Title: The Opposite of You
Author: Lou Morgan
Published: May 4th 2017
Publisher: Stripes Publishing
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery
Length: 224 pages
Source: Paperback from the publisher
Book Blurb (via Goodreads):
Bex and her identical twin sister Naomi used to be close. They used to be able to finish each other’s sentences, used to know exactly what the other was thinking. They were a matching pair.
And then something changed.
But Bex didn’t even realise until it was too late. When Naomi walks out of the house the night before their last GCSE exam and doesn’t come back, Bex has to think hard about how to find her.
What happens next will force Bex to unpick their shared history and the memories, following Naomi’s trail through their family, their past and all the way to the blinding lights of the Hemisphere music festival. Everything she thought she knew is called into question.
With her worries dismissed by their parents and ignored by her friends (and with Naomi’s friends nowhere to be found) the only person Bex can trust is a stranger – Josh – as she tries to piece together a picture of the person she thought she shared everything with. Naomi’s been leading another life, one Bex doesn’t recognize… and it’s led her straight into the path of Max: someone else who is not what they appear.
As Bex chases Naomi, she realizes it isn’t just whether she can find her twin: it’s whether she knows her at all.
And whether she still wants to.
My Thoughts
You can read my review of Lou’s other book, Sleepless, here.
I loved Lou’s first book and so when I got this book on my doorstep, I was super intrigued to see how her writing would translate from horror to a more contemporary setting. I wasn’t sure what to expect but being a fan of contemporaries and Morgan’s writing, I was keen to jump in.
Bex and Naomi have always had a special bond, being twins, but lately they’ve grown apart. So when Naomi goes missing – seeking out an adventure and spontaneity she’s sure she has – and Bex doesn’t even realise until it’s too late, she begins to question her surety at the bond she shares with her sister as she attempts to track her down before something serious happens.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It’s look into the special relationship that twins share – the link that they have that allows them to feel and hear their twin – was super interesting to see. While the story didn’t have a lot of depth to it, and it felt a little slow, I still enjoyed the tension that built up over the course of Naomi’s disappearance and Bex’s desperation to open a link to her twin that she thought had been all in her imagination. It kept me reading and I powered through it in a day or two.
The consequences of Naomi’s choices was an interesting sequence of events. All the bad luck was brought on by her poor choices and I feel like a sensible person wouldn’t have made the decisions that she did – not all in a row anyway! It lost me a little there but the sequences of events definitely kept me hooked.
A straightforward teenage rebellion story focusing on the link between twin sisters, this book is a great read for a summer afternoon.
Buy Links!
Amazon UK | Amazon US | Book Depository | Book People | Foyles | Waterstones
About the Author
Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Lou Morgan is an award-nominated adult and YA author. Her first novel, Blood and Feathers – an adult urban fantasy – was published by Solaris Books in 2012 and the follow-up, Blood and Feathers: Rebellion, was released in the summer of 2013.
Her first YA novel, Sleepless, is published by Stripes / Little Tiger Press as part of their Red Eye horror series.
She has appeared at the Bath Children’s Literature Festival and the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and has been nominated for three British Fantasy Awards (Best Newcomer and twice for Best Fantasy Novel).
Her short stories have appeared in anthologies from Solaris Books, PS Publishing and Jurassic, amongst others. She has also written genre novel-related features for magazines including Future Publishing’s SFX and is a long- and shortlist reader for the Bath Novel Award.
Born in Wales and a graduate of University College London, she now lives in Bath with her family.
She is represented by Juliet Mushens at The Agency Group / UTA.
*Picture and Biography from Goodreads
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