Well, THAT happened...

This was a wild, weird tale that threw me for a loop in a mostly very good way. It was eerie and atmospheric and confusing and full of Oddities. I loved the way magic and fantasy were drawn in, and the way you were never really certain until the big reveal as to what was real and what was not. It was a fascinating glimpse into what the mind can do to protect itself, and I found the mysteries and secrets to be well-managed in their teasers and revelations.

The writing meandered a little bit at times, but it worked for the story and didn't pull me out of the flow. Parts of the ending and wrap up felt a little tidy, and a little over the top at the same time, but that didn't bother me too much on the whole. It's an unusual read, and likely not for everyone, but I quite enjoyed it for all its darkness.

I couldn't finish this book. I couldn't keep up with the past and the present. It was also obvious by chapter five that this was going to be yet another wife flees from bad husband resolution.

The description of Mirrorland hooked me in and I was really excited to receive an arc... I hated this book. I don’t hate books often, but I am not a fan.

Mirrorland is a brilliantly woven thriller that is layered with the truths and lies we tell ourselves to survive the worst. Even peripheral characters are irresistable and their contributions to the tale cemented this story in my heart. I loved that Cal and El are mirrors yet individually distinguishable by their ways of helping each other survive and cope with their trauma. This story is sad, yet every time I thought I was going to be disappointed by a choice or situation I was reminded that even in hard times, there are people who will always do their best for someone else.

I was not a fan of this book. I wanted to like it but up until 20% I wanted to quit reading it. Then the ending just dragged on. It could have ended much sooner than it did. I also did not like the back and forth between the childhood "magic" and the now because some parts were hard to tell if it was real, imagined, or actual memories. I had to keep going back and re-read a few paragraphs to even figure out what was going on. I felt like there was too much of the magical realism for this to be a thriller.

I did not like any of the characters. I felt they were not very well developed until maybe the very end and still I don't feel like I knew them.

“I was happy here. Mostly. And I’ve been so unhappy since. But I still know it’s true: you can never go back.”

If anything, this book is whimsical. Like Stephen King’s IT, the past and the present flow seamlessly. One moment you’re experiencing Catriona’s present, and the next you’re feeling sea spray on your face aboard the deck of the Satisfaction from the past. It’s blissful, this easy transition. It makes you feel like you’re living in a dreamland, a Mirrorland.

From the beginning, this book was strong. With gentle twist and turns, a roller coaster, and very slow burns. It was beautiful. It was dark. It was powerful. I had chills. The writing was fresh and unique. Thrillers have gotten so stale lately, and Mirrorland felt like a life raft - ah, is that a tasteless joke? Maybe. You’ll see. You need to read this, I’m serious. This is one of the best. I can’t stop thinking about it. And. The. Ending! *chef’s kiss*

Cat returns to her childhood home to find her missing possibly dead twin sister, while coming to grips with her own repressed childhood memories. The realty of her memories are hidden beneath layers of childhood fantasy.
She needs to discover the past before it destroys her future.
It took me awhile to unwind the childhood fantasies and how she was being manipulated. This is a mystery that will keep you guessing.

1.5 stars...

This initially was marketed as a Mystery/Thriller, but the amount of surrealism and magical realism that was in this novel seems better marketed to a dark fantasy/mystery. The thriller aspect was virtually zero until the end, and the rest of the novel is so full of intense, confusing flashbacks that are intermingled with the rest of the test, so you are constantly confused reading the entire book.

I'm really not interested in a recollection of a child's make-believe world they made up to escape a damaged childhood. I really thought this would more heavily rely on a thriller aspect and piecing together clues, but I was sorely disappointed.

I was so lost for most of the novel and my interest waned immediately after just starting the book, and it never really picked up for me. I had to skim a lot of the book to just get to the points that made sense. I was not keen on all of the heavy imagery used to describe Mirrorland and it's inhabitants.

Cat goes back to Scotland after her sister goes missing, and we are thrown back into intense flashbacks of this make believe world and her memories of a haunted pass. The mystery of trying to find her missing sister is so poorly mentioned that it really didn't feel like a mystery at all. This novel touched on a lot of tropes and was...kind of unoriginal in my opinion. I saw through the "mirage" of Mirrorland after about 2 mins, so it was just overdone after the first few chapters.
*Thanks to Netgalley and Scribner for an eARC of this novel. All opinions are my own.*

Mirrorland is the story of El and Cat, mirror twins from Scotland. When El goes missing on her boat one night, Cat returns after twenty years away and is confronted with all the feelings and secrets that caused her to flee when they were teenagers. When Cat is emailed a series of clues related to her sister's disappearance, they take her on a whirlwind that leads to some startling memories.

Although Mirrorland had a phenomenal premise, the narration struggled to keep my interest until the last third of the book. The ending resolved all the plot points that it needed to, but the elements of Cat and El's childhood were extremely confusing for most of the story. I liked the book by the end, but I could see many readers abandoning it before getting to the parts where I thought it really got good.

Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone is not my usual choice of novel but the plot summary intrigued me. The story is about twin sisters, mirror twins, as their mother called them. They were brought up in a house filled with imagination and make believe characters. There was even a doorway to what the sisters called Mirrorland where they lived out adventures on the high seas as pirates or sharpshooters in a wester town.
The story is told from the view point of one of the sisters, Cat, who is called back to her home where her twin sister El and husband lived. Her sister has gone missing and is feared to be dead. Cat knows that cannot be true because as a mirror twin she would KNOW if something had happened to her sister. As police investigate the mystery, Cat starts receiving emails directing her to clues around the house that could have only come from El.
I enjoyed this book way more than I had anticipated. The way the author talks about Mirrorland and how the twins grew up with all of these characters really had me second guessing if Mirrorland was actually some sort of real magical place the sisters had created. The story had me hooked and was very hard to put down. I loved the original plotline and twists. Definitely a five star on this book!

This was very weird and confusing. Definitely not my cup of tea. It had potential but I didn’t like any of the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟 3/5 stars
Publication Date: 4/20/21

Mirrorland is a dark, disturbing tale of identical twins, El and Cat, who live in a large, gothic style home in Edinburgh. In the house, the twins create a magical, make-believe world of Mirrorland that contains pirates and witches. When the girls grow up, a huge falling out separates them for years. However, when Cat receives the news that El is missing, she is forced to return home and to Mirrorland.

Although the plot sounds right up my alley, I had a lot of trouble connecting with the story. The fantastical elements to the story didn’t completely work for me and I found myself wanting the book to focus more on El’s disappearance. However, I appreciated the creative spin on the typical thriller storyline.

Overall, Mirrorland is an atmospheric, imaginative thriller that is sure to divide some readers.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a multi layered and well crafted psychological suspense novel.

I don't tend to read much of this genre but I'm glad I experienced this book.

The characters, particularly the main character, are fully developed. The suspense builds and there were several reveals I didn't see coming. I highly recommend reading this.

I received a free copy from Netgalley. I am leaving my honest review.

I thought I would really love this one, but I found myself struggling to read. I would take it page by page and still I couldn’t get into it. The cover is beautiful and has serious shelf appeal, but I could not get involved with the characters, I found them highly unlikable.

Reading this incredible thriller felt like drifting through a foggy maze, lost in the fantastical world of Mirrorland that twins El and Cat created when they were children in their Edinburgh home. Pushed apart in adulthood from unforeseen circumstances, betrayal, and a man, the twins go on for years and oceans without each other, until El, who had moved back into their childhood home with her husband, suddenly goes missing. With strategic pacing and a vivid imagination, Johnstone thrusts you down the rabbit hole, to Mirrorland, unable--and unwilling--to escape.

As much as I tried, I just could not get into this story. I read almost half of it but I could not tell you what I read. Every time I would pick it back up I would have to go back at least a paragraph.

Twin sisters Cat and El have been estranged for years. Living in separate parts of the world trying to put their past behind them.

Until El goes missing….

Cat quickly returns home to Edinburgh from California. She refuses to believe that something has happened to El. But the investigation of her disappearance is underway. Could El’s husband be responsible? A man they both have a history with.

I admittedly had a hard time connecting with this book. There were parts I enjoyed such as the actual investigation. But when the storyline switched to their playhouse of Mirrorland I found myself lost and confused. The book included a bit too much emphasis on magical realism such that I had trouble following it.

There are a lot of mixed reviews for this book. I hope your connection with the characters and storyline will be stronger than mine.

A buddy read with Susanne.

Posted to: https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend...

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for an ARC to read and review.

thought the story was going one way and then it twists! El and Cat are identical twins with a past. El and disappeared and Cat comes back to her childhood home to find disturbing memories and threats . El can't be dead or Cat is sure she would feel it as mirror twins. And El is known to play tricks like this before. There childhood friend Ross and El's husband is stricken with grief and loss. But he is also in love with Cat and she him.
Threatening notes, cryptic emails and the feeling of being watched surround Cat. Very worth a read to find out what has happened to these twins.

Cat is summoned back to her childhood home in Edinburgh from her home in California when her mirror twin sister, El goes missing from a day out on her boat. El and her husband, Ross, purchased the home that El and Cat grew up in, where they lived a bizarre childhood with their mum and grandpa. In their youth, the twins often hid in Mirrorland, a dark fantasy world of pirates, mischief, and ships to escape an unhappy upbringing. Ross and the mysterious shipmate, Mouse, were their constant companions in their imaginary world. Ross eventually drives a wedge between the sisters who both seek his attention; an issue that causes the sisters to part ways for years as adults. As the story of El's disappearance unravels, Cat begins to receive anonymous notes and emails warning her that Ross knows something that he's not telling her. When El's ship is found submerged in the ocean, things really spin out of control for Cat and Ross. This story is dark and has many twists and turns right to the end.

Mirrorland was an okay read. I think this would be great for someone who really loves a dark and creepy fantasy. I liked the story line, but I didn't really feel like the author explained what Mirrorland was well enough to get the full effect of Cat and El's childhood. It's hard to understand what is real and what is imaginary. I also found the names of the rooms in the house really confusing. There just wasn't enough explanation to fully grasp the fantasy element. I feel like that was a missed opportunity to really get the reader intrigued.

Review published on blog: https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend.com/

Smoke and Mirrors, Fiction and Fantasy.

“Mirrorland'' is a world created by Identical twins, El and Cat as children growing up in a Manse in Scotland. It's a marvelous, outlandish, and wondrous world where El and Cat could hide, safe from harm, even though it was inhabited by clowns, witches, and pirates.

Call me crazy, but I personally would have been hiding from Mirrorland, not the other way around!

Once best friends, the two sisters had a falling out as adults with El staying in Edinburgh and Cat moving to California. Now however it’s too late to make amends. El has gone missing and Cat must return to Scotland and the one place she swore she’d never return to try and find her: “Mirrorland.”

Cat’s apprehension about returning and being home is palpable and had me wondering if Mirrorland would swallow her whole. Admittedly, her stepping foot into a room called “The Clown Cafe” was enough to give this gal pause.

As the police investigation into El’s disappearance ensues, it becomes clear that all is not what it seems.

Suspenseful, tense, and truly fantastical - there is a whole lot going on in this dark, atmospheric tale. While parts of this story involving El’s disappearance were truly gripping, some of the fantastical elements were a bit too much for me. The ending however was stupendous!

A buddy read with Kaceey that gave us much to discuss.

Thank you to Mimi Chan and the team at Goodreads, as well as NetGalley and Scribner for the arc.

Published on Goodreads and Twitter.