who as you went.

I need to know if there's going to be a second book, or if this is a standalone that hangs on what seems to be a cliffhanger.

meggomyeggo1210's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I don't know what to rate this book because while I thought the premise was super interesting, the ending was kind of sudden and I didn't love the writing style.

alysonzackula's review against another edition

emotional funny sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5