This one was a hit or miss for me. 

I really enjoyed the beginning with the creepy introduction to the mysterious twin that comes back into the main character's life after the tragic death of their mother. 

It had all the workings to be a great, somewhat-spooky thriller that I was excited to get into their minds with. But while I did really enjoy the intense good vs evil aspect, I just feel like the story could have had a little extra oomph to it. It wasn't that it didn't entertain me, there was just something that felt missing by the end of the book I can't exactly put my finger on.. 

The writing was still interesting and I was surprised on how much more spooky this turned out to be than I thought. I really enjoyed that. I gave the book an overall 3 out of 5 star review!

I first off wanna thank Netgalley for this copy of The Twin which was an insane read. I was super excited when I got approved for this arc. This is my first book I’ve read by this author and it definitely won’t be the last. This was a fast paced thriller. That was both deeply disturbing and terrifying. I got the good kind of anxiety you want in a book. I loved every moment of this book. I could not put it down. This is absolute must read and I totally recommend.

I found myself pretty frustrated by this book. I think I was hoping for the psychological tension of something like My Sister Rosa, and the both the plotting and the writing here ended up being far more facile. The dialog often came off as pretty awkward and somewhat dull - and though specifically set in the US, the text wasn't quite scrubbed of Britishisms (e.g. cinema, scatter cushions) which sort of brought me out of the story. The story certainly picked up in the last third or so, adding in a couple important new elements, but without much energy to them. I found most of the characters pretty much told not shown (and the focus on Ivy's best friends' hair was odd) and Ivy to be something of an irritating narrator, talking a big game about how she wasn't going to let her sister get to her, she's going to slow-and-steady get the better of her and then...not really having a plan or doing anything. The ending, though irritating, wasn't entirely surprising.

Everyone I know who has read The Twin by Natasha Preston loves it! This is a YA book but any age can enjoy it. I don’t read a ton of Young Adult fiction but once in a while a book will jump out at me and I will read it. That was the case with this book, I cannot resist a creepy, dark story about a child who may or may not be evil.

The Twin is dark and haunting and I think those who enjoyed Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage or The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry will like it.

What you need to know:

After their parents divorced, 10-year-old twins Ivy and Iris were split up–Ivy lived with Dad, Iris with Mom. Now, after a tragic accident takes their mom’s life, the twins are reunited and Iris moves in with Ivy and their dad. Devastated over Mom’s death, Iris spends the first few weeks in almost total silence–the only person she will speak to is Ivy. Iris feels her life is over and she doesn’t know what to do. Ivy promises her twin that she can share her life now. After all, they’re sisters. Twins.

It’s a promise that Iris takes seriously. And before long, Ivy’s friends, her life at school, and her boyfriend, Tyler, fall under Iris’s spell. Slowly, Ivy realizes she’s being pushed out of her own life. But she’s just being paranoid, right? And Mom’s accident was . . . just an accident. Right? It’s not like she–or Dad–or Tyler–are in any danger. . . .

You will be turning the pages quickly in this slow burn of a haunting and chilling story.

Available here and now! Perfect reading for a rainy day.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the advance ecopy. Ivy and Iris are twins separated by divorce. When their mom dies in an accident Iris must then live with her dad and Ivy. Things start to fall apart for Ivy when she starts falling into all kinds of trouble. Is Iris trying to take her place? Not a bad read.

Natasha Preston is by far one of the best authors out there that writes a suspenceful thriller! I have read all of her other books so when The Twin was available I had to read it. It was soooo good and full of suspense!! Don't pass this one up if you are looking for a twisty rollercoaster ride!! 5 STARS

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book. I have reason from the author before and enjoyed her style. This book is no exception. I liked the plot and the characters. There was a couple of repetitive parts but it wasnt enough to put the book down. The book did end leaving questions so I hope there is more to wrap things up for us. Recommend? Yes
-happy reading~

Being a twin myself, I was immediately intrigued by the premise of The Twin. A suspense novel that's YA and featured twins? Count me in! Unfortunately, this didn't live up to my expectations.

I didn't really care for either of the main characters - they were one dimensional, kind of boring and hard to connect with. I also found it odd that they chose to live apart.

The suspense and mystery were also minimal and lack luster. I could spot the ending from a mile away. While not every suspense novel needs to have a twist, in this case, the predictable plot just didn't work for me. That and my dislike of the MCs just made this one not work for me.

Thank you Netgalley, Natasha, and Delacorte for an advance copy of The Twin.

The Twin is my first Natasha Preston book, however I have 3-4 others on my Goodreads to-read list. Despite my overall lackluster feelings about The Twin, I am still excited to read some of her other titles.

Overall, I felt like the book was lacking in all aspects.

The plot - The gist of the story is that Ivy and Iris are twins who were living with separate parents. Upon the sudden death of their mother and Iris moves in with Ivy and their father. Ivy tries to be accommodating, allowing her twin into her social circle and sharing her life with her, but things start to get strange and soon Ivy is questioning everything going on around her...while everyone else is questioning her.

Overall, I like the idea of the story. The paranoia of 'am I in the wrong here?' 'am I losing my mind?' 'am I overreacting?' is a super appealing plot point for me. Unfortunately, I didn't really care for the execution. To me, Natasha only just scratched the surface of the psychosis behind the idea of the story. There was so much repetition. I feel like I read variations of the same sentences/scenes so many times, through the entire book.

The characters...meh. There wasn't a ton of development. I didn't love or hate anyone and I think that's because I didn't really get a sense of who anyone really was.

The twist...wasn't bad. The biggest twist was pretty easy to figure out, but there was a smaller twist that I did enjoy.

Overall, I don't think this would be a bad read for a YA reader (who is actually on the younger end of 'young adult') who is new to the thriller/suspense genre, but for someone like me who loves YA books (but is definitely not in the YA or even NA age group) and thrillers, it was just very flat and predictable.

Really enjoyed this book. Natasha Preston is a wonderful writer who really knows how to put her reader right into the plot.

A cool thriller for teens and adults. Interesting plot line that kept me pulled in throughout the novel.

This book was... not that great.

The premise sounded really interesting and creepy. Clearly it was going to be a good twin/bad twin plot line and I was excited. The beginning was pretty decent but it went downhill after that.

The characters were very one-dimensional. The parents, friends, twins, boyfriend, were all horrible people who didn’t really act like real people.

The mental health representation was really… bad.

The writing was easy enough to get through, but there were a lot of chapters that ended with literal questions like "Why is my twin doing this?", "She isn't trying to hurt me, is she?", and "Why?" This seems like a writing technique I might have used when I was 10.

I also got this odd sense while reading that this book was not written with current teenagers in mind. There are a lot of pop culture references that aren't exactly outdated, but they're not very current. For example, there are references made to Judge Judy, Scream, Scooby Doo, and freak shakes. I just don’t really think the author is completely with the times.

I also got a sense that this was a British author writing a story set in the United States. Every once in a while there was a mention of “bloody hell” and “crisps” and then I’d question if I had gotten it wrong and this book was set in the UK. But I do remember that the main character wanted to get into Stanford, so I think that it is set in the US. I was reading an ARC, so maybe these things have been changed for the final copy.

The ending was a mess. I think the author tried to go for something twisty and cool but it was anything but. And, I have to say, naming twins “Iris” and “Ivy” made it very difficult as a reader to remember who was who.

On the positive side, the cover is really pretty(not really related to the book, but still pretty) and I did finish the book. Other than this, I don't really have anything else positive to say.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this story. It was full of twists and turns and it took me a good while to figure out the ending. I really enjoyed the writing style and the character depth.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

I honestly don't know why I keep reading books by this author. Sometimes they are interesting enough that I can get passed the grammatical errors and sometimes I feel like they are train wrecks. You can't help but keep watching as you drive on by.

I am so sorry I read this book. I read fiction to escape the problems of this world, not make them even more real. The book deals very realistically with the life of a teenage girl who has just lost her mother and is reunited with her twin. I saw early on what was happening with Iris but I kept reading to see how she would get what she deserved. Unfortunately this book has no happy ending. It left me so depressed I was practically suicidal. I would not recommend it to anyone who gets emotionally involved with a book and its characters or anyone who is even slightly depressed. I hate to give an author a bad review especially since I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley but I felt it was necessary to give honest review. The book was well written, the plot had promise, and the characters were well developed if annoying. I just did not like it. I might be willing to give this author another chance.

Sixteen-year-old twins Ivy and Iris haven’t lived together since their parents divorced when they were ten. But after their mother’s death in a tragic accident Iris is now moving in with Ivy and their dad. The two have always been different and are more like strangers than sisters. But Ivy is determined to rebuild her relationship with her twin and promises she can share her life.

It’s a promise she comes to regret. Iris seems to not be satisfied with sharing Ivy’s life and appears to want to take it from her. Slowly, Ivy’s life begins to spiral out of control and everyone is turning away from her. Things get increasingly sinister and she knows that Iris is behind it. But everybody else is charmed by her, even their father. How can she prove that her sister is out to steal her life?

I find that YA can be hit or miss for me but I absolutely loved this one. The story and characters were well written and I liked that the protagonist and antagonist were twins. It added extra tension as Ivy couldn’t just cut ties with the person she’s sure is out to get her, she has to live with her too. It meant there was so much more at stake and made it a more personal. My favourite scenes were as the book was heading towards it’s dramatic ending. The tension had my heart racing and I couldn’t guess what was going to happen. When it ended I literally went back to see if I missed something as it was so abrupt and sitting there in a fury that the author had ended it that way. But, after thinking about it, I love how it ended and think it was a clever way for the author to finish the book.

The story is told from Ivy’s point of view so Iris remains an enigma, with the reader wondering if what they think they see is real or if it’s Ivy’s skewed perspective and paranoia. Though I think this added more suspense to the book at times, there is part of me that would have liked to read from Iris’ perspective, maybe short paragraphs peppered between some chapters to have us see her plans and games from another side and maybe to even throw us off course a bit. We don’t know Iris’ true colours until near the end; is she sinister and conniving or is she misunderstood and Ivy just paranoid? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

The Twin is an exciting, intriguing and gripping novel. I’ve wanted to read this author’s books for a while and I’m now a fan. I will definitely be reading her other books. I’d recommend this book if you enjoy mysteries and thrillers even if you don’t usually read young adult fiction.

This is a well written YA thriller about a good twin and an evil twin. Although the story was a bit slow moving - the ending was quite chilling.

Publish date March 03, 2020
Thank you netgalley, random house children's and the author for giving me an e-arc for review.
I honestly love this book, my emotions were on edge while reading this. One minute I was screaming at the main character, and the next I'm crying with her. I was hoping that this would have ended differently but the way in which the story played out, it's only right that it ended the way that it did. This mystery/thriller is the perfect read for anyone who enjoys stories of manipulation and deceit.
The author did an amazing job writing this book, and the story felt so real at time that i was scared to turn the page in fear of what will happen next. This is the first book that I have read from this author and i am looking forward to read all of her other back list titles.

I couldn't wait to read this title. Natasha Preston didn't disappoint!!! Twins, another person trying to be me, but shes a jealous, manipulative, lying little brow crinkling psycho! And yet no one believes you?

I loved this story, and can't wait for her next one, but I was mad at how it ended.

I've loved other Natasha Preston books, but I had to DNF this book a little over half way. Too many aspects of teen life didn't ring true for me in this novel, as well as the fact that at this point nothing had happened yet! Ivy was getting suspicious of her twin Iris who had come to live with her, but I felt like Iris hadn't earned that suspicion yet.