Beautiful Lies

by Jessica Warman

Overview

Rachel and Alice are an extremely rare form of identical twins--so identical that even their aunt and uncle, whom they've lived with since their parents passed away when the girls were nine, can't tell them apart. The sisters are connected by an intense bond that goes way beyond their surfaces and borders on the supernatural: when one experiences pain, the other exhibits the exact same signs of stress, too. So when troubled Alice disappears mysteriously one night, good-girl Rachel knows something is wrong-especially when Rachel starts experiencing serious physical traumas, even though nobody has touched her.


What Rachel can't tell anyone is that she and Alice sometimes switched places, reveling in the possibility of being the "good one" or the "bad one" for a day. And that Rachel . . . is really Alice, continuing to masquerade as her twin. So then, what happened to her sister? Could whoever abducted her sister really have meant to take her, instead? And can she find the real Rachel before it's too late for both of them?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802723390
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	08/07/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	432
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

JESSICA WARMAN is the author of Breathless, Where the Truth Lies, and Between, which have received six starred reviews among them. Between was published in a total of twelve countries around the world. Jessica has an MA in creative writing and lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. www.jessicawarman.com
JESSICA WARMAN is also the author of Breathless, which received three starred reviews and was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and Where the Truth Lies. The idea for Between came from an incident in her childhood, when a local boy went missing after a party on a yacht (he was eventually found, alive). www.jessicawarman.com  

Editorial Reviews

“There's mystery upon mystery here, but they're all imbued with tenderness and tragedy, and the final, supernaturally touched puzzle is genuinely surprising and original.” —BCCB, starred review

“The novel's tension and persuasive sense of dread should captivate readers.” —Publishers Weekly

“An excellent recreational read for young adults looking for genuine shock and surprise.” —VOYA

“The twins' culturally barren, dreary yet violent worlda realm of broken dreams--resonates...in this haunting, moody, character-driven thriller.” —Kirkus Reviews

“It's been a while since The Lovely Bones was in every high school backpack; this is a strong contender to take its place.” —BCCB, starred review, on Between

“Dramatic and unpredictable . . . A page-turner to the bittersweet ending.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review, on Where the Truth Lies

“A perfect read for teens who like complex characters.” —Booklist, starred review, on Between

“Achingly realistic . . . with rare, refreshing honesty and flashes of wry humor.” —Booklist, starred review, on Breathless

“Characterization is vivid and exquisite . . . tender and intimate.” —BCCB, starred review, on Breathles

From the Publisher

Alice and Rachel are even closer than most identical twins, having shared a single amniotic sac in utero and a psychic bond ever since. After their parents' death in a car accident, the twins were raised by their mother's twin sister and her husband, but lately they have taken very different paths while remaining deeply intertwined. Cautious, responsible Rachel, a good student, looks out for reckless, out-of-control Alice, who shares their mother's artistic and perhaps other gifts. When Alice vanishes, Rachel is overcome with a sense of dread and menace; she knows something bad has happened to her twin, but family, police and friends are less certain. But all is not as it seems in this claustrophobic, corkscrew-plotted world. As the title makes clear, readers are in unreliable-narrator territory. The twins, whose genetic legacy includes profound mental illness, trade places and keep secrets from each other. While failing to draw all loose threads into a neat bundle, the ending mostly makes sense and readers willing to be kept in the dark, even manipulated, in the service of a dynamic plot will enjoy the twists and turns. It's the twins' culturally barren, dreary yet violent world--a realm of broken dreams--that resonates most in this haunting, moody, character-driven thriller. (Paranormal thriller. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews