Interesting story about twin sister and identity - a gothic tale of sisters - one with amnesia after a brutal accident A who is telling lies and who is telling the truth

✨Where You End by Abbott Kahler✨

Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 336
Pub date: Jan 16, 2024

📚 When Kat Bird wakes up from a coma, she sees her mirror image: Jude, her twin sister. Jude’s face and name are the only memories Kat has from before her accident. As Kat tries to make sense of things, she believes Jude will provide all the answers to her most pressing questions:

Who am I?
Where am I?
What actually happened?

Amid this tragedy, Jude sees an irresistible opportunity: she can give her sister a brand-new past, one worlds away from the lives they actually led. She spins tales of an idyllic childhood, exotic travels, and a bright future.

But if everything was so perfect, who are the mysterious people following Kat? And what explains her uncontrollable flashes of violent anger, which begin to jeopardize a sweet new romance?

Duped by the one person she trusted, Kat must try to untangle fact from fiction. Yet as she pulls at the threads of Jude’s elaborate tapestry, she has no idea of the catastrophe she’s inviting. At stake is not just the twins’ relationship, but their very survival.

📝After an accident, Kat wakes up from a coma with no memory of her past. She relies on her twin sister, Jude, to fill in the gaps. But Kat soon realizes that her sister is hiding something from her.

This was definitely darker than I anticipated. What if the only person you thought you could trust was lying to you?

To keep this spoiler-free, all I’ll say is that there are additional elements that add to the creepiness of the story.

💫Thank you @henryholtbooks for my egalley💫

I was very intrigued when I read the description of Where You End, but WOW this book truly exceeded my expectations. Admittedly, I'm not a twin but I truly think there is an exceptional bond between twins (especially identical twins). In this case, throw in an accident and some memory loss and see how *exceptional* that bond really is. This was the perfect domestic thriller to cap off the year!

Having enjoyed Kahler's nonfiction work, I was excited to see that she had a novel on the way, and this did not disappoint! This author has such an engaging style that it's hard not to stay interested. The settings were painted so vividly, from the rich interiors of the cult complex to the creepy abandoned amusement park, and I really felt invested in Kat and what exactly her deal was.

One thing that didn't work for me was the way the narrative sort of...circled around certain plot points while never fully getting into them. We see all this stuff happen with regard to the cult but it's never super clear what the end game of all of it is, and then we never get to find out what exactly ended the cult or how the people running it really felt about it all. I could see this being the result of having traumatized unreliable narrators, but I'm not sure that's how we were supposed to being viewing it. Was the cult trying to create a weird generation of warrior children? Were they really financing the whole thing with [will NetGalley ever get spoiler tags?!]? I also kept wondering what the day-to-day was for these characters, the cult kids clearly weren't going to school but I have no idea what they were doing instead. And when Kat was staying at Jude's apartment for what seemed like months, what was she doing while Jude was at work? Just staring at the wall?

There were a lot of interesting ideas in this novel and I do like where it all ended up, even though I was left with questions. I'll look forward to Kahler's next venture into fiction!

My thanks to Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for the ARC.

Where You End was a quick read for me. It took me a little while to get into it, but once I did, it flowed. I was hoping for more twists and turns and surprises, but overall I recommend it

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.
I felt the same as a few others about this book. I really wanted to like it but I had a hard time getting into it.
The quirky words they used as children but are still using as adults seemed strange. The characters were not drawing me in. It was just an odd book for me.

I should probably have known better from the start - amnesia AND twins in one book?? - but this one was not for me... It started out really strong. I found the concept of mirror twins and one having to be rebuilt from the memory of the other to be an intriguing concept, but the way it played out just felt utterly unbelievable - even given amnesia plus twins as the essential formula. Add in the cult and it just lost me... Kat's actions did not make any sense to me, and Jude irritated me. The backstory moved in unfortunately all too predictable directions, and I just didn't want to see where it was all going. I couldn't find my way into this one and gave up about a third of the way in...

Thank you to Henry Holt and Co. and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review! The beautifully eerie cover and book blurb for Where You End really had me intrigued from the start.

This book revolves around 22-year-old twins, Kat and Jude. Kat woke up from a coma after a tragic accident and is unable to recall anything about her past besides her twin sister, Jude. As Jude tries to help Kat piece together her past and herself, Kat begins to question what she’s been led to believe about their past. “I am a person who will believe anything I’m told”. Why would her sister keep parts of their past from her? What is she hiding from Kat and why?

This is a great psychological thriller and cult drama. It was unique in every way, from the storyline to the writing style. The author does an excellent job of intertwining past and present timelines to keep you curious and wanting more. It is not the fastest paced thriller out there because of the timeline changes, but I enjoyed the flow of it and did not feel like it was overly slow or dragging. There were parts of this story that were confusing to read, but not necessarily in a bad way. I actually really enjoyed how loose the author left certain descriptions and events. It made me feel more connected to the narrators, especially when dealing with the trauma in the “past” timeline. I felt like I was looking in through a child’s lens that was a bit hazy from trying to block out and/or rationalize the trauma they had experienced. I do feel that a trigger warning of child sexual abuse should be mentioned. It wasn’t graphically written about, but existent nonetheless.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading more from this author. If you’re a fan of eerie psych thrillers and cult-iness, add this to your 2024 reading list!

I really wavered on finishing this book for the first two-thirds, but in the end, I'm happy I did, since all the action really started around the 60% mark and the plot twist was one of the best I've read in a while. There were definitely some parts of the plot that didn't get resolved by the time the story wrapped up but given that the last few pages were focused on the main characters moving forward with their lives (becoming After Jude and After Kat), I thought it fit the ending. While I enjoyed that the twins were written to be very distinct from each other, I also thought that their reactions to such a traumatic event were a little muted. I thought stronger emotions would have fit the storyline better. Also, I disagree that this book should be classified as a "thriller" - there weren't any parts that I felt were particularly suspenseful or scary, but despite that, I thought it was a pretty solid read.

After a car accident, Kat wakes up in a hospital with amnesia. Jude, her mirror twin, is by her bedside more than willing to fill her in about their ideal past. As Kat realizes that they live in the middle of a big city with no friends or family, Kat begins to doubt if Jude is telling her the truth. After discovering emotions and a physical temper she cannot control, Kat begins searching for the truth about their past.

This was a thought provoking, dark and suspenseful novel that was inspired by a true story. I was heart broken for the main characters but did not always agree with their shocking actions. This story was intriguing in a way that kept me hooked and needing to find out how the story resolved.

Each chapter switched back and forth from each twin’s perspective but was easy to follow.

Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for the advanced reader copy. #NetGalley #WhereYouEnd

Thanks so much NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co.

Kat wakes up from a coma and sees her twin, Jude. The only thing she remembers is Jude's face and name. Jude will answer questions. What actually happened?

This book is creepy! Mirror twins are cool. I thought this was a slow burn of a book, which I think helped with the creepiness. It didn't quite grab me from the start, and the twist was not my favorite, but I still thought it was a good read.

"Where You End" was a phenomenal reading experience. It introduced the amnesia trope in a unique and captivating way, weaving an intricate narrative that had me hooked from the very first page. What's even more astonishing is how it swiftly evolves into a cult book, and I certainly didn't see that coming. The ending was a perfect climax of the intricate plot threads, leaving me with a sense of satisfaction and a longing for more. I never wanted to stop reading, and "Where You End" is a remarkable gem that I'll be recommending to all.

Where You End by Abbott Kahler. Thanks to @henryholtco for the gifted Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Bird twins are mirror image twins. When one suffers amnesia from an accident, she needs to work out their past and the secrets.

Mirror image twins and amnesia? I was there for the plot and knew there would be some wild twists. I didn’t expect how wild the backstory got. To be honest, it lost me for a while and I had no idea what was going on. The current time line kept my interest but this is sure a dark and twisted tale.

“No one but identical twins begin life as the same exact person, and only mirror twins cleave together as long as nature will allow, parting almost reluctantly in the womb.”

Where You End comes out 1/16.

Oh. Y'all. This was very very gewwwd. I read this in 2 sittings and the only reason why I didn't finish it in 1 is because my eyes hurt from staring at the pages and it was 2:30 AM.

I loved the progression of this story; the author blended in bits of what's actually going on little by little, reaching a perfect conclusion. I found the pacing to be excellent and absolutely thrilling from start to finish. Not a single complaint to be had here 💁🏻‍♀️

I received the ARC at an event from the publisher's booth ❤️

this book started out really intriguing with an amnesia trope - a twin is trying to help her sister piece together her entire past after a coma, but is she telling the truth? i was hooked. but then i quickly realized that this was turning into a cult book, which is something i’ve been trying to steer away from as very few of them hit the mark for me.

This book is about a set of twins involved in an accident that leaves one twin without her memory, and the other twin swooping in to save the day and fill in the blanks. The only problem is that without a memory, how can one be sure that the information they’ve been given is the correct information-and if someone (in this case your twin) is lying-what would be their motive? For me-this book didn’t “grab” me from the start. It was a slow burn and I didn’t feel connected to either twin. You’re wondering if there is a switch involved (like many books about twins have done) but other than that I missed the thriller aspect. I was rushing to just get through/finish the book. Overall-it was decent but just didn’t leave me at the edge of my seat like I had hoped for. Will still give this author another chance though, as I’ve heard good things.

Where You End sounded so intriguing, and spooky, one might say... I was captivated by the story in the first portion, but about mid-way I started losing interest due to the repetition, I didn't like either FMC, and I was left more confused than not. Will I read this again? Likely not. Should you? Sure, why not? This is only my opinion and who is to say you won't like it.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher, Henry Holt & Company, for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

One word... CREEPY! I couldn't put this book down... perfect read for that chilling, goosebump feeling.

Thank you Netgalley for the early edition of this novel.
Kay and Jude are mirror twins. Identical in every way. But Kay wakes up from an accident and has no memories except for her twin Jude’s name. What happened to Kat and why does it seem like Jude isn’t telling her the truth. I liked this and it hooked me from the start. Very good up until the last 3% of the book I’d say then I got bogged down before it picked back up at the end. But it left me with some questions that never got answered so three stars for me.

Where You End is a fever dream type thriller and I really enjoyed it.

It’s best in my opinion to go in blind here without spoilers so all I’m gonna say is…

Kat and Jude are mirrors twins - complete with their own language to communicate and are very close. Kat is injured in a severe care accident and wakes up only remembering who Jude is but nothing about her past or anything that has happened to them.

Jude attempts to ‘help’ Kat remember their past but is she really helping? Or is she lying?

This one gets really crazy and is super twisty and fun.

Loved it and am thankful for my early copy! Will read anything that this author writes now, the writing her is amazing!

4.5 ⭐️