This is the second book I've read by Janelle Brown and it won't be my last. Told from the alternating points of view of Sam and Elli, this story explores the unbreakable bond between identical twins. Pretending to be each other as it suits them, the siblings take us on a suspense-filled ride with drama, secrets, and more. It is so well written, engaging, and a really fun book to read! I highly recommend it!

Thank you to Net Galley for the advanced reader copy. I'll Be You publishes 4/26/22.

Sam and Elli are identical twins, and growing up they became child TV stars, most times playing the same role. They were inseparable. Then they grew up, and now lead two totally different lifestyles, Elli the perfect homemaker, Sam falling apart and dappling with drugs and booze. When their father calls Sam telling her that Elli has disappeared, she shows up to try and figure out what is going on. The story has lots of twists and highlights how the choices we make early in our lives can help us or destroy us. Janelle Brown has once again written a compelling mystery/psychological thriller that will keep you up all night! Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for this read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC. Sam and Ellie are identical twins who became famous on a tv series while growing up. Sam fell into addiction and Ellie was trying to find her way to love and a family. After a big fallout and one too many times of Ellie bailing Sam out, they didn't speak for months. That is until she get a phone call from her mother begging her to come help take care of Ellie's daughter while Ellie is off finding herself. Sam confused how she now has a niece and worried for her sister, she heads back home to find her. This is a good and unique story line as well as easy to read but I felt that the majority of the book was setting up the story and mystery and only the last couple of chapters rushing an ending. #IllBeYou #JanelleBrown #RandomHouse #Apr2022

A story about twins struggling to find themselves. Elli and Sam are very different even though they are identical. Mistakes are made.
It was a slow burn of a book but it was enjoyable.

Oh wow! Janelle Brown has written another excellent novel. I've read them all since Watch Me Disappear and I love them all I love her writing style and she comes up with some of the best storylines. I'll Be You is the story of twins who were childhood television stars - identical in looks but not personality.. I liked that this story was not predictable to me and it was a unique plot that I personally haven't read before. The story is told partly from Sam's point of view and partly from Ellie's point of view.. While I did read some reviews that complained that the story wrapped up just too nicely - all I can say is I'm glad that it did. I certainly wouldn't have wanted a cliff hanger or be left wondering. about it! I appreciate Random house publishing and netgalley for my advanced copy of this book - It was excellent and I am never disappointed with this author's writing! 4 1.2 stars

I flew through this and it was paced to move along pretty quickly. However, the ending also seemed kind of fast to me and I wanted more. I also liked that we got both perspectives in this novel.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sam and Elli are identical twins, and when they were children, they were child stars. They also learned they could switch identities and no one would even know it. So they did that a lot of times. When they grew up, Elli got married. Now she has little girl. But Sam gets a call from her parents to again come be Elli. Her twin got involved with some group, and went on weekend retreat with them, and she has disappeared. You can't reach her by phone or text, and she's been gone now for over two weeks! This was a good thriller, and I recommend it! It is the first book I have read by Janelle Brown but I will be reading more. This was a good thriller, and recommend it! Thank you to the author, the publisher and Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read and voluntarily reviewing it with an honest review.

This was a good story that covered two personal interests that also thought they knew more about the other person than they actually did! Loved the relationship discovery and felt part of their personality was correct. Sisters are complicated on its own but twins have a whole layer that only they feel and know. Fast read and was hard to put down.

Elli and Sam are childhood, twin stars (think Mary Kate and Ashley) who couldn’t be more different. Elli doesn’t like the spotlight but Sam relishes in it.
This book jumps back and forth between present day to the girls teenage years post stardom.
I wouldn’t describe the book as a thriller (although there is the mystery of where Elli is) but more of a family literary fiction.
It was not at all what I expected but I thoroughly enjoyed it and had a hard time putting it down. I would recommend it and would read more books by Janelle Brown.

I very much enjoyed this book about identical twins, family and how far one will go to protect family. It is a quick page turner.

A fast paced thriller about twins who are former child actors. The plot was quite outlandish and requires some leaps of faith. And, the ending resolved too neatly.

Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I’ve read Brown’s other novels. I enjoyed that the lead stars were Sam and Elli, who were previously child actors. The story navigates through their turbulent relationship but it was very mysterious as the book centered around Elli being missing and the relationship being rekindled. .

However, I felt the plot dragged on and could’ve been cut down by 50 pages.

I really wanted to love this book because I like the last one by Janelle Brown so much it this definitely fell short. The premise seemed so intriguing and it did not meet up to expectations for me. The writing was still interesting but the story line was boring. I found myself skimming to get to the end as quickly as possible.

Thank you #Netgalley for this advanced copy!

This was a quick read that kept you guessing up until the very end. We follow a set of identical twins, Sam and Elli both chose different lives after their childhood stardom. Sam unfortunately got overtaken with drugs and alcohol, while Elli left the spotlight, married, wanted a family so badly but ultimately finding out that is possible for her. The two sisters got into a fight over a year ago and had not spoken. When Sam got a call from her mother asking to come help with her niece, Sam was shocked, she didn't even know she had a niece. Sam quickly steps in but finds Elli's weekend disappearance a bit fishy and continues to investigate. We then move away from Sam's point of view into Elli's and how they intertwine. So many surprises I never saw coming! As someone who enjoys reading/learning about cults, this was an unexpected pleasant read.

maybe I just wasn’t in the right mind set to read this one, but again, these are my thoughts and views only.

elli and sam, identical twins and former child actors, haven’t spoken in almost two years. sam turned to drugs and drinking at an early age and struggles with her sobriety so much that elli and their parents basically cut her out of their life. which is why sam is so surprised when her mom gets a text from elli asking for help with elli’s daughter and then … elli disappears. with her parents in denial that something’s wrong, it’s up to sam to put the pieces together on where elli went and what went wrong in their relationship.

I absolutely loved the premise of this one!! it was mysterious and eye-catching, but it went in a completely different direction than I was anticipating.

sam and elli were such fleshed out characters, identical twins with totally different personalities, and I was excited to see both sides of the story told by them. the flashbacks into their childhood were by far my favorite parts of the book.

the plot line just seemed to drag for me. once sam discovered where elli was (which was like 50% of the way through the book), it just seemed repetitive until the end. it was a very strong motive that didn’t need drilling in the reader’s head - especially when it’s so icky like it was - no spoilers!!!

thank you to netgalley and random house for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. this one is definitely an acquired taste - if you loved every vow you break, you’ll love this one!

rating: 2 stars
wine pairing: san jose cabernet sauvignon

I was crazy about Janelle Brown's 2020 novel "Pretty Things," so I couldn't wait to get my hands on "I'll Be You." Just looking at the description made me feel like it had somehow been created in a lab just for me, as it features so many of my obsessions: mysterious cults! Former child stars! Identical twins!

While I didn't love it quite as much as "Pretty Things," it is still a very good read. As children, Sam and Elli appeared in a popular police drama (young twins are often hired to play a single part, to get around child labor laws which limit time on set; Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are perhaps the most famous example), and then in their own Nickelodeon show. Sam loved the spotlight while Elli grew to detest it, so sometimes Sam would pretend to be Elli so she could keep performing. When Elli gets caught up in a cult, Sam realizes she may have to draw on her ability to impersonate her sister in order to save her.

Sam has been struggling with substance abuse issues, which have alienated her from her family; when Elli disappears, however, leaving their parents to care for her recently adopted 2-year-old child, Sam is reluctantly summoned home to help out. She winds up driving all over Southern California, often with the toddler in tow, to see if she can figure out what's actually going on with the initially innocuous-seeming women's empowerment group Elli joined.

Most of the chapters are told from Sam's point of view, and I can see why it was necessary to switch over to Elli for a while to provide the reader with the full story. However, Sam is just so much more of a magnetic, charismatic character than Elli, who often seems like a bit of a milquetoast by comparison. Her investigation is fascinating, as it gradually dawns on Sam just what she's up against.

I am sure I'll think of "I'll Be You" the next time I see child actors on TV. Brown will definitely make you consider the consequences of bestowing fame and fortune on kids who aren't old enough to know what they're getting into.

I'm a big Janelle Brown fan. Pretty Things was one of my favorite books of 2020 and while I didn't love this as much as I loved that one, this does have so many fun secrets to unpack. This book focuses on the sister relationship, feeling valued and understood, and complicated family dynamics. This is marketed as a mystery/thriller but reads more like a family drama.This story follows twins who were famous child actors but ended up taking different paths (one to drugs and one to a cult). They grow apart and one twin seems to have abandoned her daughter to go to a wellness retreat and the other twin starts to look into the suspicious circumstances. Both twins are quite flawed and each part of their story added much depth to their complicated relationship. There are several dramatic reveals that are satisfying surprises. If you know any twins that ever liked to switch places, this is a fun one!

Janelle Brown created the perfect mystery novel in this book, telling the tale of twin sisters who are as different personality wise as can be, thrown onto each other’s path upon one of them suddenly disappearing.

I’m a Janelle Brown fan. Pretty Things was a top 10 for me and Watch Me Disappear was also really enjoyable so I was excited to get my hands on an ARC for this book. Ultimately it’s a solid 3.5 star read that feels like a family drama than a thriller/suspense. It follows the story of twins who both had it all, but succumbed to their surroundings (one too drugs and one to a cult). Once close, they had become separated due to these stressors and they must find their way back to each other when one twin seems to have abandoned her daughter to check herself into a wellness retreat but is now unreachable.
I enjoyed the complexity and imperfection of the characters—I do love me some flaws protagonists. Ultimately I would have liked a little more suspense and a little less childhood history of the twins, but I will always be here for anything Janelle Brown writes.
Thanks to Net Gallery and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Imagine if your estranged identical twin sister disappeared at a spa in California, but you couldn’t find anything about the organization. This is the premise of I’ll Be You* by Janelle Brown, a novel in which twins Sam and Elli have a tenuous relationship because of their shared past as famous television child actors. They are adults now but have followed two very different paths. Elli, the sister who has vanished, has always been the cautious, dependable twin but has been behaving more erratically lately. Sam is a former addict, a reformed party girl, and a struggling waitress. Janelle Brown focuses on the fractured family relationships that follow the girls into adulthood.
Sam has taken advantage of the fame and money from her childhood, but her addiction to drugs and alcohol have sabotaged any chance of an acting career as an adult. When the book opens, Sam is attempting to maintain her sobriety and stay employed. The sisters have grown apart and never speak because of Sam’s destructive past. So she is shocked when their parents ask her to babysit Elli’s daughter. Sam, who didn’t even know Elli had a daughter, learns that Elli is getting divorced and in the process of adopting. Elli has told their parents she was at a wellness retreat; however, Sam believes Elli is in trouble and investigates the wellness group, suspecting that Elli could be involved in a cult. Through the sisters’ past and present experiences, Brown examines Sam’s fears and insecurity regarding her relationship with Elli, her parents, and her sense of self worth.
I loved the characters, especially Sam, because she wants so desperately to be seen as worth loving. Brown writes about parents and children, “you could simply argue that all children grow by cutting their parents down to a manageable size. It’s only once you recognize that they aren’t superhuman, after all, that you start aspiring to evolve beyond them.” Ultimately, Sam hopes to find “a glimpse of something new inside myself, a seed that has the potential to grow. I was curious what it might become.” There are several dramatic reveals that are satisfying surprises. Without spoiling the ending, I can say that Brown kept me reading late into the night to discover what actually happened to the sisters. This novel combines elements of a mystery and a psychological thriller in a compelling story with vibrant characters.