Review: This Book Reader Liked It But...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 4, 2013
Rating: 3 - 3.5 starsI loved the idea of this story. Twins who are separated by death. Secrets. Love. A decade old mystery. It has the makings of one interesting book. Lily loses her twin sister, Abby, and starts getting visits from Abby in her dreams. But Abby doesn't just stop by to say hello; Abby tells her things. Things that no one else knows, things that just may be true. In an effort to not be considered crazy by everyone in her life, Lily suppresses these dreams in hopes that they can just be her special time with Abby because to Lily, Abby really does come to her.While trying to get back to a normal life after her sister's death, Lily goes away to college and immediately meets local hot guy, Dane Hansen. Aside from being gorgeous, rumors surround him about why the hot boxer who had a different girl every day suddenly dropped off the face of the planet a year ago, only to return an entirely different person - a loner who kept to himself.By this point in the story, my interest was piqued and I wanted to see where their relationship would go. Unfortunately, I never felt their connection, despite at how fast it progressed. The best way I can explain it is that everything about their relationship was described on the surface - they were playful, they had sexual tension - but it never went deeper than that. I didn't feel why they were drawn to each - why Lily captured Dane's attention, why they fell as fast as they did for one another. I kept waiting for a point in the story where it'd all fit together like a puzzle and I'd really understand why their connection was strong and powerful, but it never came.Don't get me wrong, the author did a great job at laying the foundation of their relationship and doing everything she had to do to make their relationship believable. I just couldn't feel it beyond the fact that they were attracted to one another leaving me always wanting more from them. I wanted to know why Dane had disappeared the year before and why Lily had captured his attention. Unfortunately, I didn't get the answer to the first question until the very end of the book and never really got an answer to the second one.Once I got beyond the relationship aspect, there was a mystery that Abby kept bringing to Lily's attention in her dreams. Abby knew something - something that affected Dane in a major way. This is where the suspense/thriller aspect of the book came into play. I liked this part - it made the book different. The author found a way to bring Abby's appearance into Lily's life with Dane. It was clever.However, just like with their relationship, it fell short. Despite being a bit far fetched, it just tied together too perfectly. Once the ball got moving and Lily's detective work started, everything came together and was delivered in one pretty package.  Given the severity of the mystery, I found it to be a bit unbelievable. For example, Kella's (Lily's roommate) new boyfriend was a millionaire that just so happened to have connections to everyone and all the money to help Lily out. Or that everyone Lily went to see gave up all the information necessary to solve the mystery. I just found myself wanting the author to dig deeper and give me more than what I got.And finally there was another plot twist once the mystery was solved. This took me for a loop and was great, except that by the time I got to it, I was saying to myself COME ON, especially after everything that had happened. It's not that I had a problem with the revelation that came out at the very end of the book, it was more that it just felt to be too much by the time we got to it. It was a great idea, I just wish it was something that was explored earlier and addressed on a deeper level.This book could have been fantastic. The ideas were there, the characters were likeable. The author just never took me past the surface with it all. She just left me with good ideas and plot points without the full delivery. This was NOT a bad book. I liked it, I enjoyed it. I just didn't connect with it.*I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*