A stunning, dark and sexy debut thriller set in the winding lanes and underbelly of Brighton, centring around the social media world, where resentments and accusations are played out, identities made and remade, and there is no such thing as the truth
When India falls to her death from a bridge over a railway, her sister Poppy returns home to Brighton for the first time in years. Unconvinced by official explanations, Poppy begins her own investigation into India's death. But the deeper she digs, the closer she comes to uncovering deeply buried secrets. Could Matthew Temple, the boyfriend she abandoned, be involved? And what of his powerful and wealthy parents, and his twin sister, Ana? Enter the mysterious and ethereal Jenny: the girl Poppy discovers after hacking into India's laptop. What is exactly is she hiding, and what did India find out about her? Taking the reader on a breathless ride through the winding lanes of Brighton, into its vibrant party scene and inside the homes of its wellheeled families, The Other Twin is startling and up-to-the-minute thriller about the social-media world, where resentments and accusations are played out online, where identities are made and remade, and where there is no such thing as truth...
Welcome to the BLOG TOUR for The Other Twin by Lucy V Hay, published by Orenda Books on 3 July 2017.
I've previously reviewed The Other Twin on Random Things .... here's a snippet from my review:
"The Other Twin is slick and compulsive. Lucy V Hay’s writing is fluid and to the point, sometimes frantic, and often chilling. Her characterisation is confident with a rich understanding of human nature, that can be uncomfortably real at times."
I'm really pleased to welcome author Lucy V Hay here to Random Things today, as part of the Blog Tour, she talking about My Life In Books:
My Life In Books ~ Lucy V Hay
One of the first books I remember
reading was Amelia Jane Again by Enid Blyton. Presumably this means I read the first one in this series too, though
this sequel sticks out for some reason. It was a yellow hardback book, with the
cartoon of a ragdoll kicking down some green blocks (she had stripey red and
white stockings!). It’s weird how detailed it is in my mind. I loved these
tales of bad ragdoll Amelia Jane, who’s so naughty and always getting into
trouble all the time. I’m sure this started my lifelong obsession with ‘bad
girls’ in general! I also became a die-hard Enid Blyton fan, I think I reads
her entire back catalogue. 
So, I read lots of books in-between, but
the next one that leaves a strong impression is Pictures of Adam by Myron Levoy. I was about ten and had lots of
romantic thoughts about boys but I didn’t really know any, apart from my
brother and next door neighbor (I went to a girls-only school). I read Pictures of Adam and he seemed so dreamy
and understanding, the perfect boyfriend really (even if he did think he came
to earth in a space capsule! We all have flaws!). To be honest I thought Lisa
was a bit mean to Adam in the book, I felt sure I would be a MUCH better
girlfriend. 
The next book that sticks out is The Janice Project by Nancy Rue. I could
relate to Janice because she is an outsider, plus my Mum’s name is Janis, so
when I saw this for 10p at a jumble sale I had to buy it. Another romance, I
was so in love with being in love – but I was at secondary school by now, with
actual icky boys … I couldn’t ever believe these beasts were the same!!! I much
preferred my book boyfriends, even if poor Eddy nearly dies in this one. YIKES
SPOILERS! (C’mon, someone always ‘nearly dies’ in YA romance!!). 
Then came Weaveworld by Clive Barker. This one haunted me for a long time
before I actually read it! It was on the bookshelf for ages but had a scary
cover of a shadowy man on fire, so my whole childhood I’d rushed past on the
way to the bathroom just in case he jumped out and set me on fire. Even though
we moved several times, this book followed … so by the time I was about 14 I
decided to face my fear and read the damn book! I’m not much of a fantasy fan –
I’m still not – but this book is AWESOME! It’s freaky and weird, but also has a
great human element to it. Susanna is one of the protagonists and she has
magical power called menstruum – you
don’t need to be a genius to figure out the reference there. I love how Barker
makes being female POWERFUL, he does this in other books too like Imajica and as a girl growing up I
thought his heroines were the coolest. 
Ariel by Sylvia Plath is another book
that left ripples through my life – though this is of course a poetry
collection. Lady Lazarus is my
absolute favourite, especially the line ‘I
eat men like air’. I used to draw pictures around this quote and started
getting interested in folklore about female beasts who killed or ate men, like
Sirens and Succubuses. Because of this collection, I read The Bell Jar, but got frustrated and angry and upset. I wanted to
reach into the pages and talk Plath out of it, but of course she had died long
before I was born. I re-read The Bell Jar
recently and my reaction is not as extreme; I am more mature now and understand
the pain of suicidal thoughts a lot more. 
The next book that made a big impression
on me is I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. It was assigned as part of my A Level English Literature course,
so I must have been about 17. As a very pale Devonian girl, I’d never heard of
Maya Angelou and knew zilch about American or Black history. But I opened it up
when I fetched it from the library and I just couldn’t stop reading! It’s
amazing. I was so impressed with the detail and how Angelou relates various
events in her life to the lessons she learned because of them; most of all
however I was struck by her humility and grace, never shying to talk about the
mistakes she had made too.
I went and checked out the rest in the
series, I read all seven in a very short time! Maya Angelou became a source of
inspiration to me, especially since I was a young teen Mum too who wanted to be
a writer. Obviously our life paths were very different, but we both had to face
adversity. Every time I thought, ‘I’m never going to make it’, I thought about
Maya Angelou and how she had persevered, so I would too.
I still think of her and her awesome
spirit. I like to think she’s still around somehow in the wind or trees or some
other natural phenomenon – there’s no way a powerful spirit like hers can just
disappear into the ether.
Lucy V Hay ~ July 2017
@LucyVHayAuthor is a novelist,
script editor and blogger who helps writers.
Lucy is the producer of two Brit
Thrillers, DEVIATION (2012) and ASSASSIN (2015).
Her debut crime novel, THE
OTHER TWIN, is due out with Orenda Books in 2017.
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