Main Characters: Meredith and Mallory Brynn

Summary:

Meredith and Mallory Brynn, are mirror twins born on either side of midnight one New Year’s Eve. They have always been inseparable. But after they are nearly killed in a mysterious fire on their thirteenth birthday, the bond that has always joined them unravels. They begin to have visions and dreams that reveal the deep secrets kept by the people around them. Meredith and Mallory realize they have each been given a gift: Mallory can see deep into the past, Meredith can see the future. But when they discover that one boy is not what they imagined, their lives will be changed forever. If they can survive?.

Anna’s Thoughts:

The Midnight Twins sounds so much better than it actually is, however, I will still be buying the second one. I shall explain:

First of all, the first half of the book is about completely useless, until the fire and the girls’ 13th birthday. It was completely all over the place, and I honestly spent chapters being unaware of exactly when things were happening. That is pretty much all there is to that.

Secondly, over and over again I’ve heard a rule for writing that utterly makes sense: Don’t name your characters names that are too alike. With this I am left wondering what in the WORLD made Mitchard name her characters Merry & Mally. I understand they’re twins, totally get it – I – however, am the reader and it took me a good half of the book to get used to that the names were so similar, and to learn who was speaking. It is very clear that she attempts to make their personalities different but when little things are going on, or things are happening fast, and I read a sentence with Mally & Merry in it, I often found myself reading back over the paragraph just to make sure I had the right twin. Having said that though, the characters are interesting, while they are typical twins (in relevance to most books with twins, that is) – meaning, complete opposites – they are also well thought out, described, and unique. Once you DO learn each of their voices, personalities, and traits, then it’s easy to tell them apart, it just takes some time to get there.

Other than the completely useless first part of the book, and the confusion with the names, once the girls come into their powers, the book picks up and actually does quite a good job at holding interest! Once all the good stuff starts happening it’s actually quite hard to put the book down, and I kept guessing just as long as the girls did about who the culprit of the fire was, and who was trying so hard to freak Mally out. It stays slightly confusing with the names, but by the end of the book I had just about gotten completely used to it. The last of The Midnight Twins defiantly makes up for the beginning – therefore, I will be buying/reading Look Both Ways (Midnight Twins #2), I really look forward to seeing how Meredith and Mallory’s story continues.