Be Mine, by Lizzy Barber
27 May 2025The Book
Synopsis:
Beth is a new mother struggling to find her place in the world. She is exhausted, mentally and physically, but her anxieties are not simply the fears of a first-time mum. When a letter arrives, bearing only the infinity symbol, Beth knows immediately it is from them. And that her past is finally catching up with her…
Ten years earlier, on the heels of a messy breakup, Beth joins “Elixir” – a health and wellness organisation that promises to change Beth's life forever. She quickly becomes intoxicated, convinced it is the solution to all her problems. No task is too great, even as the gruelling exercise classes become more frequent, even as the therapy sessions become more costly, even as their ‘requests’ become ‘demands,’ Beth convinces herself this is what she wants.
Then, when she falls for the brand’s enigmatic leader, Tate, she can’t imagine life without Elixir. But as Beth’s star begins to rise, Marissa’s starts to fall. And though Marissa tries to warn her of the darkness lurking beneath the brand’s gleaming exterior, Beth finds she cannot let go.
Be Mine is a story about identity: finding our place in the world today, and where we turn to belong in a godless modern society.
My Review
Be Mine is a psychological thriller novel, written by Lizzy Barber, and published by Datura Books. A story following a new mother, Beth, whose life is shaken up when she receives a letter with the infinite symbol: a reminiscence of her past as a member of Elixir, a wellness cult that once controlled her life; she tried hard to hide her secrets, but seems the past has finally caught her.
Barber divides the narration into two timelines: the present one, following Beth as she tries to uncover who's the Elixir member among her close ones, struggling to deal with motherhood at the same time, and slowly becoming more paranoid as she feels the past is catching her; and a past one that introduces us to how Beth became part of Elixir after moving to California, emotionally broken, and how she slowly ascended into the hierarchy, together with the demise of Marisa, the person that introduced her.
At the heart of our story is Beth, trying to protect her family from that part of her past, a first-time mother, still struggling with the challenges that come with motherhood, isolated due to the fear of Elixir discovering her; somebody that needs to heal, but whose traumas are triggered again after the letter. A captivating main character, especially as we deep dive into the circumstances that drew her into Elixir.
And honestly, part of why this novel is brilliant is how credible the past part of the narrative is: we have somebody vulnerable which is attracted by a group that focuses on not only exploiting those weaknesses, but also getting more material that can be used to destroy them, with the target of creating a new identity where the group is in the center of anything. It is scary how well Barber portrayed the way in how many cults operate nowadays, making this story incredibly plausible, something that changing the names could be the reflection of what many people experienced.
The present timeline helps to keep you in tension, constantly reminding you of the fear Beth is experiencing, but also leaving a bit open to the speculation of what if she's just paranoid; what if she's just broken because of her past? I must also add that there are a few twists that I totally didn't see coming.
The pacing is really on the spot, with a precise and tight prose, making of this a book you can easily devour in a few hours; especially as you feel compelled to know more about what is happening to Beth and the truth behind Elixir.
Be Mine is an excellent thriller, a perfect novel if you are looking for a great story about cults and that also has a touch on the struggles of motherhood; in definitive, a really enjoyable novel by Lizzy Barber.
The Author/s
Lizzy Barber
Lizzy Barber is a London-based, Richard & Judy best-selling author of psychologial thrillers. She studied English at Corpus Christ College, Cambridge University before dabbling in acting and film development, after which she spent 14 years working in restaurant branding and marketing with her older brother, restauranteur Jamie Barber.
Her debut novel, MY NAME IS ANNA, is the winner of the Daily Mail First Novel Competition, and was published in 2019 in the UK by Penguin Random House, by Mira/Harper Collins in the US and by Albatros in Slovakia.
OUT OF HER DEPTH was published in 2022 by Pan Macmillan in the UK and Harper Collins in the US and was a Richard & Judy Book Club pick. TV rights have been optioned by Eleventh Hour Films.
NANNY WANTED was published in 2023 by Pan Macmillan.
BE MINE will be published in the US and UK in May 2025 by Datura Books, with foreign editions coming to Ukraine and India.