Blog Tour: Gemini ARC Review
Hello and welcome to my stop on the Gemini blog tour! I can't wait to tell you about this lovely debut! Let's get started, shall we?
About the Book
Seventeen-year-old conjoined twins Clara and Hailey have lived in the same small town their entire lives—no one stares at them anymore. But there are cracks in their quiet existence, and they’re slowly becoming more apparent. Clara and Hailey are at a crossroads. Clara wants to stay close to home, avoid all attention, and study the night sky. Hailey wants to travel the world, learn from great artists, and dance with mysterious boys. As high school graduation approaches, each twin must untangle her dreams from her sister’s, and figure out what it means to be her own person.
Told in alternating perspectives, this unconventional coming-of-age tale shows how dreams can break your heart—but the love between sisters can mend it.
About the Author
I grew up in California’s Gold Country, where I spent a lot of time sitting in trees, reading books and writing stories in my head. Now I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I spend a lot of time sitting in coffee shops, reading books and writing stories on my laptop. I like to play board games with my husband and kids, watch the kids' soccer games, and scare them with my terrible dancing.
The Review
Gemini by Sonya Mukherjee
3.75 Stars
To start off I would like to thank Hannah from The Irish Banana Review for choosing me to participate in this tour and to everyone involved in getting me an ARC for it (some download issues were involved). Gemini had been one of the many debuts I had been really looking forward to reading this year and I really enjoyed it. I had never actually read a novel about conjoined twins before so it was really interesting for me to see what that was like.
Our twins are two teenage girls named Hailey and Clara. For a while I kept switching between who I liked and who got on my nerves and you might be thinking "uh-oh", but actually for once I think this is a good thing. The reason for my back and forth was because I had my own opinions on how these two should be living life going forward. I completely did not understand how they could disagree on such huge things, but by the end I felt my eyes being opened slowly as I began to understand at least a little better than before. They dealt with everyday teenage girl issues, but also the issues of I am stuck to another human and I have to consider them and their feelings. I found this to be a nice dynamic to witness. As I said before, I have no idea what it is like to be with someone 24/7 my whole life, but I really think Sonya did a wonderful job of portraying the inner thoughts and everyday struggles of these two characters without making it seem too abnormal or like a major burden. She really gets you to understand that this is their normal and anything else would be completely foreign to them even when it feels so normal to you. I thought that was amazing.
Obviously, there are more people in Gemini than just Clara and Hailey. They actually have a great group of friends that are tight knit and funny! And while I'm having trouble recalling all of their names right this minute, I loved them. They seemed like the people I have in my life and they didn't feel the need to water down their problems because the twins might have bigger ones. I really enjoy when I can so easily see myself hanging out with all of the characters in a novel. Now for the boys, I found them to be goofy and adorable and I'm so happy they were there even if the book wasn't about them. I think Alek and Max in particular really added to this internal journey that Hailey and Clara were on. Also, who didn't love the guys chasing the bats. I definitely giggled. Sonya created a great group of people to be around and I cannot wait to see what kind of people she'll introduce me to next.
Overall, I gave this book 3.75 stars mostly because at some points I couldn't get myself to read. I don't know if this was because of a slump, hangover, or if it was simply the wrong timing. But I can tell you that if I had read it at a different time, I would more than likely give it 4 to 4.5 stars. I love a good book about discovering what you want and we had that times two. The sisterly bond and that love was incredible. I highly recommend picking this one up and lucky for you, it's on shelves now! So grab yourself a copy of Gemini, or enter the giveaway below, and come back and talk about it with me! I'd love to hear your thoughts as always!
The Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Tour Schedule:
Week 1:
7/18: YA Reads - Q&A
7/22: Readwritelove28 - Top 10
Week 2:
I would like to thank everyone involved one last time and also you, for stopping by and taking the time to read this post. Even if you're only here for the giveaway, thank you as well. I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend and I hope you read something amazing.
Xoxo,
Gabriella
I love that the characters ar ones you could be friends with--that means this author created real characters and not just stereotypes. Thanks for the honest review today!
ReplyDeleteIt's always great when the characters are so realistic. Thank you for stopping by!
DeleteIt makes me happy that the author gave friends to the conjoined twins.
ReplyDeleteDianna
Thank you for stopping by!
DeleteI really like how this story is farfetched from stereotypes!
ReplyDeleteI agree. It was kind of a breath of fresh air. Thank you for stopping by!
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