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The Lookalike
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Expected 9 Mar 27Win a free print copy of this book!
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20 copies available
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A struggling young woman discovers she could be the double of a missing socialite and slips into her life, only to become the target of threats tied to the disappearance she’s hiding behind in this juicy psychological thriller from Julie Balint.
Twenty-five-year-old Nova Kennedy has gone missing from her family’s Cape Cod mansion. Even though they're not those Kennedys, the disappearance dominates the season’s headlines. Six weeks later, Nova reappears. Or so everyone believes.
Kristen Wells is a broke, bored nobody in Louisiana when she sees Nova’s face on the news and realizes she’s Nova’s near-perfect double. Drawn by the promise of escape and the chance to live a "big" life, Kristen poses as Nova and inserts herself into the icy dysfunction of the Kennedy family.
Initially planning to solve the mystery and get out, Kristen falls further and further under the Kennedys' spell. When she begins to receive threatening anonymous notes, it becomes clear someone knows she isn’t who she claims to be.
Surrounded by suspects, Kristen must decide how far she’s willing to go to protect the lie she’s living. It's a race against time for Kristen to uncover the truth—about her blackmailer, Nova's disappearance, and the complicated Kennedy family—before the lies she's told start to unravel.
Twenty-five-year-old Nova Kennedy has gone missing from her family’s Cape Cod mansion. Even though they're not those Kennedys, the disappearance dominates the season’s headlines. Six weeks later, Nova reappears. Or so everyone believes.
Kristen Wells is a broke, bored nobody in Louisiana when she sees Nova’s face on the news and realizes she’s Nova’s near-perfect double. Drawn by the promise of escape and the chance to live a "big" life, Kristen poses as Nova and inserts herself into the icy dysfunction of the Kennedy family.
Initially planning to solve the mystery and get out, Kristen falls further and further under the Kennedys' spell. When she begins to receive threatening anonymous notes, it becomes clear someone knows she isn’t who she claims to be.
Surrounded by suspects, Kristen must decide how far she’s willing to go to protect the lie she’s living. It's a race against time for Kristen to uncover the truth—about her blackmailer, Nova's disappearance, and the complicated Kennedy family—before the lies she's told start to unravel.
- GenresMystery
368 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication March 9, 2027
About the author
Julie Balint
1 book16 followersJulie Balint is thrilled to be writing in the commercial suspense space after a long career in romance as USA Today bestselling author and RITA® winner Juliana Stone. She loves reading, 80's rock, 70's rock for that matter with a little country thrown in to keep things interesting. When not writing she plays pickle ball and golf to relax and enjoys wine nights with pals. She's been known to talk to herself on occasion, but then don't all authors? Julie does all of this from her home in a quaint little town on a big lake in Canada, with her little dog Pinot at her side.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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September 14, 2026They say that we all have a doppelgänger, or twin somewhere in the world.
What would you do if you discovered that yours was from a billionaire family and had suddenly gone missing?
Would you be tempted to go to attempt to take on their identity and feel what it’s like to be in that world?
Kristen, who was mostly broke and living in a rural town in Louisiana decided to do just that.
The premise of this book sounded very intriguing.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into it and had to DNF at 40%.
It’s multiple POV, and right now with everything that’s going on in the world, the last thing that I want to do is be in the mind of tone-deaf billionaires.
Everyone in the family is beyond screwed up.
The mother’s main goal each day is to see how many benzos and cocktails it takes to make her pass out until noon the following day.
Two adult brothers are engaging in incest.
There were just too many things going on with very unlikable characters.
I do want to add that the other reviews on NetGalley were 4-5 stars, so this may have just not been for me.
I think that I need a break from the "rich people behaving badly" genre.
What would you do if you discovered that yours was from a billionaire family and had suddenly gone missing?
Would you be tempted to go to attempt to take on their identity and feel what it’s like to be in that world?
Kristen, who was mostly broke and living in a rural town in Louisiana decided to do just that.
The premise of this book sounded very intriguing.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into it and had to DNF at 40%.
It’s multiple POV, and right now with everything that’s going on in the world, the last thing that I want to do is be in the mind of tone-deaf billionaires.
Everyone in the family is beyond screwed up.
The mother’s main goal each day is to see how many benzos and cocktails it takes to make her pass out until noon the following day.
Two adult brothers are engaging in incest.
There were just too many things going on with very unlikable characters.
I do want to add that the other reviews on NetGalley were 4-5 stars, so this may have just not been for me.
I think that I need a break from the "rich people behaving badly" genre.
September 17, 2026
FIRST OF ALL – the only reason I didn't DNF this is because nobody had posted spoilers yet. If literally one single reviewer had posted what happened, I would've quit it before the halfway mark. Unfortunately, I was invested in finding out what was going on and as such, persevered through the book.
NONE of the characters are likable. There's a moment or two for certain where it seems like Kristen may be at least sympathetic, but in order to , you have to be at least a little evil, no?
This was an infuriating read, thus the two stars. As someone who is along for the ride and rarely figures things out in advance, I felt it was pretty obvious where this was heading. That can be fine, but there was nobody to root for or really invest in, which made it hard to soldier on. I'm sharing spoilers for anyone else who wants to DNF but also wants to know what happens.
I like the concept, but I likely won't be recommending this one to a casual reader. Could be an interesting book club discussion, though!
*Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC!*
NONE of the characters are likable. There's a moment or two for certain where it seems like Kristen may be at least sympathetic, but in order to , you have to be at least a little evil, no?
This was an infuriating read, thus the two stars. As someone who is along for the ride and rarely figures things out in advance, I felt it was pretty obvious where this was heading. That can be fine, but there was nobody to root for or really invest in, which made it hard to soldier on. I'm sharing spoilers for anyone else who wants to DNF but also wants to know what happens.
I like the concept, but I likely won't be recommending this one to a casual reader. Could be an interesting book club discussion, though!
*Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC!*
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Kristen is going nowhere fast in small-town Louisiana. Then Boston socialite Nova Kennedy disappears, and Kristen realizes they could be twins.
So she does the unthinkable, she steps into Nova's life. Her clothes. Her friends. Her secrets. One question drives her, what happened to Nova? Answer it, and she's got a book deal, a viral podcast, a way out. Get caught, and she's the prime suspect in a murder.
Told through shifting perspectives, Kristen, Nova's siblings Bea and Benji, and a mystery narrator who knows the truth about Nova's fate (and knows Kristen is a fraud), the story tightens with every chapter.
The deeper Kristen digs, the more she unravels. Not just Nova's secrets, her own. Is she chasing justice, or running from a life that never fit? Her best friend in Texas is the only voice telling her to stop, to come home, to remember who she really is.
But Kristen can't quit. Not yet. Not when Nova is turning out to be nothing like her perfect Instagram feed, and the truth might be closer, and darker, than anyone imagined.
You won't know who to root for. Every character has a moment that makes you dislike them, and a moment that redeems them. You'll find yourself on Kristen's side, until maybe you're not.
As you read, you'll find yourself asking the same questions Kristen can't escape. What would you do to uncover the truth? Would you become someone else to find it, and what would that cost you?
Some truths aren't meant to be found. Kristen finds them anyway.
So she does the unthinkable, she steps into Nova's life. Her clothes. Her friends. Her secrets. One question drives her, what happened to Nova? Answer it, and she's got a book deal, a viral podcast, a way out. Get caught, and she's the prime suspect in a murder.
Told through shifting perspectives, Kristen, Nova's siblings Bea and Benji, and a mystery narrator who knows the truth about Nova's fate (and knows Kristen is a fraud), the story tightens with every chapter.
The deeper Kristen digs, the more she unravels. Not just Nova's secrets, her own. Is she chasing justice, or running from a life that never fit? Her best friend in Texas is the only voice telling her to stop, to come home, to remember who she really is.
But Kristen can't quit. Not yet. Not when Nova is turning out to be nothing like her perfect Instagram feed, and the truth might be closer, and darker, than anyone imagined.
You won't know who to root for. Every character has a moment that makes you dislike them, and a moment that redeems them. You'll find yourself on Kristen's side, until maybe you're not.
As you read, you'll find yourself asking the same questions Kristen can't escape. What would you do to uncover the truth? Would you become someone else to find it, and what would that cost you?
Some truths aren't meant to be found. Kristen finds them anyway.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Psychological, Juicy, Twisty & Completely Bingeable!
Kristen is broke when she discovers she’s the perfect double of Nova Kennedy, a wealthy socialite who vanished without a trace from her family’s Cape Cod estate. Kristen is desperate for a new life, so she assumes Nova’s identity, but the deeper she enters Nova’s world, the more she suspects something sinister happened and someone is still watching. The Kennedy family are terrible people making horrible decisions. None to root for.
I needed a psychological thriller to read. A book with mystery, suspense, rich people behaving badly, juicy story, twists, secrets, deception, with family drama and it delivered! There was suspense with Kristen constantly wondering who knows the truth, who can she trust, and navigating the danger. The doppelganger premise had me especially intrigued and it had a satisfying ending.
Read on release date 03/09/2027
Thank you Netgalley Berkley Publishing Group|Berkley for the Arc.
Kristen is broke when she discovers she’s the perfect double of Nova Kennedy, a wealthy socialite who vanished without a trace from her family’s Cape Cod estate. Kristen is desperate for a new life, so she assumes Nova’s identity, but the deeper she enters Nova’s world, the more she suspects something sinister happened and someone is still watching. The Kennedy family are terrible people making horrible decisions. None to root for.
I needed a psychological thriller to read. A book with mystery, suspense, rich people behaving badly, juicy story, twists, secrets, deception, with family drama and it delivered! There was suspense with Kristen constantly wondering who knows the truth, who can she trust, and navigating the danger. The doppelganger premise had me especially intrigued and it had a satisfying ending.
Read on release date 03/09/2027
Thank you Netgalley Berkley Publishing Group|Berkley for the Arc.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Addicting. Propulsive. I couldn't put it down.
Kristen seems as if she's drifting until she finds purpose. Until she decides to do something so crazy it doesn't seem possible. But she slips into missing socialite, Nova's life with ease. Too easy, really. And as she digs beneath the surface she changes. The family, already dysfunctional and awful, show hope and the question becomes, does she really want to find out what happened to the real Nova?
She's given no choice when she begins receiving notes and the real game of cat and mouse begins. If she wins, she could have it all. Or not.
If she loses, she could die.
If you like soapy, over the top books a la Alice Feeney, or McFadden, this is one to enjoy!
Kristen seems as if she's drifting until she finds purpose. Until she decides to do something so crazy it doesn't seem possible. But she slips into missing socialite, Nova's life with ease. Too easy, really. And as she digs beneath the surface she changes. The family, already dysfunctional and awful, show hope and the question becomes, does she really want to find out what happened to the real Nova?
She's given no choice when she begins receiving notes and the real game of cat and mouse begins. If she wins, she could have it all. Or not.
If she loses, she could die.
If you like soapy, over the top books a la Alice Feeney, or McFadden, this is one to enjoy!
September 10, 2026
This was an interesting premise… super promising. The problem was that I found the characters to be universally unlikable. There was definitely one character I was supposed to hate, and I did, but I hated the rest too. Also… it was just kind of unbelievable.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
September 17, 2026
5 ⭐️!! The Lookalike was a great read. I loved the premise and how easily Kristen slipped into Nova’s world. While I did anticipate who was behind the notes I was still very happy with the ending! I do kind of wish we saw the mother’s POV for at least one chapter towards the end, knowing what we think she knows about “Nova” it would have been interesting to read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews