Well... welcome to Kendall's outlier island party.

Oh my goodness..... I don't really know what I just read. I read a lot of thrillers to my bars tend to be high for me to be impressed.

I'm sorry friends but this was NOT it. There were so many red flags and way too many inconsistencies.

Firstly, it's been over a year and no one is going to notice June is living in a wardrobe in Pat's house? Oh give me a break!

I felt zero emotional connection to the characters. It just felt like a bad B movie. It was cringe worthy for me.

The writing was also pretty bad and all over the place.

Also, not really any plot development and I can't recommend this one.

1/5 stars

🎶 Twin . . . Where have you been? 🎶 You are going to be singing this song the whole time you are reading or listening to this book because this is the question— TWIN .. . . Where have you been? Are you dead? Are you alive? What are the clues you are leaving me? Why is everyone keeping secrets from May?

So many questions and the way this plays out is brilliant, the story is addictive, this book is unpredictable and won’t be able to put it down until you know - Twin . . . Where have you been?

This is one of the best books you can grab for this summer it’s all the buzz over @thrillerbookloversthepulse we are all excited for you to read/listen to this book!

🎧 Original Twin
✍🏻 Paula Gleeson @paulagleesonauthor
🗣️ Anthea Greco & Leanna Walsman
🗓️ Releases May 28th 2024 in print/ebooks
June 1, 2024 for Audio
🎧 Audio Publisher @brillanceaudio

📰 Twin sisters May and June couldn’t be more different.

May is quiet, self-conscious, withdrawn; June is boisterous, beautiful, magnetic...and missing.
It’s been a year since June disappeared, a year of May waiting for her to turn up with an explanation of where she’s been and why she left. But with the discovery of an old newspaper article comes a secret: their mother once vanished, too, on the same date when she was nineteen years old.

Just like June.

This was no coincidence. June was investigating this buried family mystery, and she left May a series of clues to pick up where she left off. Now, if May wants to find June, she’ll have to retrace her footsteps through their mother’s past.

The more answers she digs up, the more questions May has. And the biggest one of all: When her sister’s trail of breadcrumbs runs out, what or who will she find?
📚

There are so many elements to this story that are so good and add so much to the mystery, you will not believe this is a debut novel!

The narration is spot on - perfect narrators. They add an extra element to the creepiness. The fluctuation of voice is perfect. They make it easy to keep the characters straight when you’re listening to one POV over the other.

Well this was one tangled story! It’s about a set of twin and one has been missing. The family wants to have a funeral for her and declare her dead, but her twin doesn’t believe she is dead. As she digs into her sisters life before she went missing, she finds out her mom was missing when she was young! Highly recommend!

If you are looking for characters you can't trust, lots of family drama and too many twists and turns to count, this book is definitely for you! The story was told in multiple points of view and in my opinion done seamlessly. I found at times that there were too many twists and turns, often distracting from the story line, but it was also fun to be surprised while reading. The characters were all terrible - well created and thought out, but I disliked them. May's twin sister June has been missing for a year. After discovering an old newspaper article, about their mother who went missing on the exact same day, May finds herself investigating this family secret by retracing her sister's clues and footsteps. Will she uncover the family secrets and find her sister? A quick read that keeps you on your toes! Hard to believe this is a debut thriller as Gleeson did an incredible job! 
Thank you Netgalley for my advanced audio copy.

“The Original Twin” is a psychological thriller that focuses on our FMC May as she attempts to unravel the mystery of her twins disappearance.

May discovers the coincidence between the date her twin went missing on, coinciding with the date their mother went missing many years earlier.

It is up to her to find out if this is more than just coincidence as she now has two puzzles to solve.

I enjoyed the perspective from the twins, each different in personalities as well the mother and finding out more about her past. If you enjoy books with family secrets, betrayals and twists I’d recommend the read!

The audiobook is narrated by Anthea Greco and Leeanna Walsman, both did a fantastic job at immersing you in the story.

I also love the cover art! The girl in the photo reminds me of an actress from a tv series I enjoyed so it definitely drew my attention!

Thank you to Brilliance Publishing / Brilliance Audio, Paula Gleeson and NetGalley for the ALC!

Publish date; June 1st 2024

This is an immersive psychological thriller about twin sisters, May and June, their mother, Diana, who went missing as a young woman but then reappeared, claiming she had been abducted, and the subsequent disappearance of June on the same date as her mother years later. How are these disappearances related? Was June on the verge of unearthing details of Dianna’s abduction? What secrets will May uncover when she goes looking for June?

I read this one in a day trying to unravel the many twists, clues, secrets and red herrings as the story unfolded from the twins’ and the mother’s perspectives. Throw in family/sister drama, complicated mother-daughter relationships and a surprise twist at the end, and this one is an impressive debut. Recommend for thriller readers who love twists and turns, family secrets and deceit!!

I wasn't able to listen to this one before it expired. I do have the book and once I ready it i'll return to give my review on just the book itself, not the audio. Thank you!

Well F*ckity F*ck!

I’d love to say I penned that, but it’s a phrase used a few times in the book that I chuckled over, and best used to describe this incredibly creative and original debut.

This is one twisty thriller! A multi layered story about twins, complex family dynamics, relationships and choices sometimes made in youth that come around to haunt you. Told through multiple POVs and duel time lines, the author drip feeds tidbits of nuggets leading to an OMG finale! Rarely am I shocked by a thriller these days, but this one had my head spinning! Pure brilliance!

I particularly loved the dive into the past and felt my self reminiscing over White Knight bars, honey joys and the Secret Seven mysteries; while also tapping into a not so distant past of misogyny and women fighting for equal rights.

This little gem has it all! Part thriller, part mystery, part family drama = perfection! The audiobook was brilliantly narrated by Anthea Greco and Leanne Walsman. Both did a wonderful job and kept me happily entertained throughout. This is out now and one I highly recommend 🤩

🎧 Huge thanks to @paulgleeson for sending me through an ALC 🙏💌 thanks also to @brilliancepublishing @netgalley 🎧

Have you ever wondered what it was like to be a twin? It's been a year since June disappeared and May is still missing her twin. When she finds out her mother disappeared on the exact same day when she was younger, she goes down a rabbit hole, searching for her twin.

This was so very bingeable. I've been cleaning and decluttering a lot lately and I would just push start and listen away. Easy to follow story with Anthea Greco and Leeanna Walsman narrating, I was able to follow the story and felt all the up and down emotions that make up the story.

Full of secrets and lies and never knowing who to trust, this one is unpredictable.

Original Twin by Paula Gleeson and narrated by Anthea Greco & Leeanna Walsman is a fantastic debut thriller that lingered in my consciousness long after I finished listening to the audiobook

Twins May and June are chalk and cheese. May is brunette, shy, in the shadow. Her best friend, her twin, is June, blonde, popular, extroverted and gone, same as their mother. May cannot rest. Everybody is already accepting that June has been unalived and even at her wake, May cannot accept it.

May needs to find out what happened and a mysterious letter found in her sisters treasured horse figurine leads her on a journey to find out what happened to her sister and if it is history repeating itself. (The twins grandmother and their father are wonderful characters. Their aunt is one of those abrasive, irritating people that has to insert themselves into every situation without a spot of altruism, but for their own gain)

The narration is well-paced and matches well with the narrative. This is a stunning debut and I look forward to seeing more from this author

Thank you to Netgalley, Brilliance Publishing | Brilliance Audio the author Paula Gleeson and narrators for this fantastic ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

What a thrilling, twisty ride!!! Original Twin kept me guessing until the end and 110% lives to its comp title Gone Girl. I listened to the audiobook and the narration is fantastic and the narrator does such a great job capturing each character's personality and mindset. I particularly loved hearing the letters in June's voice. May is so sweet and I just wanted her to have a happy ending, and I won't say more for fear I'll spoil something. Thriller fans--buy this book!!!

This book was a twisty and wild ride! This book is told in multiple POVs. This book gave me Gone Girl vibes, with a bit of family drama and some humor. We get to see the perspectives of twins June and May and also the perspective of their mother, Diana. The narrators, Anthea Greco and Leeanna Walsman, did a great job distinguishing between the different perspectives. They brought seriousness to May’s POV and a bit of humor to June’s POV. You could clearly tell the difference in the twins’ personalities and voice. This was a great debut novel from Paula Gleeson and I can’t wait to read more that she writes.

𝔾𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕂𝕟𝕠𝕨
► Small Town Setting
► Missing Person
► Unreliable Narrator
► Multiple POV
► Twisted Family Dynamics

What a quick and captivating popcorn thriller! I listened to this one straight through in one sitting and didn’t want to put it down. A missing twin, long-buried secrets, a mysterious past, family drama, and a trail of clues to solve it all?! It was the perfect read for this rainy day!

Told in three points of view (one of which is via written letters), this story unfolds differently through each person’s eyes. Sometimes the reader knows more than the current narrator and sometimes not which definitely made the story more interesting. Not only is the story itself binge worthy but the two narrators are fantastic! Each main character has a vastly different personality and the narrators were able to bring that to light beautifully.

I was definitely shocked by some of the twists and the ending was nothing like what I expected. If you’re a fan of a quick, thrilling read definitely add this one to your lists!

I just finished listening to Original Twin by Paula Gleeson @paulagleesonauthor and here are my musings.


Twin sisters May and June are not only born one day apart and in different months… They couldn’t be more different and when June goes missing, it’s like a part of May is missing too. A year after her disappearance, her family decides to have a funeral for her.

May doesn’t believe she is dead and when she finds a newspaper clipping of her mother going missing on the exact same day June did, it cannot be a coincidence.

May discovers June was investigating what happened to their mother all those years ago and has been leaving May clues to pick up the trail. The more May finds, the more questions she has and the ultimate question of who would hurt her mother and sister and is she going to be next?

Holy heck that was a wild ride. The concept was genius! The pace was on the slower side and had this one been more of a rollercoaster… It would easily have been the best thriller I read this year but while the twists were brilliant, the pacing was off so they didn’t land as well as they could have but it still was a very good read.
You could really feel the difference between the twins with the narrator. They did an excellent job. I thought June writing letters to their dead mother was a clever way of getting an inside peek into her head. I didn’t much care for any of the characters but I kinda liked that. I was more concerned with the mystery than liking people.
I felt the ending was well done, nothing left unanswered, I hate when there are still questions. Definitely worth the hype and as far as debuts go…. WOW!!
4 well earned stars. It was just the pace for me but I enjoyed it a heck of a lot.
Thank you to @netgalley and @brilliancepublishing for my gifted copy!

Thank you so much Netgalley, Brilliance Publishing, and Paula Gleeson for my ALC.

Synopsis: Twin sisters, May and June couldn’t be more different. May is quiet, self/conscious, withdrawn; June is boisterous, beautiful, magnetic….and missing. May searches for answers but finds herself with more questions as she uncovers family secrets along the way.

My thoughts: It was only when I sat down to write this review that I realized this is a debut?! WAIT, what!! This had everything I look for in a thriller - unreliable narrators galore, family drama, twistsss and a shocking ending that checked all my boxes. The writing was phenomenal, told with timeline and POV transitions that felt seamless. I’d highly suggest the audiobook!! Each narrators voice stood out and matched the personality so well and I LOVED the accents! An amazing book that has me excited about what’s to come from Paula Gleeson in the future!! 👏🏻

Loved the premise but the pacing was slow and I kept waiting to connect with the story… I never did. I enjoyed the narrators but June’s character felt more flippant/juvenile than I expected and the mismatch may not have happened had I physically read. The ending was unsatisfying and while I wont be recommending this one, I would give this debut author another read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Brilliance Audio for the opportunity to review this ARC.

May & June are twins, but they have always been about as opposite as they could possibly be, but that never stopped them from loving each other and having a bond that only twins can have. So now that it’s been a year since June disappeared, May finally discovers something that could help her figure out what’s happened to her sister, and it comes with a huge family secret - their mother went missing for a period of time when she was 19 years too, on the same date that June disappeared on.

May discovers that June was in the midst of trying to solve the mystery of who took their mom so many years before, and luckily June left some clues behind for May to dive deeper and get to the bottom of this generations-old mystery.

The Pulse got their hands on another wild one! Bonus points that I was able to snag an advance listening copy so that I could squeeze it into my overbooked (pun intended) calendar.

If you love a complex family story full of twists and secrets that you nor the characters ever saw coming, then this is a great book for you. It is multi-POV and fast-paced, you’ll want to carve out time to make this your priority book so that you can give it your full attention and keep everything straight. The ending was shocking, I did not see it coming.

I love when we get to know a character so well who isn’t actually acting out their story on the page - we learn about June’s investigation through past letters written to her & May’s mother that May discovers. And seriously, for being more or less an off-page character, she was one of the most enigmatic characters I’ve read in quite some time. Her energy and personality radiated from those letters.

I cannot believe that this was a debut, the tangled storyline that was unwoven so well feels like it came from a much more tenured author than a DEBUT. I know some people shy away from debuts, especially thrillers, but if you give one debut author or debut thriller a chance this year, make it Paula Gleeson and Original Twin.

Family secrets. Unexpected twists. Unreliable characters. This book had me hooked from the start!

The story follows fraternal twins May and June who are different in every sense of the word. One day June goes missing and a year later May finds an old newspaper clipping about her mother disappearance on the same day as June’s but when she was 19 years old.

May is convinced that her sister is still alive and leaving her clues as to her whereabouts. So she goes into investigator mode and sets off to find some answers. But the more she digs, the more questions she has. When the clues stop, May reaches out to the detective who was in charge of her mom’s case and this is where things get crazy.

The narrators did a great job at portraying the differences between the twins and bringing the story to life. I like that the story is told from different point of views. I also liked the letters that June wrote to her dead mom. The ending had a lot of twist and turns but I wouldn’t exactly call this a thriller. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the story and was engaged the entire time.

I really enjoyed listening to this book! It kept me entertained and I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next. I really liked the way the story was told from multiple viewpoints. I felt like it added much more depth to the story. The only reason it wasn’t 5 stars for me was because I felt like there were still a few loose ends at the end that didn’t get tied up or have enough resolution. Overall though, I really liked this one and would definitely recommend!

It’s been a year since May’s twin sister June went missing. After finding some clues left by June, May sets off to find her.

If you’re looking for a twisty thriller mixed with family drama and an unreliable narrator, then this book is for you. I was surprised to learn that this book was a debut. The way that Gleeson crafted this plot was really impressive. I loved the notes and clues that May had to follow in her search for June. The flashbacks to their mother’s story gave this book a sense of suspense that I really enjoyed.

The dual narrators and timelines worked really well for this story. I listened to the audiobook and liked that there were multiple narrators, Anthea Greco and Leeanna Walsman. It worked great and both narrators brought their own unique voice to this book. I highly recommend listening to this one.

There were so many twists and turns and for the most part I didn’t figure them out. I was shocked by the big reveal at the end and loved that Gleeson threw that in. I thought some parts were a little far fetched, but overall I really enjoyed this book. There’s no wonder that everyone at Thriller Book Lovers The Pulse are raving about this one. You’ll definitely want to grab it when it releases on June 1st.

Thank you NetGalley snd Brilliance Publishing for an advanced listeners copy in exchange for my honest review..