Lots of twists and surprises and bit if magical fantasy with the world that the twins created as kids.

I found parts of the book to just not be realistic of how someone would act, but maybe were more for helping to drive the plot and add hit sense of suspense or anxiety.

Overall the story between Cat and El is complicated and as grown ups even more so.

I tried a few different times to get into this book over the course of a year and a half. I picked it up a few days ago and I could not put it down. It was so good. So clever and very atmospheric. The mystery surrounding El's disappearance, El and her identical twin sister's childhood, Mirrorland - everything was so intriguing and it all came together so well. Little twists were thrown in at the right moments and they were shocking. This is one that will stick with me for a while. Very impressive debut and I will definitely look for more from this author in the future.

3.5 rounded up. I was so hooked into this book, until about the last 1/4. The story was wild and unexpected, and I could barely keep myself from jumping ahead to find the answers I needed to the questions being asked. It was dark and creepy, and I had no idea if we were in a fantasy or a thriller. Turns out, a little bit of both?
The last 1/4 of the book just felt unnecessary to me. Like, I get that some of our outstanding questions were answered, but I found they mattered so little to the storyline itself that I wouldn’t have minded those sections being axed all together.
All in all, a really great read, with some great twists and darkly creepy characters. Well done.

Unreliable narrators, a twisty storyline, chapters that jump timescales, a fantasy land the characters have created, all in all I found this one to be an interesting concept but a rather confusing read in reality and to be honest I’m not entirely sure if I enjoyed it or not. I would definitely give the next of this author’s books a read though.

I absolutely loved this book! I found it hard to put down. I highly recommend reading it! You won’t be disappointed.

I love a weird book and this one is definitely that, with Mirrorland being a strange fantasy world the twins invented as children. I slept on this one for too long, definitely a step above most books marketed as "thrillers" - literary, magical realism, I don't even know what -- but I'd definitely recommend it! I can't believe it's a debut. The ending is a slam-dunk. Five stars! I'll re-read this one, for sure.

This is a strange story that starts on a cold rainy night in the past and then jumps to the present but still flows to the past when Kat is remembering things from her and her mirror twin sister’s childhood.
The chapters jump between characters and can sometimes be confusing, but overall the story is good. There is lots of suspense and plot twists with a surprise ending.
I enjoyed the story and the author did a great job descriptively of what mirrorland looked like and the place where the story takes place.
Carole was a new author for me, but I’d definitely recommend her and look forward to other stories from her.
#mirrorland, #netgalley, #carolejihnstone

What a crazy twisty tale! Unreliable narrators, questioning what is real, the blending of fact with fantasy...fabulous story and some great writing. I will read more by this author!

“Mirrorland” by Carole Johnstone is a psychological thriller that lays out the upbringing of identical twin sisters in Scotland.

Catriona has just returned to her birthplace from her new life, 12 years in LA, upon the disappearance of her identical twin Ellise who has gone missing while sailing alone. In an odd move, Ellise and her husband have purchased her childhood home to live in, so as Catriona stays there she is confronted by memories, both good and bad. Growing up, her grandfather (who lived with them) was a sailor so the young girls pretended that their basement was a pirate ship as a form of playful escape with their neighbour and other family members. These early years are brought to the forefront via emails that Cat starts receiving soon upon her arrival from a mysterious sender. These clues turn into somewhat of a treasure map, leading Cat to different areas of the house to conjure up memories to help her piece together what has happened. Along the way we learn that Shawshank Redemption was a popular piece of material between the daughters and their mother, so Cat falls back on that knowledge to assist her search for the truth.

This is Johnstone’s first novel and it feels it. We are told Cat’s life has been split into two periods: her upbringing until the death of her mother & grandfather and her second life from that point on. Unfortunately, Johnstone muddles these two together in the telling of the story frequently jumping back in forth with no separation within the chapter. Yes, at the end, it becomes clearer but while reading it cold, it’s a muddled mess that doesn’t make logical sense. A huge shame given the plot is actually quite unique and, dare I say, fun…if handled better. Johnstone leaves me with the feeling she overthought her debut to a point where it fell unto itself, just like the wreckage of a pirate ship.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing a copy for review.

I received the book free for an honest review from Netgalley.

I loved the premise of this novel, execution was a bit off. I just found the whole first half to be super confusing and hard to understand. Then everything starts coming out and I could feel it wasn’t as it seemed but I wasn’t sure how. It got way too unrealistic to believe and follow.

I wouldn’t recommend this one.

This was sooo slow!
It was about 70% in before this got really interesting.
By then I was just going through the motions.
The transitions between past/present and reality/imaginary were choppy at best.
If you like long drawn out plots, where you can't quite figure out WTH is going on...
then this is for you!
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for my DRC.

“Mirrorland” has a lot of promise and potential that made me interested to read it, but the execution was a little lackluster. In terms of the good, I loved seeing Cat try to hunt through her old home, finding out piece by piece what someone (could it be El?) has left for her to find. As she slowly peels back the clues and starts to piece together what could have happened to her sister, we get a really fun narrative device that feels like it could also be unreliable. I also liked slowly learning about what Mirrorland’s purpose was for Cat and El, and the slow reveal as to what their home life was like that necessitated a place like Mirrorland. There were genuine surprises to go with it, and some of the big reveals totally caught me off guard.
While I definitely don’t doubt that this book and the book I had given up on previously were complete coincidences when it came to plot details and ideas, the fact remains that there just didn’t feel like there was a lot of originality going on in this book, nor were the characters people I was invested in.
‘

Happy publication day to Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone. Thank you @simonschusterca for sending me a copy for review.

What we learned from this one is always listen to @candice_reads. I was not completely sold on this one to start because it felt a little confused and slow to start with. Candice convinced me to keep going though and the last 60% was one hell of a ride. A bucket of content warnings for this one including almost every kind of abuse so if any of that sounds like it might affect you, DM before you start and I’ll give details and specifics if needed!
I don’t know if I can go into much more detail than that with this review as it is a book you are going to want to experience rather than hear about. But it’s compared to Gone Girl and Room in the synopsis and I think it lives up to both in terms of twists and reveals.

Woah. This was a book. Like a short little book that felt so much longer. It really dragged on til about 35% and then it was fast paced. It good but I spent a bit of the book confused. I was retreading pages trying to figure out what I missed. It does eventually all come together but it just didn’t really work for me.
The writing was perfection. Descriptive and lyrical. I enjoyed the writing and would read this author again.

Thank you to NetGalley, Carole Johnstone and Simon & Schuster Canada for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I heard so many amazing things about this book and I was a bit disappointed. I found the first half of the book a bit slow; even though it was a bit interesting, the mystery just seemed to take so long to get started and I was left confused a few times and had to reread parts. I did enjoy the twists in the novel and the characters, but it felt like such a long novel. The ending was by far my favorite part and I didn't see that one coming at all. For those who like a slow burn mystery, this is the one for you!

This is probably one of the best books I've read this year. Carole Johnstone delivers an intricately crafted debut novel that follows a a sister Cat after her twin sister El is reported missing. Despite being separated after a huge fight, Cat flies from LA to Edinburgh and returns to her old childhood home and stays with Ross, who is El's husband, and Cat's former lover. However, she's adamant that her sister isn't actually dead; when she starts receiving threatening letters and emails, she's lead on a chase to find out what actually happened and to recover the past that she has forgotten.

It's full of twists and turns; this is truly a novel that you can never be sure what is truth and what is fiction. What gave the book its allure is the complex past that the characters had. Their childhood memories was composed of Mirrorland, a fictional place superimposed on their house, where there were fictional characters like clowns, pirates, the Tooth Fairy, and Bluebeard. Cat's memories are haunting and make readers uneasy, but you can't help but be drawn in by their dangerously active imagination. The book also plays into the unreliable narrator, but in a even more intense way; Johnstone jumps through time with little warning that sometimes, it's easy to mistake what is present and what is past. I loved the progression of the novel; there was so much action even from the start, and twists until the very last page.

It's crazy, twisted, and alluring, I read this in two sittings and could not put it down. I'm truly amazed by what Carole Johnstone has come up with for her debut novel and can not be more impressed by its delivery. Would highly recommend to all my friends and look forward to her future works.

Thank you to Net Galley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the advanced readers copy.

Mirrorland is a novel that hovers within multiple genres. It's definitely a mystery, but it's also fantastical and surreal and HEAVY because at it's heart it's a story about deep rooted secrets and familial abuse.

Cat and El, mirror twins, were raised in seclusion in a gothic mansion in Scotland. Living with their mother and grandfather, they together created Mirrorland, a Narnian escape full with pirates and adventure, friends and foes. A world that became more real than reality to Cat.

Their lessons were unconventional, they were taught the virtues of exploration, the warnings of dark fairy tales, and the preparations of a survivalist. Cat doesn't remember the events of the night her and El escaped 36 Westeryk Road. They started their new lives that day and never looked back.

With the disappearance of El under mysterious circumstances, Cat needs to travel home, back to the place she never wanted to be again. Everyone believes that El is dead, but Cat isn't ready to believe that. You'd know if your twin had died.

As Cat steps into the shadow of her sisters life, she starts to slowly remember their life in 36 Westeryk Road. The answers to what happened the night they ran away are deep in the bowels of Mirrorland if she's ready to face them.

Throughout the novel the reader has to parse what elements of Cat's memories are fantasy versus truth, as perspective shifts between the present, Mirrorland and the past without warning.

How far has Cat gone to to cloak the darkest layers of abuse.

I really enjoyed this one up until the end, where the final twist just didn't work for me at all, but DAMN was this a fun read.

3.5 Stars Rounded up.

This atmospheric and chilling novel delves deep into the haunting nightmares of childhood and the real and imaginary fears that we, as adults, repress and hide in the deepest parts of our subconscious. Cat, the main character, and one of two 'mirror' twins ran far away from Edinburgh and all its troubling memories, but now returns to the dark, gothic house she lived in as a child, after news that her twin is missing after a suspicious boating accident. Her sister, El's husband, Ross, is still living there and grieving the loss of his wife.
Cat plunges back into Mirrorland, the strange place under the pantry stairs, where the two sisters invented an imaginary world of pirates, clowns and witches among the dark, twisty passageways.
What follows is a dark, twisty and truly chilling 'treasure hunt' as Cat tries to uncover the truth about her sister through a mysterious series of messages that keep appearing. The author conjures up a dark, magical and utterly compelling world that is unsettling at the same time. The plot is filled with twists and turns that keep the reader guessing until the final page. A beautifully written book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a crazy ride!

The beginning of this unique and compelling book was strangely disorienting - two young girls, Cat and El, identical or mirror twins, inhabit a strange and fantastical house in Edinburgh Scotland, where each of the rooms have names, imaginations rule, and it’s hard to distinguish the stories the girls are enacting from the fictional reality of the actual plot.

But I encourage you to stick with it, - the plot evens out quickly into a compelling rhythm as the parallel (and main) story emerges in the timeline of the present day, with both girls now grown into young women, and Cat called back from California, where she now resides, due to the mysterious disappearance of her sister El.

From there the story gets very jangled, the dark twists so skillful that you will not see them coming. As the investigation into her sisters fate becomes ever more puzzling , Cat’s world becomes a terrifying mix of anxiety for her sister, repressed and surfacing memories, vivid nightmares and encounters with an assortment of characters whose actions are both terrifying and incomprehensible. Who and what is real, and what is imagined becomes impossibly muddled and murky.

“Because a memory, after all, just like a belief, can still be a lie. “

There are great revelations ahead for Cat, and for the reader.

“Some large part of my life, its conviction, is false. A parallel universe where a person I love is a monster. Where a mirror’s reflection (tells) lies.“

(no spoilers, but there is some disturbing material included here).

Kudos to the author - I thought the creative and intricate plotting was especially well crafted. A couple of the twists were truly ingenious (and I kicked myself for not having figured them out).

The grand finale is also exceptionally tricky. I will not give it away, except to assure you that the loose ends (and there are a number of them!) do get tied up. The tie-offs were all very clever and I enjoyed them, with the exception of one twist which I felt was a little contrived.

A big thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an advance review copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts presented are my own.

Oh my gosh - Carole Johnstone's debut novel Mirrorland is simply amazing! It's easily one of the best books of the year for me.

Cat and El are identical twins - mirror twins as their mom says. They grew up in a large rambling house at 36 Westeryk Road with their mother and grandfather. They were homeschooled and had vivid imaginations, inventing a world called Mirrorland - full of pirates witches, clowns, cowboys and more. But they grew up - and Cat left Scotland and El behind for twelve years. The only thing that brought her back was the news that El was missing.....

Where to start? At the house at 36 Westeryk Road of course. When Cat returns it's as if time stood still. Johnstone's descriptions of the house and the rooms within gave me the shivers. The girls named the rooms as well - who's not worried about a room called The Clown Café? Or the world that waits underneath the pantry stairs? The whole overall feel is very Gothic. (Yay! I love Gothic)

Johnstone's plotting is fabulous. Mirrorland is told from Cat's point of view, past and present. Are Cat's memories of their childhood accurate? And I know it sounds outlandish - but could Mirrorland be real? The possibility is definitely there. Is El really missing or is this another fantastical game? Johnstone's writing kept me on the edge of my seat as I tried to parse out what was real, what happened years ago and what is happening now.

A psychological thriller, a crime tale mixed with a dose of fantasy. Excellent for this reader! If this was Johnstone's debut - I can't wait to read what she writes next.