This book was published on February 26, 2019. I read an uncorrected proof (or advance reader's copy). Undoubtedly there will be some differences between the version I read, and the published edition.
This book also contains themes of kidnapping, emotional trauma, and psychological abuse. If you don't want to read anything about those topics, I'd recommend skipping this book review, and book.
An amazon summary, "Mega-bestselling author Luanne Rice returns with a ripped-from-the-headlines story of a girl who is kidnapped by her friend's family.
Emily Lonergan's best friend died last year.
And Emily hasn't stopped grieving. Lizzie Porter was lively, loud, and fun -- Emily's better half. Emily can't accept that she's gone.
When Lizzie's parents and her sister come back to town to visit, Emily's heartened to see them. The Porters understand her pain. They miss Lizzie desperately, too.
Desperately enough to do something crazy.
Something unthinkable.
Suddenly, Emily's life is hurtling toward a very dark place -- and she's not sure she'll ever be able to return to what she once knew was real.
From New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice comes a breathless, unputdownable story of suspense, secrets -- and the strength that love gives us to survive even the most shocking of circumstances." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
Emily's best friend Lizzie died. Emily misses her terribly; it seems like one day she just got sick and never got better. Emily and Lizzie were best friends for most of their lives, and Emily has had such a hard time moving past Lizzie's death that she finds herself talking to Lizzie so her mind will conjure a response that sounds like Lizzie. Emily has kind of a rough day just lost in thoughts about Lizzie when Lizzie's sister Chloe appears while Emily is walking home. Lizzie drops her backpack and jogs across the street to see her. Chloe invites Emily to go visit Lizzie's grave with them, and they get into the minivan where the Porter parents are waiting. They offer her a juice box, and as Emily drinks it, she passes out.
The Porters are kidnapping Emily.
On the way there, Emily tries to escape once, but they find her quickly. she's drugged again, and when she wakes up, she's in Lizzie's room. It's an exact copy of the way Lizzie's room used to be, down to how every book was arranged in a way that only made sense to Lizzie on her bookshelf. Emily also wakes up in Lizzie's clothes, her hair died from reddish brown to dark black, and finds a mirror to see even Lizzie's beauty mark has been drawn on her cheek.
Mrs. Porter is determined to turn Emily into her lost daughter, Lizzie.
Dun dun dunnnnn That's enough summary.
This book was CREEPY as all get out... which makes sense since it's really about how a mother's grief will drive her into madness to get her daughter back.
The book was also a different way to express grieving. In the middle of Emily becoming Lizzie, we learned a lot about the life between Emily and Lizzie, and the sheer madness that comes from being coerced into turning into your best friend. The psychological trauma that Mrs. Porter inflicted on Emily to get her to behave as Lizzie was also insane.
However, it also felt incredibly realistic. I could easily see this scenario playing out in modern day.
The only part that really took me out of the story, was how quickly a romance developed between Emily and someone in her new town. It was like... a couple times of hanging out, and it suddenly felt like they were destined to be soulmates.
The adults seemed to be really stupid in the story. Like Mr. Porter went along with his insane wife... because.... ....reasons we were never told. Emily kind of thought at one point he was doing it to make his wife happy, but it's never really discussed. Plus, there were too many aspects that seemed to just be smoothed over in the process of convincing the world that Emily was in fact Lizzie. Like... didn't anyone google Lizzie's name from her new school only to discover she's dead? I mean, c'mon.
I like how the plot of the story played out, and how it seemed to deal with as many aspects of the situation it could. It's just the little details were missing to smooth out the main plot points. Maybe that was fixed when it was published.
Overall, I did like the book though, even though it was pretty creepy and scary at moments.
Happy reading!
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