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theonlydidymus's review
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
karleighreads's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this. I picked it up because it reminded me of dark matter which I adored. This had some of the same aspects of time hoping between worlds and I just love that idea in books. I didn't mind the main character but Eric was really annoying and so controlling. Other than that if you like portal/time travel books like dark matter give this one a try.
rbz39's review
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Men really will do anything instead of going to therapy!
bookyanne's review
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Read this in two days and loved it! Fast paced and enjoyable. I liked the main character - she was a pretty strong lead and had a good resolution in the end.
mmc6661's review
4.0
Kelly has short curly hair, tattoos and is a single free spirited artist living in Chicago. That is until her 29th birthday when she attends her best friend's art opening. Kelly opens a door walks through and is now living as herself in another life. A life where she doesn't do art. Where she looks, acts and even thinks different. A life where she is married to Eric, a boy she barely remembers from school and she definitely didn't go to art school or Chicago. She has memories from both lives although that is impossible. We can only live one life and we are stuck with the choices we make. Or are we? Maybe Kelly can redo her life choices if someone doesn't try to stop her first.
Stuck between suspense, sci-fi and a little make believe The Other Me kept you guessing till the end where it was wrapped up very quick and tidy. Maybe a little too tidy but I kept waiting for just a bit more story.
Stuck between suspense, sci-fi and a little make believe The Other Me kept you guessing till the end where it was wrapped up very quick and tidy. Maybe a little too tidy but I kept waiting for just a bit more story.
spinstah's review
I got about 25% of the way into this and just wasn't enjoying it. The whole thing with being married to someone but not actually knowing him was really creeping me out.
marilynw's review
4.0
The Other Me by Sarah Zachrich Jeng
Twenty nine year old Kelly's life is not perfect. She's a poor, struggling artist whose work doesn't sell, while her wealthy best friend's art career is thriving. Still, Kelly loves her life in Chicago, it's her life, built on her choices, and she'd not giving up on making it as an artist.
She's at her best friend's art show, when she walks through a door and POOF! That life is gone. Now she is graphic artist Kelly, who never took that scholarship to art school, who never met her best friend, who's art supplies have been left untouched for years, who is married to Eric, a high school nerd she'd barely knew in her other life.
Her tattoos are gone, she has conflicting memories of the exact same points of time, and Eric acts suspicious, distracted, nervous, and weird. She remembers nervous and weird Eric from her high school days but now she has memories of being attracted to him. Her memories of this life are there but they don't seem real, not as real as the life she thought she'd been living in Chicago. This life might be nice, Eric might be nice (although he makes her uncomfortable), but how can she tell anyone about this shocking change without them thinking she is crazy?
As Kelly searches for answers, even this new reality starts changing. Can she "fix" this? She knows time is running out because the old life is feeling even farther away and that's the life she doesn't want to lose. What does Eric have to do with this, how did he become the center of her life?
I was fascinated with this dilemma. We may not like everything about our lives but to have those lives erased for something "better", a better that someone else seems to choose for us, may not be what is best. I do think that the new life had way too many people cluttering up the story. We didn't need to meet so many of Eric's family members because they did nothing to move the story along.
Publication date: August 10, 2021
Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for this ARC.
Twenty nine year old Kelly's life is not perfect. She's a poor, struggling artist whose work doesn't sell, while her wealthy best friend's art career is thriving. Still, Kelly loves her life in Chicago, it's her life, built on her choices, and she'd not giving up on making it as an artist.
She's at her best friend's art show, when she walks through a door and POOF! That life is gone. Now she is graphic artist Kelly, who never took that scholarship to art school, who never met her best friend, who's art supplies have been left untouched for years, who is married to Eric, a high school nerd she'd barely knew in her other life.
Her tattoos are gone, she has conflicting memories of the exact same points of time, and Eric acts suspicious, distracted, nervous, and weird. She remembers nervous and weird Eric from her high school days but now she has memories of being attracted to him. Her memories of this life are there but they don't seem real, not as real as the life she thought she'd been living in Chicago. This life might be nice, Eric might be nice (although he makes her uncomfortable), but how can she tell anyone about this shocking change without them thinking she is crazy?
As Kelly searches for answers, even this new reality starts changing. Can she "fix" this? She knows time is running out because the old life is feeling even farther away and that's the life she doesn't want to lose. What does Eric have to do with this, how did he become the center of her life?
I was fascinated with this dilemma. We may not like everything about our lives but to have those lives erased for something "better", a better that someone else seems to choose for us, may not be what is best. I do think that the new life had way too many people cluttering up the story. We didn't need to meet so many of Eric's family members because they did nothing to move the story along.
Publication date: August 10, 2021
Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for this ARC.
bmg20's review
3.0
2.5 stars
“This life, I didn’t choose. It was chosen for me. But would it be so bad if I had to stay here?”
Is readbait a thing? Well, comparing this as Russian Doll meets Black Mirror is major readbait for me.
Kelly is attending her best friend’s art show in Chicago when she opens the bathroom door and steps into another life. Her hair is long, her tattoos have disappeared, and she’s married to a guy she barely remembers from high school. Kelly possesses all of the memories from her Chicago life but they’re now overlayed with memories of a life, a good life, but a life she doesn’t remember actually living. Desperate to get back to her old life but having no clue how to make that happen, she’s confronted with the possibility that she might be stuck in this life, but would that be the worst thing?
“[…]I remembered, eventually, everything that had happened to me in both lives. How they’re both still there, uneasily coexisting in my head.”
Jeng handled the various similarities and differences between the timelines well and the scenes where Kelly’s world began to “glitch” (her tattoos would reappear on her arm only to disappear again) really heightened the intensity of the story. I do feel though it would have been even more intense (and engaging) if Kelly had been glitching out of one life and the other, but alas, she did not. What really failed for me was the backstory behind why this was happening and who was responsible. If I was glitched out of one life and put into another that I didn’t choose, I doubt my nutshell response would be “it’s okay, they meant well.”
I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
“This life, I didn’t choose. It was chosen for me. But would it be so bad if I had to stay here?”
Is readbait a thing? Well, comparing this as Russian Doll meets Black Mirror is major readbait for me.
Kelly is attending her best friend’s art show in Chicago when she opens the bathroom door and steps into another life. Her hair is long, her tattoos have disappeared, and she’s married to a guy she barely remembers from high school. Kelly possesses all of the memories from her Chicago life but they’re now overlayed with memories of a life, a good life, but a life she doesn’t remember actually living. Desperate to get back to her old life but having no clue how to make that happen, she’s confronted with the possibility that she might be stuck in this life, but would that be the worst thing?
“[…]I remembered, eventually, everything that had happened to me in both lives. How they’re both still there, uneasily coexisting in my head.”
Jeng handled the various similarities and differences between the timelines well and the scenes where Kelly’s world began to “glitch” (her tattoos would reappear on her arm only to disappear again) really heightened the intensity of the story. I do feel though it would have been even more intense (and engaging) if Kelly had been glitching out of one life and the other, but alas, she did not. What really failed for me was the backstory behind why this was happening and who was responsible. If I was glitched out of one life and put into another that I didn’t choose, I doubt my nutshell response would be “it’s okay, they meant well.”
I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
magicacat's review
3.0
Liked the concept, the obsession that began it all was suitably creepy and the parallel world meta stuff was interesting as always.
But.
It got a bit too "B-Movie action" weird toward the end and there was altogether too much "uwu so woke, muh representaaaationnnn" rubbish scattered through it.
But.
It got a bit too "B-Movie action" weird toward the end and there was altogether too much "uwu so woke, muh representaaaationnnn" rubbish scattered through it.