False Hearts (False Hearts, #1)

False Hearts (False Hearts, #1)

L.R. Lam

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

Orphan Black meets Inception: Two formerly conjoined sisters are ensnared in a murderous plot involving psychoactive drugs, shared dreaming, organized crime, and a sinister cult. Raised in the closed cult of Mana’s Hearth and denied access to modern technology, conjoined sisters Taema and Tila dream of a life beyond the walls of the compound. When the heart they share begins to fail, the twins escape to San Francisco, where they are surgically separated and given new artificial hearts. From then on they pursue lives beyond anything they could have previously imagined. Ten years later, Tila returns one night to the twins’ home in the city, terrified and covered in blood, just before the police arrive and arrest her for murder—the first homicide by a civilian in decades. Tila is suspected of involvement with the Ratel, a powerful crime syndicate that deals in the flow of Zeal, a drug that allows violent minds to enact their darkest desires in a terrifying dreamscape. Taema is given a proposition: go undercover as her sister and perhaps save her twin’s life. But during her investigation Taema discovers disturbing links between the twins’ past and their present. Once unable to keep anything from each other, the sisters now discover the true cost of secrets.


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  • charkattacks
    Dec 02, 2024
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  • silkcaramel
    Mar 13, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    "I realize neither of us is the good twin. Not anymore. We never were. Tila is simply my other half. Not my better half. Not my worse half."

    Actual rating: 3.5 stars
    I really liked the premise of this book and enjoyed the story overall. The mystery is intriguing and I found myself wanting to know more, but I thought some things were resolved too quickly and the plot twists, although interesting, were a bit predictable (I guessed some almost right before it happened). I did like how the author mashed the past and present and how to every few Taema's present chapters, we would have Tila's recounting of the past and how it would correlate with what Taema was living and dropping little clues about the Hearth and how they got to where they were. It was also a good way to develop the twins personalities and how different their POVs were on the same subject.
    There's also a lot of diversity (we have a bisexual main character, yay!) and I enjoyed how in this society, the color of skin and sexuality is not important at all - you can be what you want to be, as long as you're a good citizen. The world building was also interesting and I can't wait to know a little more in book 2 since it seems the author will explore more on the Zeal drug and other aspects of this society.
    It was a good, enjoyable book, although sometimes slow going, but nothing extraordinary.

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  • notbillnye
    Mar 26, 2025
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