Customer Reviews

The Midnight Twins (Midnight Twins Novels)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Meredith and Mallory are identical twins born on either side of midnight, one at 11:59pm and the other at 12:01am.

It's now thirteen years later and the girls are best friends, but they have completely different interests. Also, like many identical twins, they can often read each others minds and feel what the other is feeling. But their twin senses are a lot stronger than most twins. They also have the exact same dreams.

Up until one New Year's Eve when a fire breaks out at the house where they are babysitting their cousins, and the twins almost die. Someone purposely started the fire, and the twins have a pretty good idea of who that someone is.

After the fire, Mallory starts seeing strange images and scenes in her head involving David, the guy that they believe started the fire. These scenes are so strange, but Mallory believes that they are actually going to happen. But Meredith isn't seeing the same things or even having the same dreams anymore. Instead, she is seeing scenes involving David that are less creepy.

Over the next few months, what Mallory keeps seeing starts getting more disturbing, like what seems to be David almost raping a girl. She even starts having blackouts after seeing the frightening images. She tells Meredith that they need to confront David, but her sister isn't too sure about the idea. Will confronting David help the disturbing scenes to finally stop, or will they continue on forever?

This was a good book that I really enjoyed. Mallory and Meredith were great characters and it was fun to read a story about identical twins. The storyline was really great and the ending was a bit surprising to me. Parts in the middle were a bit confusing, but it could have just been me.

THE MIDNIGHT TWINS was overall a pretty good book and I hope that Ms. Mitchard writes a follow-up. I'd love to see what happens to Mallory and Meredith after the ending of this book. I'd recommend this one to anyone who likes reading either about twins or who loves the paranormal and mysteries.

Reviewed by: Breanna F.

Meredith and Mallory Brynn are identical twins, exact mirror images of each other. Only their personalities allow others to tell them apart: Meredith is outgoing, bubbly and a cheerleader, while Mallory is more of a loner, serious and a soccer player. Being twins is something unique in itself, but a few added phenomena set the Brynn girls apart from other twins. For one, they don't even share the same birthday. That's because one was born just before midnight on New Year's Eve and the other just after midnight on New Year's Day. Another unique characteristic is that they share the same dreams --- that is, until recently.

Just before their 13th birthday, Merry and Mally's dreams begin to change. Mally dreams of a horrid house fire that threatens her family and traps her in the deadly flames. When Mally tells Merry about it, both are surprised that Merry hadn't dreamt the same thing, or at lease felt what Mally had felt. They try to brush it off as just an unusual nightmare, and instead try to concentrate on their upcoming birthday party. Then a few days later, the house fire nightmare comes true, with Merry and Mally barely escaping in time. And from that moment on, their lives change forever.

This premonition isn't just a fluke or a one-time thing. Mally continues dreaming of the future, and Merry starts dreaming of the past. Though it sounds intriguing, their gifts begin to desperately affect their lives, especially when they reveal the horrid and torturous acts performed by someone they know. The twins fight their gift and try to ignore what they dream, but in the end, they cannot make it go away. However, if they choose to interfere and attempt to save the victims in their dreams, they will be endangering their own lives. Is there anyone they can turn to for help?

THE MIDNIGHT TWINS is the beginning of a new teen trilogy by renowned author Jacquelyn Mitchard, who has created a mysterious, suspenseful, multi-layered world centering on two amazing teenagers. She craftily builds up suspense, revealing a little at a time, and gently rounds out her characters by creating a few clever flashbacks in the twins' lives. Plus, the talented Mitchard has a special way with words, especially in describing the dream sequences and the recovery period in the hospital following the fire. She pulls the reader into the minds of Mally and Merry as they wander into the unknowns receiving the visions of the future and the past, as they reach out to each other for comfort and security.

This memorable book will stay with audiences as they eagerly await the next installment in the series.

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

The genius of Jacquelyn Mitchard lies not just in the stories that she creates, but in the incredible character development in each and every one of her stories. By the time the book ends, you feel as though you know the characters personally but you are satisfied that you have not missed the big things that await them later in "life."

In The Midnight Twins, Merry and Mally are best friends, identical twins who face an unimaginable challenge - in the form of a house fire. After they escape, one can see into the past, the other into the future. I believe that the human mind has the ability to perceive things we are not consciously aware of, and this book exploits that idea in the best possible way. As is usual for this author's stories, the writing is unique, and it keeps you hanging on to find out what comes next. Nothing is too great a surprise to be believed, but there are many plot twists that make you wonder why you did not see that coming!

I enthusiastically recommend this book for girls of all ages who are sisters, have sisters, know sisters, or would love to be sisters!

I'm going to say this right up front: This book isn't worth your time.

I didn't like it at all. The first thing - and this is the most important, in my opinion - is that the writing was forced. The whole book seemed way to forced. Because it was so forced, it was harder to read.

The second thing that really ruins this book is that the author takes up the whole first chapter trying to explain to you how much the two twins, Mallory and Meredith, are so different, when they don't seem to different after all. After that first chapter, I kept getting confused as to which twin Mitchard was talking about because they were so alike.

Another thing that annoyed me is that the characters didn't change a whole lot. Merry and Mally, maybe a tad bit, but everyone else was just . . the same at the end of the book. They had the same personality, the same outlook on life, the same everything, really.

It took me a while to read this book because I never got fully interested in the story. It was just so forced and boring that I didn't really like it that much.

The only thing that this book has going for it is the original idea. I've never heard about a story like this before, and that, I do believe, is why I really kept reading this book.

Merry and Mally are twins born in seperate years, one being morn on New Years Eve, a minute before the New Year, and the second a minute into the New Year. The two are very connected, more than most twins, but no more than other twins in their family. they are connected in an almost supernatural way, always feeling and sensing one another and where they're at, or what they feel. What threw me off during the entire book, though, were their nicknames, Merry and Mally, which are so similar that I often forgot which was which! I really lost interest about halfway through the book though and found it hard to believe this was the same author who wrote "From the Deep End of the Ocean", a book which I loved. So while I do recommend that I don't recommend this one.

The Midnight Twins sounds so much better than it actually is, however, I will still be buying the second one. I shall explain:

First of all, the first half of the book is about completely useless, until the fire and the girls' 13th birthday. It was completely all over the place, and I honestly spent chapters being unaware of exactly when things were happening. That is pretty much all there is to that.

Secondly, over and over again I've heard a rule for writing that utterly makes sense: Don't name your characters names that are too alike. With this I am left wondering what in the WORLD made Mitchard name her characters Merry & Mally. I understand they're twins, totally get it - I - however, am the reader and it took me a good half of the book to get used to that the names were so similar, and to learn who was speaking. It is very clear that she attempts to make their personalities different but when little things are going on, or things are happening fast, and I read a sentence with Mally & Merry in it, I often found myself reading back over the paragraph just to make sure I had the right twin. Having said that though, the characters are interesting, while they are typical twins (in relevance to most books with twins, that is) - meaning, complete opposites - they are also well thought out, described, and unique. Once you DO learn each of their voices, personalities, and traits, then it's easy to tell them apart, it just takes some time to get there.

Other than the completely useless first part of the book, and the confusion with the names, once the girls come into their powers, the book picks up and actually does quite a good job at holding interest! Once all the good stuff starts happening it's actually quite hard to put the book down, and I kept guessing just as long as the girls did about who the culprit of the fire was, and who was trying so hard to freak Mally out. It stays slightly confusing with the names, but by the end of the book I had just about gotten completely used to it. The last of The Midnight Twins defiantly makes up for the beginning - therefore, I will be buying/reading Look Both Ways (Midnight Twins #2), I really look forward to seeing how Meredith and Mallory's story continues.

I selected this book as one of my choices for my book club to read. Alas, I was diasppointed. I may have been expecting too much, since I enjoyed the author's book, The Deep End of the Ocean.
I feel that the characters are not well developed, and too much of the book is spent explaining the personalities of the twins. Despite all of that explaining, they are never really revealed as interesting, in-depth characters. I also had trouble keeping track of Mally's personality traits versus Merry's personality traits.
I think that the idea behind the book is very interesting and had potential to become an intriguing, suspense-filled page-turner, but unfortunately, that did not happen.

Meredith and Mallory Brynn are identical twins who were born on either side of midnight on New Years Eve. While the girls think of themselves as one, they are very different. Meredith is bubbly, outgoing, and a cheerleader, while Mallory is thoughtful, independent, and plays soccer. Though they have their differences the girls share so much; dreams, experiences, and even their own private language.

On the night of their thirteenth birthday the twins are caught in a mysterious fire that nearly kills them both. The weirdest thing is that Mallory knew days before that there was going to be a fire, she just didn't know when. After the fire Mallory and Meredith are both having visions - though they are very different from each other's. The bond between them starts to decompose and the girls don't know why.

As their bond disintegrates the girls learn that they each have been given a gift, different from the other. One can see the future, the other the past. These visions will give the girls insight to some events that have been happening around town involving someone close to them. The girls feel like they sometimes know more then they should, or want to know, but it doesn't stop them from wondering if these visions are actually true and what they should do about what they see.

This was definitely an interesting read. I really liked it, but I felt like there was a lot lacking. There was so much potential for the book and I just felt like the book didn't live up to what I thought it would. The characters were a little flat and a lot of the time I couldn't tell the difference between the two girls, even though they were supposed to be so different. There were also a lot of places were the story got very confusing. I don't know if it was just me, but I felt the author was trying too hard and giving us too much information making it difficult to understand what was actually going on. However I did like the twists that the author put into the story. There were quite a few events that occurred that I really didn't see coming. I also thought that the girls' visions were really cool. It was interesting to see that one saw what was going to happen and the other saw what actually happened. The author definitely left room for a sequel, which I do hope she writes. It would be very interesting to see what Meredith and Mallory made of their "powers".

This book was wonderful! I can't wait to read the second one!

I only gave it four stars though because it does get confusing in parts (Mally and Merry...the lettering is so similar it is easy to make miscues and get confused) also, the author makes a few mistakes that an avid reader will catch and therefore detract from the excellence of the story. (Ex: Towards the end the author talks about how Tim, the girls' father, remembers when Mally talked Merry home when she was lost in the woods when actually he was out looking for her and it is her mother, Campbell, that witnesses this event).

Overall, it is a really good read. I wish I was a twin!

Born on either side of midnight on New Year's Eve, the Brynn twins are quite unconventional. They're practically opposites--Meredith is a cheerleader and extremely outgoing, and Mallory is tomboyish and quiet--but they share a unique mental bond that allows them to hear each other's thoughts. On the night of their thirteenth birthday, a dangerous fire alters their link, and gives them new powers: now Merry can see into the past, and Mallory can see into the future. Still reeling from their fractured bond and confused by their new abilities, the twins will have to learn to work together with their abilities to fight a danger that is creeping closer and closer...

The Midnight Twins is an interesting and intriguing book with an engaging and rather unique premise that will grab readers. The main characters, Merry and Mallory, are thirteen years old, but their story will easily capture the interests of most teen readers. Though the beginning gets off on a little bit of a slow start, the book quickly speeds up, and poses many questions that will get readers thinking. Mitchard is a very meticulous writer whose attention to details is quite noticeable, and she creates a very comprehensive and believable world in The Midnight Twins. The psychic elements of the book aren't very heavy, and there is an even balance between "real life" and the supernatural, but the ending will leave readers even more curious than before about the girls' psychic abilities and eager for the sequel, Look Both Ways.

Cover Comments: While I don't think that this is the most attractive cover I've seen, I like the parallelism with the pond. The covers are also very nice, and I think they help make the cover art pop.