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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
This book was really good. I liked the mystery of the twins’ abilities and the way they were connected. Only reason I give 4/5 stars is because I think it took a bit too long to get to the plot, but overall it was a good book!
A bit of refreshment from bloody scenes in true crime and other thrillers.
I liked the connection between twin sisters and their ability to sense lie and evil, also the strange words that were messages from beyond. This story begins with the death of 15 year old girl that appears as suicide , but later it starts to looks as a murder. Sisters Heyley and Taylor and Taylor's boyfriend Colton are researching what can find with a little guidance's from messages that they receive from "the other side". As a side story, there is news reporter that is researching the twins and their strange abilities.
Since English is not my first language it was a bit difficult to read the messages that teenagers in the book were sending to communicate, but in overall the story was interesting.
I liked the connection between twin sisters and their ability to sense lie and evil, also the strange words that were messages from beyond. This story begins with the death of 15 year old girl that appears as suicide , but later it starts to looks as a murder. Sisters Heyley and Taylor and Taylor's boyfriend Colton are researching what can find with a little guidance's from messages that they receive from "the other side". As a side story, there is news reporter that is researching the twins and their strange abilities.
Since English is not my first language it was a bit difficult to read the messages that teenagers in the book were sending to communicate, but in overall the story was interesting.
adventurous
challenging
dark
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:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Thank you Netgalley ,Bookouture and Gregg Olsen for the audio arc of Beneath her skin.
The story starts when Katelyn is found dead in the bath tub and the mystery starts to unfold that shook the small town, Her friends, Hayley and Taylor, who are twins have an ability to speak to the dead and soon they start to receive messages from their dead friend. Will they find out if Katelyn died of suicide? Or was someone else involved?
I really enjoyed this audiobook which was narrated by Karen Peakes. I felt she had a really interesting voice which kept me engaged. Her voice was well paced which suited the narrative.
The story itself was medium paced mystery thriller book. I really liked the supernatural element to it which ive come across in other books over the years. It adds a nice little twist and keeps the story engaging. The book was well paced and I enjoyed how the twins as well as the police uncover what really happened to Katelyn. Im looking forward to listening to the second book in the series , Dying to be her.
4 stars
The story starts when Katelyn is found dead in the bath tub and the mystery starts to unfold that shook the small town, Her friends, Hayley and Taylor, who are twins have an ability to speak to the dead and soon they start to receive messages from their dead friend. Will they find out if Katelyn died of suicide? Or was someone else involved?
I really enjoyed this audiobook which was narrated by Karen Peakes. I felt she had a really interesting voice which kept me engaged. Her voice was well paced which suited the narrative.
The story itself was medium paced mystery thriller book. I really liked the supernatural element to it which ive come across in other books over the years. It adds a nice little twist and keeps the story engaging. The book was well paced and I enjoyed how the twins as well as the police uncover what really happened to Katelyn. Im looking forward to listening to the second book in the series , Dying to be her.
4 stars
"What they unequivocally knew form their parents was that there were two kinds of evil: accidental and intended."
This is an older story repackaged with a gorgeous cover - the older title [b:Envy|10586317|Envy (Empty Coffin, #1)|Gregg Olsen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1304984025l/10586317._SY75_.jpg|15493643]. Both covers have an eerie quality to them and I have to say that I love this new one more than the last. But the original story is from 2011 and I think the story reflects it. The kids lack some of the on-line skills many kids have these days and a lot of the lingo. I also think the story with the on-line chat and video would be very different these days.
With all that, however, it is an interesting mystery - not necessarily a thriller (I don't think there's a lot of tension or suspense). Learning what the twins could do as they try to figure out what happened to their friend was interesting as well, and I liked how that all played out. I just think the story got a little slow in places as they tried to get back in to house and then had to deal with their day to day lives. The mystery felt a bit lost in places but it did pick back up at last hundred pages or so and I liked the how it all wrapped up.
An e-ARC was provided to me by the author and publishing via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
This is an older story repackaged with a gorgeous cover - the older title [b:Envy|10586317|Envy (Empty Coffin, #1)|Gregg Olsen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1304984025l/10586317._SY75_.jpg|15493643]. Both covers have an eerie quality to them and I have to say that I love this new one more than the last. But the original story is from 2011 and I think the story reflects it. The kids lack some of the on-line skills many kids have these days and a lot of the lingo. I also think the story with the on-line chat and video would be very different these days.
With all that, however, it is an interesting mystery - not necessarily a thriller (I don't think there's a lot of tension or suspense). Learning what the twins could do as they try to figure out what happened to their friend was interesting as well, and I liked how that all played out. I just think the story got a little slow in places as they tried to get back in to house and then had to deal with their day to day lives. The mystery felt a bit lost in places but it did pick back up at last hundred pages or so and I liked the how it all wrapped up.
An e-ARC was provided to me by the author and publishing via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A bit of refreshment from bloody scenes in true crime and other thrillers.
I liked the connection between twin sisters and their ability to sense lie and evil, also the strange words that were messages from beyond. This story begins with the death of 15 year old girl that appears as suicide , but later it starts to looks as a murder. Sisters Heyley and Taylor and Taylor's boyfriend Colton are researching what can find with a little guidance's from messages that they receive from "the other side". As a side story, there is news reporter that is researching the twins and their strange abilities.
Since English is not my first language it was a bit difficult to read the messages that teenagers in the book were sending to communicate, but in overall the story was interesting.
I liked the connection between twin sisters and their ability to sense lie and evil, also the strange words that were messages from beyond. This story begins with the death of 15 year old girl that appears as suicide , but later it starts to looks as a murder. Sisters Heyley and Taylor and Taylor's boyfriend Colton are researching what can find with a little guidance's from messages that they receive from "the other side". As a side story, there is news reporter that is researching the twins and their strange abilities.
Since English is not my first language it was a bit difficult to read the messages that teenagers in the book were sending to communicate, but in overall the story was interesting.
Another good book by this author! It's well written and entertaining.
I liked the fleshed out characters, the solid plot and the paranormal side was interesting.
Can't wait to read another book by this author.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
I liked the fleshed out characters, the solid plot and the paranormal side was interesting.
Can't wait to read another book by this author.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Beneath Her Skin is a YA mystery novel with a paranormal element set in the small town of Port Gamble. Our protagonists are twin sisters Hayley and Taylor whose classmate Katelyn has been found dead in a bathtub - she was electrocuted by a household device and no one is quite sure whether it was suicide or if someone else had a hand to play in her death. Hayley and Taylor, however, are determined to get to the bottom of what happened to Katelyn. Using their ability to see through the eyes of the dead, they retrace the last weeks and days of her life in a quest to find out exactly what happened to her.
Apart from the twins, there are a number of other characters we meet along the way to finding out Katelyn's fate. The teenage girls we encounter are almost universally shallow and bitchy, the boys are bland at best. The adult characters fare marginally better and, perhaps because they are closer in age to the author, came across as more authentic than their younger counterparts. The twins' Dad was, other than the twins themselves, the character with the most personality. I imagine the author drew heavily on his own experience to create him as both have written true crime books and both seem to fail at understanding teenage girls. I will admit it has been some years since I was a teenager but I had to roll my eyes at some of the words Olsen attributed to the young people in his novel who he failed to give the nuance, intelligence and complexity they deserved.
The insertion of a hack journalist digging into the secrets of Port Gamble was an interesting development adding an obstacle to the twins' investigation but it didn't really lead anywhere and when the situation was eventually resolved, the resolution was excessively violent and not particularly plausible. Still, in a world where twins are able to enter the mind of a dead girl and unscramble cryptic messages delivered to them via Ouija board, I should perhaps have expected to have to suspend my disbelief completely.
Beneath Her Skin is the first in a series of novels that will follow Hayley and Taylor on their paranormal crime solving adventures but unfortunately I won't be continuing on. This first instalment moved along quickly enough with some interesting twists but I struggled with the clunky, dated dialogue particularly amongst the teenage characters and found the writing too simple and repetitive to be enjoyable. I am sure fans of pacy, YA crime thrillers with a paranormal edge will be delighted by this book but alas it just wasn't for me.
Apart from the twins, there are a number of other characters we meet along the way to finding out Katelyn's fate. The teenage girls we encounter are almost universally shallow and bitchy, the boys are bland at best. The adult characters fare marginally better and, perhaps because they are closer in age to the author, came across as more authentic than their younger counterparts. The twins' Dad was, other than the twins themselves, the character with the most personality. I imagine the author drew heavily on his own experience to create him as both have written true crime books and both seem to fail at understanding teenage girls. I will admit it has been some years since I was a teenager but I had to roll my eyes at some of the words Olsen attributed to the young people in his novel who he failed to give the nuance, intelligence and complexity they deserved.
The insertion of a hack journalist digging into the secrets of Port Gamble was an interesting development adding an obstacle to the twins' investigation but it didn't really lead anywhere and when the situation was eventually resolved, the resolution was excessively violent and not particularly plausible. Still, in a world where twins are able to enter the mind of a dead girl and unscramble cryptic messages delivered to them via Ouija board, I should perhaps have expected to have to suspend my disbelief completely.
Beneath Her Skin is the first in a series of novels that will follow Hayley and Taylor on their paranormal crime solving adventures but unfortunately I won't be continuing on. This first instalment moved along quickly enough with some interesting twists but I struggled with the clunky, dated dialogue particularly amongst the teenage characters and found the writing too simple and repetitive to be enjoyable. I am sure fans of pacy, YA crime thrillers with a paranormal edge will be delighted by this book but alas it just wasn't for me.