LOOK BOTH WAYS: A Midnight Twins Novel
Jacquelyn Mitchard
Razorbill/Penguin Young Readers Group
Mystery
Hardcover: 9781595141613
Paperback: 9781595142818
288 pages

Meredith and Mallory Brynn are identical twins, exact mirror images of each other. Friends and family can tell them apart by their personalities: Meredith is outgoing, bubbly and a cheerleader, and Mallory is more of a loner, serious and a soccer player. Being twins is something unique in itself, but a few added phenomena even set the Brynn girls apart from other twins. For one, they don’t even share the same birth year. That’s because one was born just before midnight on New Year’s Eve, and the other arrived just after midnight on New Year’s Day. The other unique characteristic they share is their psychic abilities. Mally sees visions of the future, while Merry sees visions of the past.

The most recent vision wakes Mally out of her dreams, screaming. She sees a white mountain lion prowling the locker room at school where the cheerleaders’ outfits are stored. Stranger yet, she knows the mountain lion, though she’s not sure how. The twins figure it has something to do with the cheerleader varsity tryouts quickly approaching. And then one of the cheerleaders ends up in the hospital.

Meanwhile, Merry and Mally begin keeping secrets from one another when each has a friend in trouble. Merry’s friend, Kim, so devastated from her brother’s death a few months earlier, has started hanging out at the ravine where troublemakers go to smoke and drink. Mally’s friend, Eden, continues to sneak away to see her boyfriend, James, even though her family forbids it. And then Eden confides to Mally just why the relationship is so forbidden, an explanation that roots deep in her Native American heritage and is almost too wild to believe. Eden’s brother, Cooper, approaches Mally for help in protecting Eden, and along the way, he and Mally start falling in love. Their next-door neighbor and lifelong friend, Drew, is not too happy about this turn of events.

The twins hate their visions and desperately wish their lives could return to normal. However, this is their lot in life, for better or for worse. As their 14th birthday approaches, they struggle to figure out a way to help their friends and family. One thing they do know is that they have to stick together, stay open and connected with each other. Maybe, just maybe, this “gift” will help save someone’s life.

Celebrated author Jacquelyn Mitchard reunites her fans with the amazing psychic twins for another exciting dip into the mysterious world of future and past visions. Her writing style bursts forth with energy and intrigue; she knows just how to hook a reader and build the suspense until it erupts from the pages. Even though this is a sequel, it is not necessary to have read the first book to understand the plot. Mitchard does a good job of rehashing and reviewing without being too repetitive for those familiar with the story. She does not disappoint, and that goes double for her Midnight Twins trilogy.

    --- Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman, author of FINDING MY LIGHT, GHOSTS OF THE UPPER PENINSULA and THE BLACK POND

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