Yep, I liked it and now I’m obsessed with anything and everything twins.

This is my first Janelle Brown book and I’ll definitely be checking out her backlist and will look to add her future releases to my Tbr.

Her writing is exceptionally fluid. Making her books easy to read in big chunks. In fact, I started listening to one hour a day and couldn’t stand the suspense so I finished the second half of the book in one sitting.

This is one of those books you think about while you’re not reading. I asked myself questions about what might happen next, about what the character was thinking, and guessing about the conclusion.

The characters are identical yet different and there is a theme of plurality going on where you’re not sure where one ends and the other begins. It was a Very fascinating premise.

The book was fun to read and would make a perfect book to bathtub read. I promise you-you’ll never want to get out.

Thanks to Random House Publishing, PRHA, and Netgalley for the advanced copies!

I’LL BE YOU…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sam and Elli are former child actor twins who are no longer speaking to each other. When Elli goes missing, their mother calls Sam for help. Sam starts digging into Elli's past but will she reach her in time?

It's not often that cults are the setting of thrillers but after reading this one, I'm all in for it! Not only do I find it interesting but it also adds to the element of surprise as there's so much most people don't know about how cults work. This was a solid read, full of mystery, twists and emotion. It was my first book by Janelle Brown but definitely won't be my last.

Samantha and Eleanor were only nine, playing on the California beach, when a talent agent discovered them. As blonde identical twins with matching dimples, Elli and Sam were captivating, and when they were offered a chance to become stars, they took it. Their agent set them up with acting lessons and headshots, and it wasn’t long before they landed their first commercial.

That commercial turned into a role on a television drama, where the twins shared air time to play the daughter of a police woman. The hours were long, with lots of time spent sitting around in their trailer waiting for their scenes, but Sam loved every moment. Elli wasn’t as excited to be in front of everyone like that. She just wanted to be a normal kid, going to school and trying out for cheerleading and going to parties with friends. But Sam wanted to be a star.

When their character got killed off from the drama, Elli was relieved and excited to spend a year as a regular teenager. But Sam was miserable as a regular high schooler and wanted back in the spotlight. She talked Elli into another show, this time a Nickelodeon comedy about twins, where they got to play characters based loosely on their own personalities, to make things easier on Elli. But after a while, Elli wanted out again.

When it was time for college, she took the opportunity to end her contract and go back to her normal life. Sam wanted to stay in Hollywood, though, and did what she could to stay. But one twin just isn’t as interesting to casting directors, and as Sam spent more time partying than studying, she soon found herself out of school and out of a job.

The years slipped by, with Sam in and out of rehab, and Elli married to her college sweetheart and running her own floral design business. Sam and Elli eventually stopped talking, so Sam was surprised when her mother contacted her out of the blue and asked for help. Elli had gone away for the weekend to a retreat in Ojai and her mother needed help looking after Ellie’s daughter Charlotte. Sam was stunned. She had no idea that Elli had adopted a child. And then Sam found out that Elli’s husband had moved to Tokyo. She was a little over a year sober, but how could so much have changed so quickly?

Sam agrees to help, gets time off from her barista job, and heads to Santa Barbara to her parents’ house. She meets the adorable Charlotte and despite not having been around 2-year-olds before, she does her best to help take care of her. When the weekend is over, Elli still isn’t home, so Sam decides to stay a little longer. The days slip by, trips to the park, AA meetings in the evenings, and still no Elli. Sam starts to get worried about her, so she decides to investigate.

Sam heads to her sister’s house, and she finds a binder filled with self-help writings. Her sister had made notes and highlighted passages. Sam doesn’t know what to think at first, but some internet searches point her to the idea that the group could be a cult. Is it possible that her twin sister has abandoned her daughter to join a cult? And if she has, could Sam figure out a way to pull her back out?

Janelle Brown’s I’ll Be You has so much going on. There are twins who were Hollywood sweethearts. There is the Hollywood party scene and then rehab and sobriety. There are infertility issues that break up a marriage. And there is a woman’s self-empowerment group with a compound behind tall fencing where women shave their heads and wear matching dresses. But mostly, this novel has a lot of heart. The paths these sisters have chosen, the decisions that tore them apart and then brought them back together, drive this story that looks closely at what it means truly to be a family.

I loved this book, racing through the story to find out where it would end up. These sisters are one, but they are also very distinct personalities, and following along as they grow up and grow apart is such an amazing part of this story. But then, when they come back together to take care of Elli’s daughter Charlotte, the true power of these twin sisters comes through. I’ll Be You has so much going on that it’s easy to lose the thread of the theme, but at its heart is the family. The mistakes we make, the choices that cause pain, the forgiveness, the redemption, the second chances, the secrets, the denial, and the strength it takes at the end of the day to just keep moving forward. I’ll Be You is about love, and it’s about hope, and it’s a beautiful book to read at a time when you’re looking to find some hope yourself.

Egalleys for I’ll Be You were provided by Random House Publishing Group through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Identical twins Sam & Elli were discovered as children and became b-list child TV stars. Being identical they shared the same roles, and were often interchange by their friends, family and even on purpose by themselves. Sam loved the lifestyle acting brought, but Elli wanted out of the spotlight.

As adults they have been driven apart by Sam’s addictions and destructive behavior and haven’t spoken in over a year. But when Sam’s parents call her and tell her that Elli is away at a spa and ask Sam to come help out with Elli’s newly adopted two year old daughter, Sam feels like something isn’t right.
Elli’s not answering her phone, the spa she is supposedly at seems more like a cult, and Sam is left to connect the dots to find out why Elli has disappeared.

I enjoyed the pace of the book and enjoyed trying to figure out Elli’s disappearance. I do feel this reads more of a family drama then a thriller.

This story is told in dual perspective which I usually like, but because it was broken up in three parts vs alternating chapters, it sometimes felt like the story was being told twice.

I also ended up like Elli’s perspective more as I felt it told the story better and Sam’s point of view seemed to tell what was happening instead of showing. There is a point where Sam is talking to the reader and it felt completely separate from the story.

I think this story would be enjoyed by a reader that enjoys family drama, and dual perspectives/ timelines.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was BANANAS. Not necessarily in a bad way but also not really in a good way. Between the two sisters, I think we could have gone without Elli's perspective - not only would that have made it shorter but it also would have kept some air of mystery. We already knew all the details (or at least enough to guess) by the time the POV switched; we didn't need to rehash it and kill the forward momentum. (The plot is all Sam, so Elli is just... background)

I read the first ~40% so fast. I tore through it. But after that... I knew where things were heading. Nothing was shocking or groundbreaking and there was some... Problematic content. There is a lesbian character whose ex-wife cheated on her with a man and instead of going "she cheated on me" she calls out "she was bi and never told me" and that's... A bad look. Even if you're married to them, you don't have the right to someone's sexuality. And that doesn't get called out; and while that character is a "bad guy", it doesn't excuse her biphobia

Winner, winner! I blew through this in one sitting. Janelle Brown is such a wonderful writer. I fell in love with the character, Sam. She deserves her own series.

Sam and Elli are identical twin sisters. As children sharing a role in a successful TV series, they learned how to fool people by pretending to be each other. As they grew older Sam was the messed up one with drug addiction and Elli was the successful one with the perfect life or so it seemed. Now, Elli has gone off on a retreat with a mysterious group called GenFem and their parents request Sam's help taking care of Elli's daughter, a daughter Sam knew nothing about. It's up to Sam to unravel the truth about her sister, and about GenFem, and what it all has to do with Elli's daughter, Charlotte. This book is about the tenuous bonds of family and how you can never really know what is going on with another person unless you truly put yourself in their shoes. Sam and Elli are both extremely flawed characters but their innate desire to improve their lives and be better people makes them easy to root for. The plot, which is full of interesting twists and turns, moves along at a steady pace until the book reaches its inevitable conclusion.

The ending was a little anticlimactic. The big GASP moment for me was right around the middle. Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the complex relationships between the characters, especially between Sam and Elli. I also enjoyed how the story unfolded!

This book is SO good! I absolutely loved Janelle Brown’s last release, Pretty Things, and was anxiously awaiting I’ll Be You, and it did not disappoint! Janelle is the master of psychological suspense and this tale of two twins who have drastically drifted apart is one that will capture you from the first page and never let you go!

Childhood stardom placed these identical twins in opposite directions to the point in adulthood where one goes missing as the other (barely sober) sets out to find her. Though there is not a lot to relate to for me, this story does keep things interesting during a weird turn of events. More suspenseful than thriller it still had me involved to find out the truth.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley for my honest opinion.

Wow this is in my opinion Janelle Brown's best book yet!!!!!! It shows you in depth looks into the relationships between twins that you don't normally understand unless you are a twin. I can't say enough great things about this book so I will leave you with this: I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I promise you will t0o!!!!!!!

I'll Be You is the story of twin sisters, Sam and Elli, who grew up as child actors playing twins on screen and each other in real life. As they grew up the hardships of life hit each of them differently - Sam has been dealing with addiction while Elli has faced the challenges of infertility and the effects of that on her marriage. They've grown apart and lost their connection to each other. Until their father calls Sam out of the blue to come help watch Elli's daughter while Elli is on a retreat in Ojai. As Sam arrives at her parents house she quickly starts to realize that Elli's life is nothing like what she imagined and it seems like things are not ok....

I love love loved this book by Janelle Brown - I fell in love with the characters and anything with a women's empowerment culty vibe is absolutely for me. Janelle Brown never disappoints and this is no exception. The twists and turns kept me engaged and guessing!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC - I'll Be You is out now!

I wanted to read I’ll Be You after enjoying Janelle Brown’s book Pretty Things last year.

Pick up I’ll Be You if you are drawn to books about twins, child stars, or cults.

I loved the opening paragraphs of I’ll Be You and was immediately invested in Ellie and Sam’s sister relationship. I was engaged in Sam’s quest to find answers as a mystery unfolds upon her return to her family home. The twin relationship, backstory of the lives of childhood actresses, and examination of shame and addiction all held my interest.

If you are triggered by infertility or addiction, I would skip this book, as both play major roles in the novel. (I can see where the infertility storyline could especially upset readers for reasons I won’t go into to prevent spoilers.)

I appreciate that Janelle Brown’s writing holds my attention and keeps the pages turning. I will continue to read her entertaining novels and need to check out her backlist.

This review is also posted on Goodreads @Michelle Beginandendwithbooks and on Instagram and Facebook @beginandendwithbooks

I loved Janelle Brown’s last novel Pretty Things, so I couldn’t wait to read I’ll Be You. It did not disappoint.

This is more a slow burning character study that kept me riveted and wondering what would happen next.

Here’s what I liked:
👯‍♀️ the main characters, Sam and Elli, are identical twins but with different personalities and interests
👯‍♀️ The twins are childhood tv stars. I enjoyed the peek behind the Hollywood curtain.
👯‍♀️ POVs - we get both Sam’s and Elli’s points of view. Sam narrates the first half of the book and Elli narrates the second half.
👯‍♀️ there’s a cult!
👯‍♀️a fun, quick, and entertaining read

Review of I’ll Be You by Janelle Brown

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is my first book by this author but it won’t be my last. I enjoyed it thoroughly and liked the writing style. I found the characters really interesting snd the story was solid. I feel it could have been somewhat shorter but overall no major complaints. I listened to it on audio and definitely recommend that.

Quick synopsis: Sam and Elli are identical twins who are former B list child stars. As adults they have become estranged. Sam has struggled with substance abuse and Elli is married with an adopted child. Sam gets a call from their father asking for her help with the niece she knew nothing about. Apparently Elli and her husband have separated and Elli has gone to a spa retreat and keeps extending her stay. Sam quickly becomes suspicious that Elli may have actually joined a cult and Sam is determined to get to the bottom of it and bring her home.

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @prhaudio for the advanced copies of this one! This book was out yesterday.

I'll Be You by Janelle Brown

Two young girls, identical twins, are approached on a beach and soon after, they are child-stars!
One loves the spotlight, one doesn't. But, she loves her sister, so she agrees to keep on acting. Until one day it is too hard, a harmless idea forms—just for now. I'll Be You. It will help both of them.

A few years later, one has made life changing choices that the other hasn't.

Later still, they are adults. One gets married and desperately wants a baby.
One has been to rehab-and needs to go again after thinking she is helping her sister. She's done it before. No one will know.
Their relationship ends.

Until, it is a year out of rehab for Sam and their parents need help taking care of Charlotte. "Who is Charlotte?" Sam asks.
Elli's daughter.
"Where's Elli?" No one really knows. Elli isn't answering her phone. Sam talks to a neighbor and gets concerned. She investigates and an idea forms. She's done it before. She can do it again. But this time it might be dangerous.

I'll Be You by Janelle Brown is a highly recommended 5 star book. You won't be able to stop reading this suspenseful book and you won't be able to solve what has happened! Great, great book! ENJOY!

"Identical twins, so identical that even their parents can't always tell them apart.
Child-stars, best friends. No one knows who is who. The same but different. Almost like they are one person...Clear your schedule! I'll Be You is hard to put down!"
-Books and Pens on Green Gables

I was given this book to read and review. Thank you!

RATING: 2⭐/5
There are SOME spoilers in this review (because I couldn’t give an honest opinion without spoiling something).
TRIGGER WARNINGS: very explicit descriptions of being in a cult, drugs, addiction, kidnapping

⭐ FULL REVIEW: I was very curious about this book because the premise sounded incredibly promising. The book started off really great, and Sam was an incredibly engaging character who was so easy to root for, but I couldn’t help but feel like it fell a little flat for me, especially from the half-way point. There were many times I almost put this book down, but my curiosity as to how it all were to end won out. This is labeled as a family drama, and for the most part, it is, but we only really get to see the complex relationship between the twins during the flashbacks. There weren’t exactly a lot of scenes of them together in the present time until the very end, which was pretty disappointing.

If anything, there was more (current) drama between one of the main characters, Sam, and their mother. There were quite a few things that irked me about this book but the biggest one was how it completely derailed at about 50% of the book, when we now had the POV of Elli. That was when it started going from a supposed thriller/family drama to nothing more than a glorified cult documentary. I get it, we had to delve into Elli’s point of view to fully understand what she went through, but it was just… completely straying from the plot of the book, in my opinion. I just wanted to shake Elli to tell her that you didn’t need this cult to be more self-aware. Therapy’s right there. As the more “sensible” twin, you’d have thought she’d know that, but for the sake of the plot, she had to go there.

I think a lot of the characters in this book are just absolutely frustrating. Sam and Elli’s mother is at the top of that list, and every time she comes into the picture, I bristle. That’s how unlikeable she is, and even when I finished the book, I still didn’t like her. The pacing of the book was all over the place and I think another thing that really irked me was that the whole “figuring out where Elli went” was part of the “thriller” aspect of the book, but then they gave away the answer to that in what seems like a very quick manner, because the plot had to delve into the “cult” aspect of it.

To say that I wasn’t truly interested in the cult aspect of it is an understatement, and the fact that the author took so much time to state all the happenings in it explicitly was just incredibly disturbing. I didn’t really get thriller vibes from this book at all. If anything, I think the author might have used the cult plot to be the ‘thriller’ part of it, but it just felt like a family drama that was blown completely out of proportion to force it to be a thriller, hence leaving me completely disappointed and very weirded out. Don’t even get me started about the fact that there was a kidnapping involved. I literally sat there reading, thinking “This is just… ridiculous.” It felt like a very cheap shot at shock value.

The ending was pretty dissatisfying, in my opinion, and there were only two redeeming qualities for this book. One is the superb writing, because even though the plot completely derailed and I was no longer interested, starting from Elli’s POV, it was still written very beautifully. The other redeeming quality really is Sam herself. She’s such a wonderful character and she’s the only reason that this book isn’t a 1 star. I was rooting for her through and through, and am so glad she got her well-deserved happy ending, at least.

📖 WOULD RECOMMEND TO: People who somehow like really weird (?) family dramas / “thrillers” but to be completely honest, I wouldn’t really recommend this to people at all.

There were so many aspects in the synopsis of I’ll Be You that I was really drawn to and knew I had to read it.

Identical twins, child TV stars, missing twin, and finally… cult(?!). Each item sounded fun, but all of them together in one story..? Oh my! So intriguing.

And this book definitely didn’t disappoint. I was all in from the beginning. It was a hard book to put down. Especially near the end. I flew through the last section reading as fast as possible to find out what in the heck…? SO good. And SO bizarre.

I’ve read a couple of Janelle Brown’s previous books and loved them so knew I absolutely had to read her newest release. And what a ride it was. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

*Thank you so much to Random House and NetGalley for the advance copy!*

I loved this book! It kept me reading nonstop for two days just like it’s predecessor, Pretty Things! Loved the combination of the child actor and cult storylines plus a redeeming ending. Have already recommended to several friends!

I'LL BE YOU by Janelle Brown is about Sam, a former child actress and recovering alcoholic, who is called to her parents' house to help care for her young niece while her twin sister, Elli, is away on a retreat. With sparse communication from Elli and an absence that keeps getting stretched longer, Sam looks into the woman's empowerment group that Elli has joined and discovers it might be more sinister than it looks on the surface.

The book is well written and hits on a lot of interesting themes, like the nature vs. nurture debate and at what point groupthink or belief in a higher power becomes harmful. It also delves into the nature of sacrifice and how we determine what and how much is acceptable to sacrifice for a loved one. Sam is a compelling character throughout the first half of the novel as she searches for her estranged twin and battles her inner demons and the regrets of her past.

However, the story is slow to get started. While the pace and intensity build throughout the first half, the second half slows down to a crawl until the final climactic moment. While the book is marketed as a fast-paced thriller, it reads more like a family drama with vaguely spooky elements.