Blog Tour: Review: Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman

Summary/Cover Image from Goodreads:

Rachel and Alice are an extremely rare kind of identical twins—so identical that even their aunt and uncle, whom they’ve lived with since their parents passed away, can’t tell them apart. But the sisters are connected in a way that goes well beyond their surfaces: when one experiences pain, the other exhibits the exact same signs of distress. So when one twin mysteriously disappears, the other immediately knows something is wrong—especially when she starts experiencing serious physical traumas, despite the fact that nobody has touched her. As the search commences to find her sister, the twin left behind must rely on their intense bond to uncover the truth. But is there anyone around her she can trust, when everyone could be a suspect? And ultimately, can she even trust herself? Master storyteller Jessica Warman will keep readers guessing when everything they see—and everything they are told—suddenly becomes unreliable in this page-turning literary thriller.

Review:

With Where The Truth Lies, Jessica's second book and the first one I've read of hers, I fell head over heals in love with her storytelling ability. Her ability to craft characters and plot was fascinating. Then with Between, Jessica's '11 release and my second book of hers, that statement was seconded all the more. Now with Beautiful Lies, her latest release, I have a strong feeling I'll be a lifelong fan of Jessica's because this one was EXCELLENT! It was mysterious. It left me unsettled but dying to find out more. It was the perfect blend of paranormal and contemporary mystery. And most importantly, the twists and turns and even the ending caught me off guard.

Beautiful Lies begins the story of Alice and Rachel, identical twins so similar that no one- not even their family nor their closest friends- can tell them apart physically. However, their personalities tell a different story all together. Alice has always been the bad girl in the family. If she's not getting in trouble for drinking or sneaking out late, it's her attitude and temper that does. Rachel, however, is the good girl. She gets perfect grades. Never causing trouble or chaos, she always stays under the radar except when it comes to helping her sister Alice. Even with their differences Rachel and Alice are incredibly close...almost like the same person, but when one twin goes missing, everything changes. Suddenly, everyone becomes a suspect to the remaining twin, and with nowhere to turn and no one to turn to, she sets out to find her sister and even piece together the past as well as herself in ways she could have never imagined.

Beautiful Lies is a hard book to review. Not because I don't know what to say, but because I don't want to say too much. Beautiful Lies is the kind of book you want to experience all on your own...one where knowing just one little twist may ruin it all. Therefore, I'm going to keep this as brief and simple as possible.

First of all, I loved the characters! Jessica Warman did a fantastic job of crafting Alice and Rachel. I really got to know them throughout this book, and to tell the truth, I was fascinated by them. I've always wanted to have a twin...I think it would be so cool, and this book should such an interesting take on twins. The bond between Alice and Rachel was unbreakable and breakable all at the same time if that makes sense. They loved each other but also sometimes hated as well as envied the other. It was a complicated relationship but it made for interesting reading material...let me tell you. I also enjoyed the wide variety of secondary characters introduced in this. Kimber was a favorite of mine simply because while her story was heartbreaking, she was such a sweet and nice girl. I also enjoyed finding out more about Alice and Rachel's family and various other connections.

With a Warman book, you always go in knowing you're going to end up with an incredibly well written book, and that was just the case with this one. I love the way in which Warman crafts the plot because she always gives you just enough information that while you're happy enough with it you're also dying to know what's going to happen next. Plus she also keeps everything such a jumbled mess...in the best way possible of course. Beautiful Lies especially knocked me off my feet. Page after page I was constantly surprised, and even when things were out in the open, I was constantly second guessing them, waiting for something to come out of the blue yet again. I also loved the mix of paranormal aspects, because they added the perfect little spark to it.

The only aspect I didn't particularly enjoy was how rushed the ending was. I was a little confused at the end and had to re-read a few pages because of how quick everything went down. However, once I pieced it all togehter, I did feel it was the perfect ending in the long run-- even if it wasn't the one I was expecting.

In all, Beautiful Lies is the perfect end of summer read, especially on a dark, rainy day. It's mysterious. It keeps you on your toes. And most importantly, it's incredibly well written...basically I can't suggest it highly enough.

Grade: A-

Beautiful Lies (Amazon/ BN/ Goodreads) is now out!

Source: Publisher via Netgalley- Thanks Bloomsbury/Walker Books!