Elixir by Hilary Duff, despite what it looks like, is a co-written book. The co-author is Elise Allen. This isn’t entirely uncommon for books written by celebrities, as Lauren Conrad’s books are also co-written.

That said, what began as a great premise falls apart about 2/3 of the way through the novel, suffering from the classic downfall of many books: too much tell and not enough show.

Clea is the daughter of a well-known politician and a world famous surgeon. Her mother travels the world for her job, but her father — the surgeon — disappeared. Since then, Clea’s life has been under even more scrutiny and security, as no one wants her to disappear in the same mysterious manner as her father. Prior to his disappearance, her father had appointed Ben to be a sort of care taker for Clea. Although she doesn’t need a babysitter nor a housekeeper (she already has one!), he’s there to help her navigate the difficult lifestyle of one born to the well-known. Along with Ben is Rayna, Clea’s best friend. They are inseparable since her mother and Clea’s mother are also tight. Makes sense.

One of Clea’s favorite hobbies is photography: her father got her interested in photojournalism, and she’s always found passion in capturing images of people, of things, of stories. While going through photos one night, though, Clea discovers something bizarre: there is a man who has appeared in the background of every photo she’s taken. A little sleuthing through old photos shows that this same man has appeared in the photos that her father has taken, as well as the photo of the day she and Rayna were brought home from the hospital. Was he a creeper or was he another layer of security?

Elixir sets up an exciting mysterious premise, and Clea herself is quite a likable and sympathetic character. Although she’s clearly privileged, she is still somewhat sheltered and naive. When an opportunity arises to complete a photojournalism assignment in South America, Clea jumps at the chance, despite what Ben believes will be serious objections from her mother. But oh, he’d be wrong: mom was okay with Clea jet-setting down yonder, where she inevitably will meet the mystery man in all of those photos face to face. Oh, and not only will she meet him, she may unravel the secrets to the strange dreams she’s been having over and over, wherein she plays the roles of many different women in time and oh, she might also figure out what happened to her dad. And she might just take a trip to Tokyo. Just maybe.

Hilary Duff’s novel had me quite captivated for a while, but when the suspense begins to really build, the novel falls apart. Pacing is pretty much non-existent, as we are introduced to Clea for a long time, but we are left hanging when it comes to the development of the mystery man (whose name at this point is Sage) and the timing of events doesn’t quite work well. Likewise, the number of different elements pulled together to build the suspense are too many, and we are left with a bit of a mess when it comes to why things are happening or how Clea could possibly be privy to the information she receives.

I didn’t find Sage worthwhile, and he was the mystery man. He wasn’t built strongly enough for me as a reader, and I thought Clea was far too trusting of him from the beginning. Let’s be honest: who meets a random man in South America, brings him back home to their house under a pseudonym, then hops a jet for a quick trip to a Tokyo hotel without once rousing the suspicions of their mother? And what made her so sure he knew what was going on with her father? There were too many threads and not enough knots here to pull through.

Finally, I had a difficult time even following what happened to her father and the Elixir of Life. Duff’s book builds from the mystery that Clea’s father has discovered the Elixir of Life, which allows people to live multiple lives. Kind of, I think. It sounded like the Fountain of Youth to me, but somehow, it lets people live different lives in different places. Having this Elixir got some people mad, and they’re who ultimately were onto Clea’s father. And Sage was on Clea’s father’s side here, but because the last 2/3 of the book relies so heavily on explaining a complicated backstory, it’s never clear to me who I am supposed to be rooting for as a reader. I know this is the first book in a series, but being that I was introduced to one character and her best friend for so long, then dropped amid a complicated back story, I’m not compelled to pick up further volumes.

I wish the backstory about the Elixir were better developed from the beginning, with less emphasis on Clea’s mother, her friend Rayna, or how dumb she was about the massive crush Ben had on her. Ben’s a stock character here, but just as Clea is clueless about how to use him in her life, so is the story. It’s disappointing, since I think he could have added a lot to it. Oh, and Clea ends up sleeping with Sage at one point, even though he had made her really frustrated. That was another relationship that just needed more oomph to work for me.

Elixir will work, however, for fans of Lisa McMann’s Wake trilogy: although it’s not as well fleshed, the dream elements, the idea of the incubus, and the mystery will appeal to these readers. When I initially began reading this title, I thought it would work for fans of Joanna Philbin’s The Daughters series, given the “child of celebrities” angle, but I think those who are interested in that aspect of her series might be a bit disappointed when this unravels.

Although the name alone will sell this book, I think it will disappoint many of its readers. With the abundance of strongly written mysteries with a paranormal and supernatural element to them, Elixir’s weak pacing and many strings of moments where one needs to suspend logic won’t match others on the shelf. I wish this were edited a little more tightly and took the opportunity to delete some of the elements that weren’t necessary and beef up the character relationships a little stronger that did matter. Likewise, less telling and more showing, particularly when it comes to the history of the Elixir of Life, could have sustained the momentum just a bit more.

*Review copy received from Simon & Schuster. Thanks!

As readers already know, one of my favorite styles of writing is the gothic novel. On my recent trip to Las Vegas, I packed myself with The Twin’s Daughter by Lauren Baratz-Logsted. I knew it was a mystery of sorts, but I knew little beyond that. When I cracked it open and dove into a nearly 400 page gothic novel, though, I couldn’t have been more excited.

A knock on the door of Lucy Sexton’s door will change her life forever when the long lost twin of her mother, Helen, appears. Lucy didn’t know her mom had a sister, let alone a twin. Although Helen offers to leave, Lucy’s mother and father insist on keeping her at their large home and taking care of her. But when Lucy’s mother insists on getting her sister a new wardrobe, etiquette classes, and hiding her from society, Lucy knows something deeper is going on. Why can’t Helen go for a walk in the park? Why can’t she marry any of the suitors who are coming to the door for her?

The Twin’s Daughter begins slowly, as we delve into the back story of who Lucy is, as well as who her mother and Helen are. We learn that Helen and mom were not the children of the man and woman that Lucy knew as grandparents, but were instead raised by them after a birth that shouldn’t have happened — and in that birth, one child needed to be sacrificed to an orphanage of sorts. Although it sounds complicated, it makes sense to both the reader and to Lucy. What doesn’t make sense, though, is why Lucy’s mother and father insist on keeping Helen cloistered. As she makes progress in her education, it seems strange that Helen cannot go outside or cannot meet the men who want to woo her.

But it is a strange murder that rocks the world of Lucy and her family and it pushes the novel forward, as we are left wondering whether it is Lucy’s mother or Helen who was the victim of the horrendous crime.

The Twin’s Daughter, despite some of the flaws I found in pacing and in plot inconsistencies, rocks for its narrator: Lucy is a fantastic narrator, as we are left wondering whether or not she is reliable. In the first third of the book, Lucy gains the trust of the reader. We believe her observations that she has of her mother and father (and she tells us over and over they are great parents, leaving us to believe her) and of Helen. But when the murder happens, everything is called into question. Lucy becomes unhinged in her search for the truth and drags the readers along for the ride. She falls in love shortly after and marries, and while we believe her in those factual moments, we cannot believe some of the connections she makes between Helen and her mother.

As a reader, I was left confused at the end of the lengthy novel, and I was utterly satisfied in this. I reread the last couple of chapters multiple times and continued feeling disoriented. But once I stepped back and realized my confusion came from being too invested in Lucy’s perspective, I realized that maybe I’d been tricked. But the trick here isn’t a plot device. Instead, it was the hallmark of a strong gothic novel: as readers, we must step back and question everything. This is a novel that begs for a reread with this perspective; it is a lengthy character study with a strong plot in the background, rather than a strong background with a character to move through it.

As mentioned briefly before, there are some issues with this novel. First, the pacing is not as strong as it could be. It seems as though the first 2/3 of the novel has a young Lucy, but within just a couple of chapters, she will become engaged, married, and unravel the life-long secrets of her family (maybe, that is). Likewise, there were definite plot holes and moments of confusion for the reader, perhaps brought on because of the pacing. Readers, though, will likely forgive these issues for the greater story and mystery at hand.

The Twin’s Daughter will appeal to fans of historical novels, novels set in Victorian London, and gothic novels. Hand this one to a fan of Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters, as there is a romance that arises between Lucy and a neighbor boy that would fit into the love stories of those classic writers. This is a book that will make readers think and question, as well as pull them through intricate twists and turns. Although it is lengthy, it moves quickly as readers attempt to solve the mystery. It left me eager to dig into more of Baratz-Logsted’s novels.

Last summer, one of the books I secretly loved was Katie Finn’s Top 8: a fluffy novel about a girl who’s Facebook-like account is hacked and thus loses a best friend and love interest in one fall swoop. This summer, I shared my not-so-secret love for Elizabeth Rudnick’s Tweet Heart, a romance based on Twitter. So, imagine my excitement to learn that Katie Finn had written a sequel to Top 8 based on a Twitter-like technology that causes havoc again in Madison McDonald’s friendship and love life.

What’s Your St@tus follows Madison and her friends as they use Status Q to share their daily lives, as well as the details in planning their upcoming junior prom. And boy, will this be a prom they will never forget.

What starts innocently spirals into a world of drama as Madison and the rest of the prom committee are charged with guarding the Hayes crown — the prom queen’s crown that has a legacy in their high school, as it was donated long ago and was made of valuable materials (which are never quite divulged and of which Madison herself is never convinced, either). But, lo and behold, the crown goes missing and it may have disappeared at the hands of her best friend who has been feuding with a rival high school’s prom committee. Naturally, their proms are in the same hotel in different rooms and they just so happen to be on the same Saturday. Say it with me now. . .

Madison is a likable character to me: she is funny, realistic, and she has both her highs and lows. I never find her whiny nor too dramatic, and she is never too good to do something. Her friends are well fleshed, as well, and the added bonus of the Twitter client is contemporary and fun. I think that this plot might be a little more developed than Top 8, and I found myself liking this one just a tad better.

It is not necessary to read Finn’s first title in order to read this one or enjoy it. In fact, there are only one or two references to events past (Madison losing her best friend, for one) but they are explained in such a manner that no real back story is necessary. However, I think if you read one, you will have liked the characters enough to dive into the other.

What’s Your St@tus also deals with a little bit of a trickier subject, that of prom night sex, and I think that Finn does this pretty well. We know each of our characters well enough to know they will make smart decisions, and it never came off as being didactic nor unreal. Not every character will remain chaste, but those who choose not to will do so under their own devices — this will make sense in context of why the conversation about prom night sex happens. Kudos, too, to Finn for writing a book with few questionable scenes (aside from the less-than-candid discussion of prom night sex) and virtually no bad language. This is a title that works for younger high school students, as well as older ones. It may work for mature middle school readers, too.

Hand either of Finn’s titles to fans of Elizabeth Rudnick’s Tweet Heart, Melissa Walker’s Lovestruck Summer, or fans of Suzanne Young’s The Naughty List series. I think this is also an easy sell to fans of Sarah Dessen, Morgan Matson, Elizabeth Scott, or Susane Colasanti. It’ll be less set in terms of family drama and much more in high school drama, but it will be fun and enjoyable none-the-less.

*Review copy received from Scholastic – what a great surprise!