Traci is a bestselling author who meets a fan/aspiring author named Simone, at the hair salon. They become fast friends…exchange numbers, emails and social gatherings. There's only one problem…one is genuine and the other is downright stalkerish.

As an avid reader and good judge of character, I saw a few things coming…long before the character did.

I enjoyed this book, but I wish it was a little longer. I was also pleased to see a cameo by one of my favorite characters by @kimberlalawsonroby…Reverend Curtis Black.

I give this book 💎💎💎💎, and recommend it to anyone looking for a good read.

WOW, WOW, WOW! Kimberla Lawson Roby has done it again. I don't think I have ever read a book where Mrs. Roby disappoints. This was an excellent read.

The plot and characters were well written.

Copycat is about Simone Phillips befriending Traci Calloway Cole and it is the best thing Simone Phillips has ever done. Traci is the kind of woman Simone wants to be-in every way possible. She begins copying her role model. Not because she wants to be Traci. She just wants to be exactly like Traci. How far will Simone go?

Congratulation Mrs. Roby on another page turner and 5 star read.

This wasn't a good read. The writing was bad, and it all felt a little shallow. I was really disappointed.

Copycat is about Simone Phillips befriending Traci Calloway Cole. Simone begins to copy and starts mimicking Traci in every way. Copycat takes you on a ride of every author’s worst nightmare!

I was unable to get into this book. It was the writing style with the plot that made it hard to keep reading.

Loved this book
Didn't want it to end
Highly recommended

When people become copycats to the level of obsession, they're dealing with much deeper issues, such as envy and jealousy. They have also lost a great sense of self and their overall identity. They are trying to be something or someone they are not.

When does it become obsession? Simone Phillips has a trail of broken relationships but she feels that it all will change when she meets Traci Calloway Cole. They become friends when she reveals to Traci that she hopes to write a book. Traci is a successful author and feels a connection to Simone. Simone takes her friendship to Traci to the next level when she copies her look, her apartment, her church, her social media, and her life to look like Traci. Simone's obsession takes her down a path that becomes destructive.

The narration was juvenile and somewhat disconnected so it became difficult for me to connect to these characters. Traci was not aware of what Simone was doing but everyone close to her could see it. Traci had just published a book called Copycat that described Simone to a t. It would have served the plot better if Simone character was more developed. To feel her pain instead of being offended by her actions. Traci was to much of enabler instead encourager.

A good plot but weak in character development.

A Special Thank You to Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

I thought this was a really good book. I admit that I thought it was going to have more of a thriller type edge to it because of the "secrets she will do anything to protect" blurb, but it wasn't like that. When Simone meets people who she wants to be like, she does whatever she has to do to be exactly like them from her hair, to her clothes, to the furnishings in her house. A good story about a copycat obsession that has gotten out of control.

Copycat was a page turner, I could not put it down until I had completed it. This was a very good book about Traci Calloway a best selling author who ran into an aspiring writer and fan of her books at her hair salon. Simone Phillips was very excited to meet Traci and even more excited about Traci reading her work and maybe giving her advice on get it published. I bet Traci would have never in million years thought that her latest novel would actually turn into her reality. There was times I was mad at Traci for being naive and not realizing what Simone was doing.

I did not finish this book as I did not engage with this story at all.

Copycat is the story of Simone Phillips who when she has a hair appointment at the same salon as nationally known Author Traci Calloway Cole does, both lives will never be the same. When Simone strikes up a conversation with Traci, it leads to them becoming fast friends until it crosses a line that sends one into a spiral of darkness that could cause her to lose everything.

From the moment Simone meets Traci she decides that she likes what Traci was wearing and what was that purse? Gucci. Oh boy.

Simone has a fiance who doesn’t understand why she will not commit to him like he is committed to her but she has a good reason, in her mind. Why would she want to attend Rev Black’s church but not his church? He starts to question everything about her, and the answers leave him with more questions.

Traci tells her family about her new friend, and immediately they are concerned because of what happened with the last friend. Will she heed the concern or will she ignore them because who doesn’t want a friend who is also a writer like she is? Win WIN!

Ms. Roby has written a compelling work that takes the reader into the twisted workings of the character’s mind and makes her strange and devious behavior understandable. I LOVED it, and I know you will also. This will make an excellent book club read. Buy this book!

From the very beginning, Copycat felt familiar and that's because Kimberla Lawson Roby continues to stick to her tried and true, simplistic plot lines and story telling. Much like her 2011 Secret Obsession, Copycat is predictable from page one. As a reader, I felt like a movie patron that screams at characters on the screen to, "Get out! You're in danger, girl!" But the characters didn't heed my warning and, instead, readers are subjected to 192 pages of meh.

When I read 2016's Best Friends Forever, I swore I would never read a Lawson Roby book again.
The flat characters mixed in with one dimensional characters and weak story lines continue to be a theme in Lawson Roby’s work. After all of these years, and books, one would think that there would be progress with her writing. It continues to be formulaic and predictable. I know that her books sell well, but that says more about lazy readers than it does about her writing. I would imagine that the bulk of her faithful readers are the same people that shill out money to watch Tyler Perry’s gun toting, foul mouthed, wisdom spewing Madea. I can honestly say that this is the last Lawson Roby book that I’ll pick up.
And yet here I am again. Nothing has changed. Her writing still falls flat and I'm still unimpressed. No more, I say! No more!

Kimberla Lawson Roby never disappoints. She is one of my favorite authors and her novels are auto-buys for me. I always get excited when I receive notification that she has a new book release. I know I'm in for a good read. Why do I love her writing? Mrs. Roby knows how to engage the reader. She knows her way around developing a good plot and characters you either love deep or hate immensely. However, let me stop gushing and explain a bit about Copycat.

First I'll just start by saying Simone is a scary character, but very relevant. With social media and all the show and without tell we've become a society of envy and resentment. It's not ideal to just see the good in people and dismiss their bad/strange behavior. I wanted more character development. That would've entailed a longer book. However, Copycat was an entertaining page-turner. I read it in one sitting. This book will elicit lots of discussion. At what point does too much admiration and idolization become unhealthy?

I knew where this was heading almost immediately but it's a page turner and worth your time. It's a quick read (it's also short) but Roby crams a lot into that space. Simone has real problems; you will definitely sympathize with Traci, who takes longer to see things than she should. I haven't read a lot of Roby's work but I don't think I missed anything reading this as a standalone. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC- I know I had an arc so it's likely someone copy-edited and corrected the grammatical errors.

Traci Calloway Cole is the kind of woman Simone Phillips wants to be. Literally from the hairs sprouting of her scalp to the polish on her toe nails. Most of all, Traci is a successful author while Simone aspires to become a published author. Unbeknownst to both women, Simone becomes a copycat. She copies everything about Traci simply because she wants to be just like her. After one in-person meeting, Simone becomes Traci's friend on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, Google+ and Periscope. Can we say social media stalker?! But Simone means no harm until her world starts unraveling secrets from the past.

Copycat is unique in that it is a story within a story. Not only does Simone copycat, but Traci is writing a new book about the very same thing!

I always say imitation is not the best form of flattery. It is beyond admiration; more so annoyance. I related to Copycat because it happened to me before...twice! It always starts off with innocent questions like, "I like your shoes. Where did you get them?" or "Love your haircut! I want something similar." or flat-out "I have that same sweater!" after seeing mine though. Be your own self. Don't copycat!

I recommend any book that I absolutely relate to. Copycat is such! Readers will enjoy this quick read with questionable characters and obsession gone wrong.

Happy Pub Day, Kimberla Lawson Roby! Congrats on your 25th book!

LiteraryMarie

Women are complicated beautiful creatures, whose attitudes and behaviors are shaped by numerous factors. Whether biological or psychosocial, these behaviors combined with environmental and socioeconomic determinants can lead to disaster for their loved ones.

Traci, a well-known black author, befriends a passionate supporter of her literary art, Simone, living in her hometown, igniting a fiery, parasitic alliance. Wielding her admiration and irascible fascination of Traci as a skilled Samurai, Simone begins chipping away at every detail of her role model’s life, yielding the perfect copy. As a young girl, Simone loses her identity of self as a result of sexual assault and other traumatic childhood experiences. As the damaged daughter of a drug-addicted mother, she succumbs to the fate of absorbing the identities of others. Plagued by deep-rooted emotional issues, Simone spends most time alone until she meets Traci at a local hair salon.

Simone has high aspirations of becoming a romance novelist. Albeit naively, Traci believes she has finally met someone who shares her passion for writing and an ethereal literary connection forms. Later, as Traci's family witnesses Simone's transformation, the toxic fascination comes to light, disentangling the fairytale world as voices from past begin to speak.

Roby, though not in the eyes of some, expertly shares the psychological makeup of each woman, through allegories and character behaviors, while also laying the foundation for a suspenseful tale. Moreover, she carefully threads psycho-spiritual insights, interwoven with admonitory advice for the female author. This is an important theme in women’s fiction. While there appears to be increasing focus on adultery and other lascivious behavior in mainstream womens fiction, Roby takes on a more opaque, almost noir issue – mental illness in African-American women. Perhaps, it is the society in which we live that predicates what we look like and how we succeed. But, when a woman loses her sense of self at a young age, it forces any female reader to ask if she is being her true and authentic self. Could it be a reaction to austerity and asceticism? Possibly. But, introspective fiction, where the tough subjects are brought to light, is a necessary vice in order for us to survive.

Though short, this novella is rich and rewarding, allowing for the development of a psychologically thrilling tale featuring common issues successful women of color face. Roby developed both the protagonist and antagonist in a manner that would have been overly done were she to satisfy the structural demands of a traditional novel. Moreover, she purposely and concisely provided a detailed exploration of the actions and mindset of women, one of whom may have been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, and provided a concentrated focus on the story of two women who needed female companionship, and almost lost everything because of it.

Review:

I wish I had done some research on this author before I accepted it from the publisher for reviewing. I would have known then that it most likely wasn't the books for me, but I still would have kept an open mind. However, since I did agree to review it here goes:

I will not be doing a lot of recapping since you can get the gist of the story by reading the synopsis. What I will tell you is that the story, while an interesting concept, was filled with unlikable characters and not just the protagonist. Traci was unlikable to me too and had a very unusual way of looking at the world around her. The naivete she showed when she ignored Simones copying of her, was just another word for stalking and she should have seen that. Traci is supposed to be a smart, multi book published author yet she doesn’t know that her friend is turning into her twin sister??? I had to stretch myself a little way too far to give any credulity to this story.

That Simone can get away with putting off her fiancé like that was just another thing that stretch my disbelief.

Further, I am not a fan of fiction especially women’s fiction, that goes as far as this book did to add Christian beliefs, bible verses etc.

This would have been all been a more believable read had it been for the young adult crowd.

To add to this: the writing was very flat, the characters are one dimensional and there was no growth of the character’s whatsoever.


*ARC supplied by publisher.

This was a very short novella, less than 200 pages. I thought it was going to be more of a thriller than it was. However, I guess it would still be kind of scary for someone to come into your life and do what
Simone did to Tracy.

However, Tracy, nor the reader really didn't know how far Simone had gone with her "copycat" business until the very end. I think had everyone known a lot sooner, then it would have been more of a thriller. For me, this was just meh.

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

This review will go live on my blog on Jan. 28.

Tracy and Simone are new friends. Tracy is a published author, something Simone is working toward. Tracy offers to help her, giving her the names of potential agents and editors. It's a great friendship...except Simone is also essentially trying to become Tracy. (Well, Simone doesn't see it that way; she says they just have similar tastes in clothes. And jewelry. And cars. And furniture.) Tracy's family is a little worried but it's not like Simone is DANGEROUS. Right?

This novel is really fun but it's also incredibly short (under 200 pages). Because of that, it seems like Simone goes from normal-but-clingy to full on Glenn-Close-in-Fatal-Attraction in about five pages.

This book may not make your best of 2017 list but it's a decent guilty pleasure.

“Her Best Friend, Her Role Model, Her Dangerous Obsession”
Having a role model and mimicking what they do is one thing, but what does one do when a person becomes obsessed over them. In Copycat, author Tracy Calloway Cole befriends aspiring author Simone Phillips. From their initial encounter at a hair salon, Simone goes from being star struck, to a social media stalker, to showing up at Traci’s church to becoming totally obsessed with ALL THINGS Traci. It’s evident that Simone has identity issues and covets Traci’s life but Traci wants a friend, so she disregards her shenanigans. When Simone’s past starts to unfold, and her foolery is brought to light, the obsessed friendship hits rock bottom. This book makes you stop and reflect on the people, past and present, that you’ve allowed in your life. Its message helps you to open your eyes and start seeing people for who they really are. Copycat is a good, quick read. It is well written and the characters are fully developed. Each page will keep you wanting to turn to the next.