The Twin by Natasha Preston
Publish date 3/3/2020
Read courtesy of NetGalley.net

Ms. Preston is way lucky the ending was worth the wait, because I almost never got there. About one-third through the story, I was ready to make this a DNF. It felt repetitive and formulaic. Been-there-done-that-check list: Evil twin ✔️, clueless adults ✔️, fickle friends ✔️... But I decided to stick with it to see what's it was about this story that was worth publishing it. I'm glad I did.

However, I'm not sure how I'm going to convince my high schoolers to keep reading past the commonplace plot other than to put a big "Wait for it...!" sign on the cover.

Some real positives, however, are that there were a lot of truisms in the story without being preachy. It didn't become a self-help book for someone who has lost a parent. I also feel like Ms. Preston did her best to make this a psychological thriller and not about mental health.

I'll get this for my high school library and wait to see what happens...

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus



Ivy has lived with her father ever since her parents divorced, but her twin sister Iris has lived with their mother. When their mother dies while running (she falls on a slippery bridge), Iris must come lives with Ivy. Both are grieving, although Iris is dry eyed. She also has to start a new high school, so things are awkward and tense. Ivy has a boyfriend, and is doing well, but things start to fall apart when Iris arrives. A dead mouse ends up in Ivy's swim locker, and it doesn't make her happy when Iris also decides to join the swim team. Iris is oddly threatening at home as well, always making the comments so the father doesn't hear them. For a long time, it's just the creepy feeling that Iris isn't quite right, but after Ivy contacts Iris' friends at her old school, she starts to worry that perhaps Iris killed their mother. Will Iris continue to gaslight Ivy until she is able to have their father all to herself?

Strengths: I was impressed by the writing on this one. Each chapter ended in a sort of disconcertingly creepy way, even though Iris doesn't actually DO a whole lot. I even wondered if it was Ivy creating everything in her own mind, and if Iris was actually okay, so this was rather brilliant. I have a few students who appreciate psychological horror, and this had an April Henry sort of feel to it. A fast, compelling read, with swimming as well. (I have two students who are devouring the few swimming books I have, and this is ideal for one of them.)

Weaknesses: This is definitely YA in its pacing (a bit slow), and there is one scene where Iris tries to convince their father that Ivy was going to have sex. Other than the phrase "have sex", there's nothing problematic for middle schoolers.

What I really think: Definitely purchasing. The cover may make this one I have to hand sell, but it is perfect for fans of Corrigan's The Accomplice or Creep or Ventrella's Black Flowers, White Lies.

This book was received as an ARC from Random House Children's - Delacorte Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I am a fan of Natasha Preston and of The Cellar in how breathtakingly thrilling the story was and I had the same expectations of The Twin. I was shockingly surprised on how addicting and thrilling the story was of Ivy and Iris and how they lost their mom to a tragic accident and Iris moves in with Ivy and her dad with nobody she can trust...except Ivy. Then Iris "steals" Ivy's life and Ivy now is paranoid to the fullest and their relationship is now at risk and even more than that. I could not stop reading, I had to know all of what happened between Iris and Ivy and how they wanted nothing but to be reunited whatever the cost even if it means sacrificing the ones they love to be with each other. A dashing/thrilling novel that is sure to leave you breathless.

We will consider adding this title to our YFiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

I received a free digital arc from netgally in return for my 100% honest opinion.


First and for most I am a huge fan of Natasha Preston and was super excited when she announced she was writing another book and even more excited when I saw the cover and title. What really intrigued me about this book was that I am an identical twin and how Natasha played on the good twin bad twin stigma.

Ivy and Iris are twins and when there parents divorce Ivy lives with dad and Iris lives with mom, with each of them switching and staying at the other parents house during school breaks. One day mom dies from a horrible accident and Iris moves in with dad and Ivy, twins should always be together, they will be the one to never fault you right?

So what happens when one twin wants to be just like the other? Iris starts asking Ivy questions about her friends, school, grades, her swim team, her boyfriend and things she likes, could be just iris getting to know her twin sister better after all to have a better home life or could be something sinister.

Iris won’t speak about her moms death and Ivy starts seeing a therapist so she can have someone to talk to about her moms death and all the changes that are happening to her now. Iris starts to manipulate Ivys closes friends, send a photo to her boyfriend of ivy kissing another guy at a party, keeping friends away from Ivy, getting Ivy in trouble, setting ivy up to get kicked out of school, doing things a sister who wants to be with her sister wouldn’t do.

Iris wants to be Ivy, but you can’t have two Ivy(s) unfortunately, so who goes and who stays. The good twin or the evil twin? I was expecting Ivy to win but with Iris being the mastermind that she is, she was always ahead of Ivy, even when Ivy thought she was just a step ahead of Iris, she really never was. Iris was so good at fooling everyone and making everyone believe that Ivy wasn’t dealing with there moms death and with Iris moving into the house with her and dad that everyone believed that Ivy was jealous and crazy, just how Iris wanted.

In the end Ivy confronts Iris starts home about everything and Iris confesses to absolutely everything but Ivy failed to record any of it, so you can only imagine what there dad did when he got home and had to pull Ivy off of Iris to break up the fight they were in. Ivy was sent to a mental institution where she wanted to contact with her sister Iris, but would gladly speak to the only person her hasn’t betrayed her yet, her therapist, until she finds out that Iris was in the institution to see Ivy by said therapist.

Ivy has been betrayed by everyone, and she was officially alone, but the worst part is that Iris had won, and had succeeded in removing Ivy and became the new and improved Ivy.