DNF at 30%. I appreciate the chance to review this arc but ultimately it wasn’t for me. I hate fantasy novels and this had too much of that.

I've been curious about this book so was grateful to read it ahead of the paperback release.

Twins Cat and El have been estranged for twelve years when Cat gets a call to say that El is lost at sea, feared dead.

This is a psychological thriller that merges past and present. Their childhood was spent a Victorian house with servants' stairs and secret dusty corners, full of imaginary friends and foes, clowns, pirates, witches, convicts. Cat's present is one of unanswered questions and a refusal to believe her twin has died.

I like the atmosphere, the rambling memories and imaginings of their childhood, the way the imaginary friends are presented as real within a vividly described weird childhood. Imaginary friends, real people and ghosts have blurred together in the mists of time.

It isn't the fastest book, but I felt contentedly involved at all times, never wanting it to hurry along.

There are a big few twists at the end, which I felt possibly stretched the rules.

Overall, I enjoyed it and will look out for this author's next book.


Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK

I am sorry i just didnt like this book that much i didnt understand what was going on half the time...
The book never held my interest and i found it a bit bizarre i really struggled with it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book. This was an excellent read.
Thoroughly recommended

Did the premise sound interesting? Yes

Did I enjoy it? Yes

Should you check it out? Yes

I was hooked from the beginning and enjoyed my journey

Absolutely loved this tense thriller featuring mirror twins Cat and El, El is missing presumed dead but Cat hasn’t seen her for twenty years... the descriptions of their childhood house in which El still lives are vivid and you could almost be there. The characters in their childhood games: the pirate, the tooth fairy, the witch, mouse etc., they’re all imaginary or are they? Cat moves in there with El’s widower/husband Ross, but who is leaving all the treasure hunt notes, can she trust Ross or not? An Unreliable narrator, can Cat trust her memories or will Captain Morgan save her? Dark and powerful in the gothic tradition, it’s a page Turner as we crash to the climax

Dark, mysterious and quite confusing at times but overall a good and intriguing read. The plot centres on identical twins Cat and Ell and the death of Ell brings Cat back from a life in America which she had fled to. Absolutely nothing is what it seems in the story, however, plus a lot of the narrative blurs into fantasy worlds of childhood fairytales and books so it was hard to keep track of what was real and what wasn’t. There are also countless secrets and lies both in the present and in the twisted past of the family with some very dark themes emerging. At times this was a bit of a headache, particularly with the fantasy blurring too closely with reality which wasn’t really my thing. There were also parts of the reality which were a touch too far fetched and unbelievable for me. Overall though some good twists and turns and a satisfying ending so definitely worth sticking with it.

Am always a tad iff-y on doing reviews for blog tours as what if I don’t like the book? Where do I go from there? I don’t want to ask to be removed if I dislike/DNF a book. So, when WriteReads messaged and went “You like thrillers, right?”, I was intrigued, and when I read the blurbs for Mirrorland, I was very much on the fence (it was the US blurb that swung it for me. The UK made me very curious – like with different cover art for different countries, blurbs are different as well to entice and intrigue the reader to picking up the book and reading it).

It’s been twelve years since Cat saw her identical twin sister, El. Twelve years since Cat ran away from Scotland to LA. Twelve years of no contact. But now, news of El’s disappearance has forced Cat to come back. Come back to the family home where El and her husband, Ross, live.

But being back at 36 Westery Road is not the welcome Cat want. When the girls were growing up, they created a dark imaginary world – Mirrorland – full of pirates, clowns, witches. Cat hasn’t thought of this world in twelve years, but the world is creeping back into Cat’s mind. Every dark corner hides a secret or a long-buried ghost. What’s worse is that someone has left Cat clues in nearly every room. A treasure hunt that leads straight into the dark heart of Mirrorland, the truth of El’s disappearance and the heart of Mirrorland’s creation.

This is hard to write. Not because the book was bad – it isn’t – but because it had brilliant and clever ideas, but never felt executed right for my tastes. A sister returning home to deal with a strange disappearance of her twin? Tick. A mysterious treasure hunt from a mysterious stranger (who it is? The missing sister? The missing sister’s husband? The sister’s killer? Someone else)? Tick. A look into children’s imagination and how children and adults fall into it when dealing with trauma? Tick. In theory, all of this should have worked for me. And yet... it didn’t work for me.

Ok, let me write about the positives. It’s a highly original thriller, which is weird and can very easily be made into a movie or a TV show. It would be a strange and unnerving watch of a thriller as Cat slips from real life into her memories and viewers would wonder whether we can trust Cat and her version of events (yes, we have the unreliable narrator troupe). It would be like that scene in The Hours where Julianne Moore’s character, Laura, is on the verge of killing herself. A dream-like unnerving shift. It’s, also, well-written and has this lovely Scottish gothic edge to it. Plus, while I saw one or two twists coming, there were twists that I didn’t see coming and made me go “Wait, what?”

Like I said, these ideas work as does the writing, but there’s something, something I can’t quite put my finger on, that didn’t work for me. While the writing is solid, there were times I skimmed and I would get muddled over if I was reading present day or childhood memory. While this is highly original and creative, I could never really keep the lands in Mirrorland straight in my head. Maybe this was to give an extra dimension of unease, but it annoyed me when I kept having to go back to the start to see floor plan of the house and go “Oh, you mean here! Right, with you now!”

I get what the author was trying to do and the way she tackled the truth, the fiction and the magic of childhood memories to tackle trauma was unique [not seen it tackled this way before] (by the way, this book has a lot here. Ranging from domestic abuse, sexual assault, incest, child abuse and others).

While this might not have been the thriller for me, it is highly original thriller that I thinksome fo you guys will like hugely with its gothic atmosphere where the lines of reality and childhood fantasy blur.

I started Mirrorland and was initially a little bit confused about what was real and what was pure fantasy. After a few chapters I realised that that's exactly what the magic of the book was. This is one that you need to just dive into and let yourself fully submerge.

The story revolves around Cat and El two estranged sisters and the mystical and captivating world they have woven themselves into. The book catapults between past and present and gives you a full on immersive experience of childhood trauma.

A fantastically twisty thriller which captivates you right until the very end.

I couldn't get past the first few chapters of this one. I went back to it a few times but with no more luck. I think the writing style just didn't gel with me. I found that it got in the way and didn't let me immerse myself in the world of the story.

For example, in the first scene, which is from a child's point of view, the description 'her voice was still like the harbour water' made me laugh. For one thing, how can a voice be 'still' when the character is speaking? For another, what child would think that?!

I felt that the writer was trying too hard. The best books are those that let you forget that there is an author and that these people are not real. I don't want the author to constantly be trying to impress me with silly metaphors and similes.

I'm sure some readers will love it, though.

A good read.This was an interesting story part fantasy which was a bit far fetched at times ,but the main characters were great and it kept you guessing right till the end and I really enjoyed it. A great debut novel

Identical twin sisters El and Cat invent Mirrorland out of their imagination, a place where they can find peace and make sense of the world. A cruel, dark world that no-one should ever have to endure. The downside of Mirrorland, with its cast of fantastical characters and adventures, is that reality and make belief, truth and lies, have the potential to blend into one another and muddy the waters.

When we are introduced to El and Cat, we learn of their estrangement, an estrangement that seems cruel and unfair considering how unbreakable of a bond they shared as children. Slowly the truth is revealed, through a rollercoaster of secrets, lies, emotions, and psychological suspense.

Mirrorland is a story about the power of love and the price of freedom in a world so cruel and twisted that one could never survive alone.

My head is spinning after finishing this book, the sinister plot line and captivating twists make this book a must read.

I did find the story a little slow to start and Mirrorland difficult to keep track of in my head, but once that all became clear I flew through the rest of the book.

This story is as devastating as it is clever.

I will look out for more from this author.

I will be honest. This book was a little confusing at first. Cat returns to Scotland after an estrangement with her identical twin goes missing. El has disappeared and Cat is helping in the search. Alternating between the past and the present we learn about the horror of their childhood, and the imaginary games they played to occupy themselves. Overall an enjoyable read.

This was a brilliant read and is being featured on my blog for my quick star reviews feature, which I have created on my blog so I can catch up with all the books I have read and therefore review.
See www.chellsandbooks.wordpress.com.

Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone is a mystery thriller novel revolving around the themes of childhood fantasies and what it means to be a family, and the art of deception and the trick of the hand so to speak.

In 'mirrorland', imaginations run wild. Our protagonists are two sisters who have had a troubled childhood. In order to cope up with the situation they found themselves in, they have weaved an elaborate imaginary world within their minds. That waorld is their safe haven, an escape from reality. As a reader, navigating through that world is not an easy task. It gets confusing at several points.

The ending is predictable and not very perfectly executed. Nonetheless, it is a brave attempt at weaving a subterfuge of the highest degree.

Thanks to the author and the publisher for the ARC.

"Mirrorland: the dark, twisty, gothic fiction debut from 2021's new voice in psychological suspense"

Stephen King loved it, and so did I!
He called it "Dark and Devious", and he's absolutely right!
The author is incredibly cunning, tricking your senses, as the story line slips in and out of fantasy and reality, but presented in a way which sounds so genuinely realistic, that the horrific events that transpire feel even more shocking!

Let the fact that Stephen King loved it set your barometer for what to expect. There are lots of trigger warnings, but I won't be sharing them here, because that would absolutely spoil the storyline. Just make sure you're feeling resilient going in!

My only complaint about it, is probably what everyone else will love. And that's that the author wraps up everything really neatly at the end. You leave feeling like the story is concluded.
But if you like to see the shadows, and it gives you goosebumps not knowing exactly how close you are to the monsters in the dark, I'd suggest not reading the last couple of chapters. Because you'll think about this one for a very long time 🙌

An absolutely brilliant debut that I highly recommend!! 🙌

Here's what it says on the cover:
No. 36 Westeryk Road: an imposing flat-stone house on the outskirts of Edinburgh. A place of curving shadows and crumbling grandeur. But it’s what lies under the house that is extraordinary – Mirrorland. A vivid make-believe world that twin sisters Cat and El created as children. A place of escape, but from what?

Now in her thirties, Cat has turned her back on her past. But when she receives news that one sunny morning, El left harbour in her sailboat and never came back, she is forced to return to Westeryk Road; to re-enter a forgotten world of lies, betrayal and danger.
 
Because El had a plan. She’s left behind a treasure hunt that will unearth long-buried secrets. And to discover the truth, Cat must first confront the reality of her childhood – a childhood that wasn’t nearly as idyllic as she remembers…

I loved it!! ❤️

I loved this book. At first I found it a bit confusing. Twin sisters (mirror images of each other) have had a strange, cruel upbringing, isolated and not aware of what "normal" was so they create a fantasy in each room of their old house and it is unclear what is real and what is not. Then something happens that means they have to start a new (more normal) life. However they both fall for the same man and this causes a split which means one sister goes to live in LA for years. When her twin goes missing she returns and refuses to believe she is dead. However she is still in love with her sister's husband and their shared grief becomes something else. An engrossing read and an incredibly unexpected ending!

I really tried with this one - but I got increasingly more bored and I have promised myself to not make myself finish books I will rate less than 2 stars unless they are ridiculously fun to read; I did make it 40% in though.
I do not think this book knows what it wants to be - it's a thriller without having thriller pacing but with thriller plot beats, it's a coming of age story without actually dealing with the coming of age, It's literary fiction but the language felt more self-indulgent than anything else. This just did not work for me at all - and I am very sad because the premise and the promise of a dysfunctional sibling relationship really are brilliant.

After a long absence, Cat returns to Edinburgh after learning of the disappearance of El, her (estranged) mirror twin. Cat is resolute that El is not dead and investigates by following clues left around their childhood home, a place of mystery and imagination.

There are two main strands to the narrative: the present focused on the investigation and insights into the unusual upbringing of the twins. There is much detail of their childhood games and the stories they are read by their mother. The mention of Bluebeard early on suggests one of the major themes of the story.

The story is rather too quirky for my tastes and the relationships didn't ring true. The literary references foreshadow and undermine any twists in the tale. Any reader with knowledge of The Shawshank Redemptiom will anticipate the final revelation. The debt to Stephen King is evident in the writing and acknowledged by the writer herself.