Another knockout by sister duo Liv Constantine!

I don’t know about you, but I have read a whole bunch of thrillers with this amnesia trope lately. I was a bit worried that this one would be another variation on the same theme, and that I’d be bored by a story I’ve read before. That was not the case with The Stranger in the Mirror! This might be my favorite of all the amnesia books I’ve read. I suspected the right person was the “bad guy”, but I never could have guessed the extent of the twist.

If you’re a fan of these authors’ jaw-dropping twists, you won’t be disappointed by The Stranger in the Mirror. The book is fast-paced and entertaining cover-to-cover, and I read it mostly in one evening.

I docked a star because I had a hard time relating to Addison/Cassandra. This could have been due to her amnesia, but her thoughts felt stilted and disjointed at times. There was quite a quick jump from her one life to the other, and it felt a little too convenient.

I did come across a timeline error in my review copy and got a little too hung up on it–I thought I had missed something and spent easily an hour flipping back through the book to try to get the timeline straight. Once I finished the book, however, it was clear that it was just an editing error. I sent a message to Lynne and Valerie’s Instagram about it, and they confirmed the error had already been corrected! Next time I come across a timeline issue in an ARC, I’ll flag it and keep reading instead of stopping to try to figure it out.

W O W. You think you know what you're getting into here. Standard amnesia plot. Person with no memory makes new ones, person from their past finds them and reveals their former life, conflict ensues. Right?

Well, yes.

And then... We go back 4 years. And we get tossed into a mind so sick, so twisted, so utterly narcissitic, that it is a massive shock even as the sisters Constantine play it pretty straight in the actual narrative.

It was a solid book before the trip back in time. More character drama than true mystery/ thriller, but it worked for what it was. Several compelling storylines and conflicts through this section really drove the reader to want to know more. And then we travel back in time and begin the race to the finish. :D

Very much recommended.

What would your life be like if you could only remember the past two years? Addison’s wedding is fast approaching but how can she marry when she can’t even remember who she really is? Has she been married before? Does she have any family? And why does she have flashes of horribly violent images? Ever since she was rescued on the side of a New Jersey highway, Addison has been trying to rebuild her life but unable to remember her past. Meanwhile, Julian and his seven year old daughter are trying to pick up the pieces after his wife, Cassandra, disappeared two years ago from their suburban Boston neighborhood. How could a mother leave her child? How can Julian find his missing wife when she disappeared without a trace?

The amnesia premise has been a plot line in many books and movies. I was pleasantly surprised by Liv Constantine’s handling of the subject. The authors have added many twists and turns to keep it fresh and unpredictable until the very end. The atmosphere created by the author’s detailed descriptions creates a background of tension throughout the novel. The result is a quick read and fast paced thriller that will stay with you long after you’re finished.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper for the opportunity to review this book before the release on July 6.

3 stars

This multi-perspective novel gripped me at the start; I could not put it down. However, when two essential characters who were connected in the past reunite in the present, things get...predictable.

Addison Hope, the m.c., arrives on the scene with an intriguing backstory: wandering aimlessly on the highway with (literal) blood on her hands and confusion on her mind. She has the world's most fortunate hitchhiking experience, and this lands her in the safety of a new state, caring parental figures, and a life of new possibilities: fiancé and future in-laws included. But everyone - even Addison - is troubled by the gargantuan gaps in her past. Who is she really? Where did she come from? To whom is she possibly connected? What's up with these frightening scars? More than these questions that other characters have, readers are even more interested, thanks to insight into some of Addison's violent and disturbing flashbacks. The setup is clear; this woman has escaped something awful.

Where this novel takes a wrong turn, for me, is that when answers start to arrive, they are almost exactly what readers might expect from a brief plot synopsis. I'd have loved to see some more surprises, misdirection, or even jarring outcomes so as to hang on to both the mystery and thriller components. I very much felt like the first half was a four-star read and the second was as two-star as-expected turn and resolution.

Those who enjoy multi-perspective, amnesia-centered mysteries/thrillers will find this enjoyable overall, but know that all of your expectations and predictions will be met here. I'll be back for more Constantine but will hope for some surprises in future installments.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Harper for this arc, which I received in exchange for this honest review.

At first glance, and even for the first quarter of the book honestly, this seemed like a formulaic thriller with a path that would be very easy to follow. Things seemed so straightforward and predictable really, but there’s something about the authors writing style that never fails to grip me. Amnesia storylines have been done time and time again, but this put a new spin on things that I certainly haven’t ever seen before so it actually made it feel like a fresh read.

I think the most important thing to know about this one before you start it is that you cannot take it too seriously. It’s outlandish and ridiculous but it’s deliciously fun as well. You have to suspend all disbelief and just take it for what it is, a fun, entertaining and wild thriller that’s twisty and totally consuming. I flew through this in record time and found myself thinking about it when I did have to put it aside so there’s definitely an addictive quality to it. It was also disturbing and slightly creepy at moments, and despite a few predictable things, there were a couple unpredictable parts for me as well, so overall a fun summer thriller.

I'm going to go ahead and give this book a 5 star review. Holy moly this book was filled with twists and turns I just didn't see coming! So, strap yourself in for a crazy ride with this book!

You know how there are those moments in a book where everything comes to a screeching halt, your jaw drops, and you're just like WTF? The moment in this book when that happened. I felt like I just threw my hands up and said, well, I'm not doing anything else today. I need to know what happens now! I LOVE when a book does that!

This is a story of a woman who can't remember who she is or anything about her life. After years of living a new identity, her old life finds her. As her memory starts to come back and her history begins to comes to light, things get crazy.

If you are a fan of psychological thrillers, this one will blow you away! I highly recommend it!

Overall I enjoyed the book however it was a bit predictable. I really enjoy these authors, I have read all but one of their books. So I really went into this one hoping to love it. I did like it, it was a fast read however I felt like there was no big bang in it. By looking at other reviews I see that many people thought the book was great and that’s awesome. I still think that if you love these ladies then you should certainly read this book. Like I said I really did enjoy it I just knew who the bad person was.

I just love the writing of the sisters Constantine! There are so many WTF moments in this book that my head is still dizzy! There are expletives I said out loud multiple times but I’m so afraid of giving away spoilers if I post them here! Please just trust me when I say that this is honestly their best book yet! And yes, I adored The Last Mrs. Parrish and The Wife Stalker! Every time I thought I knew where this book was going, I got whiplash because I was so wrong!!! This book gets all the stars!!!

All aboard the far fetched express! Damn, there is no way in hell the plot of this book could ever actually happen.

Imagine having severe amnesia after a mysterious accident and not being able to recollect anything about your life or past, not even your name. This is what happens to the main character in The Stranger in the Mirror...except that’s not enough.

Of course some romance and tense family dynamics had to be thrown in, too. Where’s the fun without a suspicious mother in law??

Then, the character’s old life catches up to her and things take a very sinister turn and she finds out some things about herself that she would rather not know...this book was all over the place.

It had potential, but the overall package and execution just didn’t work for me. I mean, I did want to know what would happen and how it would end. There’s lots of mystery...but 😬 not enough for me to actively recommend this book.
2.5/ 5stars

The plot of The Stranger in the Mirror is held together by truly the thinnest of threads. In the first half, I was engrossed and felt the book had quite a bit of potential, but once the pieces started to come together, it fell apart for me. It’s a wild psychological thriller that relies on A LOT of coincidences, poor decisions, and a few plot holes (including one where there is a major timeline issue that left me extremely confused).

I’m giving this one three stars because it was a quick read and for a good amount of the book I was quickly flipping pages, but the ending fell flat.

DNF. I just could not get into this one and had to put it down. It seemed a little far-fetched and just had too many things going on in the plotline. I appreciate having the opportunity to read and review this book, it just wasn't for me as a reader.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my gifted copy.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

I have always enjoyed Liv Constantine’s books, and The Stranger in the Mirror was no different. A quick, fascinating read with a series of satisfying twists and turns, I will be recommending this to my patrons.

While I enjoyed the ride, I did feel like I knew early on where it was all headed. But, even so, it was fun getting there.

I love suspense. And I loved Liv Constantine's The Last Mrs. Parrish as well as The Wife Stalker. I wanted to love The Stranger in the Mirror, but I found it a bit frustrating. The novel has potential and hopefully some issues will be addressed before the final draft is published. I loved the old film Gaslight (both productions) as well as du Maurier's novel Rebecca and Hitchcock's film adaptation of it. I'm also a fan of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, etc. I like suspense. I like unreliable narrators. I like psychological turmoil in fiction. The Stranger in the Mirror could fit the bill, but it doesn't quite do it. The "mad scientist" character is far too overused to be anything but eye-roll inducing in 2021 and even the doctor's language (who really says "My sweet" anymore?) approaches triteness. The amnesia story was interesting and could have worked beautifully, but it was overdone and every time the "trigger words" were used in the hypnosis scenes I had a cartoon image of a wild-eyed mad doctor swinging a pocket watch in front of his victim's eyes running through my head.

Perhaps the authors tried to do too much with their attempt at three-characters-in-one? Timelines were a bit convoluted with respect to the apple picking/Facebook post incident. When exactly was this supposed to have happened? The scene made it clear that she had met Gabriel and become engaged, but the timeframe around it gave every indication that this adventure took place before she ever met Gabriel. Is the reader truly supposed to be as lost as the character? Her flashbacks to events associated with certain articles of clothing pop up and are never attached to anything, even once the gaslighter hits the reader full-on with the fact that he is a serial gaslighter. Was there a surrogate or did the original Cassandra give birth to Valentina? The book creates total confusion on this one. and never sorts it out.

I appreciate the publisher and NetGalley providing me the opportunity to read and provide feedback on the ARC. I do think that readers of suspense will like this, but I was reading it from a critic's point of view as well as a general reader's point of view and there are some serious flaws.

Hitchhiking and being picked up by an upstanding citizen was definitely pure luck for Cassandra.

The man who picked her up found her bleeding and dazed and without a memory of who she was or what happened to her.

Luckily this person was a Good Samaritan and he and his wife took her into their home. Gigi and Ed were wonderful people.

While Cassandra was trying to remember who she was, she met Gabriel. Gabriel came from a wealthy family. They fell in love and were going to get married much to Gabriel’s mother’s dislike.

His mother, Blythe, wanted to know who this woman her son was enamored with and was going to marry really was.

She hired a private detective and so did Cassandra’s husband, Julian.

It had been two years since his wife and Valentina’s mother had disappeared. He had to find out what happened to her and if she was still alive.

There is an undercurrent of tension as we meet the characters and follow them through their grief and suspicions. Cassandra can’t shake the tension and worry about not knowing who she is or who she was.

You will be pulled into her worry and what is going on and question what is going on.

A well-crafted psychological thriller with lots of surprises and a twist you can’t imagine happening. 4/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Stranger in the Mirror by Liv Constantine was a great escape and a quick read for me. As this is my third Constantine book, I knew what to expect and my mind raced ahead with prediction as I read. There were also times when I was shaking my head about a few of the far-fetched plot twists that were thrown in, but all in all I was entertained by the book.

Addison is thrilled to have met Gabriel and to accept his marriage proposal. Especially since she has amnesia and only remembers the last two years. Gabriel's rich family is suspicious about Addison's past but the love Gabe and want him to be happy. But on the day of Addison's photographic debut at a gallery, a man comes up to her and claims her as his missing wife. He shows photos of her and their daughter and Addison believes him. Her name is Cassandra he says and he is Julian, a respected doctor. He has been searching for her for 2 years. So she leaves Gabriel to try to piece together the life she has lost. Who is telling the truth and who is lying? Will Addison ever reclaim her memory?

If you are a fan of the dynamic duo of Live Constantine, I am sure you will gobble this up. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book before its July debut.

A mystery that doesn't give away many clues can be found in The Stranger in the Mirror by Liv Constantine.

Thriller storytelling at its best with unexpected and surprising plot twists. See my complete review on www.reviewingtheevidence.com.

Wow....

Even though its totally obvious who the villain is from the opening chapter.... I kept racing through the chapters just to find out the why and how the heck did he DO that!

The sisters are magical writers and this is my top suspenseful beach reach for Summer 2021!

I wanted so much to love this one. I adored The Wife Stalker by Liv Constantine, but this one just didn't do it for me. The writing didn't feel as polished and the story line had some pretty big issues (sent separately to the publishers).
I loved the concept of this and I think it with some additionally editing this one will be great, but I will need to read the final edition before encouraging others to read this one.
I was ready for the twists and turns that amnesia can bring to a twisty psychological suspense thriller, but this one just didn't have enough meat on it's bones.

Thank you NetGalley & Harper books for my gifted eARC!

Addison is newly engaged to Gabriel, seemingly happy, but suffers from amnesia. She doesn’t recall anything about her life before stumbling out of the woods and then meeting Ed & Gigi two years prior.
Julian is a successful and wealthy doctor, father and has been searching for his loving wife, Cassandra.
Dun. Dun. Dunnnnn.
This book was a very quick read. Easy. But also predictable and I was not a huge fan of the writing style. However, if you are a fan of thrillers, and mysteries with lots of twists and bumps, this book is for you. I did enjoy it. I was able to read with it wanting to stop. And do recommend. I just think the story could have been approached differently.