WELCOME Lauren Baratz-Logsted

TITLE:      The Twin's Daughter

AUTHOR:     Lauren Baratz-    Logsted

GENRE:        Fiction

RATING:       4 Stars

As most of you are, no doubt, aware, I don't "host" authors on my blog very much.  Not sure why really, but when I had the opportunity of reviewing Lauren Baratz-Logsted's new book The Twin's Daughter I could not resist.  As an added bonus, Lauren was also completely willing to answer one "burning" question that I had for her. 


First off, I have to say that this is one author that I love.  I have read everything she has ever written and loved it.  In fact, as I write this, I am re-reading for about the 5th time, my favorite Logsted novel - Angel's Choice.  But enough about the "backlist", let's talk about The Twin's Daughter.

First off, you know the author is good when I  voluntarily read a book that is set in the Victorian era. As a rule, I don't like reading books that are not set in contemporary times, but The Twin's Daughter is so well written, that I actually enjoyed discovering all kinds of little tidbits about this time period, which, frankly, I know very little about.

Having said that, what really captured me about this novel is the characters.  The basic premise features a young girl, by the name of Lucy who, along with her mother, will discover that Helen, her mother's twin sister, is alive and well and hoping to develop a relationship with both her sister and Lucy.  However, not everything is as it seems and as the novel continues, you get the definite feeling that there is a serious dark undertone to the storyline and that things are not going to remain quite as "sugary and wonderful" as the beginning of the novel implies.

This is, to me, this author's strength.  She can lure you into believing that the storyline will go one way and while you are reading along, enjoying the story, she ever so slightly starts shifting the story into another direction, making you ask yourself "how did I get here?".  I love, love that in a storyteller.  A gifted author can manage to do this without giving anything away - and The Twin's Daughters is such a book.

I know that this book is to be released in August, so I will not give away too much, except to say that if you are looking for Lauren's usual wonderful writing, you will happily find it here and, if you are looking for a story with detours and twists that you will never see coming, then this is the book for you.

I loved it! Oh, the author has marketed this book as a YA book, but frankly, I think it is perfect for both YA and "older" adults :)

As part of Lauren's blog tour for her book, she has graciously agreed to answer a question:
Bookshipper:

Where do you see the publishing industry/world in 5 years?

LAUREN:

What a wonderful question! No one has asked me this yet. Perhaps because no one else sees me as a visionary? Hmm...looking into my crystal ball here... You know, there's been a lot of doom-and-gloom talk the past few years about the inroads that things like ebooks are making into the market and how this will adversely affect publishing in the long run. I'm not saying there are not legitimate things to be concerned about. Me, though, I'm a bit of a Pollyanna. And it seems to me that practically since the Gutenberg Bible first came out, people have been worrying about the demise of the book. The truth is, there are too many readers who love the feel of a book in their hands for books as we know them to ever completely disappear. Things will change, but some things will change the same. The other big forecast I have for five years from now, outside of the one in which the book as we know it does not die, is that the Young Adult market will continue to thrive. The range and quality of YA books has really grown in the past few years and I see no slowdown ahead. On the contrary, more and more adults all the time are discovering the rewards of reading YA. So, as we say down here in the States: the state of our union is sound. We say that in good times and bad, but, as you can see, I prefer to focus on the good.