The opposite of you || ARC review

I was drawn to this book when I saw it on Netgalley. I thought the cover was beautiful and smart and the premise of this story really intrigued me. I'd never read anything about identical twins before so I thought I'd give this a go. I received this book from Stripes Publishing via Netgalley, this does not affect my opinions in any way.

Author: Lou Morgan ⬥Series: Standalone⬥Published: 4th May 2017 ⬥Genres: Young Adult, Mystery ⬥Format: E-ARC ⬥Source: Netgalley

Amazon || Goodreads

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Synopsis

Bex and her identical twin sister Naomi used to be close. They used to be able to finish each other’s sentences, used to know exactly what the other was thinking. They were a matching pair.

And then something changed.

But Bex didn’t even realise until it was too late. When Naomi walks out of the house the night before their last GCSE exam and doesn’t come back, Bex has to think hard about how to find her.

What happens next will force Bex to unpick their shared history and the memories, following Naomi’s trail through their family, their past and all the way to the blinding lights of the Hemisphere music festival. Everything she thought she knew is called into question.

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My Rating

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My Review

This was a really different book for me. I've never read about identical twins before so I was intrigued. Having recently read The Upside of Unrequited, and loving the sister relationship in that book I was excited to read this. However, I have to say this just fell flat for me. 

Let's start with the characters. I just couldn't relate to them at all. I don't know if it's my age but I just couldn't understand the decisions that the characters made. I found myself literally screaming 'WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT?!'. I just couldn't understand it. Bex was the sister I liked most, she came across as the most level headed (although, definitely not all the time) while her sister Naomi was so reckless, and very naive. 

Goodreads put's this in the 'mystery' category. To be honest, I wouldn't really agree with that. Even thought Naomi does go missing, the reader knows what's happening, it's the other characters that don't. I also think this book has some elements of magic realism to it. There's kind of a strange twin thing that goes on and I'm not really sure how to categorise it. 

I did enjoy the plot of this book though, it wasn't a massively strong plot but it was still enjoyable. I don't think I've ever read about a runaway before so it was interesting to see things from that point of view. 

Overall, I did enjoy this book, but I just wanted more from it. I thought the family element was going to be stronger than it was and it just wasn't there for me. I couldn't get along with the characters and couldn't relate with them at all. I think that maybe a younger reader than me would enjoy this, but for someone who isn't a teenager anymore I just couldn't agree with their decisions. 

Have you heard of this book? Any recommendations for great family dynamics? Let me know!