I'll be You, Janelle Brown

Written in an unconventional "tell vs. show" fashion (think sitting back and being told a story rather than showing the character's dialogue and actions to where you feel as if you are the character), Janelle Brown does a marvelous job holding the reader's attention in I'll Be You.

The story of identical twins, Ellie and Sam, former child stars who have grown worlds apart. Ellie is happy to be out of the spotlight, married, running a florist shop, and desperate to have a child. Sam is imploding with addiction woes, bit parts in horror movies, and selling her eggs to pay the rent.

Things get crazy when Ellie appears with a 2-year-old child out of the blue and then runs off to a secretive women's retreat, leaving the baby with her parents, who enlist the newly clean Sam for help.

Through some fun twists and turns, we follow Sam as she learns the true identity of Ellie's baby and then breaks into the compound where Ellie is to save her. The book turns from moving nicely to a rapid pace as all the twists and turns fly into place.

There are moments of near disbelief, but Ms. Brown does an excellent job of bringing things back around in this well-written book that left me wanting to curl up in a bean bag and be told another story by her.

You will most certainly enjoy I'll Be You, and it may even make you think twice the next time you are encouraged to join a group of individuals looking for enlightenment.