Blog Tour: Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone

Hi Blisses,

TITLE: Mirrorland
BY: Carole Johnstone
GENRES: Thriller, Mystery
PUBLICATION: April 20th 2021 by Scribner
NOTES: I received an e-copy from the publisher and blog tour host in exchange for promotion and honest review. This did not affect my review in any way.

I am really grateful for Dave from The Write Reads for inviting me to join this blog tour. Also, I apologize because this (along three other book reviews) is too late. I thought I scheduled this book but didn’t It was still in my drafts. Thank God I checked my blog today.

BLURB

Cat lives in Los Angeles, far away from 36 Westeryk Road, the imposing gothic house in Edinburgh where she and her estranged twin sister, El, grew up. As girls, they invented Mirrorland, a dark, imaginary place under the pantry stairs full of pirates, witches, and clowns. These days Cat rarely thinks about their childhood home, or the fact that El now lives there with her husband Ross.

But when El mysteriously disappears after going out on her sailboat, Cat is forced to return to 36 Westeryk Road, which has scarcely changed in twenty years. The grand old house is still full of shadowy corners, and at every turn Cat finds herself stumbling on long-held secrets and terrifying ghosts from the past. Because someone—El?—has left Cat clues in almost every room: a treasure hunt that leads right back to Mirrorland, where she knows the truth lies crouched and waiting…

A twisty, dark, and brilliantly crafted thriller about love and betrayal, redemption and revenge, Mirrorland is a propulsive, page-turning debut about the power of imagination and the price of freedom.

ONE-SENTENCE REVIEW

Dark and imaginative; Mirrorland is a page-turner that will take ahold of you and suck you deep in its twisted world right from the start.

REVIEW

“There’s a monster in this house.“

I usually avoid books like this. Books about siblings that I’m not sure if the siblings will betray each other. I hate siblings betraying each other. But this book was for a blog tour and for blog tours, I don’t really read the blurbs before accepting. Thankfully, I didn’t read the blurb for this, I would’ve skipped this one if I did. I would’ve missed this amazing book.

Mirrorland hooked me in right from the prologue. I was instantly curious what happened to the 12-year old twins, Cath and El. Then it opened again with Cath and El as estranged sisters and El went missing so Cath had to come back to UK, specifically to the house where they grew up and had another life.

The story was very addictive. It sucked me into its twisted world right from the start. Mirrorland itself was very imaginative. I wasn’t expecting it to be like that. In fact, I still can’t explain Mirrorland, except it’s a fantasy world Cath and El created when they were kids and somehow became this place of weird and evil stuff. Mirrorland (the place, not the book) is a nightmare. But it was very imaginative. It was genius.

Everything was confusing almost three quarters of the book but my confusion was one of the reasons I kept going. I wanted to know the answers and see what happen next. Most of the time, I don’t really understand what’s happening or where I am but somehow, I was too immersed in the story, I didn’t want to put it down. I did put it down few times because I buddy read this with one of the bloggers for the blog tour. Mirrorland itself is very confusing. You really don’t know what is it while reading, or the things and people in it. Aside from that, Cath is a very unreliable narrator. You just don’t know what’s real with her. Or is she even saying the truth?

As Cath unearth the truths of El’s disappearance and rediscover the secrets of Mirrorland, my brain felt like exploding the whole time. The clues that might’ve been El’s doings were very thrilling. It was so suspenseful as Cath deals with them. I enjoyed the intrigues and drama with El’s disappearance along with the relationship of the twins. It also felt sad knowing that the twins had a fall out and because of a guy. Ugh! the worst reason sisters should have a fall out. But since Cath is very unreliable, I was so intrigued and excited to know El’s side of the story. I couldn’t say I’m completely happy with the reveals but they were fine.

As for the characters…Despite Cath flaws, I still liked her character, not as a person, just as a character. I thought the book would read different if the narrator wasn’t like Cath. El…I ended up liking El more than Cath. For the most part, she was just a name but I liked her character even if most of the things I knew about her was through Cath and Ross’s words about her. On the other hand, I never liked Ross. I never connected with him.

RATING: 4 blissful pages with lilies

At the end, I enjoyed most parts of this story. I really like it when all of my brain is involved in my reading. I was so awake when I read this. But there are some parts I would prefer different but still, I highly recommend this book to everyone who enjoy suspense and thrillers, drama and intrigues.

LINKS

Amazon      Amazon UK     Barnes & Noble     Kobo      Waterstones     The Book Depository     

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carole Johnstone is an award-winning writer from Scotland, whose short stories have been published all over the world. Mirrorland, a psychological suspense with a gothic twist, is her debut novel.
Having grown up in Lanarkshire, she now lives in the beautiful Argyll & Bute, and is currently working on her second novel: a very unusual murder-mystery, set in the equally beautiful Outer Hebrides.

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Have you read this book? Or planning? What do you think of it? Let’s chat.