THE OTHER ME by Sarah Zachrich Jeng
Published: August 10,2021 by Berkley Books
Page Count: 352


A mind blowing set-up situation. Struggling artist, Kelly Holter is attending a celebration on her 29th birthday with her best friend, Linnea Flood, at a gallery in Chicago for her first solo exhibition. She wanders to the bathroom… once inside she is transported to a different birthday celebration in her honor at Luigi’s Restaurant in Davis , Mi … a place she actually grew up in. She returns to the table to find a husband, Eric Hyde … she never had …. A man she barely new in high-school. She is surrounded by new family members … and she learns that she is on a wholly different career path. She is less than thrilled and perplexed in this new foreign circumstance. She must act as her own private investigator to find clues on what has happened. She quickly learns that her husband is employed by “genii” ( pronounced “Genie”) … a company devoted to writing time-travel code. Is Eric the key to what has happened?
Sarah Jen proves to be a masterful storyteller has she weaves together a complex twisted narrative with multiple surprise reveals that ratchet up intrigue and suspense as she explores the alternate-universe trope. Thanks to NetGallery and Berkley Books for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.

Dnf 60%

Felt like this was following every story that comes from this idea and it started out so promising too!

Tired of some repetitive work within it.

This book was riveting. The characters were complex and their relationships believable and built over the course of the plot. The arc of the storyline was pitched well, and details were fed to the reader at a pace to maintain interest. Highly recommend!

I love books with unique premises and this definitely qualifies. I throughly enjoyed it and it really made me think long after I finished it.

3.5 rounded down, I just couldn't quite bump it up to 4. I enjoyed the story, but had a few quibbles - it's slow in the middle, and I feel like the big reveal should have been earlier instead of introducing so much of Eric's family. There's a lot of tech-babble but not enough to explain how the time travel really works. I do give it a bonus point for having a character who does QA, since most books just have developers and forget about the most important part (I may be biased since that's my job).

The Other Me is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is incredibly fast-paced. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out The Other Me asap.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy for review!
Please note: this is my honest review unaffected by the publisher or Netgalley.


NetGalley isn’t letting me submit full review from browser but I enjoyed this book!

I had hoped to like this book. I have been enjoying suspense books a lot as of late. Sadly, The Other Me didn't keep my attention. It was all a little too slow for me. I had to add this book to my DNF list. I do hope that others will enjoy and love this book. It just was not for me.

In The Other Me, Kelly begins her 29th birthday in an art gallery in Chicago, walks through a door and ends up at a surprise party in her hometown, married, with no memory of the last 12 years… except she does have memories from this completely different life she stumbled into. With a bit of the uncanny mixed in with speculative fiction, The Other Me is a fun modern Gothic with plenty of rabbit holes.

I recently spoke with Sarah Zachrich Jeng about her novel. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Some of these twists and turns were fairly predictable, but it didn't make them any less satisfying! A fascinating concept that I really enjoyed reading.

A great read that will keep you on the edge of your seat while having your mind work overtime! Highly suggest this book!

I think this will definitely find a readership in our library, so I have preordered it. I wasn't personally blown away by the story, but I think that had more to do with not connecting with the characters. No fault of the author, just not my particular taste.

This was not at all what I expected and I ended up loving it. The characters were great and the story was engaging. Loved the time travel/alternate reality aspect of it. So much so, that I finished it in a day. Will definitely recommend.

For me, it's really important that I can connect or relate to one of the characters in some way, shape, or form. I just couldn't do this in the novel. The writing was pretty good and the plot was done well, however something here was missing for me. I will be trying this author again though.

THE OTHER ME offers a very interesting look at the what-ifs of life. This unique and gripping story will send the reader down a path with just as many questions as answers. What a ride!

Hard to put down page turner. Very interesting concept and while I clearly saw some of it coming, still had to keep reading to see how it all played out.

What a creepy, unnerving story! I was really enjoying being along for the ride, but ultimately I didn't feel like anyone was punished enough, that horrible outcomes weren't prevented enough, and that the book didn't seem to realize that—it would be one thing if it was a more openly acknowledged "lol this sucks" kind of situation, but no one but me seemed to realize how messed up everything still was at the end!

I went into this one 100% blind and didn’t know what to expect. What I got was a little sci-fi, a little thriller and a lot more than I anticipated. Solid read.

I had a bit of trouble finishing this book. The concept is interesting, but the writing and characters didn't hold my interest

What if you woke up one day and discovered yourself in another life? Sarah Zachrich Jeng's debut novel The Other Me explores this concept when Kelly, a budding artist, is one minute attending her best friend's art show in a Chicago gallery and is in the next, at her 29th birthday party surrounded by her family and finding herself married to a man she barely even knew in high school. What happened to her former life?

The Other Me follows Kelly's journey as she tries to solve the mystery of her two lives. Able to remember her former career, college experience, and friends, Kelly tries to piece together the puzzle of who she really is. As she gets to know her "new" husband, Eric, the previously unmarried Kelly also has to also learn how to be a wife ... to a man who is virtually a stranger. She can't help but feel that Eric may know something - is it possible that she is sleeping with the enemy?

It is easy to forget that The Other Me is actually a science fiction novel because this book feels like a piece of suspense fiction for much of its course. Jeng keeps readers in the dark for much of the novel and they are just as clueless as Kelly as she uncovers clues about her existence. While I was primarily entertained by this story, I felt that the pacing was entirely off. At the start of the book, readers are immediately thrown into this parallel reality situation alongside Kelly before they even get to know her. This is a fast jump. But then nearly the rest of the novel focuses on Kelly getting a grasp on her surroundings and figuring out who she really is. I lost interest several times throughout this discovery process and felt confused by the vague details provided by Jeng. I would have much preferred a tighter timeline and more focused storytelling.

So what is good about The Other Me? The plot is unique, and readers are unlikely to guess what is really going on here. Jeng's choices aren't obvious, so readers won't have this one all figured out right away. If you enjoy feeling oblivious to what is really going on in a story, check this one out!

SPOILERS

I think that I would have liked The Other Me more if I had a firmer grasp of what was going on in this oft-confusing novel. In an interview that she gave, Jeng said that she was inspired to write this story by those guys who will go to the ends of the Earth to get the girl. She took that concept and gave it a dark, twisted, science fiction spin, which makes this book incredibly unique, but unfortunately this information is not revealed until nearly the end of the book after you have already plodded through pages and pages of pretty bland content and mostly lost interest. My curiosity was piqued again after finding out the big secret, but it did nothing for my overall impression of the book - so much of this novel could have been edited out to make a more tightly spun tale!