Rating: 3 / 5
FALSE HEARTS by Laura Lam was April’s book for the Deep Dark Reads buddy read on Instagram. I didn’t know anything about this one going in, but I was able to get the audio book through my library so dove in blind!
FALSE HEARTS follows conjoined twins Taema and Tila after they have been separated with the help of modern science which is able to give them each their own false heart. After living the majority of their lives with a single body while living in a commune which is kept separate from the modern world, they now have entered ‘normal’ society as individuals.
Ten years after their separation, Tila comes to Taema covered in blood, closely followed by police who arrest her for murder. In a world where crime is quite minimal, Taema knows that her sister couldn’t have done what they accuse her of. Taema is offered the chance to go undercover as her twin in order to figure out what really happened.
I really enjoyed a lot of aspects of this book. The world of FALSE HEARTS is an intriguing one and the premise of two conjoined twins learning to live separately had me hooked. I think there was more there that could have been explored. The book puts forth a concept of a drug that can be used to allow the user to live out their fantasies in a dreamscape and that also was a very interesting premise, but it did leave me with some unanswered questions.
This was really well done on audio and it did hold my attention well in that format. There is a second book in this series which had given me hope that maybe some of my questions would find answers, but it appears that the next book takes on a completely new cast of characters. Unfortunately, looking back at the story as a whole, it fell a bit flat for me.
DG Reads 