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Twisted Fate
When Alyson meets Graham Copeland, the new boy next door, she instantly feels like he’s a kindred spirit—shy and awkward like her, someone who has trouble making friends. It’s impossible to resist having a crush on him.
As usual, her sister, Sydney, sees things differently. In Sydney's mind, Graham's odd personality and secretive past scream psychopath, not sweetheart. Her gut is telling her to stay away from him, and to protect a love-struck Alyson from her own naïveté. But despite her instincts, Sydney is surprised to realize that a part of her is drawn to Graham, too.
And the more Sydney gets to know him, the more she realizes just how right—and wrong—she is about everything.
Perfect for fans of Michelle Hodkin, and E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars, Twisted Fate is an unputdownable novel, teeming with suspense.
As usual, her sister, Sydney, sees things differently. In Sydney's mind, Graham's odd personality and secretive past scream psychopath, not sweetheart. Her gut is telling her to stay away from him, and to protect a love-struck Alyson from her own naïveté. But despite her instincts, Sydney is surprised to realize that a part of her is drawn to Graham, too.
And the more Sydney gets to know him, the more she realizes just how right—and wrong—she is about everything.
Perfect for fans of Michelle Hodkin, and E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars, Twisted Fate is an unputdownable novel, teeming with suspense.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 20, 2015
32 people are currently reading
3345 people want to read
About the author
Norah Olson
4 books46 followersNorah Olson is a former journalist who covered criminal cases for a regional New York newspaper and received a prestigious fellowship for her work. She was educated in New England and lives in Manhattan. TWISTED FATE is her first novel for young adults.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 260 reviews
January 31, 2015
Twisted Fate tried to be a lot of things: clever, twisty, creepy, interesting... and it failed on all of those. I was so close to putting this book down at about 25% in but I kept reading just to make sure I was right about the big "mystery". I was. Could've spared myself 200 pages of boredom.
Failure #1 - The Characters
The characters in this book never move beyond cliches. We first have Allyson, who is a "good girl", likes to bake muffins, has a sparkling personality (read: is dull as dishwater) and becomes enthralled with the new local "bad boy" called Graham. Then there's her sister, Sydney, who we are supposed to understand is an emo because she skateboards, tends to be moody, and listens to Death Cab for Cutie. That's it. That is the extent of their characterization and I'm not even exaggerating.
I never once cared about any of these people. Not them, their parents, or their friends. This book is full of some of the most boring characters I've ever encountered.
Failure #2 - A Millions POVs
There's a chance that this might have also contributed to my inability to care about any of the characters. Building a strong connection between reader and characters is difficult anyway, but I imagine it's especially difficult when a book with less than 300 pages has so many perspectives. I just did a quick mental count of the ones I remember and I counted eight of them (there may be more).
We hardly spent any time inside one character's mind before we cut to someone else talking about something completely unrelated. It became hard to even follow the story, never mind care about the individuals themselves. We got POVs from Allyson, Sydney, Graham, Becky, Declan, Kim, the guidance counsellor, and the local police chief. Was it really necessary?
Failure #3 - Glaringly Obvious
The characters and the POVs already set this up to be a book I wouldn't enjoy, but I still think the worst thing about it is that the "twist" is glaringly obvious. The book is sold as some clever little thriller, but I've encountered this "twist" no less than five times in YA books. However, normally I would still recommend the book to readers who maybe haven't read that many YA thrillers, but this one isn't just obvious, it's heavy-handed and lacks believability.
The author drops hints the size of boulders. Characters give away the "twist" by frowning mysteriously when we're supposed to believe there's nothing to frown about. It is so so obvious what is going on. It was so obvious that I half convinced myself I must be wrong and the author must be getting ready to pull out something completely unexpected. Nope.
Also, I guess I should avoid spoiler territory (if you can really call it that) so I will say ambiguously: I'm not convinced the way the author portrayed what she portrayed is correct. Or at least it's at odds with what I've read in the past.
In short: not for me. I would have been pissed if I'd bought this book instead of receiving an ARC.
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Failure #1 - The Characters
The characters in this book never move beyond cliches. We first have Allyson, who is a "good girl", likes to bake muffins, has a sparkling personality (read: is dull as dishwater) and becomes enthralled with the new local "bad boy" called Graham. Then there's her sister, Sydney, who we are supposed to understand is an emo because she skateboards, tends to be moody, and listens to Death Cab for Cutie. That's it. That is the extent of their characterization and I'm not even exaggerating.
I never once cared about any of these people. Not them, their parents, or their friends. This book is full of some of the most boring characters I've ever encountered.
Failure #2 - A Millions POVs
There's a chance that this might have also contributed to my inability to care about any of the characters. Building a strong connection between reader and characters is difficult anyway, but I imagine it's especially difficult when a book with less than 300 pages has so many perspectives. I just did a quick mental count of the ones I remember and I counted eight of them (there may be more).
We hardly spent any time inside one character's mind before we cut to someone else talking about something completely unrelated. It became hard to even follow the story, never mind care about the individuals themselves. We got POVs from Allyson, Sydney, Graham, Becky, Declan, Kim, the guidance counsellor, and the local police chief. Was it really necessary?
Failure #3 - Glaringly Obvious
The characters and the POVs already set this up to be a book I wouldn't enjoy, but I still think the worst thing about it is that the "twist" is glaringly obvious. The book is sold as some clever little thriller, but I've encountered this "twist" no less than five times in YA books. However, normally I would still recommend the book to readers who maybe haven't read that many YA thrillers, but this one isn't just obvious, it's heavy-handed and lacks believability.
The author drops hints the size of boulders. Characters give away the "twist" by frowning mysteriously when we're supposed to believe there's nothing to frown about. It is so so obvious what is going on. It was so obvious that I half convinced myself I must be wrong and the author must be getting ready to pull out something completely unexpected. Nope.
Also, I guess I should avoid spoiler territory (if you can really call it that) so I will say ambiguously: I'm not convinced the way the author portrayed what she portrayed is correct. Or at least it's at odds with what I've read in the past.
In short: not for me. I would have been pissed if I'd bought this book instead of receiving an ARC.
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May 23, 2018
I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. I had decent expectations for this book and sadly, it just didn't mean it. I found it slightly boring and slightly confusing at some points.
November 3, 2015
I'm very confused about my thoughts on this book..
It held my attention and I like the twists, but it left me confused. While it was a fun time reading, it didn't blow me away.
It held my attention and I like the twists, but it left me confused. While it was a fun time reading, it didn't blow me away.
December 27, 2014
Twisted Fate is, in all likelihood, one of the most poorly written novels I've ever read and definitely the most pathetic attempt at a YA psychological thriller I've ever had the misfortune of reading. The writing was atrocious, there was no point to the 1 billion different POVs in the novel, there was really no story, certainly no mystery for it was predictable as hell, and to call this novel the We Were Liars of 2015 is an insult to We Were Liars and the entire genre.
It sounds harsh, I know, but I can't help it. This novel left me steaming with anger and frustration because it is the type of poorly written novel that hangs entirely on a "mind-bending plot-twist" that's supposed to make me forget how badly plotted, terribly written, horribly characterized and senseless the whole things was because, wow, plot twist! Basically, it was like one of those last M. Night Shyamalan movies that smacked you in the face with a big twist in the hopes that it could redeem how boring, tedious, and pointless everything before it was. Except that I can't even concede Twisted Fate the honor of calling that ending a "plot-twist". It was evident from the beginning and there's nowhere in the novel a decent attempt at hiding it.
Twisted Fate has some of the flattest, most mind-numbingly boring characters I've ever read about. They were all supposed to be so deep and twisted and disturbed, and yet they all sounded so lifeless and forced, like chalk outlines of what they were supposed to be. And they all sounded alike and as equally monotonous because every single character in this novel gets a freaking POV. There are about 10 different POVs in the novel, and only two actually contributed to the "story", and I think I'm being generous. The rest either praised Sydney's amazing superiority for no reason I can discern, or fulfilled the chorus role in old Greek plays where the chorus would come out of nowhere and foreshadow horrible, terrible things, lamenting that the characters didn't see it coming. They should've come in when the novel started so I wouldn't have had to face the horrible, terrible thing that was actually finishing this novel.
We have two main characters, a pair of sisters called Sydney and Allison, who are total opposites. Sydney is the trouble maker, the rebellious but brilliant girl that reads for pleasure and skateboards, and Allison is the cutesy, sweet, naive girl that sees the good in everyone, bakes blueberry muffins and sounds like a freaking 5 year old. The reason why everyone bows down to Sydney's intellectual superiority, even adults, is because she reads a couple of unspecified books and knows how to use the word "philistine". I shit you not. I read! I know tons of words! I must be a fucking genius by this book's standards!
Sydney was so unbelievably pretentious. She was so brilliant, she could skip school every day and go to detention every night and still be the class Valedictorian because she knew the word philistine, used it in a sentence once or twice and could play this stupid game in which they make anagrams while they get high. That's all the proof we get of her supposed superior intelligence. Her dialogues with this one other pretentious "genius" friend were so painfully awkward. He would string together preposterous sentences with big, pretentious words and let the world bask in his superior intellectual glow. Every time he talked, I remembered that scene from FRIENDS when Joey uses the thesaurus to write a letter because he wanted to sound smart.
Then again, on Sydney's defense, every single piece of dialogue in this novel was painful. You know how sometimes, when an adult learns some phrase or lingo the youngsters are using, they start saying it all the freaking time? Like that time my aunt got a Facebook, learned of "Lol" and "YOLO" and started to write those two words at the end of every status update? Well, in this novel, the choice phrase was "420 Blaze it". I don't partake on weed smoking, but like everyone in the world, I know people that do and never in my life have I ever heard them use that phrase in all seriousness, much less every time they make the tiniest reference to smoking weed. It was awkward and forced, exactly like an adult trying to act like a teenager.
Moreover, this novel refused to give details about anything. It mentioned skateboarding repeatedly, since it was the center of Sydney's "trouble making tendencies", and never actually went deeper than that. No tricks, techniques, only a passing reference to Tony Hawk, who's being out of the scene for, what?, ten years now? It mentioned hacking several times as well and the only related word mentioned is "coding". Again, no details. One of the most important aspects of the plot is that this guy edits films, and not once is there anything said about it. The novel just mentioned some broad, general activity and expected the reader to go along with it without any type of detail. That's lazy writing at its finest.
There is absolutely no depth to anything in this novel. It tries so, so hard to be profound and dark and twisted, and it honestly gave me secondhand embarrassment to see it flop repeatedly on the ground like a fish out of water. Simply put, this novel was just way out of its depth. It tried to be much more than it had the capacity to be. You can expect this novel to be as introspective, profound and cognizant as a Kim Kardashian diary entry.
The narration was flat and unexciting, delivered in such a monotonous way, I felt like I was taking a non-stop 3 day seminar on watching grass grow. The earth-shattering discoveries the characters made were told in the same way we heard about Allison picking blueberries for her muffins. Not even the abrupt climax carried any spark of excitement to it. The writing was so passive, so removed from the emotions of the characters or the intensity of the situation, that my reading experience was a flat-line from beginning to end.
I know some people will still be surprised by the ending, and I don't mean to disrespect them when I say the twist in the novel was evident from the very first page. That it was predictable is not even the real issue. I saw the plot twist in We Were Liars coming and I still enjoyed the novel, though that might have something to do with We Were Liars having actual substance to it, unlike this one, but that's not the point. It's not that it was predictable, or even that it was preposterous and badly constructed, it's just that the entire plot twist hinges entirely on misinformed psychology and on every single character deliberately ignoring all the radioactive red flags or indulging the main characters just cuz. Again, lazy writing.
Poorly written, barely and badly plotted, based on superficial research and general assumptions, not to mention the boring story and the uninteresting and flat characters, Twisted Fate is simply one of the most painful books I've read this year. It hurts to give such a brutal negative review, but the only positive thing I can give the book is the message about girls not having to stick to stereotypes, to be however and whoever they want to be and not live to fill specific expectations, which was awesome and was basically the only reason why I bothered to finish the novel, because that means the author's heart was in the right place and that she had some really good ideas, but, unfortunately, that was not enough to redeem the glaring flaws of every other single aspect of the novel.
It sounds harsh, I know, but I can't help it. This novel left me steaming with anger and frustration because it is the type of poorly written novel that hangs entirely on a "mind-bending plot-twist" that's supposed to make me forget how badly plotted, terribly written, horribly characterized and senseless the whole things was because, wow, plot twist! Basically, it was like one of those last M. Night Shyamalan movies that smacked you in the face with a big twist in the hopes that it could redeem how boring, tedious, and pointless everything before it was. Except that I can't even concede Twisted Fate the honor of calling that ending a "plot-twist". It was evident from the beginning and there's nowhere in the novel a decent attempt at hiding it.
Twisted Fate has some of the flattest, most mind-numbingly boring characters I've ever read about. They were all supposed to be so deep and twisted and disturbed, and yet they all sounded so lifeless and forced, like chalk outlines of what they were supposed to be. And they all sounded alike and as equally monotonous because every single character in this novel gets a freaking POV. There are about 10 different POVs in the novel, and only two actually contributed to the "story", and I think I'm being generous. The rest either praised Sydney's amazing superiority for no reason I can discern, or fulfilled the chorus role in old Greek plays where the chorus would come out of nowhere and foreshadow horrible, terrible things, lamenting that the characters didn't see it coming. They should've come in when the novel started so I wouldn't have had to face the horrible, terrible thing that was actually finishing this novel.
We have two main characters, a pair of sisters called Sydney and Allison, who are total opposites. Sydney is the trouble maker, the rebellious but brilliant girl that reads for pleasure and skateboards, and Allison is the cutesy, sweet, naive girl that sees the good in everyone, bakes blueberry muffins and sounds like a freaking 5 year old. The reason why everyone bows down to Sydney's intellectual superiority, even adults, is because she reads a couple of unspecified books and knows how to use the word "philistine". I shit you not. I read! I know tons of words! I must be a fucking genius by this book's standards!
Sydney was so unbelievably pretentious. She was so brilliant, she could skip school every day and go to detention every night and still be the class Valedictorian because she knew the word philistine, used it in a sentence once or twice and could play this stupid game in which they make anagrams while they get high. That's all the proof we get of her supposed superior intelligence. Her dialogues with this one other pretentious "genius" friend were so painfully awkward. He would string together preposterous sentences with big, pretentious words and let the world bask in his superior intellectual glow. Every time he talked, I remembered that scene from FRIENDS when Joey uses the thesaurus to write a letter because he wanted to sound smart.
Then again, on Sydney's defense, every single piece of dialogue in this novel was painful. You know how sometimes, when an adult learns some phrase or lingo the youngsters are using, they start saying it all the freaking time? Like that time my aunt got a Facebook, learned of "Lol" and "YOLO" and started to write those two words at the end of every status update? Well, in this novel, the choice phrase was "420 Blaze it". I don't partake on weed smoking, but like everyone in the world, I know people that do and never in my life have I ever heard them use that phrase in all seriousness, much less every time they make the tiniest reference to smoking weed. It was awkward and forced, exactly like an adult trying to act like a teenager.
Moreover, this novel refused to give details about anything. It mentioned skateboarding repeatedly, since it was the center of Sydney's "trouble making tendencies", and never actually went deeper than that. No tricks, techniques, only a passing reference to Tony Hawk, who's being out of the scene for, what?, ten years now? It mentioned hacking several times as well and the only related word mentioned is "coding". Again, no details. One of the most important aspects of the plot is that this guy edits films, and not once is there anything said about it. The novel just mentioned some broad, general activity and expected the reader to go along with it without any type of detail. That's lazy writing at its finest.
There is absolutely no depth to anything in this novel. It tries so, so hard to be profound and dark and twisted, and it honestly gave me secondhand embarrassment to see it flop repeatedly on the ground like a fish out of water. Simply put, this novel was just way out of its depth. It tried to be much more than it had the capacity to be. You can expect this novel to be as introspective, profound and cognizant as a Kim Kardashian diary entry.
The narration was flat and unexciting, delivered in such a monotonous way, I felt like I was taking a non-stop 3 day seminar on watching grass grow. The earth-shattering discoveries the characters made were told in the same way we heard about Allison picking blueberries for her muffins. Not even the abrupt climax carried any spark of excitement to it. The writing was so passive, so removed from the emotions of the characters or the intensity of the situation, that my reading experience was a flat-line from beginning to end.
I know some people will still be surprised by the ending, and I don't mean to disrespect them when I say the twist in the novel was evident from the very first page. That it was predictable is not even the real issue. I saw the plot twist in We Were Liars coming and I still enjoyed the novel, though that might have something to do with We Were Liars having actual substance to it, unlike this one, but that's not the point. It's not that it was predictable, or even that it was preposterous and badly constructed, it's just that the entire plot twist hinges entirely on misinformed psychology and on every single character deliberately ignoring all the radioactive red flags or indulging the main characters just cuz. Again, lazy writing.
Poorly written, barely and badly plotted, based on superficial research and general assumptions, not to mention the boring story and the uninteresting and flat characters, Twisted Fate is simply one of the most painful books I've read this year. It hurts to give such a brutal negative review, but the only positive thing I can give the book is the message about girls not having to stick to stereotypes, to be however and whoever they want to be and not live to fill specific expectations, which was awesome and was basically the only reason why I bothered to finish the novel, because that means the author's heart was in the right place and that she had some really good ideas, but, unfortunately, that was not enough to redeem the glaring flaws of every other single aspect of the novel.
January 29, 2018
Full Review on my blog!
I was going to give this a 3.5 Stars... but.... I think that's tooo generous.
I don't even know where to begin...
Okay, I can understand what the author was trying to get at, and I'll admit it definitely had me hooked at first, but it was very poorly written. It left me confused, really, really confused... I feel like it wasn't planned out at all, so many things did not connect, and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I just don't even know.
This book has so much potential but was executed poorly. Creepy boy next door, messed up sister, bad parents . . . but no... All the cliches and stereotypes had to be written.
One thing that was just ughhhhh, was the different POVs. I swear there are like 8? Maybe more POVs, it was honestly hard to follow, I had to keep going back to the beginning of the chapter to see who's POV I was reading... Yes, it's THAT bad.
We hardly spent any time inside one character's mind before we cut to someone else talking about something completely unrelated. It became hard to even follow the story, never mind care about the individuals themselves. We got POVs from Allyson, Sydney, Graham, Becky, Declan, Kim, the guidance counsellor Richards, email 'chapters' of Graham's dad emailing Dr Adams (Graham's therapist) and the local police chief. Sooooo, I guess 9 POVs!! That's a lot...was it really necessary though?? POVs are great but this many is just a mess....
The sisters, Allyson and Sydney. Were they really sisters? OR just one, with some kind of split personality?
I totally saw the "I'm one and the same person" with these two, especially when the sisters were never around the same people. And when Graham got confused when he was talking to her and she corrected him on her "sisters" name, then said, yeah, okay. But was Tate diagnosed split personality? I mean, she must have, right? Why would she be Allyson one minute and Sydney the next? Was it because she was left alone so often when she was younger that she created another sibling to keep her company? It is her imaginary friend/sister? So many questions!
BUUUT at the end with the Police report really confirms my suspicions. Allyson Sydney Tate it says. And it refers to her as 'Tate' which, Allyson usually went by, but skip a few lines and it refers to her as Sydney, and was talking about how she liked to skateboard and such.
This is just a big mess... I can't even.
The ending was a big disappointment.
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I was going to give this a 3.5 Stars... but.... I think that's tooo generous.
I don't even know where to begin...
Okay, I can understand what the author was trying to get at, and I'll admit it definitely had me hooked at first, but it was very poorly written. It left me confused, really, really confused... I feel like it wasn't planned out at all, so many things did not connect, and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I just don't even know.
This book has so much potential but was executed poorly. Creepy boy next door, messed up sister, bad parents . . . but no... All the cliches and stereotypes had to be written.
One thing that was just ughhhhh, was the different POVs. I swear there are like 8? Maybe more POVs, it was honestly hard to follow, I had to keep going back to the beginning of the chapter to see who's POV I was reading... Yes, it's THAT bad.
We hardly spent any time inside one character's mind before we cut to someone else talking about something completely unrelated. It became hard to even follow the story, never mind care about the individuals themselves. We got POVs from Allyson, Sydney, Graham, Becky, Declan, Kim, the guidance counsellor Richards, email 'chapters' of Graham's dad emailing Dr Adams (Graham's therapist) and the local police chief. Sooooo, I guess 9 POVs!! That's a lot...was it really necessary though?? POVs are great but this many is just a mess....
The sisters, Allyson and Sydney. Were they really sisters? OR just one, with some kind of split personality?
I totally saw the "I'm one and the same person" with these two, especially when the sisters were never around the same people. And when Graham got confused when he was talking to her and she corrected him on her "sisters" name, then said, yeah, okay. But was Tate diagnosed split personality? I mean, she must have, right? Why would she be Allyson one minute and Sydney the next? Was it because she was left alone so often when she was younger that she created another sibling to keep her company? It is her imaginary friend/sister? So many questions!
BUUUT at the end with the Police report really confirms my suspicions. Allyson Sydney Tate it says. And it refers to her as 'Tate' which, Allyson usually went by, but skip a few lines and it refers to her as Sydney, and was talking about how she liked to skateboard and such.
This is just a big mess... I can't even.
The ending was a big disappointment.
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December 18, 2014
As someone who doesn't read much contemp--I wasn't sure what I thought, going into TWISTED FATE. But I blew through this book, and read it in only a day. I love a good mystery, and I love a book with a twist ending. TWISTED FATE gave me both.
I thought this book was well done, despite some negative reviews going around. The characters were strange--especially the sisters, Ally and Syd (also known as Tate, which sometimes confused me, but now I understand why!), but they were different enough to make their "love/hate/love" relationship seem very realistic when compared to typical sisters in today's world.
I thought the writing was lovely. It was the little bits and pieces of sunshine that came through in such a depressing storyline. The mystery was well-done...I just wanted to know, the entire time, what this strange neighbor boy had done in his past. I love how the author waited to the end to blow reader's minds. I had my suspicions, most of the way through, about what the twist ending would be. But I have to admit, I didn't guess it right, so bravo to Norah Olson for that!
Overall, a fun, quick read.
I thought this book was well done, despite some negative reviews going around. The characters were strange--especially the sisters, Ally and Syd (also known as Tate, which sometimes confused me, but now I understand why!), but they were different enough to make their "love/hate/love" relationship seem very realistic when compared to typical sisters in today's world.
I thought the writing was lovely. It was the little bits and pieces of sunshine that came through in such a depressing storyline. The mystery was well-done...I just wanted to know, the entire time, what this strange neighbor boy had done in his past. I love how the author waited to the end to blow reader's minds. I had my suspicions, most of the way through, about what the twist ending would be. But I have to admit, I didn't guess it right, so bravo to Norah Olson for that!
Overall, a fun, quick read.
Read
January 29, 2015This really wasn't what I expected. I went into this fearing the dreaded sibling love triangle and hoping for a dark, sexy romantic thriller, but got a really confusing story from at least 9 different points of view about the events leading up to a tragedy.
Except for the work of Jodi Picoult, I'm not a big fan of the technique of using multiple first person POVs to tell a story. In this book, there were 8-10 of them: Allyson, Sydney, Graham, a police chief, Kim, Amanda, another police chief, Becky, Declan... It was just too much and I don't think it added anything to the story. Sometimes I'd forget whose POV I was reading and have to page back. Sometimes I'd just shrug and keep going.
The main characters are sisters and the love interest was this --- okay, am I dating myself to say he was this strange kid who reminded me of that kid in American Beauty, as he was going around town creepily videotaping everyone. I didn't get why one sister liked him, not to mention two.
There was a strange twist at the end that I wasn't sure how to interpret, because it didn't really make sense.
Give this a try if you're a fan of the whole "blind men and the elephant" style of story -- I didn't know that going in..
Review up on the blog in a week or so!
Except for the work of Jodi Picoult, I'm not a big fan of the technique of using multiple first person POVs to tell a story. In this book, there were 8-10 of them: Allyson, Sydney, Graham, a police chief, Kim, Amanda, another police chief, Becky, Declan... It was just too much and I don't think it added anything to the story. Sometimes I'd forget whose POV I was reading and have to page back. Sometimes I'd just shrug and keep going.
The main characters are sisters and the love interest was this --- okay, am I dating myself to say he was this strange kid who reminded me of that kid in American Beauty, as he was going around town creepily videotaping everyone. I didn't get why one sister liked him, not to mention two.
There was a strange twist at the end that I wasn't sure how to interpret, because it didn't really make sense.
Give this a try if you're a fan of the whole "blind men and the elephant" style of story -- I didn't know that going in..
Review up on the blog in a week or so!
January 1, 2015
*4.5 star rating*
*A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you so much!*
And just like that, my experience of reading this gorgeous novel came to an end. I'm sitting here, 10 minutes after finishing the book, thanking and praising the book lords for granting me such a blessed journey with this book. My heart is still racing and I am unable to stop shaking.
Twisted Fate has honestly left me with and beyond words. I'm like Eddie Murphy in that hilarious movie, A Thousand Words. I feel like I can only say a few words without spazzing out or wishing for more from fantastic author Norah Olson. She has captured my attention with her fantastic writing and deep storyline that truly is not expected.
It's really funny, because I actually received this book yesterday in the mail (as I'm writing this) and I was so captivated, thinking about it all during the day today, feeling the need to read it because I needed another psychopathic story to brighten up my day, as they always do. After this, I'm sure that 2015 will be the hit for dark contemporary-thrillers.
If you honestly close your eyes and imagine this story in your mind's way, you won't picture it as it is written. How is that possible, you may ask? It just is—because it's Norah Olson. This is her debut YA novel, and I've felt like I've never read anything like this. It's so easy to describe her work by not spoiling anything because there's just so much to say. I could be sitting here writing and talking for hours and hours and gushing about this excellence and I still won't be even close to finished.
As many stories begin, we're introduced to a small-town setting—where most dark contemporaries happen. Sisters Allyson and Sydney don't really have a connection, as they are both complete opposites. Allyson is the pale beauty of the duo and quiet while Sydney smokes, and is a complete gothic rebel. But what happens when a boy gets in between them and pushes them even farther apart? What happens when he's not even close to their fate.
I'm just going to give you a hint here—you'll need to brace yourself for a loss. And it's tragic, horrible, but fitting and unexpected. I just am not able to speak a word and hint about my love for this concept. It began off so simple and sweet, and you'll probably be starting off thinking that this is a regular contemporary romance novel. But there's so much more to it and what happens later... you'll end up realizing that the hints all led up to something.
After reading, I've come to realize that this book was all about fate and luck, as the title notes. You never know if one encounter will change your life forever—and if one situation will put you in an even-worse situation that will stun you forever.
I must say that this book was like an artistic piece—certainly not like something Graham would come up with. It was sweet, sour, bittersweet, and sculpted to perfection, minus a little chip on the nose. But as the cheesy thing is always noted, imperfections are perfections. So why not choose to read such a gracious novel? Why would you let it go because of one small miniature problem of not enough suspense? The thing is, you won't let it go.
The utterly most brilliant thing in the book were the characters. I found that I built a bond with both Sydney and Allyson, and Olson has given us a mixture of two different blends of personalities that just suited this book perfectly. Sure, they made mistakes, but that's why I must say that we had a blend of fantastic characters that fitted the masterpiece. Even sure, the psychopath was a nice diverse character for a change. Just kidding, he gave me panic attacks.
I must say, this book was everything I was looking for in a perfect dark contemporary. There were so many points-of-view that made sense, and I was captivated from the inner first page, no, let me say outer. Forget about the half star, let's rate it a 5!
This review can also be found on A Thousand Lives Lived, check it out for more reviews!
*A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you so much!*
And just like that, my experience of reading this gorgeous novel came to an end. I'm sitting here, 10 minutes after finishing the book, thanking and praising the book lords for granting me such a blessed journey with this book. My heart is still racing and I am unable to stop shaking.
"Then she told me the worst part. Every night she went over there and he made another film of her. She was becoming his most popular subject, she said. His girl-next-door series. He said he wanted to have a thousand films of her. To film her entire life."
Twisted Fate has honestly left me with and beyond words. I'm like Eddie Murphy in that hilarious movie, A Thousand Words. I feel like I can only say a few words without spazzing out or wishing for more from fantastic author Norah Olson. She has captured my attention with her fantastic writing and deep storyline that truly is not expected.
It's really funny, because I actually received this book yesterday in the mail (as I'm writing this) and I was so captivated, thinking about it all during the day today, feeling the need to read it because I needed another psychopathic story to brighten up my day, as they always do. After this, I'm sure that 2015 will be the hit for dark contemporary-thrillers.
If you honestly close your eyes and imagine this story in your mind's way, you won't picture it as it is written. How is that possible, you may ask? It just is—because it's Norah Olson. This is her debut YA novel, and I've felt like I've never read anything like this. It's so easy to describe her work by not spoiling anything because there's just so much to say. I could be sitting here writing and talking for hours and hours and gushing about this excellence and I still won't be even close to finished.
"And the films. I can barely describe them to you... It makes me want to... It makes you sick to think that this is the world we live in. That all this was going on in this beautiful treelined neighborhood among all these decent people."
As many stories begin, we're introduced to a small-town setting—where most dark contemporaries happen. Sisters Allyson and Sydney don't really have a connection, as they are both complete opposites. Allyson is the pale beauty of the duo and quiet while Sydney smokes, and is a complete gothic rebel. But what happens when a boy gets in between them and pushes them even farther apart? What happens when he's not even close to their fate.
I'm just going to give you a hint here—you'll need to brace yourself for a loss. And it's tragic, horrible, but fitting and unexpected. I just am not able to speak a word and hint about my love for this concept. It began off so simple and sweet, and you'll probably be starting off thinking that this is a regular contemporary romance novel. But there's so much more to it and what happens later... you'll end up realizing that the hints all led up to something.
"I remember it so clearly, the day that would change our lives forever: watching the moving van pull out of the driveway of the big old post-and-beam house across the driveway. It was the nicest house in the neighborhood."
After reading, I've come to realize that this book was all about fate and luck, as the title notes. You never know if one encounter will change your life forever—and if one situation will put you in an even-worse situation that will stun you forever.
I must say that this book was like an artistic piece—certainly not like something Graham would come up with. It was sweet, sour, bittersweet, and sculpted to perfection, minus a little chip on the nose. But as the cheesy thing is always noted, imperfections are perfections. So why not choose to read such a gracious novel? Why would you let it go because of one small miniature problem of not enough suspense? The thing is, you won't let it go.
The utterly most brilliant thing in the book were the characters. I found that I built a bond with both Sydney and Allyson, and Olson has given us a mixture of two different blends of personalities that just suited this book perfectly. Sure, they made mistakes, but that's why I must say that we had a blend of fantastic characters that fitted the masterpiece. Even sure, the psychopath was a nice diverse character for a change. Just kidding, he gave me panic attacks.
I must say, this book was everything I was looking for in a perfect dark contemporary. There were so many points-of-view that made sense, and I was captivated from the inner first page, no, let me say outer. Forget about the half star, let's rate it a 5!
This review can also be found on A Thousand Lives Lived, check it out for more reviews!
March 15, 2018
1.5/ Messed Up Clouds
The only way to describe this book is with a saying my friend, James says about certain art--It's a shitty painting with a really nice frame.
The idea for this book is really cool. It's all mysterious and enticing, however the actual work, is all over the place. There's insta-love and boring characters that literally have no lives except to hang out with Graham or talk about him. There are sisters that, honest to god, only compare each other and point out how different they are from one another. And on top of that, the writing is so unbelievably bad, half the time, I didn't know if I was reading the book as things were happening or as the characters reflected back on the shit that just happened. I just didn't know.
To make matters worse, this book tries so hard. It tries so hard to keep it interesting by changing up the POVs and adding random thingss here and there as well as adding a strange love triangle. However, despite the really nice frame (idea), a shitty painting will always be a shitty painting.
Bottom line, just skip this one. It's not worth it.
The only way to describe this book is with a saying my friend, James says about certain art--It's a shitty painting with a really nice frame.
The idea for this book is really cool. It's all mysterious and enticing, however the actual work, is all over the place. There's insta-love and boring characters that literally have no lives except to hang out with Graham or talk about him. There are sisters that, honest to god, only compare each other and point out how different they are from one another. And on top of that, the writing is so unbelievably bad, half the time, I didn't know if I was reading the book as things were happening or as the characters reflected back on the shit that just happened. I just didn't know.
To make matters worse, this book tries so hard. It tries so hard to keep it interesting by changing up the POVs and adding random thingss here and there as well as adding a strange love triangle. However, despite the really nice frame (idea), a shitty painting will always be a shitty painting.
Bottom line, just skip this one. It's not worth it.
November 9, 2015
2-3 Stars
So...the ARC copy I received seemed to need a LOT more revisions. Some of the POV's felt wrong, and I don't mean in the way they were meant to feel wrong. (There is an entire chapter that is supposed to be from one woman's POV in first person, & then it switches over to the girl's POV in third person! WTF?)
This has a twist ending that I guessed after some confusing chapters. There are LOTS of hints. While reading, I thought...no this can't be, and flipped back through the pages checking. But yes, I was right.
The writing wasn't great, far far from it, and the characters felt flat. Much of the book felt rather unrealistic. Very little detail. And there was too much foreshadowing. It kind of felt like the whole book was like "if only i had known then..."
But I still didn't think it was AS bad as all the one star reviews it's getting. I read it very quickly because I wanted to know what happened. It entertained me. I thought all the different points of view were annoying, but somewhat necessary. Sure, maybe it didn't need ALL of them, from every character in the book! Ha.
I think the author had a good idea, it just wasn't executed well. It kind of felt like a rough, first draft to me. I've studied psychology and I wouldn't say this is very accurate.
But I'd take a psychological thriller, even a mediocre one, over some of the garbage that's out there now...any day.
So...the ARC copy I received seemed to need a LOT more revisions. Some of the POV's felt wrong, and I don't mean in the way they were meant to feel wrong. (There is an entire chapter that is supposed to be from one woman's POV in first person, & then it switches over to the girl's POV in third person! WTF?)
This has a twist ending that I guessed after some confusing chapters. There are LOTS of hints. While reading, I thought...no this can't be, and flipped back through the pages checking. But yes, I was right.
The writing wasn't great, far far from it, and the characters felt flat. Much of the book felt rather unrealistic. Very little detail. And there was too much foreshadowing. It kind of felt like the whole book was like "if only i had known then..."
But I still didn't think it was AS bad as all the one star reviews it's getting. I read it very quickly because I wanted to know what happened. It entertained me. I thought all the different points of view were annoying, but somewhat necessary. Sure, maybe it didn't need ALL of them, from every character in the book! Ha.
I think the author had a good idea, it just wasn't executed well. It kind of felt like a rough, first draft to me. I've studied psychology and I wouldn't say this is very accurate.
But I'd take a psychological thriller, even a mediocre one, over some of the garbage that's out there now...any day.
June 4, 2019
3.5*
WTF!!! what a twisted end! I can't really seem to get my mind wrapped around it.
For the most part of the book you're wondering: "How can someone set up an online platform that basically shares random peoples personal information a second time and still don't realize the risks and consequences?" and "What drama happened before Graham moved next door to Ally and Sydney". Once that part was revealed everything happend so fast I struggled to keep up. The end just blew up in my face and I felt like I was screwed the entire time... Still don't understand how this end was possible...
WTF!!! what a twisted end! I can't really seem to get my mind wrapped around it.
For the most part of the book you're wondering: "How can someone set up an online platform that basically shares random peoples personal information a second time and still don't realize the risks and consequences?" and "What drama happened before Graham moved next door to Ally and Sydney". Once that part was revealed everything happend so fast I struggled to keep up. The end just blew up in my face and I felt like I was screwed the entire time... Still don't understand how this end was possible...
March 31, 2015
Twisted Fate alludes to a suspenseful, dark and twisted story with its comparisons to We Were Liars and mentions of a secretive and possible psychopathic love interest, however this book fell well short of expectations it gave me.
Twisted Fate follows sisters Alyson and Sydney (otherwise known as Tate, yes this does get a little confusing). Alyson and Sydney are completely different – Alyson is the nice girl-next-door type, while Sydney is a straight A student who is on the rebellious side. They really don’t see eye to eye on much, until they both start becoming attracted to the new boy who lives next door, Graham.
Twisted Fate is told from multiple points of view, but I feel that this story is really told from the point of view of the nerdy and defiant Sydney. Sydney took an instant dislike and distrust to the elusive Graham, whereas Alyson instantly liked him. And although these two very different girls had two completely initial opinions on him, they both ended feeling drawn to him. And this is where this story started to feel weird for me. I don’t mind the fact that sisters ended finding themselves attracted to the same boy, but it seems that neither of the girls had a real issue with the others feelings towards the object of their growing affection… and this, I find odd.
But this is just the beginning of the things that I found odd. Although elusive and secretive, I found Graham to be creepy… Graham is clearly hiding a big secret, he is a budding film maker and films everyone and everything, he see’s things very differently to other people and he encourages very odd behaviour. All of these things could be the build up to an interesting character, so I was starting to think it was because of the things that I was seeing through Sydney’s eyes, that I felt that he was “wrong” because of her opinion of him, but as the story developed I came to my own opinion of him – and wrong doesn’t begin to describe it.
For me, the characters felt disjointed from themselves. This may have been an intentional aspect of the story, but sadly this didn’t allow to connect to the characters either. I just couldn’t connect to them on any level. I didn’t feel the characters were fully developed beyond labels: Alyson: good girl, Sydney: emo, Graham: bad boy. Their personalities didn’t get off the ground beyond these labels – I didn’t understand them, I didn’t empathise with them, I didn’t feel anything beyond what was laid out to me in clichés. Maybe it’s because of the varying points of view that we didn’t get to be inside a characters head long enough to understand them? While I don’t mind stories told through various points of view, it could have contributed to my lack of connection to any of the characters in this story. But the varying perspectives certainly allows a few things come together that wouldn’t have if told solely from the sisters’ points of view, but I certainly feel that the characters development suffered due to the need to tie the storyline together.
Then there was the “twist”. I saw this coming from very early on. The story gives you (massive) hints along the away, and even before half way through the book, I was convinced of the twist. Although there was a time where I thought that I may have been wrong, and the author was going to pull something completely out of left-field, but my initial suspicion about the twist turned out the be accurate. Now, this in itself did not affect my enjoyment of the book. I don’t mind it when I guess the “twist”, and it wasn’t the twist itself I had issues with… but once you know (or have had it confirmed) it does raise some questions… some unanswerable ones.
This is where the book fell down for me. The conclusion. It just left me confused. I understand the twist, but events took place that cannot be explained due to this twist. I don’t know if that what is what the author was going for, mystery, but it left me confused, and therefor annoyed. I like answers from a stories conclusion, not confusion.
There was so much promise for Twisted Fate, however, for me, it lacked substance. I was expecting dark and twisted, and while this book was aiming for that, it just didn’t quite get there. I felt that the important part ofs this story were passive – the characters were removed, the intensity was lacking, and the ending was lack-lustre. I feel that too much was packed into it and therefore it suffered in some of the most important aspects: character depth and development. The plot itself wasn’t terrible, however I felt the ending certainly needed work. I don’t mind dark, warped and mysterious endings, however, I feel this story raised more questions than it answered, leaving me saying “WT…???” rather than “WOW!!!”.
Twisted Fate follows sisters Alyson and Sydney (otherwise known as Tate, yes this does get a little confusing). Alyson and Sydney are completely different – Alyson is the nice girl-next-door type, while Sydney is a straight A student who is on the rebellious side. They really don’t see eye to eye on much, until they both start becoming attracted to the new boy who lives next door, Graham.
Twisted Fate is told from multiple points of view, but I feel that this story is really told from the point of view of the nerdy and defiant Sydney. Sydney took an instant dislike and distrust to the elusive Graham, whereas Alyson instantly liked him. And although these two very different girls had two completely initial opinions on him, they both ended feeling drawn to him. And this is where this story started to feel weird for me. I don’t mind the fact that sisters ended finding themselves attracted to the same boy, but it seems that neither of the girls had a real issue with the others feelings towards the object of their growing affection… and this, I find odd.
But this is just the beginning of the things that I found odd. Although elusive and secretive, I found Graham to be creepy… Graham is clearly hiding a big secret, he is a budding film maker and films everyone and everything, he see’s things very differently to other people and he encourages very odd behaviour. All of these things could be the build up to an interesting character, so I was starting to think it was because of the things that I was seeing through Sydney’s eyes, that I felt that he was “wrong” because of her opinion of him, but as the story developed I came to my own opinion of him – and wrong doesn’t begin to describe it.
For me, the characters felt disjointed from themselves. This may have been an intentional aspect of the story, but sadly this didn’t allow to connect to the characters either. I just couldn’t connect to them on any level. I didn’t feel the characters were fully developed beyond labels: Alyson: good girl, Sydney: emo, Graham: bad boy. Their personalities didn’t get off the ground beyond these labels – I didn’t understand them, I didn’t empathise with them, I didn’t feel anything beyond what was laid out to me in clichés. Maybe it’s because of the varying points of view that we didn’t get to be inside a characters head long enough to understand them? While I don’t mind stories told through various points of view, it could have contributed to my lack of connection to any of the characters in this story. But the varying perspectives certainly allows a few things come together that wouldn’t have if told solely from the sisters’ points of view, but I certainly feel that the characters development suffered due to the need to tie the storyline together.
Then there was the “twist”. I saw this coming from very early on. The story gives you (massive) hints along the away, and even before half way through the book, I was convinced of the twist. Although there was a time where I thought that I may have been wrong, and the author was going to pull something completely out of left-field, but my initial suspicion about the twist turned out the be accurate. Now, this in itself did not affect my enjoyment of the book. I don’t mind it when I guess the “twist”, and it wasn’t the twist itself I had issues with… but once you know (or have had it confirmed) it does raise some questions… some unanswerable ones.
This is where the book fell down for me. The conclusion. It just left me confused. I understand the twist, but events took place that cannot be explained due to this twist. I don’t know if that what is what the author was going for, mystery, but it left me confused, and therefor annoyed. I like answers from a stories conclusion, not confusion.
There was so much promise for Twisted Fate, however, for me, it lacked substance. I was expecting dark and twisted, and while this book was aiming for that, it just didn’t quite get there. I felt that the important part ofs this story were passive – the characters were removed, the intensity was lacking, and the ending was lack-lustre. I feel that too much was packed into it and therefore it suffered in some of the most important aspects: character depth and development. The plot itself wasn’t terrible, however I felt the ending certainly needed work. I don’t mind dark, warped and mysterious endings, however, I feel this story raised more questions than it answered, leaving me saying “WT…???” rather than “WOW!!!”.
April 11, 2015
Twisted Fate is a Young Adult contemporary mystery/suspense book.
The book has multiple narrators. But the main ones are sisters Sydney and Ally.
The book starts off with Sydney talking about something big that happened. Then we go back to the beginning when new troubled neighbor Graham moves in. I actually hate when a book tries to foreshadow events this way. Plus at the end of many of the chapters the author does similar foreshadowing. I just don't like that at all. If a mystery is going to unfold I would rather just start at the beginning of the story.
Sydney and Ally are high school students. But they could not be more different. Ally is blonde and works hard, but she has to work super hard to get good grades. She loves to bake. Sydney is super smart. She is one of the top kids in her class. But she doesn't have to study much. She loves to read. But she is happy to skip class, skateboard and get high.
There were a bunch of narrators which made it confusing. Also Ally and Sydney were talking and in one chapter one would be the narrator and in the next chapter the other would be the narrator. It was very hard to figure out/remember who was talking. I definitely think that there were too many points of view.
The new neighbor Graham was definitely one of the most creepy characters ever. What he did was so super creepy.
The end was so bizarre and did not make much sense to me (was not explained).
Here's the thing. I have read other stories where there was a twist. And you are supposed to be like "wow, amazing that all makes sense". But it made little sense (to me).
I actually found that the police detective chapters were probably the most interesting. Getting info from the past and the present.
Towards the end of the book was definitely better than the beginning. The pace was faster and more was happening. I do love a good twist. But this did not make sense to me. I've seen it done much better.
This book did have an interesting premise. If you like YA mystery/suspense then you may enjoy this book. It was creepy and some of it was fascinating. It just didn't totally make sense to me.
Thanks to Edelweiss and Katherine Tegen Books for allowing me to read this book.
October 24, 2014
This book is being compared (by the Goodreads blurb at least) to the E. Lockhart book We Were Liars, and the Mara Dyers series by Michelle Hodkin. I see NO resemblance to either of those books (which I both really enjoyed by the way) and the only way this comes even close is that it tries to be a psychological thriller. The operative word in that sentence being "tries." I will admit freely that I did not read this entire book. It is less than 300 pages long, and when I was almost a 100 pages into it and absolutely NOTHING had happened yet, I decided to do something a true reader almost never does (unless they truly can't help themselves). I skipped to the last few pages, so I could see exactly how it ended. Boy was I glad that I didn't waste my time reading the other 200 or so pages!!!
Basically, this book is supposedley about twin sisters. One is a true goody-two-shoes, with the personality of a wet rag and the mental capability of a kindergartner. The other one is emo because she skateboards and a genius because she knows a few big words. She is a truly annoying little bitch, overusing the word 'philistine' because she thinks it's cool for some unknown reason. A new boy moves in next door. Graham is supposed to be a "bad" boy. Cue the drama, right? At least that's what the book jacket suggests. But then at the end, I found myself reading an obituary for one girl named Sydney Alyson. That's right, there is not a twin - she has multiple personality disorder. What the actual FUCK???!!! Why is this even necessary??? I just can't even abide that at all. It is the cheapest cop out in the history of thrillers, and is just an excuse for lazy writing and shitty characters. Yeah, next E. Lockhart my ass (I apologize if the cursing offends you, but this is one of my least favorite plot devices, by far). I am just so over this crap. Learn how to write and get back to me. I just might read something else by you - anything but this book anyways. It burned my eyeballs from my head with that "shocking revelation." And not in a good way.
VERDICT: 0.5/5 Stars (Goodreads would only let me go down to a 1 star - it's worse than that though. One of the worst I've ever read!)
**I reviewed this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is January 20th, 2015.**
Basically, this book is supposedley about twin sisters. One is a true goody-two-shoes, with the personality of a wet rag and the mental capability of a kindergartner. The other one is emo because she skateboards and a genius because she knows a few big words. She is a truly annoying little bitch, overusing the word 'philistine' because she thinks it's cool for some unknown reason. A new boy moves in next door. Graham is supposed to be a "bad" boy. Cue the drama, right? At least that's what the book jacket suggests. But then at the end, I found myself reading an obituary for one girl named Sydney Alyson. That's right, there is not a twin - she has multiple personality disorder. What the actual FUCK???!!! Why is this even necessary??? I just can't even abide that at all. It is the cheapest cop out in the history of thrillers, and is just an excuse for lazy writing and shitty characters. Yeah, next E. Lockhart my ass (I apologize if the cursing offends you, but this is one of my least favorite plot devices, by far). I am just so over this crap. Learn how to write and get back to me. I just might read something else by you - anything but this book anyways. It burned my eyeballs from my head with that "shocking revelation." And not in a good way.
VERDICT: 0.5/5 Stars (Goodreads would only let me go down to a 1 star - it's worse than that though. One of the worst I've ever read!)
**I reviewed this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is January 20th, 2015.**
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2015
True rating: 3.5
I’m quite the fan of any book that is pitched for fans of We Were Liars. I quite enjoyed that book and all the mystery that came with it. Like, We Were Liars, I think Twisted Fate is definitely going to be a hit or miss book for most people. It’s one of those books that you have to have a taste for being completely lost, needing to know answers, and then getting your brain scrambled. Which obviously…..I do. :P
Full review: http://bookiemoji.com/2015/01/book-re...
I’m quite the fan of any book that is pitched for fans of We Were Liars. I quite enjoyed that book and all the mystery that came with it. Like, We Were Liars, I think Twisted Fate is definitely going to be a hit or miss book for most people. It’s one of those books that you have to have a taste for being completely lost, needing to know answers, and then getting your brain scrambled. Which obviously…..I do. :P
Full review: http://bookiemoji.com/2015/01/book-re...
December 7, 2018
2.5 stars
Recently, I've been trying to catch up on my huge backlist of books. I would say I have a couple thousand print books, and several thousand on my Kindle that I own and haven't read. I've been listening to audiobooks quite a bit to catch up. Recently, I listened to Twisted Fate, which had been on my TBR for several years. After finishing, I'm still not entirely sure how I felt about it. I liked it, but also had quite a few problems with it.
There is one thing I really loved about Twisted Fate. I loved the concept of this book. It kept me guessing to the very end. Even at the end, I was still dumbstruck by how everything turned out. I couldn't believe it. It was also excellent at building suspense. I NEEDED to know what was going to happen next. However, I didn't like the excution of the concept. The book just felt very choppy to me, like a bunch of random scenes that weren't connected well. It made the book not flow well at all, which made things very confusing.
Speaking of confusing, I found the characters to all have the same type of voice, which I found very confusing. It was almost like they were one person instead of multiple people, especially the sisters, Ally and Syd. Maybe it's because I was listening to the audiobook, but I could not tell their characters apart at all. I kept having to flip back to the currently listening screen and look at the chapter titles to figure out which girl's perspective I was on. It made the photoshop thing towards the end of the book more confusing than shocking, although I still found it creepy.
I really did enjoy the concept behind Twisted Fate. I just wish the author would have had a better editor; someone who could have made the story flow more cohesively. I think if that would have happened, it would have been a five star read for me. As is, I just found the book to be confusing a lot of the time, and weird. If the author has more books available, I will probably try one more, just to see if the storytelling has matured.
Recently, I've been trying to catch up on my huge backlist of books. I would say I have a couple thousand print books, and several thousand on my Kindle that I own and haven't read. I've been listening to audiobooks quite a bit to catch up. Recently, I listened to Twisted Fate, which had been on my TBR for several years. After finishing, I'm still not entirely sure how I felt about it. I liked it, but also had quite a few problems with it.
There is one thing I really loved about Twisted Fate. I loved the concept of this book. It kept me guessing to the very end. Even at the end, I was still dumbstruck by how everything turned out. I couldn't believe it. It was also excellent at building suspense. I NEEDED to know what was going to happen next. However, I didn't like the excution of the concept. The book just felt very choppy to me, like a bunch of random scenes that weren't connected well. It made the book not flow well at all, which made things very confusing.
Speaking of confusing, I found the characters to all have the same type of voice, which I found very confusing. It was almost like they were one person instead of multiple people, especially the sisters, Ally and Syd. Maybe it's because I was listening to the audiobook, but I could not tell their characters apart at all. I kept having to flip back to the currently listening screen and look at the chapter titles to figure out which girl's perspective I was on. It made the photoshop thing towards the end of the book more confusing than shocking, although I still found it creepy.
I really did enjoy the concept behind Twisted Fate. I just wish the author would have had a better editor; someone who could have made the story flow more cohesively. I think if that would have happened, it would have been a five star read for me. As is, I just found the book to be confusing a lot of the time, and weird. If the author has more books available, I will probably try one more, just to see if the storytelling has matured.
January 1, 2016
3.5 stars actually.
Received as an arc from EpicReads. I went into this book with mild expectations and I am astounded at how much I enjoyed this novel. I thought this was going to be cliché boy next door novel but boy was I wrong.
Though I felt there was way too much POVS in here which confused me at times I was able to grasp the plot early on. I was not particularly in love with the writing style and felt "420" was wayy over used. As being a teenager myself I am pretty sure I rarely hear anyone say that.
Sydney was very pretentious and annoying in the beginning but I actually grew to like her. Also, that we didn't get a lot of Alyson in beginning but by the end I was satisfied. I wish we could have seen more scenes of the girls with their parents even though it is mentioned they rarely spend time with them it felt like they only came home once a week. YA is known for clueless/absent parents but c'mon it felt like they didn't even have parents and owned the entire house.
Graham, who Syd thinks is a sociapath, has one of the most interesting character dynamics i read about in a long time. He was so odd and very creepy at times, but he wouldn't have remorse for most of the things he did. It had you thinking, is this kid really a sociopath or just really stupid? I could feel myself getting scared for Syd when she would break into his room and search for stuff. This book held my attention from beginning to end and I applaud Norah Olson.
The main reason I give this book 3.5 stars is for that ending. My mind has been blown and I kinda love that...
Received as an arc from EpicReads. I went into this book with mild expectations and I am astounded at how much I enjoyed this novel. I thought this was going to be cliché boy next door novel but boy was I wrong.
Though I felt there was way too much POVS in here which confused me at times I was able to grasp the plot early on. I was not particularly in love with the writing style and felt "420" was wayy over used. As being a teenager myself I am pretty sure I rarely hear anyone say that.
Sydney was very pretentious and annoying in the beginning but I actually grew to like her. Also, that we didn't get a lot of Alyson in beginning but by the end I was satisfied. I wish we could have seen more scenes of the girls with their parents even though it is mentioned they rarely spend time with them it felt like they only came home once a week. YA is known for clueless/absent parents but c'mon it felt like they didn't even have parents and owned the entire house.
Graham, who Syd thinks is a sociapath, has one of the most interesting character dynamics i read about in a long time. He was so odd and very creepy at times, but he wouldn't have remorse for most of the things he did. It had you thinking, is this kid really a sociopath or just really stupid? I could feel myself getting scared for Syd when she would break into his room and search for stuff. This book held my attention from beginning to end and I applaud Norah Olson.
The main reason I give this book 3.5 stars is for that ending. My mind has been blown and I kinda love that...
January 7, 2016
I received a free e-book copy for review purposes from the publishers via Edelweiss.
First Impressions: I think a 3.5 rating is more appropriate for Twisted Fate. Whilst it had me guessing at times, I managed to figure out the plot twist early on. Not a bad book, but I wouldn't put it on the same wavelength as We Were Liars as I think Lockhart managed the suspense and disbelief aspect better than Olson.
An interesting, but frustrating read.
Review: When Alyson meets Graham, she has an instant connection with him. They're both shy and awkward. Her sister, Sydney, however finds his secretive past creepy and thinks he's a psychopath and thus tries to keep Alyson and Sydney apart, but ends up drawn to him as well.
At first, Twisted Fate read like a normal contemporary but quickly evolved into a mystery and the story behind Graham and his odd habits that, unfortunately, end up hurting people. The writing style is OK, if not a little sloppy. The several POVs is also a little off-putting because I had a difficult time differentiating the characters voices.
The plot twist was a little unexpected but little hints are dropped in here and there which helped me guess the turn a bit before it happened. The characters were a little flat, but not overly bad.
Overall, an OK read that needed a little but more character development.
First Impressions: I think a 3.5 rating is more appropriate for Twisted Fate. Whilst it had me guessing at times, I managed to figure out the plot twist early on. Not a bad book, but I wouldn't put it on the same wavelength as We Were Liars as I think Lockhart managed the suspense and disbelief aspect better than Olson.
An interesting, but frustrating read.
Review: When Alyson meets Graham, she has an instant connection with him. They're both shy and awkward. Her sister, Sydney, however finds his secretive past creepy and thinks he's a psychopath and thus tries to keep Alyson and Sydney apart, but ends up drawn to him as well.
At first, Twisted Fate read like a normal contemporary but quickly evolved into a mystery and the story behind Graham and his odd habits that, unfortunately, end up hurting people. The writing style is OK, if not a little sloppy. The several POVs is also a little off-putting because I had a difficult time differentiating the characters voices.
The plot twist was a little unexpected but little hints are dropped in here and there which helped me guess the turn a bit before it happened. The characters were a little flat, but not overly bad.
Overall, an OK read that needed a little but more character development.
September 1, 2014
The “We Were Liars” Of 2015
If you love guessing until the last page, E. Lockhart’s “We Were Liars”, sitting in shock after finishing the last page, and wanting to scream because it’s over, “Twisted Fate” is the book for you. For some, this type of book is the best, and for some it makes them angry and frustrated that they bothered to read the book at all. It’s hard to say much about “Twisted Fate” without spoiling anything, but it is the story of two Maine sisters who both encounter the new filmmaker boy next door. Although there are some minor snags in the plotline, Nora Olson’s debut is bound to be a hit “don’t tell anyone the ending” thriller, and the constant questions that layer one on top of the other make for a very fast read, and a very slow, thought-provoking afterthought.
A book that generates thought, suspense and a final page that will make you lose your mind.
Twisted Fate
By Nora Olson
272 pp. Harperteen.
January 26, 2015
Sisters Ally and Sydney don't have much in common; in fact, they are opposites in every way except when it comes to their new neighbor, Graham Copeland. They are both interested in him, but for different reasons. Ally has a crush on Graham and wants to get to know him better, but Sydney doesn't like the bad vibe she gets from him. She doesn't trust him, but is also intrigued by him as well. Graham is hiding many secrets and is hoping to start fresh in this new town. He also is obsessed with his video camera and claims he wants to be a filmmaker as he constantly is filming the people and the world around him. Things aren't what they seem with either teenager in this psychological thriller. Norah Olson's debut, Twisted Fate, is a suspenseful novel that did keep me entertained, but ultimately left me wanting more.
Read the rest of my review here:
http://www.confessionsofabookaddict.c...
Read the rest of my review here:
http://www.confessionsofabookaddict.c...
February 2, 2015
From the very beginning I swear on the life of my pet dog that I knew what the story was about. I mean, I'm a Psych major for Pete's sake. Dissociative Identity Disorder is one of my favorite Psychological disorders because the prospect of having multiple personalities seems very intriguing.
Anyway, I thought Graham was weird, but I also understood that he just wanted some attention. The ending was a bit of a shock but not enough to send me into a fit if rage. The writing style was all over the place at times and I just wish it could've been better. All in all, not a memorable read.
Anyway, I thought Graham was weird, but I also understood that he just wanted some attention. The ending was a bit of a shock but not enough to send me into a fit if rage. The writing style was all over the place at times and I just wish it could've been better. All in all, not a memorable read.
January 13, 2015
I was never quite sure what was going on. The different POVs were confusing rather than illuminating. I feel like the book was all about the big reveal, and sacrificed pace and characterization. I also wasn't a big fan of the drug abuse portrayed. If you are looking for a good mystery with a great ending, I would recommend We Were Liars.
January 8, 2015
3.5, I think.
That ending? Holy crap. I had suspicions at the end, but I just don't see how it ended the way that it did. I liked the mystery and figuring out what was going on, but the ending just feels like I'm suspended in mid-air after jumping out of an airplane.
That ending? Holy crap. I had suspicions at the end, but I just don't see how it ended the way that it did. I liked the mystery and figuring out what was going on, but the ending just feels like I'm suspended in mid-air after jumping out of an airplane.
November 17, 2025
This book kinda confused me, like dont get me wrong its a good book but the plot and they way the characters switched rlly confused me. maybe im just dumb but it just confused me lmao
February 17, 2015
*4.5 stars*
Twisted Fate was even better than I thought it was going to be. If you like gothic literature, unreliable narrators, or characters with questionable sanity, you need to read this book!
The best part of this book is undoubtedly the characters. From the first two chapters it is clear that we can’t really trust what the sisters, Alyson and Sydney, tell us since they give two fairly different accounts of the same story. And of course, there is Graham who we know is a very troubled individual. Graham is the one character I really disliked since he’s just so disturbing.
The book is told as the characters reflect backwards on what has happened, but we get glimpses of what’s already happened from police reports, journal entries, and other antidotes. It’s easy to piece most of the holes together and figure out that Graham is either incredibly stupid or a sociopath. But even though most of the plot wasn’t too difficult to figure out, there was one massive plot twist. I’m a bit frustrated with myself because I almost put it together, but in the end I missed it (more on that in my spoiler-filled book talk).
Twisted Fate is a very interesting novel and incorporates that psychological element I love so much. It’s always so much fun to read a novel with characters you can’t trust and try to see if you can piece together what is actually happening in the story. If that sounds like your kind of book, Twisted Fate is definitely a must read.
*Thank you to the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
For more book reviews, discussions, and book-related fashions, visit abouttoread.com
Twisted Fate was even better than I thought it was going to be. If you like gothic literature, unreliable narrators, or characters with questionable sanity, you need to read this book!
The best part of this book is undoubtedly the characters. From the first two chapters it is clear that we can’t really trust what the sisters, Alyson and Sydney, tell us since they give two fairly different accounts of the same story. And of course, there is Graham who we know is a very troubled individual. Graham is the one character I really disliked since he’s just so disturbing.
The book is told as the characters reflect backwards on what has happened, but we get glimpses of what’s already happened from police reports, journal entries, and other antidotes. It’s easy to piece most of the holes together and figure out that Graham is either incredibly stupid or a sociopath. But even though most of the plot wasn’t too difficult to figure out, there was one massive plot twist. I’m a bit frustrated with myself because I almost put it together, but in the end I missed it (more on that in my spoiler-filled book talk).
Twisted Fate is a very interesting novel and incorporates that psychological element I love so much. It’s always so much fun to read a novel with characters you can’t trust and try to see if you can piece together what is actually happening in the story. If that sounds like your kind of book, Twisted Fate is definitely a must read.
*Thank you to the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
For more book reviews, discussions, and book-related fashions, visit abouttoread.com
December 24, 2014
TWISTED FATE was a compelling story that is almost impossible to talk about without spoiling it for readers. The main characters are all variously damaged. Ally and Sydney have both taken different paths to gain the attention of their neglectful parents. Ally is determined to be perfect and her mother's eager clone. Sydney has decided to be a troublemaker and drug-user to gain her parents' attention. Neither approach seems to be working as it would be hard to find more absent parents in literature than these girls' parents.
Things really come to a head when Graham moves next door. His parents have moved to Maine mainly to get Graham away from mysterious events in Virginia. Graham is a filmmaker who doesn't believe that anything is real that he doesn't see through the lens of his camera. He is drawn to both girls and both are equally fascinated with him. Ally thinks he is a troubled soul who needs her support; Syd thinks he is very dangerous.
The book is told in multiple viewpoints - Ally, Syd, Graham, Graham's step-mother Kim and his father David, Syd's best friends Beth and Declan, and the town police chief. Each added more questions via cryptic hints that had me extremely curious about what was going on in the story. Indicating in the blurb that the book was like WE WERE LIARS had me prepared for a major twist. I kept trying to puzzle out who was telling the truth and who was lying. I was completely surprised by the twist I got.
If you like psychological thrillers, this is the book for you. I'll be thinking about, and talking about, this one a lot. If you've read it, can we talk?
Things really come to a head when Graham moves next door. His parents have moved to Maine mainly to get Graham away from mysterious events in Virginia. Graham is a filmmaker who doesn't believe that anything is real that he doesn't see through the lens of his camera. He is drawn to both girls and both are equally fascinated with him. Ally thinks he is a troubled soul who needs her support; Syd thinks he is very dangerous.
The book is told in multiple viewpoints - Ally, Syd, Graham, Graham's step-mother Kim and his father David, Syd's best friends Beth and Declan, and the town police chief. Each added more questions via cryptic hints that had me extremely curious about what was going on in the story. Indicating in the blurb that the book was like WE WERE LIARS had me prepared for a major twist. I kept trying to puzzle out who was telling the truth and who was lying. I was completely surprised by the twist I got.
If you like psychological thrillers, this is the book for you. I'll be thinking about, and talking about, this one a lot. If you've read it, can we talk?
January 20, 2015
3.5 stars
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.)
Having just finished this book, the main thought running through my head is…
What the heck just happened??
Allyson and Sydney were quite different characters. Allyson was the typical ‘good girl’, whilst Sydney liked to skateboard and get in trouble. Allyson tried to help Sydney be more sociable, whilst Sydney was happier doing her own thing.
Graham on the other hand was a bit of a nutter, and his letter writing, which always started with ‘Dear Lined Piece of Paper’, was just weird. Never mind the strange videos of kids that he made!
The storyline in this was a little crazy. I got confused at the fact that Sydney seemed to be called ’Tate’ by her friends, and I didn’t understand why either Sydney or Allyson liked Graham, who came across as a little creepy.
The ending to this was just total madness, and my brain is starting to hurt just thinking about it! Talk about a twist, talk about crazy, talk about a total mind bend! I kind-of want to go back and read the story again to see if I can pick the clues out as the story goes along, but unfortunately I didn’t like the book enough to do that. I have to say that the end of this book was the best part for me, and the only thing that made this book worth reading.
Overall; okay story, with a bizarre mind bending ending,
7 out of 10.
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.)
Having just finished this book, the main thought running through my head is…
What the heck just happened??
Allyson and Sydney were quite different characters. Allyson was the typical ‘good girl’, whilst Sydney liked to skateboard and get in trouble. Allyson tried to help Sydney be more sociable, whilst Sydney was happier doing her own thing.
Graham on the other hand was a bit of a nutter, and his letter writing, which always started with ‘Dear Lined Piece of Paper’, was just weird. Never mind the strange videos of kids that he made!
The storyline in this was a little crazy. I got confused at the fact that Sydney seemed to be called ’Tate’ by her friends, and I didn’t understand why either Sydney or Allyson liked Graham, who came across as a little creepy.
The ending to this was just total madness, and my brain is starting to hurt just thinking about it! Talk about a twist, talk about crazy, talk about a total mind bend! I kind-of want to go back and read the story again to see if I can pick the clues out as the story goes along, but unfortunately I didn’t like the book enough to do that. I have to say that the end of this book was the best part for me, and the only thing that made this book worth reading.
Overall; okay story, with a bizarre mind bending ending,
7 out of 10.
October 17, 2014
I get what the author was trying to do, but it was so obvious as to what was going on. Even if you were unsure, the hints provided were so heavy handed that it took me out of the story. When you add that with uneven writing and way too many point of views, then you don't gt a thrilling story that makes you second guess yourself. You just get a book that is a chore to get through.
Full review to come
Full review to come
January 5, 2015
ARGH. Just . . . . argh. This book had so much promise. Creepy boy next door, messed up females, bad parents . . . but no. All the cliches and stereotypes had to be written. By the time I got to the end of the book I wanted to kick the hell out of everyone in the book. Second star is because I DID finish the book, and I love the cover with the twisted arms.
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January 5, 2015This was a book that just wasn't meant for me. Read my full review here http://mundiemoms.blogspot.com/2015/0...
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