I thoroughly enjoyed Janelle Brown's latest novel, I'll Be You. It's the story of identical twin girls, Samantha (Sam) and Elli. When they were little girls, they were playing on a beach when discovered by a talent agent. They spent their early years on a TV shows, both playing one character (a la the Olsen twins on Full House). Sam was in her element, but Elli hated being in the spotlight. Once the show was cancelled, they tried to be "normal" teen-age girls in high school, which Sam found stultifying but Elli loved. When a new show was proposed, Sam manipulated her sister to return to acting, but it eventually came to an end. Elli embraced the normal life, went to college, fell in love, and got married. The only thing missing was a child.

Sam, on the other hand, went into a downward spiral of drugs, alcohol, and sex. She was in and out of rehab. All of her acting money was lost to drugs, so it fell to Elli to support her twin, paying for her rehab repeatedly and even welcoming her into her home when she got out. When the story begins, it's been just over a year since her last stint in rehab, and Sam and Elli haven't spoken in all that time. Apparently, Sam had done something egregious while staying with Elli and her husband, and the two have been estranged ever since. So it's a huge surprise when Sam gets a call from her mother asking that she come home and help her take care of Elli's two-year-old daughter, Charlotte. Wait, what?!?! What daughter, Sam wants to know!!

The first half of the novel is told from Sam's POV, which left me as a reader thinking one way about Elli. It seems that Elli's life has transformed and she went away for a short while to what her mother thinks is a retreat but Sam is convinced is really a cult. Sam decides she needs to get to Elli to find out what's going on with her and, if she is in a cult, to convince her to come home to her daughter. The second half of the novel is told from Elli's POV, and I saw things in a completely different light thanks to the supreme talent of author Brown. Brown also did a phenomenal job of showing how one might fall victim to a cult that really opened my eyes. It's something I've never been able to understand until this book.

This is a very well told psychological thriller with dynamic, believable characters. I loved everything about it and will be recommending to my friends and book club.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an eGalley in exchange for posting an honest review.

This was more of a literary fiction and thriller combined, with plenty of surprises. Identical twins Elli and Sam were actors throughout their childhood. When they were teens, their lives took a different path. Elli got married, and lives in a home by the beach. Sam started taking pills and drinking. They haven't spoken to each other since sam's behavior tore them apart. Sam gets a call from her father. She finds out Ellis life wasn't as great as it appeared. Her husband has left, and then just adopted a little girl. Elli has checked into a mysterious spa, and is now not answering her phone. Sam is trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, and find out where her sister is. What Sam does and finds out, will change their lives. There is much more to these twins relationship.

This one is told in past and present, and alternates between the two sisters. Wow this one was so good guys. I enjoyed this story, and reading about these 2 sisters relationship with eachother. felt it was emotional and realistic. There are tough issues covered such as addiction, recovery, cults, and grief to name a few. Definitely worth a read.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

2.5 stars rounded to 3.

This book was just all around weird! I don’t know a better way to describe it. It wasn’t a horrible book but I personally just didn’t love the storyline at all. The whole cult thing was just not interesting to me. It felt way too far fetched and borderline creepy. I would categorize this book more as a family drama than thriller and mystery. Definitely didn’t get any thriller vibes from this book. I enjoyed the authors previous book, Pretty Things, so I thought I would really like this one too but it was just not for me.

Thank you Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC in return for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book, but the ending felt off. I feel like something was missing and it just kind of ended abruptly. Still good though and I will continue to enjoy Janelle’s books

Thank to the publishers for sending me this ARC! In no way did this affect my rating.
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I'll Be you follows identical twin girls, Sam and Elli, who were very close when they were children, but now as adults have grown apart. As children, the girls were discovered by Hollywood and become child actors. But once that part of their life ended, the girls went in opposite directions. As an adult, Sam is still clinging onto her acting past and has been dealing with life after fame with drugs. While Ellie choose a normal, domestic life that is farthest thing from her life when she was famous.

While Sam is trying to get her life back together, she gets a call from her father where she learns that her reliable and responsible sister has been gone for a week and has not been answering her phone. To Sam's surprise, she learns from this call that her sister's perfect domestic life is far from perfect. Elli's husband had just moved out of their home and out of nowhere Elli adopted a two year old girl, who was left behind with their parents.

So, Sam goes to investigate the mysterious disappearance of her sister and help her parents take care of her new niece. Within her investigation to her sister disappearance and her life, Sam finds out that Elli checked into a suspicious spa. Could this just be a place where Elli is dealing with the recent stressors in her life, or is there something more to this spa? Could this spa retreat be linked to a cult?

This books shifts from Sam's perspective to Elli's perspective near the last half. In the first half of the story we get to see Sam's past and her present story as she is trying to find her sister. In the flashbacks to the past, we get to see the differences between the sisters and how much they loved each other and would sacrifice their own happiness for the other. I absolutely loved the aspect of sisterhood in this book and how it showed the sisters' closeness, conflict, self- sacrifice, and them drifting apart from each as they get older was done so well. Then Elli's perspective shows what happened before her disappearance and goes into the present where she is at the spa.

Although I found the plot to be entertaining for the most part and there was a twist that I had not seen coming, it went in a predictable way and at times the plot dragged. One thing I had not expected was for Elli's daughter, Charlotte, to play such a large role in the story. Another thing about the daughter was that she acted like she was far older than two years old, so it made me forget she was so young. Overall, I think the strongest thing of this book was the complicated relationship between the sisters because it was written so well and it added an emotional layer to this story. If you are looking for a thriller with a element of sisterhood, this is the book for you!

2022 seems to be the year of the cult thrillers but I am here for it! This story featuring twin sisters who have fallen out kept me on the edge of my seat right to the last page. Sam and Elli were childhood b-list actresses but while Sam wanted to become famous, Elli only went along to please her sister.

When Elli leaves Hollywood to have a more normal college life out of the spotlight, Sam struggles to find fame on her own, spiraling down a dangerous path of drugs and alcoholism and several stints in rehab. Told in dual timelines and from dual POVs, we get to see how each sister's life led to Sam one year sober and Elli apparently a new adopted mother wrapped up in a secret cult. Sam's mom phones her up to come help out with watching the toddler, leading her to try to figure out what happened to her sister and why she's not answering her phone.

Fast paced with great characterization! This was my first book by this author but definitely won't be my last. I sped through it and couldn't wait to see how it would end. Highly recommend for fans of This might hurt by Stephanie Wrobel or An honest lie by Tarryn Fisher (both cult stories). Ashley Winstead also has a new cult thriller coming out this August: The last housewife. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy!

CW: drug and alcohol abuse by a minor, alcoholism, recovering drug addict, kidnapping of a minor

Janelle Brown is a master at parsing out just enough information to keep the reader guessing what will happen next. I'll Be You had a different feel from her previous book, Pretty Things. It just proves what a versatile talent this author has.

I'll Be You is the story of twin girls who become child actors. As they age, it becomes clear that one girl likes it better than the other. By the time they are older, one twin has no interest left in acting whatsoever while the other is completely hooked on it and can't see herself doing anything else.

The twin sisters, Sam and Elli have very different personalities and become entirely different adult women. Because of that, they drift apart and have trouble relating to one another. It's heartbreaking because they misread each other frequently and don't understand the true intentions of their own twin when in the past they could almost read one another's minds because they knew each other so well.

The twin sisters are grown women who haven't spoken to one another in over a year after a mysterious falling out. Elli has gone on a weekend retreat that she keeps extending and asking her parents to continue watching her adopted daughter. In need of help, they ask Sam to come to town and give them a break.. When Sam gets there, she realizes something is very wrong with the story Elli has been telling their parents and she decides it's up to her to figure out if her sister is in danger or not.

I'll Be You does a nice job of providing tid bits of the twins' history that helps explain how they ended up where they are....not speaking with barely a relationship at all. Some of the things they did as teenagers and young women negatively influenced who they grew into as individuals and sisters. These things never fully left them and continue to haunt them still.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Interesting book about being an identical twin, and what it means to be one of two halves of a whole.

Sam and Eli are identical twins, who become child actors. While Sam adores being part of Hollywood, Eli does not. Eventually Eli leaves 'the business' to become the settled, responsible one of the pair, while Sam's self destructive behavior leads her further and further apart from her sister, until the relationship seems irredeemable.

Fast forward to a time when Sam tries to stay sober, and discovers that her sister is about to divorce her husband, and has gone off to a self help retreat to 'find herself', leaving her 2 year old daughter behind with the twin's parents. Sam quickly realizes that something has gone very wrong in Eli's life, and when Sam doesn't return from the weekend retreat, Sam sets out to find her.

The book was told in several parts, each from the point of view of one of the twins. Each part moved through the timeline from their childhood to present day, and this really worked for this book and its plot. There were several twists to the story that I didn't expect, some in the past and some in the present day. It was very well done, and I appreciated both the mystery/thriller part of the story, as well as the emotional depths that revealed what it means to be a twin - half of a whole, and yet with your own unique personality.

Being able to watch the way the self help group members were manipulated, was fascinating too. All in all a very good book, and I will look at more by this author.

What a book! I’ll Be You captures you right from the beginning and will haunt you until you finish it. I found it fascinating how the two sisters grew up the same and took different paths- one seemingly together and the other not. However, you learn that they both have deep struggles that they need to overcome. Both are addicted to different things in different ways. I loved how the book was written from the different perspectives for each half. This is definitely a book I’ll recommend to friends.

Thank you to Janelle Brown, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sam and Ellie were identical twins who became childhood stars in the blink of an eye. They did everything together. But, as they grew older, so did their wants. They both had different views of how they wanted their lives to be. Sam was the party girl who’s in and out of rehab. Ellie is the homebody with the good head on her shoulders. When Ellie disappears, Sam does everything in her power to find her.
But it’s not at all what Sam thinks and she finds out that Ellie has secrets of her own.

This had me hooked from page one. It had me reeling to know more. I loved the dynamic between Sam and Ellie. It goes to show you that twin sisters have an unbreakable bond and would go to the end of the earth to protect each other. Such a great read!

I was a bit nervous going into I'll Be You, as I've read many books with the twin trope that haven't really made me buy in to the trope. This book changed my mind. It was propulsive, out there yet believable, and kept me guessing the whole way through. I was so invested in both sisters and wanted to see them reunited more than anything. No spoilers, but I loved it!

What's it about (in a nutshell):
I'll Be You by Janelle Brown is a psychological thriller about the disappearance of Ellie and her twin sister's quest to find her. It is a look at the power of the bond between twins and when that bond goes too far.

What I Enjoyed:
The writing gripped me starting at page one and kept me enthralled throughout the entire tale. I loved Brown's writing style. There is a casual deliciousness about it, like being privy to a secret about a friend. I just couldn't put it down even if I tried.

The twists and turns took me by surprise – each and every one. I always love to be shocked, and this story did that on more than one occasion. There is so much to this story. It is hard to tell which threads lead to the truth and which ones take the reader down a rabbit hole. I especially loved that the story didn't utilize all the twin-inspired twists that I have seen in many other stories.

The characters are exceptionally well developed, and the differences are so apparent that it felt like I could even tell them apart on the page - that I didn't need the visuals to be able to do it. They are twins, but they are very much their own individuals.

Lastly, I enjoyed exploring what it means to be a twin, the powerful bonds, and how that bond can lead each down a wrong path. It is hard to think badly of either of them because there is no doubt that their choices, good and bad, were born out of the desire to give the other one what she needed and wanted.

Characters:

Samantha is the twin who loves to be in the limelight. She is bold and independent but has a drug and alcohol addiction that has been hard for her to kick. When she suspects her sister's disappearance is more dangerous than she first thought, she puts that boldness to use and risks everything to get her sister back.

Ellie is the quieter twin. All she ever wanted was to live a normal life, but once she has it, she realizes that she is missing something, and her quest to find that something puts her in a lot of danger.

What I Wish:
I can't imagine wishing anything to be different in this story. In every way, it was an excellent, enjoyable read for me.

To Read or Not to Read:
If you are looking for a psychological thriller that will hold you in its grip from page 1 and surprise you as you go around each corner, I'll Be You needs to be the next book you pick up.

This is not just a mystery but also a story about sisters and families. The mystery is good. All of the exposition though tends to slow things down. Would have been better if the same info could have been given with fewer words.

Twin sisters who grow up acting on television, sometimes pretending to be each other, have grown apart and their lives have taken very different paths. Sam who really wanted the fame, a recovering drug addict with her life out of control and her sister Elli, who wanted a slower paced life not in the limelight come to blows and don't speak. Until things fall apart and they need each other to put things back together again. I liked the story and the way that it's told half in each sisters own voice. I have come to really enjoy Janelle Brown's writing and look forward to her next novel.

Janelle Brown is carving her own path in the thriller world, she writes novels that stand apart from other more gimmicky popcorn thrillers. I'll Be You is another wonderful book under her belt. This one blends a story of twin sister, their lives both together and apart, both in the past and the present. The paths these two sisters have forged leads to some poor choices, life mishaps, and then: one gigantically horrible mistake. While each sister is guilty of her own misdeeds, they aren't what you would expect.

I enjoyed getting to read about these sisters and see how they were there for each other, whether they were together or apart. I found their relationship to be very realistic; that is to say, it was far from idyllic or perfect. The first half of the book did start to lull just a bit for me, but the second half I couldn't read fast enough. I appreciated the honestly, the rawness and the thrilling elements of this book. I want to call it a literary thriller, because it goes much deeper than you would expect for the genre. I highly recommend this book and others by Brown.

Identical twins Sam and Elli are former child stars who have grown apart through the years. Elli is a florist living close to the beach with her lawyer husband. Sam is a recovering addict still hoping for a Hollywood career. The sisters haven’t spoken in over a year when Sam receives a call from her mom that Elli is taking an extended rest at a spa in Ojai and requesting a visit from Sam to help care for Elli’s adopted two-year-old daughter. Sam is stunned to learn about the adoption as well as her sister’s recent marital woes.

Sam arrives to help care for her niece while navigating sober living, an awkward relationship with her parents (most of all her mom), and concern for her sister who has failed to call and check on her daughter. As Sam looks into Elli’s life in the days leading up to her disappearance, she also considers the past, giving readers insight into their childhood and family dynamic, and Elli’s investigation soon becomes a rescue mission as shocking secrets unfold.

While the relationships should be the focus of this story, I honestly felt like the over the top storyline overshadowed them and I didn’t become as invested as most readers (based on other early reviews I read after finishing the book myself). I’m a huge fan of Janelle Brown’s storytelling, this one just didn’t have the impact of her previous books for me.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I’ll Be You is scheduled for release on April 26, 2022.

✨BOOK REVIEW✨

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pub Date: April 26, 2022
Genre: Psychological Suspense
Author: @

✨Quick Synopsis✨
Elli and Sam. Sam and Elli. Identical twins who were B list childhood movie stars who use to be close, but in recent have drifted apart. When one sister has joined a cult can the other sister who is struggling with life help her twin escape this lifestyle??

💭My Thoughts💭
Woah! 🤯 What a psychological deep dive into two of the most fascinating topics: cults and identical twins. For me books about cults are always so captivating, but then add in the dynamics of identical twins and you have yourself one fastastic character study. The book starts off at thriller speed, but quickly becomes more of a slow burn mystery with Brown developing the intricacies of the two different twins and developing the different levels of cult living. Even though it is more slow burn, this book is very unputdownable! The characters and plot a so well written and well researched that Brown will have you gripped from the very beginning. With cult books becoming the new trendy subgenre of books, this is definitely one you want to add to your #tbr piles!!

I’LL BE YOU, the story of two former tv star twins that took drastically different paths in adulthood has all the pieces it needs to be moving into thriller central: a former alcoholic that comes back home to help for a niece she doesn’t know, a sister who’s fallen into the hands of a cult and a childhood secret just waiting to bubble out into the open. Unfortunately for me the story was unfolding a little on the slow side, every red herring was very obvious and the reactions a bit predictable.

If you liked THIS MIGHT HURT however, you’ll definitely liked this book.

I received a copy of this e book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and author.

This latest cult-adjacent thriller had me intrigued. The story of two wildly different twin sisters and former child stars, and where they end up in their 30s. It had a interesting premise and I’m always up for some cult/like drama.

It took me about 50% of the way into the book to really get into things and then I breezed through the second half very quickly. There’s unexpected twists, which I always like, but the narrative and characters did fall flat for me. Overall this was just okay for me, unfortunately

3.5 stars
Hollywood meets psychological thriller.
I definitely had to suspend my disbelief because the entire story was overly dramatic, but that’s also what hooked me in.

The ending was a lot and lost me a bit, but this was a bingeable read.