A nice read for those into defiant young women turning into thieves and spies in the night. This also has the right Victorian feel without being an actual Victorian novel. And the ending is a quite the surprise.

My thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book to review. This was a great, twist-y book that I got through quite quickly. A solid 4 stars for me!

I really enjoyed this book. Wasn't sure what to expect as I don't know the author but was happy I was able to read it. It follows Valeria whose mother was murdered in front of her and her twin when they were children. Her whole life is about finding what happened to her mother and bring her killer to justice. Valeria teams up with one of the most wanted and cruel criminals who have a common purpose. She is a strong women with determination who will do everything she can to bring justice to who committed the murder. A twist at the end and this was one I just wanted to finish as it was interesting! Would recommend as your next read

Valeria Anson has always been one in a set, her and her twin brother sharing everything from clothing and toys to their mother's womb.

But the one thing they didn't share was the searing image of their mother's brutal murder, one that haunts Valeria every night without fail.

Almost a decade has passed since their mother's untimely demise, and despite their father's role as Viscount and Chief of the King's Imperial Force, the masked killer has never been caught, still free to roam the snowy streets of Nieve.

Although her father and brother have given up hope of locking the killer behind bars, Valeria refuses to let the case go. But the road to the truth is a lofty one, her secret investigation leading her to Alias Black, the most infamous hitman in the kingdom. While associating with the dreaded killer goes against every one of her beliefs, the heartless assassin may be the key to finally tracking down the masked murderer who lurks in her dreams.

Lying to her family by day and working with Alias Black by night, Valeria must now walk the thin line between right and wrong, justice and revenge, dreams and reality. As the unlikely pair slowly crack the case, they unravel a truth they never could have imagined—not even in their darkest nightmares.

A heart-wrenching and thrilling debut, My Brother's Spare weaves together fantasy and reality, trust and betrayal, and the twisted truth that lurks beneath every cobblestone.

What a twist-y book to read! I enjoy it even if I read it slower than I thought I would be...
If you like a book that's full of twist then this book is for you!
Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the copy!

really really enjoyed reading this book. What is it about dangerous, characters with questionable morals that just makes me love them? Alias Black is such an interesting character. He is dangerous, sarcastic and has a twisted sense of humor. Valeria is a determined, strong woman who would not stop at anything to find her mother's killer and bring them to justice ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book is a tough one to rate. It´s a slower read, at least for me, so I struggled with it a bit at the beginning. But the concept was too interesting to put it down. The family dynamic was the strongest point of the book for me. The ending is a close second, I need the sequel as soon as possible. The writing was neat and nice to read, but sometimes it made the plot confusing. I recommend this book to anyone interested in a complex family dynamic and an Academia feel! Thank you Publishing team, Author and Netgalley for the chance to read it!

"My Brother's Spare" is a solid debut from a YA writer Shira Behore. The story follows Valeria Ansen, the Vicount's daughter who witnesses her mother's murder as a child and shields her twin brother, Victor from the worst of it. She's dedicated her life to finding the murderer and enacting her revenge, taking drastic measures that cost her seat as an office with the Silvers, the royal law enforcement. Following a thread, she encounters Alias Black, one of the most notorious and brutal assassins in Nieve. As they tentatively start working together, they start seeing that things may not be what they seem, and that the death of Valeria's mother may be tied to a much bigger conspiracy.

Knowing that this was a NaNoWriMo project, especially one by such a young author, definitely impressed me. Behore's prose is skillful, and although the book dips a bit towards the middle, it picks up again towards the third act. There are clever set-ups with well-delivered pay-offs, and while I predicted a few of them, I didn't figure out the final mystery, which was definitely a surprise.

Behore mentioned Sherlock Holmes and Six of Crows among her influences, and you can certainly feel them — sometimes, perhaps a bit too obviously. The world-building was okay, though it was hard to pinpoint it timeline-wise given the inventions mentioned throughout the book. The story itself is very cinematic, the energy and environments of Nieve in December was vivid enough to envision.

Overall, this is an entertaining YA mystery which takes a few turns you might not expect.

My Brother’s Spare was a thrilling read and the amount of twists and turns was amazing. I was not expecting the big plot twist. It was a pretty great mystery novel and I was not expecting the relationship between Valeria and Rowan to go relatively smoothly considering who they are. There were some parts where Colonel Silverstein was mentioned as Corporal, which was a bit of an oversight that I hope was fixed in before publication.

I was very happy with the story. It was such a great read that it took me 24 hours to read the whole thing. I got lost in the story and the mysteries and I loved every minute of it. The ending was a bit lackluster for me. I was wondering how the author would end the story given Rowan’s past and Valeria’s family. But it wasn’t a completely bad ending. I wish we could have gotten more about the actual corruption and the monarchy itself, but this story will do.

This story is not just a historical fiction but also fantasy so it is a bit different than more stories I've read. It started off pretty slow and I had a hard time getting into the story but I kept going and feel it is a decent book. Not my favorite but not bad either due to the morally gray characters keeping you on your toes on what they were going to do next.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinons are my own.

Not for me. I just didn’t enjoy the story telling and could not get into the characters. I picked it up several times with no luck

I absolutely loved this book! Behore's writing is just so beautiful, and I was engaged from the very beginning. Even though he is definitely not a good guy, I loved Alias Black. I wish Victor had been in the story a little more, especially as he and Valeria are so close. Same with Oliver and Lou and Flint. Valeria has all these close relationships, and we get glimpses of them, but I wanted more. I loved the world that Behore created, and the ending was just spectacular. My jaw stayed dropped pretty much the entire last five chapters or so. What a great read. Will definitely recommend :)

Wow! I thought this was going to be mediocre and tropey, but in all honesty, My Brother's Spare surprised me. I loved Rowan, and enjoyed the way the mystery played out. I loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book a little slow to start, and a little confusing, but it did get better. An enjoyable read. Recommended.

This book is amazing! I am a sucker for girl detective stories and this one did not disappoint. The characters and world building a great and so is the plot twist at the end!

Gonna be honest, maybe this one is on me? I had no idea this was fantasy. I was expected more of a "Stalking Jack the Ripper" type story, set in Victorian-era England or something similar. I don't like fantasy most of the time, and I don't like going into a book expecting something and getting something entirely different.
This book is not bad necessarily, but it is just not at all what I was expecting, and that really hindered my enjoyment of it. It also had inconsistent pacing, with the beginning being very fast, and then immediately lagging until we meet Alias Black.
I think this book is a lot of fun, if not a little poorly written/unbelievably written. I just wish I knew what I was actually getting into, because I probably wouldn't have picked this up if I knew what it was.

Thanks to the publishers, Netgalley and the author for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book dives straight into the action with twins, Valeria and Victor, witnessing the brutal slaying of their mother. Valeria, as the protagonist, is filled with determination to bring those responsible to justice, and through this pursuit, is often faced with a moral dilemma.

To be honest, I was a bit lost from the beginning. Firstly, this book turned up under True Crime in Netgalley, so the whole fantasy element took a while for me to grasp and it wasn't the book I had requested. Having said that, i do enjoy Young Adult fantasy so I perservered,

I loved the relationship between Valeria and Rowan, he's an interesting character, and I didn't see the end coming.

However, the fantasy element didn't hit the mark for me and I found Valeria a bit meh.

All in all it was a good story and, although it took a while to lift off, it really redeemed itself in the end.

3 stars from me.

Thank you NetGalley for the free eARC of My Brother’s Spare.

My Brother’s Spare revolves around Valeria, who is one half of a twin and the daughter of a viscount, and her family runs the monarchy equivalent of a police force. When her and her brother were younger, their mother was murdered, and Valeria was the only witness. She has spent every day since hunting down the killer. Alias Black (aka Rowan Marrow) is a deadly assassin, and the two end up teaming up to solve the murder of Valeria’s mother and to investigate a fire that killed hundreds of people years ago.

“Everyone’s guilty of something. We’re all liars, cons, and cheats”

I’m going to be honest, I did not have high expectations for this book. As a huge fan of historical fiction and murder mysteries, I was hopeful, but I wasn’t really expecting anything I would emotionally connect to (especially since there is no romance arc). Let me just say that I could not have been more wrong! This book had me staying up past 1am, all snotty-nosed and crying over that last 20%. My favorite part of this book was how much the lines blurred between wrong and right. You start off with characters who seem like they would be the definitions of right and wrong, but you realize that they have done and continue to do things that aren’t what you would expect. And, they aren’t the only characters to walk that line of morality.

“If I am to be condemned to hell either way, then I will pave my own path there. I refuse to be dragged there by anyone else.”

I’ve got two words for you all: ROWAN MARROW. I have fallen HARD for the assassin, calling my own morals into question. I hadn’t thought I was super attached to him until I started crying uncontrollably when he talked about what led him to be an assassin, and that was when it really hit me how invested I had become in the book. He’s quite the complex character, and I feel like you really see some growth throughout the book. He is also such a mystery, and I loved being able to slowly unravel his background while also solving the case. Rowan also had this perfect balance of humor with a slightly murderous edge, and I am honestly just trash for that.

“How about it, Blue Blood? Won’t you sell me your noble soul?”

Valeria went through a lot throughout this book. I admire her determination and her resilience, and I also found myself fairly attached to her. I loved how she was morally gray, but in such a different way from Rowan. The one thing I did not like about her was her ending. The epilogue made me so mad, and I don’t know if that’s because the characters deserve better, if I am just so sad because of it, or both. I feel like I would have much rather seen an ending where the story continues instead of ending the bittersweet way it did.
Overall, I really did love this book, and I know it will stick with me for a while. Rowan and Valeria are not people I will be able to easily forget, and neither will their story be.

“Thank you, Rowan Marrow.”

“For ruining your life?”

“For waking me up.”

I really enjoyed this, but it wasn't the best. Also- I love the cover so so much, and the book overall was very good.

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
〰️
3/5 Stars
〰️
Review:

*Contains Spoilers*

My Brother’s Spare is Shira Behore’s debut novel. The novel starts off rather slowly, and it took several chapters for me to become interested in the storyline. This novel is fully character driven. The central concerns of the story deal with the characters’ pasts, and how their memories have affected their present selves. However, the plot felt a bit lacking overall. There were several times when the story lulled, and I had to push myself to keep powering through.

Shira Behore has some interesting concepts involved in the world building of this novel. However, there were some elements that were glossed over. A full description of zones 1-7 wasn’t given to help ground the reader. The idea of “dream stitching” is compelling and essential to understanding the plot’s twist, however, I found myself wanting more. The scenes in which the stitching itself occurred were brushed past. The actions were either viewed in the 3rd person, or prematurely ended. The lack of tangible descriptions overall kept me from feeling truly engaged throughout the novel. It isn’t a book I would return to again, but the author did have enough original ideas and compelling world building elements that I’d read another book they write.

Thank you to NetGalley and Long Island Press for an e-book copy of MY BROTHER'S SPARE to review. I'm not the biggest fan of Historical Fiction. I'm a huge mystery reader, but I shy away from historical fiction sometimes because the stories can be hard to follow, or the language doesn't have an easy flow to it.

I didn't find that to be the case with MY BROTHER'S SPARE. Author Shira, Behore takes us back in time to the 19th Century long before cell phones and DNA evidence were used to solve murders.

Valeria Anson's father is the Chief of the Kingdom's Imperial Force, aka, the head of law enforcement. Valeria and her twin brother, Victor, witness their mother's murder when they were children. The evening has haunted Valeria for years. Determined to find her mother's killer, Valeria finds herself questioning her past, becoming an amateur sleuth unbeknownst to her father and gains a partner in the kingdom's serial killer.

At the heart of the whodunit is Valeria's loyalty to her father and brother, all the while taking her spot as the quiet daughter who should be happy her father had not married her off in an arranged marriage.

The serial killer, Alias Black, becomes a trusted ally, even though, you know, he kills people. The two had a slow burn of a romance. The morally grey area of the characters, for me, made the book.

I'm hoping MY BROTHER'S SPARE is the beginning of a mystery series.

This Nieve kingdom is as dangerous as Jessica Fletcher's Cabot Cove, but I feel like it could be a treasure trove of mysteries waiting to be solved.

I rate MY BROTHER'S SPARE four stars out of five.