Identical by Ellen Hopkins

Do twins begin in the womb?
Or in a better place?

Kaeleigh and Raeanne are identical down to the dimple. As daughters of a district-court judge father and a politician mother, they are an all-American family -- on the surface. Behind the facade each sister has her own dark secret, and that's where their differences begin.

For Kaeleigh, she's the misplaced focus of Daddy's love, intended for a mother whose presence on the campaign trail means absence at home. All that Raeanne sees is Daddy playing a game of favorites -- and she is losing. If she has to lose, she will do it on her own terms, so she chooses drugs, alcohol, and sex.

Secrets like the ones the twins are harboring are not meant to be kept -- from each other or anyone else. Pretty soon it's obvious that neither sister can handle it alone, and one sister must step up to save the other, but the question is -- who? @goodreads

MY REVIEW:


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1371112773              5 STARS

This book was amazing and it tore me apart :( I had a feeling I knew where it was going and it did but in a little bit of a different way. It's so very sad. This author can write some amazing ~ heart-wrenching books.. the sad thing is she knows a lot of this stuff from experience.

You have Kaeleigh and Raeanne that are twins and they both have such crappy lives that I almost have no words. It breaks me into pieces.

*EXCERPT FROM BOOK*

Eyes firmly planted on Daddy,
who follows. Why does it have
to be just the two of us here?

I want my sister. I want my mom.
Surely he won't trail me into
my room. Won't watch me undress.

*END OF EXCERPT*

The things that Kaeleigh endures while Raeanne has to watch and feels helpless is so atrocious, but it happens.

Raeanne spiraling down the sex and drugs road. Kaeleigh... cutting..purging..........

Their mother is gone all of the time running her campaign. Their father is a judge and starts drinking when he comes home among other things. What happened to these people in their lifetimes? It's not a pretty story, all things come from somewhere... and someone is always the one to let it happen.

I was so ripped to shreds by the end of this book and the ending is so broken. But it will be put back together.

This is a brilliantly sad story and I will continue on with all of the author's books I have yet to read.