Book Description
Leila has never met Tess, but she now knows
more about Tess than anyone in the world. She’s read all of her emails,
researched her past and asked Tess for every detail about her friends and
family. Tess has never met Leila. But if she wants to slip away from the world
unnoticed, she needs to trust Leila with her life. At first, Leila finds it easy
to assume Tess’s identity, and no one has any reason to distrust her. But as
Leila is soon to discover, there is much more to a person than the facts and
there are things about life you can learn only by living it . . . Original,
haunting and utterly gripping, Kiss Me First is an electrifying debut from a
phenomenally gifted storyteller.
My Musings
I wasn't sure this book was for me when I started it as it is contemporary and has a very dark premise. Lottie is an extremely gifted writer and had me gripped from the start. Leila is clearly the heroine but not terribly likeable at first even though you feel for her dire circumstances. However as she is drawn into the sinister online chatroom where she is seduced by its pseudo intellectual debates and members you really start to wonder where this will lead. This was very topical for the fact that I hope it hightlight to people how easy it is to create a whole different persona online. People can become whatever they want and live their fantasy. Leila is a very bright but hopelessly naive young woman and vunerable to any charmer. She is persuaded to take over the life online of Tess, a glamorous wild young woman who because of terminal illness wants slip away without notice because as far as her family are concerned she will still be alive on line. Leila arrogantly agrees not even contemplating the devastation and ripple effect it will cause. As She becomes Tess she starts to believe she can be tess and want to live her live. I really wanted to shake her at times but Lottie still retains the readers sypathy for her because she has been so manipulated by the cult leader and a misguided Tess.
Things come to a head when the cult is exposed and Leila realised how loved Tess was and how devastated her disapperance is . It is a sharp wakeup call where she really begins to mature and appreciate what and who she is as a person.
I have friends who have said to me they have come of FB because they can't bear to see everyone leading such fabulous lives. I still feel that with the internet we as a society are in our infancy and don't realise the scale of desception is can produce. what i stry and stress is no'one is gong to advertise the bad stuff about their lives, it s almost like marketing. I think this is insightful and hopefully really make people think twice before they trust what they read on the interenet. We are being shown what people wish us to see not the whole picture. Whats reallly scary is is so easy to become another person. A fascinating dark read that gives pause for though a long time after I finished it.
Conclusion
Darkly addictive and twisted, a book for the modern age. Very talented writer.
Fun Facts
Lottie's mother is Deborah Moggach who wrote Tulip Fever and The Marigold Hotel.
Lottie is nolonger on Facebook or twitter as she is unsettled by the falseness of it. My words not hers!
If you like this you'll love
Book-This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Scales, The Scarlett Pimpernal by Baroness Orczy
Films- The Talented Mr Ripley, Single White Femail, Catch Me if You Can
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