I have been so excited about reading Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for giving me an arc for exchange for my honest review. Mirrorland reminded me of The Girl in the Mirror as it had "mirror" tiwns. We are dealing with an unreliable narrator who takes us on a twisty journey on a psychological thriller ride! Satisfying debut from Johnstone!

Can we just talk about how PERFECT this cover is? The cover alone is going to make this book a huge success. Not only is the cover flawless, but so is the writing. This is an amazing thriller that is dark and edgy and original. Loved it! Thanks for ARC!!

I had a very difficult time getting into this book and connecting to the characters. It was difficult for me to follow what was going on as the present shifted to the past interchangeably and if you aren't paying close attention, it's easy to get lost. It also doesn't help that Cat and El grew up believing in an imaginary place they called Mirrorland, which I think was just a special place in their house where they could hide and just be kids. (I was a little confused about this and couldn't tell if it was a boat near where they lived, tunnels connecting homes together, or just a hidden spot in their home.)

Unfortunately, by the end of the book I didn't really care about El and Cat and Mouse, or Ross for that matter. It was a little predictable and took too long to get to the good parts.

A dark, twisting thriller that is submerged with themes of betrayal, revenge, memories, imagination, and the all too thin line between love and hate. It’s a study in how childhood memories can be rewritten with the passage of time and how the lines between imagination and reality become blurred. It’s a story of murder and long buried secrets.

I found that I really liked this novel, but I went into it wanting to love it. I loved the childhood nightmares brought to life, though until you catch the flow, the tale can become quite convoluted and confusing. Once you’ve obtained the feel of the land, it flows along, twisting and turning until you reach the well played out ending. This has a gothic horror feel with nods to Stephen King and hints of Gillian Flynn.

Overall, I would recommend this as a nice way to escape back into the land of childhood monsters and repressed screams.

Thank you so much to #NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Publishing, #Scribner, and the talented Carole Johnstone for providing me with an electronic ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. This little devils playground will be available April 20, 2021 as will my full review on http://OceansOfBooks.com as well as the retail sites.

This is a twisty psychological thriller that does border a bit on the unbelievable. I love the setting, the creepy house, and the way the author gives you a little bit of information then gives you a little bit more slowly revealing the truth of the story.

What I didn’t like was the slowness of part one of the book. A little bit of flashbacks are good but there were so many in part one that I skipped several pages without really missing much. If I wasn’t reading and reviewing this book for NetGalley I would have stopped reading around the 15-20% mark but I’m glad I got to the end to find out the truth of Cat and El, as unbelievable as it is.

**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC I received*

Excellent psychological thriller. Cat and El are twin sisters who shared everything growing up. To escape the reality of the abuse they both suffered, they imagined their world as a different place. As children grew they invented Mirrorland, complete with witches, pirates, and other characters to escape with when their lives were miserable. As the girls grew up, they both fall in love with the same man, which causes a falling out between them. When one of them disappears, the other doesn’t believe it, she believes she would know if something happened to her sister. Fantastic story with many twists and turns, not to be missed.

Labyrinthine, haunting, and fantastical, like the house at its center, Mirrorland is about a broken childhood and the stories we tell ourselves as kids to heal the pain.

This is a tremendously original and compelling book. It is hard to describe the plot, but basically, two identical “mirror” twins, Cat and El, grew up together in a house where every room told a story like a fairy tale. Cat comes back to the childhood home when her twin (from whom she has been estranged for years) goes missing at sea. As Cat tries to put together what happened to El, she must first return to her childhood for answers.

The book is beautifully written and has a mystical, fairy tale quality. I wasn’t sure how this would work for me, because I’m not usually a fan of the fantasy genre, but I ended up liking it very much because all the fantasy elements were clues to solving the real-life mystery. Cat’s voice is original and very compelling, and her backstory is complex and one of the most interesting character arcs I have read in awhile.

The book is great. I’m still working through my feelings about the ending, and whether it had one too many twists for me. But overall I really loved this twisty, complex, deranged fairy tale of a book very much. 4.5 stars, rounded down only because of my slightly mixed feelings about the ending. Expertly written book. Stephen King’s recommendations never fail me!

Many thanks to Scribner, NetGalley and the author for the ARC of this really neat and very consuming book.

"Because stealing someone else's air is how you breathe."

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Mirrorland is a psychological thriller that I imagine won't be for everyone but boy did I enjoy it! The story follows Cat who travels home to Scotland after her twin sister, El, goes missing. Cat and her sister haven't spoken in years but were very close as children, what pushed them close and pulled them apart is slowly revealed to you throughout the story. As a coping mechanism, Cat and El built themselves a fantasy world, Mirrorland, which was full of pirates, witches and clowns.

When Cat arrives she is forced to remember the details of that fantasy world as El has left her clues about what really happened to her in the place that only she can access. Through this Cat is forced to face the traumas of her childhood and the realities of her sister's adulthood.

I really loved the almost reverential tribute to Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, I really reveled in that being a featured fandom in their fantasy world. I would say in the beginning Mirrorworld is a bit of a mess to untangle but stick with it because in the end it all makes sense.

The writing is really evocative and your sense of paranoia will grow with Cat and will begin to suspect everyone and I predict you will really enjoy the ending.

Thanks so much to Netgalley for a copy of this novel. All opinions above are my own.

This is a beautifully written, compelling and dark story about twin sisters, their intricate web of secrets and the power of the human mind.

Mirror twins Ellice and Catriona grew up in a home mixed with moments of love and a lifetime of fear. They invented Mirrorland, an elaborate pretend world with pirates, a wicked witch, clowns and an evil tooth fairy. I saw some reviews that thought mirrorland too fantastical but read in the proper context, of a make believe world devised as a means of escape, I think it was everything it needed to be.

Despite their closeness, a falling out leaves El and Cat estranged for 12 years. Cat returns home after El's disappearance not convinced that any harm came to her sister. She's her twin after all, wouldn't she know? The present day search for El is interspersed with long forgotten memories of the past, details that Cat has long ago repressed.

We also get to read pages of El's childhood diary which is a creative way to get to know her and help Cat remember events she's long forgotten.

There were a couple times I thought the book was over and was surprised to see it continue... But my overall opinion was that this book was incredibly creative and unpredictable and definitely one of my favorites this year.

Thank you to Scribner & NetGalley for this eARC of Mirrorland, this will be published April 20th!
This is a book that you feel in your heart! It’s an incredibly well written story about mirror twins, their lives, upbringing, dreams & fantasies. This is a story with so many layers of depth & emotion, I can’t say enough good things about that! The beginning was a bit slow for me, but I am so glad that I stuck with it- I promise it is well worth it! I feel like it added to the overall flow of the story in the long run. I think this story will haunt me for some time to come, I highly recommend it!

Thank you NetGalley and Scribner for a digital reading copy, as well as Libro.FM for an advanced listening copy.

Mirrorland is one of the best mystery/thriller books I've read lately. It felt unique, had lots of twists and turns, and best of all, it kept me guessing all the way to the end.

I have the bad habit of guessing the twist or ending of a novel a little too soon and being disappointed when I guess it on the nose. This one, I had lots of theories and some ended up lining up at the end, but I didn't have a full guess or picture of what was really going on until the last scenes.

I'm looking forward to reading other works by this author now - I'd suggest this book to anyone who loves a good mystery, especially those that center around families and sibling bonds.

***Content warnings: physical and emotional abuse, violence

Mirrorland...wow. When I first started reading it I was thinking it reminded me of a few other stories I've read recently. Mirror twins and magical places hiding terrible things...and I do believe that the author has had some of the same influences that I have. In fact, I know she does. There is a heavy influence of Stephen King in this one and she is right upfront with it. The deadlights. The boat. The Plan. I loved that this book kept going in different directions and that Mirrorland, the escape El and Cat had as children, holds it all together.

Mirrorland is a story of family and secrets. So many books these days are but this one did it so well, weaving in the magical elements fo a child's imagination. You are never sure what is real and what is not as you follow Cat trying to figure out what happened to her twin sister, El. El went out on her boat, The Redemption, and both she and the boat disappeared completely. Cat returns, sure her sister isn't dead. and has to figure out what El is trying to tell her through a series of clues.

My favorite part of the experience of reading this story was that I was right with Cat. I really felt like I knew everything she knew at the moment and I was making discoveries right along with her. Usually this is done through characters being overly cryptic and saying half-truths, but here everything said is coming from someone you know could be unreliable. Cat can only rely on herself.

Carole Johnstone delivered a creepy, touching, incredible journey in Mirrorland with an ending that was completely satisfying. Thanks to the author, Netgalley, and Scribner books for the opportunity to read this book. I am on my way to seek out other works by the author and add them to my cart.

Best book I've read this year, so far.

Genre defying feeling of creeping up the roller coaster for the first drop. How far will the mind blend reality and fantasy to protect us from trauma? What happens when they collide back together?

Mirrorland begins with a pair of twin sisters who are escaping an unknown trauma. There is then a time jump, and we find that one sister. One of the sisters, Cat receives word that her sister El is missing and presumed dead. They have been estranged for years and Cat moved to the West Coast, about as far as she could get from their native Scotland. Cat and El are mirror twins, a rare phenomena in which they are identical but mirrored. In essence this means that left and right are reversed. If one twin is right handed the other is left handed, Birthmarks would similarly be reversed. When they were younger they were close, and had a richly imagined space they called Mirrorland.
This is the author's debut novel and I will definitely look forward to her future works. This novel grabs you from the start and does not let go. Even when you think you know what is going on there is revelation after revelation to come. I highly recommend this and found it a satisfying read from beginning to end.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this title and give an honest review. it was a pleasure.

[No Spoilers]

Carole Johnstone has absolutely blown. my. mind.

This book started at a 3 Star rating and gradually made it’s way to a 5 and I’ll tell you why.

The beginning of this book can be tough to get into - at least it was for me. There was A LOT going on. Tons of characters, aspects of fantasy, and I couldn’t get into it until 1/3 of the way through once all the pieces were beginning to connect and the characters began to stick in my memory a bit better with more context.

I thought I knew what was happening/what was going to happen and a few times I rolled my eyes a tad disappointed and thinking, “Ugh, I knew it...” BUT DO NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!

Everything you think you know, you DON’T.
I am absolutely recommending this to anyone willing to listen.

Fantastic debut!

Fantasy or Real Life?

The book opens up with a somewhat frightening, ambiguous episode. Despite that the opening was convoluted and murky, I was interested enough to keep reading. The main characters are twins, El (Ellice) and Cat (Catriona); most twins are obsessively close and I wasn’t sure if this was the “hook” in this novel.

Cat had moved away from Scotland as far away as she could; she lives in the Los Angeles area and makes a meager living. El is married to Ross and they bought the twins’ childhood home, with all its memories, dark crevices and secrets. Cat returns to the No. 36 Westeryk Road, this house on the fringe area of Edinburgh. She is called “home,” because they fear El is dead. She took out her sailboat and there are no longer any sightings of her or communication. Cat believes she is not dead, somewhat like a twin can feel what the other one is undergoing.

Enter the secondary characters of the police and Ross who firmly believe El is dead. Cat thinks she is receiving viable signals from El and believes she is alive. Since they are mirror twins, she is compelled to return to Mirrorland. She needs to discover why her sister is sending her obscure messages.

Nothing is really as it seems and the first half of the book was frustrating. The second half held some credible behavior for the fantasy worlds of the two girls. However, I believed it to be too engineered and became somewhat annoyed at all the machinations. This was promoted as a book on par with Gone Girl. It definitely did not have multi-dimensional characters and fascinating plot line.

My gratitude to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing me with a pre-published book . All opinions are my own.

I could not get into this book. I read for 100 pages, then I skimmed for about 10 and finally gave up. It was barely moving and the flashbacks to “Mirrorland” made no sense to me. It didn’t add anything to the story and made everything confusing.

El and Cat are twins who grew up having a rich fantasy world akin to Roxaboxen, using their basement and garden to create a pirate ship and have adventures with the boy next door. But when we meet them, they are living on different continents, presumably driven apart by their love for that same boy next door, who is now El's husband.

Cat only returns when El goes missing and is presumed dead in a boating accident. But Cat's twin senses are telling her that El is alive and she starts to find messages from her sister to support this. So what the heck is going on, and why are the people who knew El acting so sketchy?

This was a really creative, twisty, and fun book that blended a lot of different elements well and will probably get many comparisons to Gone Girl. Clues, forgotten memories, and people who are not who they seem abound.

The author slowly unveils details about formerly close twin sisters El and Cat and El's dreamy husband Ross for whom Cat long pined. El has disappeared and the author tells the story of the disappearance as she reveals details about the characters" back stories and insight into their complicated relationships. The pacing manages to be slow and relentless at the same time, keeping the reader engaged until the very end. An entertaining read for those who like suspense,

I was so excited to start this book because it had a recommendation by Stephen King. But, for me this story just didn't hold my attention. The mix of genres had me a bit confused and while I enjoyed the actual fiction, it was the weaving of the fantasy piece that left me wanting to skim past to get through it and find out what really happened. It's not that I wouldn't recommend this book, it just wasn't for me.