Review: The Mansion's Twins by Rose Channing

[smtowngrl]

I reviewed the novel, The Mansion’s Twins (At the Crossworlds Book 1) by Rose Channing. This book is set in both our world and an alternate world. The story starts in our world describing two different girls, Savannah and Ellie, who the reader finds out are actually twins even though the twins aren’t aware of each other. Soon the stranger twins seem to randomly meet at a park. However, this book soon shows that there isn’t much in the plot that is random. Once the girls meet, they decide to leave their dismal situations to set out together for a new life. Before long, they fall into an alternate reality and realize their destiny is to save the alternate world from the chaos created after a storm. They also find out that the alternate world is also the world they are originally from. They find their way to a mansion and undergoing lessons from the queen who seems to be the one person who is holding everything together in the mansion that acts as a bit of a safe house. Once the timing seems right, the twins are sent off on their mission to restore magic as it was before the storm. At this point, the author splits the story between the perspective of the twins on their journey and various perspectives of those left behind at the mansion.

The writing style of the book is pretty simple making it an easy read. I noticed a few grammatical errors but only one that really stopped me in my tracks. I wish the author would have written in a few more details for the storyline as I felt that the picture was being painted with a broad brush. There were a couple of instances where I felt the author was stating the obvious or retelling simple parts of the storyline as well. At these points in the story, I felt that everything stalled and, at times, I felt that I had to self-motivate to keep reading. Given these distinctions, I am still undecided if I will be picking up the next book in this series made obvious by the title.

I would recommend this book as a mostly fun, light read for young readers. The author didn’t require much from the reader other than to read along and enjoy the story. The author was also careful to keep the story family-friendly. I would caveat to future older readers to be prepared for slow points and to sometimes feel like the author is trying to satisfy a word count.

[signed]

Thanks for the review!