Book Review: The Girl in the Mirror by Rose Carlyle

“When you’re nice, you think other people are nice, too.”

Rose Carlyle, The Girl in the Mirror

Review:

The premise of this book was fantastic at a glance, but the execution was a letdown to say the least. The only reason I kept reading was because I just couldn’t look away. I think I somehow hoped there would be something redeeming by the end. 

Summer and Iris are twins, or more specifically, ‘mirror’ twins. Iris grows up feeling inferior to Summer, the twin who was meant to be an only child. One night out on Summer’s yacht, Iris wakes to realize Summer is missing and presumed drowned. Instead of breaking the news to Summer’s husband, Iris assumes Summer’s identity, saying ‘Iris’ was the one to fall overboard. 

There’s more to the plot… but all of it is so convoluted and, frankly, disturbing. I’ve read more than my fair share of thrillers, so I know these books are meant to be twisted, but this was downright uncomfortable. What was up with the sexyr*pe thing? I wanted to gauge my eyes out. The fact that scene happened was made even more creepy as the book went on. Don’t even get me started on the weird, probably illegal, means of the daughters (half-sibling situation) trying to win their father’s inheritance in a race to be the first to produce an heir. And that’s not even considering Summer and Iris’ side of this plot. 

On top of the convoluted, problematic plot, the writing was incredibly weak. It’s been a while since this book was published, so I wouldn’t judge future books on this aspect alone as there’s always room to grow, but I am so unsettled by the entirety of this book that it would take a lot for me to pick up another by this author. I should have marked it as a DNF and moved on. Alas, I didn’t. That one’s on me. 

Likes & Dislikes:

What I liked:

• Cool cover.

What I didn’t like:

• Poor writing.
• Unreasonable plot, even by thriller standards.
• So. Many. Plot holes.

Afterthoughts:

I actually purchased a copy of this at a used bookstore a few years ago but I ended up reading it on KindleUnlimited for ease.