Beside Myself by Ann Morgan

Beside Myself is a literary thriller about identical twins, Ellie and Helen, who swap places aged six. At first it is just a game, but then Ellie refuses to swap back. Forced into her new identity, Helen develops a host of behavioural problems, delinquency and chronic instability. With their lives diverging sharply, one twin headed for stardom and the other locked in a spiral of addiction and mental illness, how will the deception ever be uncovered? Exploring questions of identity, selfhood, and how other people's expectations affect human behaviour, this novel is as gripping as it is psychologically complex. @goodreads

MY REVIEW:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1368574734                   4 STARS

 I have to say this book is really sad, yes sad in that way, but sad on so many other levels. The way this mother treats her twin daughters is unbelievable.

At the age of 6 Helen wants her and Ellie to try and trick people by switching clothes and acting like the other. You see, Helen was the normal one and Ellie had some issues.. they say it was a problem when she was being born.

This was the biggest mistake Helen ever made in her life. Ellie decides she wants to be Helen forever and it really makes you wonder and realize Ellie was a great actress because she really had some issues, but she played Helen to a T!

Helen ends up having a horrific life. I can't believe how her family treated her and I wonder if Ellie would have been treated the same way if she stayed her true self.

I was hoping that something would vindicate Helen at some point. The last few pages of the book was the only happy moment that Helen really seemed to have.

A tragedy happens in the family and Helen is brought back into their lives for a short time. She gets to meet Ellie's husband Nick and daughter Heloise. Nick broke down and told her in confidence one night that he always thought Ellie aka Helen wasn't herself. She seemed like a different person...well she was! But things head South with this visitation and Helen had to leave again. Although, I loved the time she got to spend with Heloise, she was a precious little girl and she seemed to love Helen.

The mother was horrible all the way up until the end and when she revealed a secret to Helen I was just devastated! I mean this woman had something really bad happen to her when the kids were young and she had a hard time dealing with it, but to do these things to your kids. Wow!

I hesitate to say I enjoyed the book because of all the horrible things, but I did like the book, although it made me really sad and mad.

Advice to any twins out there...... DO. NOT. TRADE. PLACES. WITH. YOUR. TWIN! 
 
**I would like to thank NETGALLEY and BLOOMSBURY USA for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.**