Member Reviews
This book kept you guessing from beginning to end. The writing was really good and the characters, particularly Callum were engaging and you felt for them. The story was exciting and kept you hooked. I read this book in one day.
I’ve no doubt this book will be very popular and a crowd pleaser. On the plus side it did make me want to keep reading to see what happened and I didn’t foresee the bizarre outcome. On the down side I had absolutely no empathy with the characters. Not badly written at all, but not my style.
I’ll keep trying new grip lit titles, but I just don’t think this genre is my cup of tea.
This book has sat on my Kindle for over 6 months and I am yet to read it. Whilst I was originally really engaged by the blurb, it's yet to make it to the top of my TBR pile and it no longer really appeals to me. I'm really sorry and incredibly grateful for the opportunity to read and review this book though.
This is the first book by Holly Seddon that I have read, so I had few expectations when I received this book.
I found the premise of this book really interesting.
The characters in this story were closely thought out and tightly woven. Each had their own character flaws and issues (some more obvious than others). The diverse characters each with their own issues and perceptions made this book a riveting read.
I found all the interwoven stories in this book held my attention and made me want to know what was going to happen. I was however slightly disappointed with the ending, though I didn’t see it coming.
The chapters are written from the point of view of each twin and alternate between the present day and the past. This was a brilliant way of telling the story.
All in all I found this to be a riveting read with a great cast of characters.
A different and at times unsettling content. Very well written;making you think and ponder. Definitely worth a read especially if family means the world to you.
So close to being five stars, and it had a brilliant twist near the end. But I felt we had to plod through so much of the protagonists life stories to get there, and wasn't convinced that this couldn't have been tightened up a bit more. I feel that this author writes best when there is more action and danger, and when that eventually came it was great. The twist was excellent and if the rest had been this good, I would have definitely given 5 stars and a rave review. 4 stars is 'I like it', and I definitely did like it. The last 20% of the book was 'I love it' and I couldn't put it down.
I seem to be giving almost everything I read four-star reviews at the moment. These are all books I’ve really enjoyed reading, but where something just isn’t quite there. Something stops me from loving the book. And this is one of them.
The premise is really clever – twin sisters, forced apart by circumstances beyond their control, a series of events that cause them to lose contact and to struggle in adult life. The book comes from both viewpoints and is told from the present day and with flashbacks to the past. Sarah and Robin are well-drawn characters and the twists and turns towards the end are clever and surprising.
But I didn’t feel that their past was explored deeply enough. There was a lot more room here to go more deeply, to really get to know that twins and what made them tick. The present day sections around Robin went on for too long and didn’t really add very much to the narrative – I wasn’t convinced by the need for the whole storyline about what she witnesses watching the neighbourhood through her window. And while there are events in the book that explain why Robin is like this, it isn’t clear enough that they have, in fact, affected her in this way.
Sarah’s story, however, seemed a little rushed, and hers was the story that I found more interesting – so that was quite frustrating. And I thought it was too coincidental that all the different strands came together so neatly at the end. And there were quite a lot of errors that were very irritating.
It is a good book though, and a very enjoyable one, and I’d read more by the author. This could easily have been a five-star read for me, with a few tweaks and with some cuts here and there and some additions in other places. Really very good, but not outstanding.
Thanks for the opportunity to have read another killer read by Ms Seddon. I just devoured her first book, and couldn't wait to get my hands on this one.
This story focuses on twin girls, how they grow up, how the choices grownups in their made, makes and how they turned out. And there was obviously a twist to the happy tale....
Interesting read and worth the effort.
I really enjoyed this entertaining thriller. The novel tells the story of two dysfunctional families from the different perspectives of two twin girls. There were plenty of twists that grabbed my attention - some of which I had guessed and others I had not really seen coming. This was a really page turner and I read it quickly as couldn't put it down!
This was the first novel I have read by this author but would be keen to read more by Holly Seddon.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for my honest opinion.
Robin and Sarah are twins who come from a rather dysfunctional family. This book provides plenty of twist and turns along the way as it jumps from past to present. There are many serious issues covered in this book - mental health, sexual abuse, suicide and family breakdown. It has a very good story line and also makes you think..
This was a brilliant psychological suspense, I loved it.
I have yet to read 'Try not to Breathe' and after reading this I am definitely putting it on my TBR pile.
5 full stars!
Scary - and addictive.
I thought this was an interesting read from an author I did not know before. Will look out for her.
An extreme outcome for a dysfunctional family. What happens when parents are not strong enough to be what their children need. I began by feeling immense anger that the twins were split up. It felt so alien, but soon lost all sympathy as almost all the characters showed themselves to be either weak or poisonous. Whilst I enjoyed reading this book and couldn't put it down towards the end, I found the end really disappointing. I felt there were too many unanswered questions. Or maybe I just felt the events surrounding each girl's breakdowns were skimmed over leaving me missing points. I did like the creepy factor at the end, but didn't feel it fitted with the rest of the tale and the meeting with Callum's boyfriend was a huge anti-climax. Who was sending the threatening letters? I was left feeling totally frustrated.
The drama of a family unfolding, beautifully written with a clear narrative drive. Twins Robin and Sarah are separated when their parents separate, and, spending their formative adolescent years apart, have very different experiences, and clashing perspectives on subsequent events, which separate them further. The characters as teenagers are compelling; less so as they grow older and almost lose a dimension, becoming less rounded as they become more intensely involved with their own obsessions; this may be intentional, or inevitable, given that they are each managing the consequences alone. I very much enjoyed reading this novel, which touches on some difficult themes of suicide, child abuse and mental illness and does it well. My only reservation is that this book is too long in the development , and too short in the denouement. The final chapters, when Robin and Sarah finally come together, is very rushed.
I felt a bit uncomfortable reading some of this book but at the same time I had to keep reading as I couldn't really work out what was going to happen next or indeed what was going on. Then all of a sudden wham!! Everything is topsy turvy, suddenly on its head. Outstanding read.
I enjoyed this novel written by Holly Sedona, a new author for me. It was a mixture of family relationships and suspense. The characterisation was spot on and I liked how the author switched from past to present. I thoroughly recommend it and would definitely read more by this author.
What a rollercoaster of a book, told from the perspective of the two girls going between past and present, I couldn,t put this one down and finished it in two evenings
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.
I absolutely adored Holly Seddon's debut novel and was very excited to read this new offering. I loved the premise and was, as expected, gripped from the first page. The pace was unrelenting until the last chapter with a very satisfying ending.
This a fabulously twisted novel with all the elements which make up an expertly woven mystery with enough twists to keep the reader guessing right up until the final chapter.
Don't Close Your Eyes
I really couldn't put this one down, Holly Seddon has really done a fab job with Don't Close Your Eyes. The short chapters are snappy and keep you thoroughly engrossed in the story. I also love books about twins so I was doubly engrossed! (Bad pun I know!) When I reached the last few chapters, holy crap on a cracker, what a twist!!
I cannot give this book any less than 5 big shiny stars!
I was lucky to receive an advanced copy of this book and voluntarily reviewed it.
This book is slightly different from other psychological thrillers out at the moment as it involved quite sensitive subject matters, which made it hard to read at times. That didn't take away though from a very cleverly plotted book.