In this compulsively readable debut, set between London and Sicily over one blood-drenched week in the dead of summer, an identical twin reveals the crazy lies and twists she'll go through to not only steal her sister's perfect life, but to keep on living it.
Alvie Knightly is a trainwreck: aimless, haphazard, and pretty much constantly drunk. Alvie's existence is made even more futile in contrast to that of her identical and perfect twin sister, Beth. Alvie lives on social media, eats kebabs for breakfast, and gets stopped at security when the sex toy in her carry-on starts buzzing. Beth is married to a hot, rich Italian, dotes on her beautiful baby boy, and has always been their mother's favorite. The twins' days of having anything in common besides their looks are long gone.
When Beth sends Alvie a first-class plane ticket to visit her in Italy, Alvie is reluctant to go. But when she gets fired from the job she hates and her flatmates kick her out on the streets, a luxury villa in glitzy Taormina suddenly sounds more appealing. Beth asks Alvie to swap places with her for just a few hours so she can go out unnoticed by her husband. Alvie jumps at the chance to take over her sister's life--if only temporarily. But when the night ends with Beth dead at the bottom of the pool, Alvie realizes that this is her chance to change her life.
Alvie quickly discovers that living Beth's life is harder than she thought. What was her sister hiding from her husband? And why did Beth invite her to Italy at all? As Alvie digs deeper, she uncovers Mafia connections, secret lovers, attractive hitmen, and one extremely corrupt priest, all of whom are starting to catch on to her charade. Now Alvie has to rely on all the skills that made her unemployable--a turned-to-11 sex drive, a love of guns, lying to her mother--if she wants to keep her million-dollar prize. She is uncensored, unhinged, and unforgettable.
Review:
Not my favorite book that I have read so far this year. I have never disliked a character more than the main character Alvie. To put it bluntly, Alvie is a mess, a hot mess. There is nothing about her that screams , I am really a diamond in the rough and need some polishing. Alvie has lost her job and has been kicked out of her Flat, Beth her identical and perfect (not really) twin sister has invited her for a visit to Italy with a first class plane ticket. Here is where I thought things would turn around for Alvie I mean the premise sounds good , switch places with perfect Beth, take over her life and live happily ever after. No , this is where the book went horribly wrong for me, in my opinion. Alvie became more of a mess and also a killer-WTF?? How could this happen so quickly!?
Final thoughts:
This book in my opinion is a hot mess, maybe it's me? Who knows. I just could not connect with ANY of the characters at all. I wanted to like this book, the premise sounds great right? Identical twins switch places, Alvie gets a perfect life etc. This book just did not work for me at all.
This review was originally posted on Cindy's Book Binge
Reading updates
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Started reading
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21 May, 2017:
Finished reading
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21 May, 2017:
Reviewed