Gemini Divided

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️,5/5 Wow, that was good!! I would even say REALLY good! I just loved the characters (Will and Jen💙) and the plot was pretty fast paced, it never felt boring or too slow and just the overall idea was very original. This reminded me of those action movies you watch on Netflix or Prime and you enjoy them a lot, and they have this plot where the hero has to find out what’s going on and discovers dark secrets, etc. Really recommend it, especially if you like the Mission Impossible movies, I feel like they’re kinda similar in a way.

This book was a nice read. It had good characters and story line. It is about a woman named Jen getting out of the Army and finding out her mom has cancer. Her mom had hid that information from Jen so she wouldn’t worry about her. Her mom is in need of money to help fund all of the treatments she has undergone and for the ones in the furtive in hopes of beating the cancer. Her mentor from the Army offers her a job as an assassin to help make a lot of money to pay offer her moms bills. While she isn’t working, Jen loves to watch her favorite show a million times and write about it. She is the ultimate fan. When she is given her next assignment she can’t believe her eyes. It is to kill the star of her favorite show Will. She takes the assignment but isn’t planning on going through with it unless she finds some damping evidences that he is a monster and not the sweet and easygoing person he seems to be. She is given the job as his assistant. There is an instant connection between them two of them but he doesn’t know she was hired to kill him. She starts to really doubt this assignment as she gets to know Will better. Once she finds evidence that proves he isn’t evil she works as hard as she can to save his life numerous times. When it is all over and everything is laid out including the truth, of who she is and why she is there, will he forgive her? I received this ARC for my honest review.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by BooksGoSocial and #NetGalley for my honest opinion. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Interesting characters, premise, entertaining story with twists and turns.

I really enjoyed this book and appreciate that NetGalley and publisher BooksGoSocial provided me with an Advanced Reader Copy for my unbiased review.

Gemini Divided was a fast paced and quick read. I am glad that Jen was the narrator because she was such a fascinating character. Reading about her inner thoughts as the story progressed added so much to the internal battle between her true self and her job as an assassin.

Will was also a great character to read about and brought some levity to such a suspenseful plot. Getting to know him as Jen did added to his appeal because it was obvious to the reader how he felt even though Jen didn't believe it.

I don't know if was an intentional red herring or not but I thought I figured who requested Jen's services only to be proven wrong. I hope all readers will enjoy how the author leads us in the wrong direction. It makes the reveal all the better.

I want to start by saying thank you to NetGalley and the author, for the opportunity to read the ebook before the release date, and here’s my honest review.

Gemini Divided for me, started out strong. We have Jen this fmc that’s an assassin but hey, she has a heart and although she knows what she’s doing isn’t right, she’s making the world a better place… right? Until her new target is the guy in her favorite series, who she knows everything about (maybe?) and can’t see him as a bad guy.

The writing is ok, nothing bad about it but it could have been a bit more fast-paced. Sometimes I would find myself drifting off. The characters are alright, nothing wow. The action is definitely there and it was great. For me, it was kind of predictable from the beginning. The story build-up was kind of slow but ok. Overall, an ok read.

Normally I would post what I put on my bookstagram, but I haven't had a chance to work on an edit for this book yet and I wanted to make sure I provided a review before the book is out. I just finished reading this book and I enjoyed it! I will say that it's different than what I have been reading lately, but that's something I enjoyed about it. I think the story was interesting and I could easily visualize the story as I was reading it.

Going into this story, I didn't expect Jen to be as conflicted as she was (Gemini Divided is a great title given her two different identities) about her assignment. I knew why she became an assassin and that she had a crush on Will from the blurb, but part of me expected her to be "cold". I found her to be interesting to read about. Will surprised me as well. I figured he wasn't a bad guy, but I did expect him to be different because he's an actor in Hollywood. I expected arrogance and an ego a mile wide from him, but he was the total opposite of that. I found myself crushing on him as much as Jen was!

I did enjoy this story, but I think there were a few things that I struggled with. The pacing of the story was off at times. It had a great start, but then slowed a little until Jen got into the action of meeting Will and being in California. Then, the pacing sped up and a lot happened in three days. I think from a reader perspective, I wish the beginning had been shorter, Jen had been around Will for a week or two, and then the action could take place. I think it would've built up their relationship more and the "Who hired me?" plot wouldn't have felt rushed. I still enjoyed it, but the pacing could've been worked out a bit more. Additionally, I would've liked this even more if it had been written in first person from Jen's POV rather than third person.

In my reviews, I typically rate spice (I have exceptions for YA books or books with heavy triggers where a spice rating feels wrong). If I had to rate the spice in this book, it would be zero, however, I don't think that spice is required for a book to be good. I've read countless YA books, adult romance, etc., with off the page scenes or really nothing and they are some of my favorite reads. I do think this story could have benefitted with a bit more tension/low level spice. They don't need to have implied sex or anything like that, but more of the hand holding, face caressing, kissing the back of her head (I died at that part because OMG) that we got in the story could've elevated their relationship more.
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I think it would be cool to see Lauren revisit these characters again. When Jen was in protective mode and acting like his security, I was super into that. It would be cool to see Jen work as security or something in Hollywood, although given the ending and her cooperation with the FBI, that might not work. I still would love to see more of them, so if Lauren was wondering if she should write more about them, I say yes!

Check for my book edit on my bookstagram (@readwithevelane) and a blog post coming soon!

I loved the premise of fangirl by day, assassin by night. I really enjoyed reading Jen’s inner monologue and personal turmoil of her conscious trying to take over. She knew what she was doing was wrong, but it pays the bills.

I don’t know if I would classify as a romance novel perse. There was definitely a friend to lovers type of tension - or I guess I acquaintance to lovers? The timeline was not long enough for us to really get to lovers.

I still enjoyed it as a whole and found it very easy to get into. If Roberts were to find a way to continue it as a series, I would definitely be interested in following along.

This book was a whole kettle of different. Even a bit different than what I was expecting. Well, it did start out kind of like was expecting and then took a major turn. One that I did enjoy. The story also had me wondering right along with Jen. Wondering if Will was as good as he appeared or was he just that excellent an actor BOTH onscreen and off. That part kept me busy.
Jen was definitely caught between a rock and a hard place but I still managed to like her. Even sympathize with her too. There was plenty of emotions to the story beginning with Jen.
Once Jen begins to learn more and starts to put some pieces together, things REALLY take off!
Throughout the story I kept wondering how on earth things could ever work out for the good. So, the story really did keep my interest there.
Can you guess how everything is going to turn out? You'll have to read the story to find that out.

" I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of this book through Netgalley. And these are my honest opinions about it.”

Gemini Divided by Lauren Kristen Roberts is a creative story with a few red herring along the way. The characters are likable for a Chic lit story but lacks the finishing touches that will have readers coming back for more.
The story felt unsure of what direction it wanted to go darker or more humor.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of Gemini Divided.
3 1\2 stars

Wow- this book was fun to read, it had a bit of everything, action, suspense, romance! It’s definitely hard to categorise except to say that it was thoroughly enjoyable.
Jen is a big fan of the action series, Gemini Divided, featuring actors Will and Rachel. She spends all her spare time writing fan fiction about the show and it is clear from early on that she is a little bit in love with Will!
However Jen has another life- she is a paid assassin, earning enough money to pay her Mother’s medical bills. Normally the people she kills are terrorists or criminals and she works for her old army mentor which helps her to believe she is a vigilante force for good.
When she is sent her latest assignment she is shocked as she is asked to assassinate Will, lead actor on her favourite show and she has to make it look like an accident which means a job posing as Stephanie, Will’s new personal assistant. In normal circumstances a job as PA on her favourite Tv series would be her dream position but now she is terribly conflicted.
Jen tries to concentrate on the job at hand, knowing that it is the only way to earn the money but resolves to investigate Will to find out why he has been targeted. The assignment becomes progressively more difficult as Jen gets closer to Will and he seems like a genuinely nice guy . In fact it becomes clear that they both have feelings for each other.
This was a quick and entertaining read with plenty of thrills as well as some great characters. I liked the fact that there were some strong female protagonists and that it was Jen who ended up looking after Will, despite the fact he was one of the lead actors in an all action show.
This seems to be a debut novel by the author but I shall certainly be looking out for any of her future books. Definitely recommended!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my arc.

This fast-paced action adventure features a female assassin who works mostly at night, which is perfect because it leaves her days free to write. Jen would much rather be a writer than an assassin, but she desperately needs money to pay for her mother’s experimental cancer treatments. Knowing that her targets were always bad people made the nature of her job easier to accept until she was assigned to eliminate her favorite TV personality. Outside of work, Jen was just a dorky fangirl who’d arranged her working hours around the popular TV show that featured handsome Will Bryant. The choice is not an easy one: whether to kill Will, or let her mother die--and probably get killed herself for failing her assignment. But time is short, and bullets start to fly before she has a chance to make a decision. Instead of killing Will, Jen soon, she finds herself defending both Will and herself as well
This book is as full of twists and turns as it is excitement. Be forewarned: once you are halfway through this book, you won’t want to set it down. So put some time aside—and get this book!

"And she couldn't exactly say, 'So, I'm an assassin and I work mostly at night, which is perfect because it leaves my days free to write'"
"The inappropriate favour that I'm definitely not asking of you was to pretend to be my date tonight when a big group of us goes out to dinner"
I really liked this book. Not quite but still fake-dating, female bodyguard, trained assassin who writes fan fiction about a TV show ... this was amazing!
It had a great combination of thriller, mystery, and romantic banter between the main characters and I always appreciate a female badass who's there, showing us that ,despite trying very hard to do her job being as cold and heartless as possible, there's always gonna be a part of you asking if it's really worth it... especially if you're a really good person!
Dealing with pain and watching the people you love experiencing it, without being able to do anything, makes you fell powerless so you try your best to make it work, for them.
That's what Jen does in her own, very singolar and unexpected ways.
I loved the fan fiction theme put there at the right moment to make it all sound at least a little bit less cruel ...
And Will is just ...
I'm really excited for people to read it!
"Not hanging out with him. Surveilling him."
"He has guilt issues about hurting my feelings, and I have no emotional reaction to killing people"