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The Girl in the Mirror by Rose Carlyle
Thriller

The Girl in the Mirror

Debut

We love supporting debut authors. Congrats, Rose Carlyle, on your first book!

by Rose Carlyle

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Quick take

For the suspense superfans, a twin assumes the life of her perfect sister in a race to win her father’s fortune.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_Psychological

    Psychological

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_FamilyDrama

    Family drama

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_Snarky

    Snarky

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_SexualContent

    Sexual Content

Synopsis

Twin sisters Iris and Summer are startlingly alike, but beyond what the eye can see lies a darkness that sets them apart. Cynical and insecure, Iris has long been envious of Summer’s seemingly never-ending good fortune, including her perfect husband Adam.

Called to Thailand to help her sister sail the family yacht to the Seychelles, Iris nurtures her own secret hopes for what might happen on the journey. But when she unexpectedly finds herself alone in the middle of the Indian Ocean, everything changes. When she makes it to land, Iris allows herself to be swept up by Adam, who assumes that she is Summer.

Iris recklessly goes along with his mistake. Not only does she finally have the golden life she’s always envied, with her sister gone, she’s one step closer to the hundred-million-dollar inheritance left by her manipulative father. All Iris has to do is be the first of his seven children to produce an heir.

Iris’s “new” life lurches between glamorous dream and paranoid nightmare. On the edge of being exposed, how far will she go to ensure no one discovers the truth?

And just what did happen to Summer on the yacht? Only Iris knows...

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Content warning

This book contains some sexual content that some readers may find upsetting.

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of The Girl in the Mirror.
The Girl in the Mirror

Prologue

For the first twelve days of our life, we were one person. Our father’s brains and our mother’s beauty swirled into one blessed embryo, the sole heir to the Carmichael fortune.

On the thirteenth day, we split. It was almost too late. One more day and the split would have been incomplete. Summer and I would have been conjoined twins, perhaps sharing major organs, facing a choice between a lifetime shackled together and a surgical separation that might have left us maimed.

As it was, our rupture was imperfect. We might look identical, more than most twins, but we’re mirror twins, mirror images of each other. The minute asymmetries in my sister’s face—her fuller right cheek, her higher right cheekbone—are reproduced in my face on the left side. Other people can’t see the difference, but when I look in the mirror, I don’t see myself. I see Summer.

When we were six years old, Dad took a sabbatical from Carmichael Brothers, and our family sailed up the east coast of Australia and into Southeast Asia. Our hometown, Wakefield, is the last safe place to swim before you enter croc territory, so Summer and I and our younger brother, Ben, spent a lot of time on that cruise playing inside our yacht.

I loved everything about Bathsheba. She was a custom-built sloop, her sleek aluminum hull fitted out with the best timbers—teak decks, oak cabinetry—but what I loved most of all was the ingenious double mirror in the bathroom. The builder had set two mirrors into a corner at right angles, with such care that I could scarcely discern the line of intersection. When I looked squarely at either one of these mirrors, I saw Summer, as usual. But when I stared between them, past that line, into the corner, I saw a nonreversed image. I saw my true self.

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Why I love it

On the day my novel The Night Swim was released back in August, the city where I live in Australia was put under the toughest lockdown in the world. So it was a wonderful escape to immerse myself in the pages of The Girl in the Mirror and travel vicariously through its characters—from the beaches of tropical northern Australia, to the translucent Andaman Sea in Thailand (one of my favorite travel destinations), all the way to the Seychelles.

But if luxurious travel alone isn't enough to make you snag this book, then let's talk about the plot. Identical twin sisters Iris and Summer are mirror images of each other, but while Iris has no marriage prospects, Summer has a gorgeous (not to mention wealthy) husband. When Summer disappears in a freak yachting accident, Iris poses as her sister by pretending that she (Iris) was the twin who had gone overboard. Why? Because their millionaire father has offered his $100 million inheritance to the first married daughter to produce an heir. And now, living as Summer, Iris is one step closer.

Throw into the mix a too-good-to-be-true husband with unexpected sexual fetishes and a missing person case on the high seas, and you have all the ingredients of a twisted and compulsively readable domestic suspense story. When reality gets you down, a jet-setting thriller is the ultimate escape, and that’s why I loved this novel.

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Member ratings (22,629)

  • Natalie R.

    Windermere, FL

    THE. ENDING. I read this book in two sittings and wow, I can’t stop thinking about the ending! Sibling rivalry and the lengths people will go for money. A quick read with unexpected twists. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • Jacqueline P.

    Shorewood, WI

    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ While reading I was trying to predict what was going to happen next and every time it totally surprised me. Would highly recommend this book as it has both romance and thriller moments!

  • Kathleen B.

    Clinton Township, MI

    Woah! This was such a good book, just when you think you have it all figured out it does a complete 180! Just finished and still shocked. How do you move on from a read like that?! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • Emileigh C.

    Vestavia Hills, AL

    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Short, sweet, and SNARKY- my favorite! I loved the twists and turns; it was thought provoking, but not scary. I devoured this book! I am looking forward to more books from Rose Carlyle!

  • Amanda S.

    Cedar Grove, WI

    Thoroughly distraught by this book. Just finished it and in complete shock. As soon as i thought i had the twist, it threw me. The ending was a total shock. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for totally stumping me.

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