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Let’s Get Together

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Boston Globe–Horn Book Award–winning author Brandy Colbert gives The Parent Trap a fresh, funny, and delightfully unexpected update in this story of two girls—one raised by her single father, the other in the foster care system—who meet by chance . . . only to discover they’re identical twins.

Kenya Norwood likes things just the way they are. She's lived all her life in Pasadena with her dad and grandmother, she's attended the same school with the same friends since pre-K, and whether it's at outdoor club or her own lunch table, she loves being the center of attention. Even as she's about to start middle school, she knows one thing for sure: none of that is going to change.

For Liberty Perry, change is all she's ever known. Her mother disappeared when she was a toddler, and ever since, she's never stayed in one place for very long. But her new foster mother, Joey, seems different. Maybe in this home, in this school, change won't come so quickly.

Except everything changes the day the girls meet—and Kenya and Liberty discover they are identical.

Neither Kenya nor Liberty is ready to find out she has a twin sister (in fact, they're both unsure if they even want one), and when the girls learn the truth of how they were separated, it's clear that no one else in their lives was ready for this, either. But soon, they realize that the connection they share might be even stronger than the things that kept them apart—and that teaming up might be the only way to set everything right.

304 pages, Hardcover

Published September 9, 2025

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About the author

Brandy Colbert

27 books1,244 followers
Brandy Colbert was born and raised in the Missouri Ozarks. She lives and writes in Los Angeles.


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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
Profile Image for Hannah.
Author 6 books242 followers
Read
July 31, 2025
As a longtime Hayley Mills girlie, I absolutely died when I saw this and had to read it immediately. It is so charming and delightful, and I appreciated the subtle nod to the two versions of this movie (didja catch it? "Actually, they camp in both versions"). This is such a great update and correction to the original story (at least the original movie; I've never read the book) and I love everything about it.
Profile Image for Nev.
1,456 reviews221 followers
June 22, 2025
What an absolutely delightful read! Brandy Colbert’s take on The Parent Trap story is full of unique ideas for why the girls were split up, how they learn about one another, and the schemes that they cook up together. Kenya and Liberty were both incredibly fleshed out characters, it was so interesting to see how each of them reacted to finding out they had a sister and learning their full family backstory. I loved the explorations of how families can take different shapes.

In addition to the twin/family storyline, there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on with them starting middle school, making friends, and having crushes. Overall I think this is just a stellar middle grade title. I’d definitely recommend it to readers who enjoy contemporary MG stories with an emphasis on family. But I also think it could be fun for anyone who is a fan of the different Parent Trap iterations and is interested in seeing that story star two Black girls.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Profile Image for Sacha.
1,993 reviews
August 11, 2025
5 stars

I truly adore Colbert's middle grade and YA, and I love that this author's books are so varied in genre and scope. This newest one, _Let's Get Together_, is a wonderful addition to the Colbert collection.

The moment I saw this title, even before I saw the cover and well before I investigated a synopsis, the song "Let's Get Together" (ya ya ya!) from _The Parent Trap_ was playing loudly in my head. Let's just say it hasn't really stopped since I started and have now recently finished the novel, and I'm not mad at it. The good news is that this novel is an updated trapping of the parents, so it's right on brand (and I feel less bananas).

Kenya and Liberty are both shocked when everyone at school points out that each girl has a doppleganger somewhere on campus. There's a moment when one believes this is a likely result of racism (i.e., the notion that members of specific groups are indistinguishable to onlookers with different identities), which is just another example of the smooth way in which Colbert introduces reality - even when it's difficult - in an age appropriate but confronting manner. It turns out, though, that these girls actually do look very much alike, and this is fascinating because one is a long-term resident of Pasadena with her dad and grandma and the other is a relatively recent transplant into a new foster home with her foster mother, Joey. When the girls get a better sense of their connection, they want the best of both worlds, and what could be better than to get single dad and single foster mom to join forces into one big happy family?!

I absolutely adored these girls, especially Liberty (though Kenya holds her own, too), and the modern update on an old classic is spot on. Colbert addresses challenges with the foster system, with real-life obstacles faced by people even when they have young kids, and a number of other sociocultural issues. Every one of these situations is managed in an age appropriate and audience aware manner. Not everything has a happy outcome, and that's okay. Resilience, forgiveness, and acceptance matter most, and all of these vital motifs come through clearly (among many others).

I started this book a super fan of this author's and I'm finishing it with an even greater appreciation for her. Colbert is a force in the MG and YA worlds, and I know so many young readers have been helped by her characters. That trend will undoubtedly continue with this excellent read.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Clarion Books for this arc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Profile Image for TheNextGenLibrarian.
3,053 reviews116 followers
August 20, 2025
Fans of Sister Sister and The Parent Trap will love this MG spin on the split twin trope!
👯‍♀️
Kenya loves living with her and grandmother in Pasadena, but when a new girl moves in who looks just like her, it shakes Kenya’s life up. Now all anyone can talk about is the new girl, Liberty, who is a foster kid finally in what could be a forever home situation. When Kenya’s father sees Liberty for the first time after the two get into an altercation, he realizes it’s his long lost daughter. Both girls don’t know what this means for their future or if they even want to be in one another’s lives.
👯
Loved. Loved this book so much and yes, that has a lot to do with my love for twin stories, but @brandycolbert does a phenomenal job taking a popular story and making it feel fresh and new. The audiobook was very well done also. This title releases September 9–be sure to get your hands on it then!

CW: medical content, physical assault, parental abandonment, drug use, drug abuse, death of a parent (discussed), grief, foster care system, bullying
Profile Image for Bethe.
6,954 reviews69 followers
January 29, 2026
5 stars. Dual pov alternating chap
Like parent trap - split twin trope - separated twins but with one girl a foster child starting a new school on first day Liberty 6th grade where Kenya has been attending since PK, lives with dad and gma
Kenya camping in a yurt!
Refreshing to see Kenya confused about Cameron asking about the mixer, worries what to if he asks her to dance
Seems like birthday bulletin board would be a foreshadowing to the girls being twins
How did liberty end up in foster care?
Why doesn’t Kenya’s dad talk about mom? Does he know about liberty?
Does liberty have the same pull towards Kenya like she has for liberty?
Kenya doesn’t want to get her period, love how she says: it seemed pretty unfair that you didn’t get a say in the matter that it just sort of happened and you didn’t know exactly when it would start. Feels strange since she doesn’t have a mom to ask about it, her gma just not the same.
Friendship drama & crushes & pushing shoving match at the dance
Have to do in school suspension together
The kind of change she liked best. the kind that reminded her not everything had to be so big to feel important.
Author note explains fascination with original Parent trap movie with Haley Mills but bringing it into modern day. Also info on children in foster care and with parents with substance abuse. “ these experiences are not my own, and they will not be familiar to everyone who reads this story, but as with all my work, I hope that my readers will be able to look beyond their own life experience to consider that there is strength and power and empathy.”
Profile Image for Stephanie Fitzgerald.
1,228 reviews
August 25, 2025
Such a wonderful, touching book!
Kenya has been looking forward to school starting again. She’s got Outdoor Club to continue, and a great group of friends to start middle-school with. This could be her year!
Liberty is grateful that she has the support of her foster mom to help her start 6th grade. Her experiences at other schools have often been not so positive. Living with Joey has been great so far, so Liberty hopes her first year of middle school will go well, also.
These two girls are in for the literal surprise of a lifetime!
The author declares right up front that this novel is a shout-out to an “oldie-but-goodie” movie, the original “Parent Trap” from the 60’s. That’s why I was thrilled to have my request from Netgalley approved! I’ve been a fan of anything “Parent Trap” related since childhood; movie sequels, re-makes, books, etc. Brandy Colbert does a marvelous job of putting modern twists on this beloved story of two only children who discover their “twin-ness” by pure accident!

*I received a digital copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.*
Profile Image for Barb Middleton.
2,359 reviews145 followers
November 20, 2025
A foster girl finds a family. Middle grade with a 6th grader telling the story.
Profile Image for Audrey.
882 reviews17 followers
September 10, 2025
This was so excellent! It pretty much has all the best parts of The Parent Trap, while modernizing it and making it way more relevant (remember the live-in staff in The Parent Trap movies? Anyone else think that was a bit alienating?), as well as adding in some real, meaty issues of around being a kid in foster care and what makes a family. A great middle grade book.
Profile Image for Ms. Yingling.
4,095 reviews614 followers
May 21, 2025
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

This reimaging of the classic 1961 The Parent Trap movie, based on the 1949 German book by Erich Kästner, Das Doppelte Lottchen, starts with an important note by Colbert. She loved the movie growing up, but was bothered by the fact that the twins were split up. I recently read the Pushkin Press rerelease of Kastner’s title, and thought the same thing. It’s an interesting story, but how can it be made relevant to today’s young readers? This is how.

Kenya Norwood has been going to Biddy Mason Community School for her entire school career. She lives with her father, Wes, and her grandmother, Cookie. She has two good friends, Imani, who is Black like Kenya, and Willa, who is white. Her mother abandoned the family when Kenya was very young, and no one ever talks about her. Liberty has quite a different life. She is starting her tenth new school because she has been in the foster care system since she was an infant, and knows practically nothing about her parents. She has a really good foster mother now, Joey, who is supportive and fun. When Liberty starts at Biddy Mason, she is mistaken for another girl. Kenya also is confused, and when the two finally meet, they realize they share the same umber skin, dimpled chin, and unusual hazel eyes. Kenya is not happy with the interloping doppelganger, especially when her crush, Cameron, seems to be unable to tell the two apart… or is he more interested in Liberty? Cherry-Anne comes to Kenya’s aid and befriends her, but also asks her insensitive questions about being in foster care. When both girls end up in the outdoor explorers’ club (with Cameron!), the rivalry intensifies, and comes to a crisis at the school dance. After a fight, both girls’ parents are called in, and the truth emerges: Liberty likely IS Kenya’s twin, who was taken by their mother. She struggled with drug addiction, and even though the father and grandmother tried very hard to find the two, the mother did not want to be found, and eventually passed away. After a paternity test, Wes is revealed as the father, which puts Liberty in an awkward position. She wants to be with her father, but Joey was set to adopt her, and she really loves Joey as well. It doesn’t take long for Liberty and Kenya to hatch a plan to get their parents together so that everyone can be one happy family. This involves canceling a Thanksgiving dinner order so that Kenya’s family has to meet Joey’s parents, and a camping trip that goes fairly smoothly. There are still some problems, like Liberty’s anxiety over the whole situation that results in a panic attack at a haunted house. This ends on a happy but realistically inconclusive note; Wes and Joey get along well, but are still not a couple by the end of the book.
Strengths: This was exactly what I wanted in a retelling of Kastner’s tale! It has a great setting (I really want to go to Pasadena and visit Bungalow Heaven now!), supportive adults, and a plausible reason for the twins to have been separated that is realistic and not mean. Kenya’s reaction to Liberty is understandable, as is Liberty’s desire to be with both Wes and Joey. The inclusion of Cameron, Kenya’s crush, gives this another fun level of drama for tweens. The issue of drug addiction, and its effect on the family, is explained well, and even addresses the fact that the father had a brief problem as well. There is a touching scene where Cookie takes both girls to the house where they all lived together. Some local history is included as well, with Biddy Mason, a formerly enslaved woman who owned property in the area.
Weaknesses: It seemed a little unrealistic that Kenya’s father and grandmother wouldn’t have told her about her mother, considering how many children are being raised by one parent or by grandparents these days, but every family is different, and the plot does revolve around this secrecy!
What I really think: I really enjoyed this one, and it was a relief to read something that was generally upbeat even though it had children with serious issues. I will definitely purchase this one for my library, and see it being popular with readers who like books about twins like Meyer and Levy’s Let It Glow, Johnson and Wright’s Twins, Kim’s On Thin Ice, Benway’s The Girls of Skylark Lane ,or DeVillers and Roy’s (who are twins!) 2010 Trading Faces.
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Profile Image for Richie Partington.
1,209 reviews136 followers
January 8, 2026
Richie’s Picks: LET’S GET TOGETHER by Brandy Colbert, HarperCollins/Clarion, September 2025, 304p., ISBN: 978-0-06-309248-8

“A doppelgänger is a look-alike of a living person, originating from German folklore as a ghostly, supernatural double, but now commonly used for any unrelated person who looks strikingly similar, like a ‘double-walker’.”
– Google AI overview

Let's get together, yay-yay-yay!
Two is twice as nice as one
Let's get together, right away
We'll be having twice the fun
And you can always count on me
A gruesome twosome we will be
Let's get together, yay-yay-yay!
– The Sherman Brothers, “Let’s Get Together,” from “The Parent Trap” (1961)

Eleven-year-old Kenya has been tense and weirded out since foster child Liberty–Kenya’s doppelgänger–arrives in town at her latest foster placement, and begins attending Kenya’s school. From Day One, Liberty is repeatedly mistaken by classmates for Kenya.

Eventually, at a school mixer, Kenya blows her top and kicks off a fight with Liberty, necessitating Kenya’s father Wesley and grandmother (Cookie), and Liberty’s foster mom Joey, to come pick up their respective charges. It’s then that Kenya’s dad and grandmother suddenly realize that Liberty has to be Kenya’s long-missing twin, who Liberty and Kenya’s troubled mom disappeared with a decade ago when the two girls were babies.

“‘Kenya.’ Dad shook his head as he stood before her. ‘What happened?’
She worked her bottom lip beneath her teeth. ‘It’s kind of a long story.’
‘Lucky for you, I have all night for you to tell me about it.’
‘Wesley…’ said Cookie from her post at the door.
‘Hold on a second, Mama.’ He was still looking at Kenya. ‘Did you really get into a fight? That’s not like you.’
‘It wasn’t a fight. We were–’
‘Wesley–’
‘Mama, I’m trying to–’
‘Wesley!’
They both turned then. Cookie had stepped into the room and was staring at Liberty.
Kenya watched as Dad followed Cookie’s gaze, and a moment later, his entire body wilted, as if he’d been hit by a tranquilizer dart. He looked like he was going to crumple to the floor.
‘Dad!’ Kenya reached out to steady him, and he caught himself against Trina’s desk. Kenya popped up, taking hold of his arm. ‘Dad? What’s wrong?’
Cookie was peering at Liberty now, her face so close that Liberty scooted back a little on the bench.
‘Could it be…?’ Cookie whispered. ‘Is it really you?’
Liberty looked at her, confused. ‘My name is Liberty.’
Cookie exhaled. ‘Wesley, are you seeing what I’m seeing?’”

Inspired by “The Parent Trap,” the twins in LET’S GET TOGETHER eventually surmount the interpersonal weirdness related to their sudden reconnection. Things get so comfortable between them that Kenya begins plotting to hook up the girls’ single father with Liberty’s single foster mom–the best foster parent Liberty has ever had–so that the two girls can share a family and a household.

This is a feel-good elementary-level tale that concludes with a smile. I’d not hesitate to share it with eight- and nine-year-old readers.

Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
Profile Image for Lisa Vegan.
2,918 reviews1,324 followers
December 29, 2025
I could have read this quickly and wanted to read it faster but I had a long power outage and then there were threats of more outages so I kept saving most of it because it would have been a perfect, comforting book to read in the darkness. I was able to finish it with lights on.

Yes, I kept hearing the song in my head. The Hayley Mills’ original The Parent Trap movie was one of my favorites when I was a kid and I still love it. It came out when I was 7-1/2. I’d already seen and loved Pollyanna (I guess I was only 6 and it was probably one of the first movies I ever saw) and these two movies turned me into a Hayley Mills fan. I also enjoyed the remake Parent Trap movie and, thanks to Goodreads friend Gundula, got the opportunity to read the book the movies are based on, Lisa and Lottie by Erich Kästner. I also love books about twins and books about orphans so I knew that I would enjoy this book and I did. I would have adored it when I was 9-11 years old.

I love the two girls in this book and their scheming is brilliant and funny and entertaining, and their growing relationship is heartwarming and realistic. I like the adult characters a lot too, and the girls’ school and their friends & classmates. I do appreciate it when children’s books have well rounded adult characters and this one does. I was afraid there would be too much romance for 11-12 years olds but it never went too close to that, thankfully.

I love how an offhand comment by one of the characters got both versions of the movie The Parent Trap movie included in this story. The camping trips were mentioned. Ha!

There was also a camping trip in this book.

This story was great fun but in a way was more serious than either of the Parent Trap movies. In those stories both girls grew up with a different loving parent. In this story one of the girls has spent most of her life in the foster care system.

I respected and appreciated and liked that there was no mention by anyone of having Liberty use her birth name instead of the name by which she knew herself.

There are some good inclusions of African-American history and Los Angles & its vicinity feel like characters too.

The ending felt way too abrupt but still satisfying and realistic enough. I wanted more (I’d read a sequel!) but I think its conclusion did feel complete so I can’t really complain.

The Author’s Note is good. She talks about her love for the original The Parent Trap movie and writes about the U.S. foster care system and also about how one in four children have a parent dealing with a substance use disorder. I love how she says that while many children might not be personally dealing with any of this “to consider that there in strength and power in empathy.”

It’s a great book, especially for Parent Trap fans.

4-1/2 stars
Profile Image for Rebecca.
2,795 reviews35 followers
December 23, 2025
Kenya and Liberty couldn't be more different. Liberty has grown up in foster care, used to moving at a moment's notice and having to figure out the rules for every new place. At least now she's been with Joey, a playwright, for several months, and it's the best place she's ever lived. She's not looking forward to starting yet another new school, though. Kenya has been raised by her father and grandmother, and is the queen of the school--she's super-popular and knows everyone, and is so excited for the start of sixth grade--especially seeing quiet Cameron again. But then...Liberty shows up. And she looks exactly like Kenya--like, exactly exactly. WTH? And then Kenya finds Liberty everywhere she goes--in her outdoor club, being friends with Cameron, and generally stealing her thunder. Liberty doesn't see what the big deal is, but Kenya is incensed, and lets Liberty know--and it doesn't go well. It ends up with both girls in the office, parents called, and when Kenya's father walks in and sees Liberty? The whole story changes. Because they are, indeed, identical twins. Will this work out like the classic Parent Trap?

I really enjoyed this. I thought it was a believable take on Parent Trap, with fewer hijinks. The girls were well-drawn and quite distinct, as were their families/found families. In the audio version, their parts are read by different people (I'm pretty sure), which was really helpful. It was compulsively readable. I liked how Liberty illustrated how not to talk to kids in foster care, which hopefully readers will put into action if they run into foster kids at school. I also liked that Kenya and her dad loved outdoor activities, because that's not that common to find in books with Black protagonists, unfortunately. Overall, this was a winner for me.
Profile Image for Rebecca.
546 reviews5 followers
September 7, 2025
Thanks @harperkids @brandycolbert #LetsGetTogether @tlcbooktours #gifted

This middle grade novel is a take on The Parent Trap and since I love both versions of the movie - I was excited to see how Colbert would make it her own. Kenya is excited to start sixth grade until she finds out everyone thinks the new girl, Liberty, looks just like her. Liberty is in foster care and used to moving houses and schools, but her new foster mom, Joey wants to adopt her.

This was a really fresh spin and yes certain elements from the movies are there - a fight scene that pushes the twins together and a plot to get their parents together - but there’s also something new and different about it. I enjoyed how Colbert wove in some LA history and information about foster care.

The twins act age appropriate with Kenya having the typical angst of boys and friends and Liberty dealing with all the emotions that come with being in foster care. And while, Colbert deals with big emotions and topics, I felt it was handled well and with young readers in mind.

The nod to the movies and the author’s note were great.

I’d recommend this for kids in upper elementary to middle school.

Parents make it a fun book club experience by reading together then watch and compare to the movies. If you’re into it, you could even go camping (or sleep on your living room floor).
Profile Image for Alicia.
8,623 reviews152 followers
November 17, 2025
I've never seen the Parent Trap so I have no context but I know that Colbert always writes winners because her characters have heart and three dimensions and there's always a solid storyline to follow that even though it's not earth shattering, is comforting and reflective. In this story, two girls end up at the same school and it's uncanny how similar they look. And lo and behold, they were twins, separated. The mother left Kenya with the father and grandmother and took off, only to give up the one she took and that girl ended up going into foster care, but her new placement, with a woman named Joey, seems to be her final home since Joey has expressed interest in adopting her.

But when the girls actually realize they are (and confirm) that they're twins, new ideas emerge including possibly getting their father to get together with Liberty's foster mom. Will it work or will they find a happy in between to give them all a dose of happily ever after even when things took a while to unfold.

One of the things I liked most is giving language to Liberty to address awkward interactions that new people she met would ask about her foster care situation. It was heartening to give others who read the book an opportunity to empower them to say it's not okay to ask intrusive questions about those circumstances.
547 reviews7 followers
February 7, 2026
When Liberty Perry starts her new school, everyone mistakes her for a girl named Kenya. Liberty is finally in a stable situation, in foster care with a new foster mom, Joey, and she doesn't want complications. Kenya Norwood, the girl who looks just like Liberty, has always lived with her dad and grandmother, has been at this school since preschool, has a tight friendship group, and doesn't want anything to change. In this revisit of The Parent Trap with the twist of a mother disappearing with one of a set of twins and changing their names, Liberty and Kenya must come to terms with what it means for one of them to have always lived with family and one of them to have been in foster care since age 2. Their relationship is complicated by Joey's desire to adopt Liberty, on hold since the discovery of the Liberty's original identity, and Kenya's desire for a mom. Can the girls somehow work out a happy ending for everyone? This remake of the movie, with subtle nods to the original story, faithfully chronicles the emotions of the two girls caught up in a situation of neither's making, compounded by coming of age and trying to figure out friendships and even romance. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Liberty and Kenya navigate their separate and shared worlds.
1,137 reviews
January 10, 2026
This was really well done.
Inspired by the original Parent Trap (hence the title, duh), this explores what it might be like for two girls separated by a dysfunctional mom to be reunited years later by coincidence.
Told in alternating chapters; Kenya resents an interloper messing up her planned sixth grade social triumph and horning in on her crush, while Liberty struggles to feel like she belong--and will be able to stay in the first foster placement that feels like "home" for her. (Some brief descriptions of unsuccessful stays.)
More than the rosy portrayals in the movie versions, this explores the bumpy parts that realistically could arise from a messy situation, and the sadness that would result from the losses they've experienced. The voices of the two girls are quite different, and they eventually learn from each other. Of course, once they've resolved their own issues, their plan to link up their grownups is a stretch, but it doesn't unfold as speedily as they hoped.
Not as explicitly CRE as some of her other books.
I could see this being a popular read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Suzy.
951 reviews
September 8, 2025
I really enjoyed reading this one. I thought it was going to be kind of parent trappy, and it was similar in some ways, but it really had it's own story line.
Kenya and Liberty don't know what to do when they start school together and are seeing someone with their face in the halls. They get in a fight at the mixer, which then leads to their parents getting involved and they learn more about their story.
Liberty has been in foster care as long as she can remember and to find her family now gives her mixed emotions. I can understand why she has mixed emotions because she has finally found a family where she feels at home and doesn't know how she fits into her family.
Kenya loves the attention she has always received but with Liberty she is afraid people will forget her.
The girls work hard to move past all of this and create friendship.

A good middle grade book about finding family.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.
457 reviews
January 13, 2026
I picked this up because I love the Haley Mills movie, and I did enjoy the subtle references to the film in this book. However, for me, this book was just okay, and maybe that's because I was expecting a light-hearted comedy, while this book is more of a heatfelt family drama.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this story. Joey and Hansberry were my favorite characters, and the girls' personalities were well-developed well, too. The themes of the book are expressed beautifully, and the writing is competent. I liked it. I didn't love it.
Profile Image for Yapha.
3,311 reviews107 followers
January 17, 2026
This was a very fun take on The Parent Trap! Kenya lives with her dad and grandmother and is excited to be starting sixth grade. She has everything planned out. What she didn't expect was for a new girl who looks exactly like her to show up. Liberty is in a new foster home, and finally feels comfortable there. First days at new schools are always hard, but this is the first time that everyone tells her she looks like someone else. Kenya becomes increasingly annoyed until she pulls a mean trick that reveals a life-changing secret. Highly recommended for grades 5 & up.
Profile Image for Jan Raspen.
1,014 reviews16 followers
August 18, 2025
I'd give this middle grade novel to fifth or sixth graders who like realistic fiction. Twins Liberty and Kenya were separated as toddlers and reunited in middle school when Liberty enrolls in Kenya's school. I loved the scenes where adults and classmates were mixing them up, and the tension leading up to the girls' families realizing that they actually were siblings. This mostly-humorous-but-sometimes-serious take on The Parent Trap was a fun read.
Profile Image for Karen.
1,753 reviews13 followers
November 24, 2025
A modern parent trap featuring twins Liberty, a foster kid all her life, and Kenya, who has grown up with her father and grandmother. When Liberty starts yet another new school, everyone seems to know who she is, mistaking her for Kenya. Everyone thinks the girls are doppelgangers but when they get into a fight and their parents are called, Kenya’s father and grandmother are shocked to discover Liberty, their long-lost daugher/grand-daughter.
Profile Image for Christina.
45 reviews1 follower
December 26, 2025
**I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway**

Kenya is annoyed when she notices the new girl at school looks suspiciously like her...and everyone can't stop talking about it. Liberty, meanwhile, is trying to adjust to yet another new school. As a foster child, she moves around a lot. Tensions build, and the sixth grade mixer puts these two girls head-to-head, revealing a secret that was eleven years in the making.

This novel, based on classic stories like The Parent Trap or Sister, Sister is an amazing modern companion that gets to deeper issues like the foster system and other familial issues. These issues were tackled in a middle-grade appropriate way, which was perfect for the audience of this novel.

Profile Image for Michelle.
56 reviews26 followers
January 19, 2026
I knew, as soon as I saw this cover, that it was going to be based on the Hayley Mills movie The Parent Trap, which from the sounds of it I loved as a kid as much as this author. Twins separated at a very young age for some reason, who grew up thinking they had no siblings, suddenly come across each other... and hate each other. Forced to spend time together as punishment for an argument, then they realize they have a lot in common, and then they realize they have the same birthday. But this novel is a fun twist because it modernizes things, and this story brings the foster system into this, which is more realistic than two parents splitting twins due to divorce and never mentioning the other half of the family. There are plenty of Easter eggs for fans of the movie, like that Kenya loves camping with her father. But there are also a lot of changes that ensure the reader is surprised. I loved this story and will be looking for more by the author.
Profile Image for Libriar.
2,526 reviews
September 4, 2025
When Liberty shows up for her first day of 6th grade at yet another new school, everyone thinks she looks just like Kenya. This twist on Parent Trap is filled with 6th-grade drama but also love. There is depth to this story that should appeal to readers in 4th-6th grade. ARC courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley.
172 reviews2 followers
February 1, 2026
Hey there! This is Charlie P. I am eleven years old and I am reading books for charity. I want to help mom’s pick out good books for their kids. Here is another review by me!

Let’s get together was a super fun book. It kind of felt like a The Parent Trap kind of book. I loved the detail it gave and it had atoll of fun aspects to it. I loved reading this book and I hope you do too! Ages 9 to 12
223 reviews20 followers
June 15, 2025
Absolutely riveting! What a masterclass in writing character! I was completely invested in these girls and their journey toward family from the start and it kept building throughout the story. I literally could not put it down and read it in one sitting. Middle grade readers will be riveted. Highly recommend. ARC read
Profile Image for Patti Sabik.
1,482 reviews14 followers
July 12, 2025
I really enjoyed this new take on “Parent Trap.” The characters were solidly written with depth, sensitivity, and relatability. I appreciated Colbert’s more realistic approach to the separation of the twins and why the dad and grandfather were so secretive. Definitely a fun satisfying read.
Profile Image for Carrie.
2,682 reviews60 followers
September 22, 2025
This is a fun update to The Parent Trap and Colbert always writes such great characters, so I was happy to see Kenya and Liberty reunited. Is it bad that I also wanted Joey and Wes to fall in love just like the two girls?
Profile Image for DeAja.
249 reviews1 follower
December 1, 2025
4.25 stars! Brandy Colbert can not write a bad book and I love that. This was such a cute middle grade twist on The Parent Trap but still touched on serious topics such as the foster care system and more. I think it’s critical that middle grade novels have the balance that this book exhibited
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews

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