The Surrogate

School teacher Jenn is on vacation when she meets a woman in a bar, this woman Jennifer is her double they look like identical twins. Jennifer is a rich woman and is having a break in her family’s holiday home. She invites Jenn to join her for dinner at her house. After a night of drinking Jennifer tricks Jenn into changing places with her for a month.
Jenn arrives at Jennifer’s main residence to discover that Jennifer’s life is in turmoil, her marriage is in trouble and she has a sixteen year old son who is seriously disturbed.
This story had me on the edge of my seat it was full of menace, threat and suspense. I will certainly be looking out for more books from this author.
Thank you to NetGalley and Black Rose Writing for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This.....Book......I......loved!!! As a lover of thrillers, I found this book to be so captivating! I hadn’t read anything like it before. The story was so good. Two women met , they look exactly alike. They switch lives for a month. Things aren’t always the way you think they will be......

This book is a page turner! I’d definitely recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this for my honest review.

I mindbending thriller that sort of reminds me of something Hitchcockian. This book is extremely tense and a real page turner. I highly recommend it.

I read a lot of thrillers, so it's hard to find ones that are completely unpredictable. But from its first chapter, The Surrogate kept me guessing. The pacing is excellent and the tension builds pretty steadily. It's truly like no other book I've read before. I highly recommend it if you love thrillers, too, or you're just looking for a fast-paced read.

Connecticut high school teacher, Jenn Cooper, falls under the spell of her more stylish double, a woman she encounters in a Key West bar. After a weekend of martinis and makeovers, Jenn is tricked into swapping lives for one month. She uncovers clues about her doppelganger’s obsession with guns and the family’s twisted dynamics. Jenn discovers dark secrets about Martin, her double’s reclusive teenage son. But when she learns what Martin is plotting and that her own life is at risk, it’s too late to turn back. With every plot twist, Jenn faces more obstacles and fewer options. She’s on her own as she tries to save herself and prevent another American tragedy.
This is a fabulous thriller, just when I thought I had read every angle this kind of story could be taken from I was thrown a curve ball and given something different. Full of suspence right from the beginning, this is just the type of book that keeps me engaged and wanting more. Well developed characters just reinforced the quality of this book. I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this excellent book in exchange for an honest review.

A big thank you to #NetGalley, #BlackRoseWriting, and author #LynnKatz for the ARC of #TheSurrogate.

As always the opinions below are mine and mine alone. I do want to mention this book could be considered to have triggers so before you check it out you might wanna look into that.

As for the book.....I freaking loved it!!

We have two main characters, Jennifer and Jenn. Strange? Or it's just me? Anyway, the two meet down in Key West. Jenn, who teaches high school literature, is vacationing from New England. Jennifer has a small cottage in Key West that has been in her husband's family for a long time, but she actually lives in Coral Gables, FL. She is a wife and mother of 2 teenage sons.

Jenn is unmarried and while on summer vacation is enjoying a quiet life reading and maybe even starting her own novel. One evening as she's out around town she ends up meeting Jennifer. Its strange not only because they have the same name, but they could pass as twins. Wow!

Jenn isn't as concerned with appearance as Jennifer has always been. So, Jennifer talks Jenn into letting her do a makeover while spending the rest of her vacation at the cottage. When Jenn sees herself she's amazes at how much more she looks like Jennifer now.

That was the last night Jenn remembers talking to Jennifer. She has a very hazy memory of them playing truth or dare and her letting Jennifer convince her to swap lives for a month.

No biggie, right? Except it is....she doesn't have any children of her own and now she has two teenage sons, (and one of them seems a little strange). Plus she has a husband who wants nothing to do with her or the youngest child. Did Jennifer think Jenn could fix this mess? She was so wrong if she did.

She starts having issues with Martin, the youngest son and tries desperately to get in touch with Jennifer, who is supposed to be living Jenn's life, but she can't find her.........

I wrote a little longer review than I normally do, but I feel like this book is important. This has so many issues that relate to things going on now, today, right under our noses.

I read for entertainment and this book definitely held my attention. I couldn't wait to see what happened. If you want to be entertained too, then this is a good one. Grab it at your favorite book store on May 6, 2021.,,

This unique thriller was a read for the ages. It touches on mental health issue be warned if that's a trigger. I Lynn Katz knows how to keep readers engaged.

Thanks NetGalley for this read. I love reading thrillers so this was very enjoyable for me and the synopsis was a little too much information for me as it spoiled some parts for me. If you read a lot of thrillers, go into the book blind and do not read the synopsis or you will know more than you need to know. Great read though and it was very fast paced. Well done to the author, Laura Katz.

A big thank you to #Netgalley #LynnKatz and #BlackRoseWriting for allowing me to read an ARC of #TheSurrogate!

I read a lot of a books, mostly thrillers and I loved this one because it was totally unexpected and I didn’t see that twist coming! My advice if you are planning on reading: go on blind and don’t read many of the blurbs/summaries/spoilers; it is a great book, let the story unfold for you and I assure you that you’ll be surprised! I know I was!

The Surrogate is a tale of switching lives, mistaken identity and dark family secrets hidden underneath the guise of a money and happiness.
A woman on vacation in Key West meets her doppelgänger who tricks her into switching lives and what follows is a slippery ride into family dysfunction and secrets.

A great read despite the troublesome end of the story which may be a trigger for some. A great thriller with a good twist and awesome ending!

Holy plot twist!! This is one of the most unexpected ending books I’ve read in a long time!! Finished it in 12 hours and can’t wait to read another psychological thriller by the author!!

If you could swap lives with your doppelganger would you? Jenn Cooper bumps into her doppelganger, Jennifer Moriarty, and after a drunk game of truth or dare seemingly agrees to swap with lives with her for one month.
Is the grass greener on the other side? That was the theme of this book and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It was interesting to say how the main character adapted to the life of her double and tried her best to help Jennifer's son, Martin. The writing was fast paced and kept me flying through this book with just enough drip feed hints at the twist to keep me interested. My only criticism would be because the hints at the twist had been drip fed when it was eventually revealed I felt it was a little rushed and there could have been a more in depth explanation. Overall though a really good thrilling read!

The book is written in two perspectives of two women who look alike and meet in Key West. One drunken night they play truth or dare and agree (one unknowingly) to switch lives for a month. It is your classic cluster of events. I have never read anything by this author but she is now on my continuing list. This book kept me guessing and is phenomenal! Kuddos great job!!!

When I started this book, I kept thinking that it seemed like a mix of “Parent Trap” and that awful romantic comedy, “The Holiday”, where Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz switch lives for awhile. I chuckled at the cheese, but it was still really entertaining, so I kept on reading.

Well, I was completely wrong about my initial impression of this book. It is not like those movies at all … yes, two women meet and swap lives, but it’s about so much more than that.

After randomly meeting in a bar, the two women (Jennifer and Jenn) spend a drunken night playing Truth or Dare. When the dare of swapping places for a month is broached, Jenn isn’t sure. She’s a single English teacher, and Jennifer is a wealthy homemaker used to a life of luxury with her husband and two sons. However, in the intoxicated moment, she must have agreed, as she wakes up in Jennifer’s bed the next morning with instructions on how to handle the next month.

Jenn could have used a lot more instruction, that’s for sure. As the chapters roll along, the book becomes more and more complex and intriguing. I can’t say much more about the plot than the synopsis does without spoiling things, but when these women switched places, they started a chain of events that couldn’t be stopped. By the end, lives are at stake and it’s clear that this was the worst decision they could have made.

This book starts good, keeps getting better as it goes along, then finishes with several shocks before the fantastic epilogue ends it all. I thought it was just about perfect, from the characters, to the plot and where the author takes you. I also love all the Hemingway references! If you’re questioning whether or not you want to read this, do yourself a favor and get a copy (you can thank me later). This gripping, thoughtful and timely thriller gets a rare five stars from me.

(Thank you to Black Rose Writing, Lynn Katz and NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for my review.)

OH MY GOSH this book, i cannot stop thinking about it, i don't know what I expected but it wasnt this. It was written really well and the charcaters were so well deb=veloped, so real and raw. We have all seen the news footage of mass shootings in the USA and can never imagine the terror but this book made the whole situation feel so real and even more intense.
It was nail biting stuff, I couldnt put it down and I was turning pages long after i should have stopped, I read it in one sitting. It was so suspenseful and unpredictable, I loved it

THE SURROGATE
BY LYNN KATZ

Okay all of you die hard fans of psychological thrillers and thrillers--this is the perfect unique read for you. Personally, I have been making a point to segue way out of this genre and read more heart warming novels with lovable characters where I learn something new. The characterization crafted in this novel is stunning and brilliant done by this talented new Author to me, Lynn Katz. I loved the beginning of this book and I did love the ending. It is the very central plot that disturbed me. It is most likely that what horrified me so much is that intuitively I made an educated guess that this is loosely based on someone that I knew and her two sons that moved away when the shocking event happened. There are parallels such as the same use of the State of Connecticut and the fictional sister's name made my stomach fall. I could be wrong but I don't think so. Zero spoilers here.

The novel draws you in from the very beginning. For the first fifty percent I was glued to the pages not wanting to put this down. The premise is interesting enough and in many ways compelling. You know that old cliche about every one of us having the perfect twin? Someone that looks completely like us. That is how this begins. A High school Freshman English teacher named Jenn Cooper is just finishing up her Summer vacation in Key West, Florida when she wanders into a bar and orders a Key Lime Martini and out of the ether appears Jennifer Moriarty who starts up a conversation on the next bar stool beside her.

The two look so much alike that they could be twins. Jenn Cooper is more plainly dressed and single from Hartford, Connecticut who naively gets tricked by the more glamorous Jennifer Moriarty. Well these two women could be identical twins. All innocent enough and intriguing right? Well what follows is anything but a nightmare for Jenn Cooper. This was a real page turner and the premise of swapping lives had me glued to the pages. I really loved most of the book until I intuitively picked up the real heart of the plot which I am not the best judge of this novel because it isn't explicit in the exact details. I was horrified that I was reading about someone that I heard about from a good friend who knew the family and so it became disturbing to me.

Most people who don't make the same parallels that I am basing my assumption and it is only my intuition that it is loosely based on somebody I had heard of that moved to Connecticut where Jenn Cooper is from. Jennifer Moriarty whose idea to swap lives fictional sister's name in this novel is the name of the woman who was the friend of mine good friend that also seemed to be too much of a coincidence. I was horrified and it has taken a lot to read about because of the similar plot to mirror real life events.

I think that all in all that this was a well written novel of suspense and without making a personal connection that I have you will enjoy this. The subject matter is heavy but realistic and if you don't mind that then you will love this book. I really loved how the big reveal had me questioning what I had just read, which is a good thing. I would read this Author's future work and think that this was unforgettable. Recommended and deserving of Five stars!

Publication Date: May 6, 2021. Already Available!

Thank you to Net Galley, Lynn Katz and Black Rose Writing for generously providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#TheSurrogate #LynnKatz #BlackRoseWriting #NetGalley

WOW!! WOW!! WOW!! The Surrogate by Lynn Katz is a 5 star, fast paced, addicting, mesmerizing, intense, dark, thrilling and mind blowing read! This was my first time reading Lynn’s work and I just fell in love with her writing style and her storyline! She definitely acquired a new fan! The Surrogate is a book that is a must read that you have to put on top of your TBR list!!

Kudos needs to be given to the graphic designer who created the cover for The Surrogate! Boy oh boy that is one cover that grabs your attention and does not let go! I loved it just as much as I adored this book!

Lynn dedicates this book to Bob, Joshua, Siwei, and Elisha. You are her favorite readers in the world. She also dedicates this book to her parents, who Made her believe that she could do anything-even write a book.

Ohh how I don’t know how I would feel seeing a double of me (one is enough lol) with the same name too! My head was spinning at the future events that were going to happen!

Lynn discusses and addresses many important topics in The Surrogate. Some scenes are graphic and others that have cuss words in them. Please consider this as they may trigger some readers.

Jennifer was a girl after my own heart on how much she loved books and would escape into her bedroom to read. She also loved to write and was a huge fan of Hemingway.

Martin’s storyline on how he was so troubled and how Jennifer wanted to help him was one of my faves! At times he would be completely and utterly speechless! !

Many of these characters had so much pain and anger built up within them.

One thing is for sure David was right, this would be a great movie script! I could see this on Netflix or The Lifetime Channel!

My jaw dropped open at the climactic scenes of the book! I was in utter shock at the turn of events! What an mind blowing ending!!