Published By: Avon
Pages: 352
Released On: 08/05/2025
Two sisters. One Bet. And a lifetime of secrets uncovered…
Morning TV’s favourite twin sisters, Alice and Edie, may share the screen, but that’s where their similarities end. Their viewpoints are far from identical, and whilst their on-air clashes keep viewers hooked, off-camera, their relationship is far from picture-perfect.
After a heated argument on live television threatens their jobs, the fiery duo make a bet: neither could last a week in the other’s shoes. Determined to prove each other wrong, they secretly swap lives — without telling a soul.
What starts as a battle of wills quickly spirals into chaos, as each sister discovers that the other’s life is far more complicated than it seems. Between dodging awkward work situations, marital issues, and meddling in each other’s families, Alice and Edie’s rivalry turns from a competitive bet into an opportunity to help change each other’s lives for the better.
But will their relationship survive?
*****
Thanks to Avon for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
This was such a fun book!!
Edie and Alice are brilliant characters. Alice is the quite uptight, ‘proper’ sister, the one who assumes the motherly role, looking after everyone, hosting Christmas etc. She has a schedule, the kids know where and when they should be; and Edie is the loud, brash, often rude sister., whose kids have rules of their own without the traditional “motherly” figure. They work so well individually but also off each other. I 100% identify with Alice, not so much Edie, but I think all readers will recognise themselves in the sisters in some way. They have problems and relationships that are universally known.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t like either Alice or Edie’s family. They were so grating in different ways, but I just really didn’t like them. They just seemed so wrong. They did have some shining moments, particularly towards the end, but I sort of stayed focussed on the main women.
I have always said I prefer character development over plot, and this book proves why. Yes there’s a plot obviously, and it’s a fine plot, but that wasn’t what kept me interested. It’s these two women who Charlotte has created and developed. They don’t change into unrecognisable characters by the end, you still know the two separate women, but there have been changes and I think that just adds another level of depth to them.
I loved the dysfunctional family relationships. A lot of the time in fiction, families tend to be perfect, always friendly. But rarely is that ever the case in real life and I think Charlotte has depicted that just right. She’s not over-egged the pudding, nor has she hidden from it.
It’s funny but not over-the-top comedy, there are loving moments but not sickly sweet, and it’s awkward but you never feel uncomfortable.
It’s fast paced and zooms by. I wondered if it would take a while to get going, to get to know the two women and their dynamics and whatnot, but it’s done very cleverly and so well that you’re quickly into it, which obviously gives enough time to stretch out the actual swapping days.
I did question how comfortable I would be with the whole deceit thing, whether you could ever trust your partner again after something like this. But then I realised I was thinking too much about it and just enjoyed it for what it was.
I suppose there was one thing that kept bugging me. And I know it’s a book, a fictional story, and I should just suspend belief for a few hours, which I did for the most part. But I couldn’t stop thinking about how, surely someone would have noticed. It doesn’t matter if you look the same, surely if you’ve been living with the same person for many years, and you have kids, they’d notice something. Because it takes more than just appearance and clothes to become another person. So yes, I accept that I should have just accepted it, which I did for the most part, but I did keep thinking it wouldn’t be as easy as this. But that’s just me thinking too much.
This is only my second of Charlotte’s books and I really enjoyed it. It’s a feel-good, uplifting story, but it doesn’t go down the trashy, sickly sweet route, and doesn’t hide away from more difficult moments. Charlotte has definitely become an author to keep an eye out for.
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