SPITTING IMAGE by Harmony Reed is about twin brothers separated at birth and adopted by different families. Everett is divorced, lives in California and has a barely making it coffee shop when he hires an investigator to search for information about his biological family. He is thrilled to discover he has a twin brother, Evan, who is a successful, well known restaurant owner in Texas. Other than looking for information about his brother online, Everett does little more than taking off in his dilapidated car for the long drive to California to show up at his brother’s home unannounced on their shared birthday. The entire time, Everett is dreaming of how everything will suddenly be wonderful once he meets and weasels into his brother’s successful life. The characters are underdeveloped, especially Everett who is shallow, lazy, expects everyone to overlook his failures and bail him out. It is no surprise Everett is divorced and does not step up as a father to his young son. The story picks up a little in the third section of the book, but it really is too little too late. The book stopped so abruptly I thought a chapter may have been accidently left out. After reading the final chapter again, I realized the last 12 sentences in the book is the ending. Sorry, but it did not work for me.

i honestly don't know how to feel about this, but i didn't connect with the characters at all. Like, i get that his childhood was sad yes, but it was painful seeing him make wrong choices again and again. that's on Everett but it still is the same for Evan. I expected something horror-esque so maybe that's why this book didn't live up to my expectations, but the premise was great i don't regret picking it up.

Spitting Image by Harmony Reed. Had trouble relating to the characters. Interesting premise.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

Spitting Image started with a great concept - a son sets out to find his biological family after his adoptive mother dies and he discovers he has a twin brother he never knew about. He sets out to find his twin, hoping for the closeness he never had with his bullying adoptive brothers. I was intrigued right away when I read the synopsis.

The story was entertaining, but sadly, underdeveloped. There was so much more the author could have done with this excellent topic. There were many missed opportunities to round out each character and provide more dramatic, fulfilling backgrounds, as well as a more powerful punch to the story in general. Some of the situations were a bit unbelievable, as well.

When Everett, the twin seeking his family, arrives on the doorstep of his brother's home unexpectedly, the family seems to hardly be shocked, surprised, or even interested in this stranger. He's invited in, but no one is blown away by the fact that a man looking exactly like Evan, the brother, has shown up. In addition, Evan's wife Klair, is supposedly an aspiring musician. Never once during the novel does she ever pick up an instrument, go to rehearsal, or show any indication that she even has a career. The music industry is pretty demanding, but she spends her time complaining about her husband's restaurant career instead. Also, at one point, Evan walks in on his wife and Everett kissing. He's angry for about five minutes, and then seems to forget the whole matter. What the heck?? So much more could have been done here.

The ending was just like...what? It totally left me hanging. Everett had been debating about whether to follow his ex-wife and his son to Tennessee and try to start over, but the ending just leaves us hanging about his upcoming custody battle and what will happen with his son. Just an unfinished story, in my opinion.

With all this said, the book was still enjoyable enough to keep me reading, although I felt like I was reading a Hallmark movie, with the lack of depth it held.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.