I don’t tend to pick up sci-fi books very often but this one just sounded too good to pass up. I loved the idea of a domestic suspense mixed in with the sci-fi aspect and the blend actually worked well for me. This was a really cool and unique read and despite the otherworldly stuff nothing felt too advanced or too far over my head which I always appreciate. I hate feeling like I have to think too hard to try and decipher technical type language or things that are just too complicated for an average person to read and I didn’t feel like that here. As for the mystery aspect it was fairly strong, I had a feeling about who may have been part of Kelly’s life mixup but not the how or the why exactly so I wasn’t bothered when I was partly correct. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to read some unique that doesn’t feel like the same old thing over and over again because there was a lot about this one that was different and unusual.

The Other Me was a bit of a confusing book in the beginning. Kelly, the main character is still trying to figure out what’s going on, and that confusion is passed onto the reader. By the mid way point, the book did get its stride, and I began to enjoy the story more. However, I never felt fully gripped by the plot, and Kelly was not exactly the most engaging character. The book always felt like it fell just a little bit short.

Though The Other Me took a while to get into, I did end up enjoying the book. And it had a good ending. The premise could be confusing at times, but it was different which was refreshing. Jeng shows serious potential in her debut novel, and I’ll be curious to see what she writes next.

Sarah Zachrich Jeng pulls you in to a complex thrill ride with The Other Me. The reader is kept guess from the first chapter on the concept of time, love, family and relationships. Fans of Dean Koontz' Ashley Bell will find a friend with Jeng's Kelly and her journey to find out why her old life stopped and new life started.

Kelly Holter is celebrating her twenty-ninth birthday at an art gallery exhibit of her best friend’s, Linnea’s, work. She steps out to go to the ladies room, opens the door, and enters another party – her twenty-ninth birthday at Luigi’s, with her husband, Eric, and their families. The disorientation is a physical thing. She tries to go outside – to run away. But she is bombarded with memories from this new life, which strangely live in tandem with memories from her life as an artist in Chicago.

She goes home with Eric. She goes through the motions of living this new life. But Kelly knows something is desperately wrong. Chicago Kelly had short hair and tattoos. Suburban Michigan Kelly has long hair, blemish free skin, and runs every morning. Most importantly, Chicago Kelly was an artist who pursued her dreams. Suburban Michigan Kelly seems to have given all that up.

The Other Me, the debut novel from Sarah Zachrich Jeng, is a fast-paced mind-trip. And not just for Kelly. The reader asks all the same questions as the main character: what is happening? Is Kelly losing her mind? What logical reasons could there be for Kelly’s experience? Have we entered a science fiction wormhole? Or is Sherlock Holmes’ adage “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth” true?

This premise: “woman walks through bathroom door to a surprise birthday party in an alternate life,” could very easily go off the rails very quickly. I’m still not 100% what writing magic Jeng uses to counter that, except Kelly, our heroine, is just as confused and somehow manages to behave in a believable manner. Her first instinct is to get out and sort out whatever is happening. Then, when strange elements continue to bombard her – like two sets of memories – she takes a wait and see approach, which is good for both her and the reader.

There is something painfully honest in Kelly’s reactions. The longing for her art, her life’s work, is palpable. The push-and-pull of emotions she feels for this stranger of a husband who she somehow knows intimately feels realistic in an otherwise odd situation. And when the desire for her art – a world she remembers pursuing – meets the suburban world she finds herself in, it’s painful and raw.

BLOCKQUOTE

I choose soft, floating music, since I can’t play anything loud without waking Eric, and get started. We learned figurative work in art school, of course, but I’ve always gravitated toward abstract painting. Deceptively simple, emotion vibrating through some indefinable communion in the light between the color on the canvas and the eye of the viewer. Or at least I like to think so. Maybe my paintings communicate less than I think they do, or nothing at all to anyone but me. That would see to be the case, judging by the resounding indifference to my work.

But there is no work, not here. This is the studio in Chicago I share with Linnea, where I have a rack full of finished paintings. And something’s wrong. My fingers are stiff; my feet can’t find the right stance. I never realized how much of painting is muscle memory.

That’s not all it is though. Everything I learned at art school about how to translate my vision in to something tangible – knowledge that had become second nature – in in my brain. I can feel it, just beyond my reach. Normally it surrounds me like the air I breathe, but now when I try to grasp at it, it becomes smoke. /END BLOCKQUOTE

While it would be simple to dismiss Kelly as off-her-rocker, her observations make it easy to suspend disbelief and think whatever is wrong isn’t Kelly. Her husband’s passive-aggressive manipulations are off-putting.

Conflicting memories of him keep popping into her head. Did he ask her out when they were seventeen? Or was it an awkward encounter in a parking lot? Both memories feel real to her.

When Eric receives a strange phone call from an old high school friend, Peter, who is involved in one of the most advanced artificial intelligence developments the tech world has ever gossiped about, Kelly begins to think Eric, while seemingly gentle and loving, may have darker secrets he’s trying to keep.

BLOCKQUOTE
“Where does he work again?” I ask.

Eric glances at me. I pick up th ediscloth and start wiping the counter. He finally puts down the sponge and turns on the faucet to rinse my plate. “A startup. It’s called Genie.” Hu turns off the water and places the plate in the drainer with exaggerated care, then stars at the rest of the dishes in the sink as though he’s not sure what to do with them.

“Genie.” I move to the counter by the stove, still keeping an eye on Eric. “Like the spirit that grants wishes, genie?”

“Yeah…because the app’s a digital assistant. It’ll do whatever you want. You know, ‘Your wish is my command.’” He does air quotes. “It’s supposed to be smarter than anything that’s come before it. It has some special features…I don’t know much about it.” He’s trying to sound casual, but I see his jaw clench through his cheek, his fingers gripping the edge of the sink like he’s trying to keep himself from making a break for it. /END BLOCKQUOTE

Sarah Zachrich Jeng’s The Other Me is a great addition to your end-of-summer TBR pile. With a troubled protagonist who pushes to discover the truth and an intriguing premise, it’s a great few hours spent turning pages.

“This life, I didn’t choose. It was chosen for me. But would it be so bad if I had to stay here?”

Is readbait a thing? Well, comparing this as Russian Doll meets Black Mirror is major readbait for me.

Kelly is attending her best friend’s art show in Chicago when she opens the bathroom door and steps into another life. Her hair is long, her tattoos have disappeared, and she’s married to a guy she barely remembers from high school. Kelly possesses all of the memories from her Chicago life but they’re now overlayed with memories of a life, a good life, but a life she doesn’t remember actually living. Desperate to get back to her old life but having no clue how to make that happen, she’s confronted with the possibility that she might be stuck in this life, but would that be the worst thing?

“[…]I remembered, eventually, everything that had happened to me in both lives. How they’re both still there, uneasily coexisting in my head.”

Jeng handled the various similarities and differences between the timelines well and the scenes where Kelly’s world began to “glitch” (her tattoos would reappear on her arm only to disappear again) really heightened the intensity of the story. I do feel though it would have been even more intense (and engaging) if Kelly had been glitching out of one life and the other, but alas, she did not. What really failed for me was the backstory behind why this was happening and who was responsible. If I was glitched out of one life and put into another that I didn’t choose, I doubt my nutshell response would be “it’s okay, they meant well.”

Inventive story for sure, a little confusing in the middle but with a decent ending.

This is a tale of Kelly, a single artist in Chicago attending her best friend's art exhibition. She begins to feel dizzy and when she walks through a door, she is entering a surprise birthday party in her Michigan hometown--complete with her husband Eric. She remembers her life in Chicago with intimate detail, but she also remembers her present life as a homemaker/freelance graphic designer in Michigan. What happened to her?

I loved the puzzle of this tale, and although I knew there was no way it had a logical explanation, I still went with it because it was so intriguing. When all is said and done, the big picture wasn't as great as I was hoping, but in the end I really liked how everything wrapped up. The beginning was a bit slow while Kelly was trying to figure out what was going on and it dragged for a while. Then it picked up and I got more interested again. The reason for her split time memories was kind of convoluted and even though I got the gist of the story, I felt like it could have been more focused. As it is, there are too many people manipulating the situation so I got a bit lost.

Overall though, this is a very creative story that is worth reading. I love a unique premise and this one certainly delivers.

Kelly Holter is in Chicago happily celebrating her best friend’s art show. When she opens a door, she finds herself back in her Michigan hometown where her family is having a huge party for her. However, nothing about her family or her own life seems familiar in Michigan. In fact, she finds she’s married to a guy named Eric from her high school days. Kelly is more than confused since she started the day in a different state with different memories of her life.

Kelly is desperate to get her old life back and she’s determined to find out why this is happening. So many mysterious things are happening like her tattoos disappearing in her new life with Eric. As she investigates, she wonders if she can trust her husband. In fact, she wonders who she can trust. As she continues her search for answers, she ends up with more questions.

What an intriguing storyline. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had my suspicions from the start, but I wasn’t sure how it all would play out. It’s a complicated, clever twist. The author has a great talent in keeping the reader on the edge of their seat.

It’s one of those books that keep you on your toes until the very end. It has a spooky feel to it. It’s a gripping, engrossing, and totally fascinating story. A real page-turner that gave me many hours of heart-stopping adventure.

I never read this author before, but she’s on my radar now and I’ll be on the look out for more books by her.





FTC Disclosure: I voluntarily reviewed a free Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗹𝗼𝘁
-Struggling Chicago artist Kelly attends the opening night of her best friend’s gallery exhibit. It’s her 29th birthday and, although she’s sincerely happy for her friend’s success, she wishes she was more successful herself. She opens a door to go outside for some fresh air.

-She steps through the door and is stunned to find herself in a restaurant bathroom. She slowly realizes she’s in an Italian restaurant in her hometown in Michigan with her husband and extended family. They have gathered to celebrate her birthday.

-A bewildered Kelly tries to figure out how she ended up in this married life in Michigan life and how she might get back to her life in Chicago.

𝗜 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁
-I thought I was very clever figuring out a central plot point of this slow-burn mystery until I realized that many people will also work out the same thing. Plus many other twists I didn’t see coming.

- This is an impressive debut novel, and the book moves from a steady pace to urgent page-turning as Kelly uncovers clues about her Michigan life and how she got there. She wants to go back to her Chicago life but also discovers things about herself that give her pause and force her to look at both lives from a different perspective.

-If you’ve ever wondered “what if” your life had taken another path or enjoy “Sliding Door” like plots, this Thriller/Mystery with a touch of Sci-fi is a very good read! I can’t wait to see what Sarah Zachrich Jeng comes up with next.

Books with unique concepts always pique my interest, and The Other Me is nothing short of fascinating!

On the night of her 29th birthday, Kelly, a single artist who lives in Chicago, walks through a door at an art gallery and suddenly finds herself living in her hometown in Michigan and married to some random dude from high school. She has memories from both lives, but nothing feels right to her. What exactly is going on?

This book started off slow and I struggled to get into it at first, but it wasn’t long until I became invested in figuring out what was happening to Kelly. Once she was in Chicago investigating her other life, I found myself completely engrossed in this enthralling story. Why was Kelly suddenly living in an alternate reality? Which life was real? Was it just a dream? A lot of strange things were going on, and memories from Kelly’s alternate lives started bleeding into one another. Although I figured out the ultimate reveal early on and didn’t think the twists were shocking, this book was incredibly interesting and made me contemplate the effects of my own life choices. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this beautifully written, kaleidoscopic debut, and I would love to read more from this author in the future.

I recommend The Other Me for those who enjoy slow burn, character-driven mysteries or thrillers with a side of sci-fi!

The Other Me by Sarah Zachrich Jeng was an intriguing sci-fi thriller.

This book starts on Kelly Holter’s 29th birthday. One minute she’s a starving artist in Chicago. The next she is a housewife married to her high school classmate, Eric back home in Michigan. Strange as it seems, Kelly has memories from two lives and she decides to do anything she can to figure out why. Could the new tech startup Gnii be responsible? Is her husband involved? Who can she trust? These are the questions Kelly must try to answer.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. It had a slow start for me, but it really picked up mid-way. There were some twists that I didn’t quite see coming, but they did fit logically in the story. The technology responsible for Kelly’s other life is intriguing but definitely a bit frightening. Hopefully nothing like it ever does come into existence.

An aspiring artist an alumni of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Kelly never looked back when she left her Michigan hometown. But on her birthday, while attending her best friend’s art opening, she opens the door to the bathroom and walks into her own twenty-ninth birthday party in Michigan with her family and a husband, Eric, who had been a high school acquaintance. She has twelve years of new memories—but has echoes of her Chicago life.

What’s more, she experiences glitches: her tattoos fade in and out, and when she asks Eric about conversations they’ve had, he denies them. She doesn’t doubt he loves her, but he also has a controlling impulse and a covert relationship with a secretive and security-conscious start-up.

Kelly tries to find her real life, but there’s no one she can really trust, not even her own memories.

For me, THE OTHER ME started slowly, and I thought there was too much time and repetition regarding the authenticity of Kelly’s relationship with Eric while I would have been happier for Kelly and Linnea to interact more. Once the situation clarified, Kelly determined a course of action, and more characters entered the narrative, I thought the action was more exciting and that interesting ethical issues were introduced. Trying to keep it vague - best to go into it without too many preconceived ideas!

2.5⭐

The Other Me starts off very mysteriously, and I was intrigued. However, it gets really repetitive quickly, and the story dragged for me. I was curious enough to keep going, but I found myself skimming a lot. Unfortunately, the twists ended up being exactly what I thought they were going to be (from pretty early on in the story), and it's very predictable if you are into thriller books and movies. I wish that it would have been hidden a little better. The most interesting part was the last 20%, but it was a long trip for me to get there.

Content notes - stalking, cancer, homophobia, grooming

Kelly is a struggling artist living in Chicago. On her 29th birthday, she opens a door and finds herself in a parallel life where she married a boy from high school and never left her hometown in Michigan. While she remembers the last 12 years of her “real” life, she also has 12 years of new memories layered over top.

Kelly doesn’t know who to trust in her new life but she desperately needs to figure out what is going on. As she digs into her “new” past, weird things begin to happen – the tattoos she had as an artist briefly reappear and disappear again, her best friend from art school (whom she’s never met in this life) remembers her one day, and she experiences more and more instances of déjà vu that don’t match either of her lives.

This was a quick and engaging read with a total “Sliding Doors” kind of vibe. The Other Me was published on August 10 – be sure to add it to your TBR!

Thank you to @berkleypub and @netgalley for my gifted copy. #BerkleyBuddyReads #BerkleyWritesStrongWomen #NetGalley

Kelly is suddenly taken from her life as a single woman and artist in Chicago and finds herself married to a guy she barely remembers from high school, with 12 years of memories of two totally different lives. I really enjoyed this variation on alternative paths not taken--some great twists and satisfying resolution!

It’s Kelly’s 29th birthday. She is a single struggling artist living in Chicago. She enters a bathroom in an art gallery. When she exits, she finds herself coming out of a door in an Italian restaurant in Michigan. It’s still her 29th birthday but now she is celebrating with her husband, Eric and both of their families.

Kelly finds herself with an alternate history beginning when she is 17 years old. She has memories of her life in Chicago and memories of her life in Michigan.

She must find out if her other life in Chicago was an illusion or if she is delusional. She has a feeling Eric is the key and is holding vital information to what’s going on.

What life has Kelly really lived?

My Thoughts

This book is like a techno sci-fi thriller and it is very hard to put down.

I will say Kelly remains completely composed during this whole alternative history and is very perceptive, methodical, and deductive as she peels back the layers of what is happening to her. She is my hero! I would be completely freaking out!

The way the story unfolds is fantastic. There are lots of details of differences between Chicago Kelly and Michigan Kelly which I feel adds to story.

The ending..ahh you will need to read it for yourself.

The Other Me was a huge surprise for me. I don’t want to give any spoilers so the gist is that Kelly is a struggling artist in Chicago who opens the door to a gallery one day and finds herself in a parallel life as if she married a boy from high school. This book was all kinds of cool and I had no idea where it was going the entire time, completely sucking me in. It was written in such a clever and engaging way with so many clues and so many twists. And it went in a direction that I never could have imagined. It was a very thought provoking book with a Sliding Doors kind of vibe of what would life be like if you made a different decision. And I just loved that we had a buddy read group for this one and we all had so many theories and conceptions which really highlighted that it was so not predictable.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

The Other Me has an interesting concept, but it fell short for me. I think many will enjoy this sci-fi story. I found myself not as interested in the characters, and skimmed to figure out why Kelly had two timelines.

That said, there is definitely a place for this book in my library and I think many will enjoy it.

You know how you hear people talk about a book and you think you have an idea of what it is about, then you read the synopsis and get a bit more of an idea? Then you start reading the book and you really think you know the direction it is going, right?
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Then, BAM, twist, turn and the book is nothing you expected and just brilliant in it’s actual glory! That is The Other Me by Sarah Zachrich Jeng. I am not going to tell you much about it because I think you need to go into this one without all those preconceived ideas. What you get out of it is so worth it. Jeng wraps up this thriller, mystery, sci-fi, contemporary novel in ways I didn’t see coming and that uniqueness was worth the sleepless night reading it!
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Want something great and a tad bit different- here you go! It was just published this week and I am pretty sure there is a copy out there just waiting for you!
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Talk about a mind blowing book! I’m not sure what I expected, but it was not at all what I got. This book is definitely not my typical type of book but it was so good! I would consider this book a Sci-Fi type thriller.
What would you do if you stepped through a door and ending up in a totally different life?! Kelly experienced this on her 29th birthday and was on a wild ride until the end. There wasn’t one ‘huge’ plot twist but more like little surprises here and there.

First of all, can we talk about how gorgeous the cover is?! This was a debut book for this author, and I am really impressed at her writing skills. I think this author has some really great potential! I really enjoyed how original the story-line was. I loved the technological spin on the plot as it's something that really captivates my mind in this generation. Despite being a unique story, I could still guess the ending of the book. I will chalk that up to the fact that I read quite a lot of suspenseful novels. It's a bit of a slow burn, but I'm really glad I got a ch