The Third Twin Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

Hey everyone! Welcome to my stop on the official blog tour for The Third Twin! Today I'm sharing my review of the book - and don't forget to enter the giveaway! To follow the rest of the tour, click on the banner above.

You may have heard CJ's story, she's an amazing author with amazing friends who are supporting her as she battles Stage 4 colon cancer that has spread to her brain, hips, spinal cord, and several organs. Until recently we weren’t sure if CJ would make it to the release date of THE THRID TWIN, but with the help of some modern medicine, and a whole lot of good thoughts and prayers – it looks like things are good to go for the big day.

I couldn’t be more thrilled or honored to be one of the bloggers on this tour, helping to support this book and the amazing strong woman who wrote it! 

The Third Twin

Author: CJ Omololu

Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller

Release Date: February 24, 2015

Publisher: Delacorte

Description:

Identical twins. Identical DNA. Identical suspects. It's Pretty Little Liars meets Revenge in this edge-of-your-seat thriller with a shocking twist. 

When they were little, Lexi and her identical twin, Ava, made up a third sister, Alicia. If something broke? Alicia did it. Cookies got eaten? Alicia's guilty. Alicia was always to blame for everything. The game is all grown up now that the girls are seniors. They use Alicia as their cover to go out with boys who are hot but not exactly dating material. Boys they'd never, ever be with in real life. 

Now one of the guys Alicia went out with has turned up dead, and Lexi wants to stop the game for good. As coincidences start piling up, Ava insists that if they follow the rules for being Alicia, everything will be fine. But when another boy is killed, the DNA evidence and surveillance photos point to only one suspect: Alicia. The girl who doesn't exist. As she runs from the cops, Lexi has to find the truth before another boy is murdered. Because either Ava is a killer…or Alicia is real. 

The Third Twin is an edgy young adult mystery/thriller that will have readers guessing until the very end. The story follows twin sisters Alexa "Lexi" and Ava Rios as they make their way through the end of high school. Lexi is serious, studies all the time, and basically everything in her life is focused on one thing - getting accepted into Stanford. Ava isn't as uptight - she likes to go out to parties, date lots of different guys, and practically begs for attention. Although they're identical twins - their personalities couldn't be more different. The girls made up an imaginary third twin - Alicia - when they were younger because they thought it would be fun to have another twin sister and because they could always blame things on her instead of owning up to them. Now that they're seniors, Alicia only comes out once in awhile - mostly to date guys that Ava herself wouldn't be caught dead in public with, but she thinks are hot anyways. Sometimes Ava asks Lexi to step in and play Alicia on some of the dates. They had certain rules about her: they wouldn't tell anyone except for their best friend Maya, they only went out with a guy for 5 dates before breaking it off, they only went so far with a guy sexually, etc. Things begin to spiral out of control when Lexi takes on the persona of Alicia to date a cute guitarist that Ava had gone out with once (as Alicia). She ends up really liking him, but is trapped and can't tell him the truth without him hating her. It seems that Ava's been "Alicia" at the same time as Lexi - which is one of their biggest rules: just one girl plays Alicia at a time. Stranger things begin happening when a guy that "Alicia" had gone on a few dates with is murdered - and all of the evidence points at Alicia - which is really the twins. Not long after, a guy Ava was dating turns up murdered in the exact same way as the first - only solidifying the case against "Alicia." Pictures are popping up on the Internet of Alicia in places that neither of the girls have ever been, along with pictures of the girls themselves with the guys before they were murdered - which means someone is following them and framing them. How are they going to prove that neither one is guilty when all the evidence says the opposite - including DNA? Or is one twin hiding a terrible secret?

I absolutely love thrillers and was so excited to read this book after hearing about the plot. It was definitely original with some huge twists and turns, along with things happening in the book that didn't make sense. The girls were great main characters, but since the story is told from Lexi's point of view, it feels like we get to know her better than Ava. They're both strong female leads with different strengths and weaknesses - which actually turns out to be both helpful and harmful when the case against them grows. I felt a bit biased while reading the book because it's told from Lexi's point of view. We get to know her incredibly well - from her thoughts, inner dialogues, fears, emotions, doubts. We don't get that deep connection with Ava, so I felt like the story tipped a bit more in Lexi's favor. I'm not saying that matters in the end or anything (no spoilers!), it's just an observation I had while reading. The plot was complex and very intense. It was the type of thriller that slowly grows over time - there isn't all of these huge twists and turns on every other page. The weird coincidences, information, and evidence comes to us rather slowly - making the tension in the book fly through the roof. I liked that the author wrote it this way - I think it really points out all of the little things you miss otherwise and when the story reaches it's climax, the reader is dying of anticipation and tension. The little things took root in my mind as they occurred and grew there, adding things we learn in the story along the way, until we're left with an intricately woven narrative where anything is possible. I admit that I was stumped throughout the entire book and the ending really threw me for a loop. I always had theories going on in my mind - could one of the twins have a split personality; or could there somehow be a way one twin is doing it without the other knowing? Then I went on to who could be framing the girls and why. Endless possibilities - but I didn't hit on the right one, which is why I never saw it coming.

The writing style was incredibly well done. The tone of the story was conversational since it was done in a first person point of view; it read at times almost like a diary or journal the main character was writing. The author used detailed descriptions and vivid imagery that made every aspect of the story really come to life. As I mentioned, the mystery portion of the plot was absolutely phenomenal and couldn't have been written better. Because the buildup is so slow, it gives the reader lots of time to try and figure everything out on their own - only to end up completely wrong in the end. This is certainly one of the best YA thrillers I've read - not only this year, but of all time. I very highly recommend it to fans of the genre along with readers who enjoy suspense, contemporary fiction, realistic fiction, and mysteries.

CJ OMOLOLU is the author of the ALA-YALSA Quick Pick Dirty Little Secrets and several other YA novels. She loved to read but never thought to write until she discovered that the voices in her head often have interesting things to say. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and their two sons. Visit her online at www.cjomololu.com and follow her on Twitter @cjomololu.

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