Summer Reading Review: The Third Twin by CJ Omolou

For my summer reading assignment I chose to read The Third Twin by CJ Omololu. This book sparked my interest as soon as I picked up the book and read the back cover. The book's mysterious eerie tone and ominous voice really caught my attention, as I absolutely love these types of books. The book's exact location isn't mentioned throughout the story but I believe that the setting is in California as the family lives a wealthy life, lots of beaches are mentioned and the father is almost always traveling throughout the story. Meaning that, the main characters, Ava and Alexa, known throughout the story as "Lexi," live with the housekeeper, Cecilia. Even though Cecilia is just the housekeeper the twins think of her more as a mother since they were abandoned by their own mother at a very young age.

 The unsettling part of this story is the fact that the twins at a very young age made up a third sister, Alicia. According to the back of the book, “When they were little, Lexi and her identical twin, Ava made up a third sister, Alicia. If something broke? Alicia did it. Cookies got eaten? Alicia’s guilty. Alicia was always to blame for everything.”

However, now they are all grown up and beginning their last and final, senior year, Alicia is still around. Alicia was the twin's excuse to go out with guys who they would never go out with as their real selves, or if they wanted to do something deranged they would follow through the situation as Alicia. The girl who doesn't exist, or so they say. There were only a couple rules when it came down to being Alicia. According to Omolou,"Always wear the diamond pendant; never sleep with any of the guys; and after five dates, they're history, no matter how hot they are" (1). The twins keep these rules throughout the entire book. Until they start to realize that something crazy is going on and either someone is messing around with them or the twins have a lot more issues than just trust when it comes down to the end. 

his story relates to my life very little. While thinking of how this relates to my life a couple different points comes to mind, one being, how different my sister, Hope and I are, as are Ava and Alexa. Ava seems to be the one that wants to go out and have fun, more like me while Lexi comes off as the more studious and homebody like my sister. 

Although Ava and Alexa are the same exact age, Hope and I are exactly five years apart, me being the older one. Ava throughout this story is more of an outgoing person, she likes to have fun and make memorable experiences, meaning she could careless if she crosses the line as she's basically on her own with only the guide lines that Cecilia sets for her. Lexi, has her standards set on getting into Stanford College, as her dad went there and hopes Lexi to follow through with that. Another way this book relates to my life is the fact that the two sisters blame Alicia for their mistakes, as Hope and I are usually the ones to blame each other if something goes wrong. Not so much anymore as we're older, more mature, and have learned how to own up to our own mistakes. I can't say I would know what it's like to have a twin, but having a little sibling would be close enough to that situation.