Reviews

The Girls I've Been, by Tess Sharpe

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sophiareagan's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

aclark6151's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Well, this was a wild ride. I loved Nora, our main character. I loved the supporting characters. The story was engaging and I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next. I also loved how it ended. I love how Tess Sharpe handled the back and forth between the current timeline and what had happened in Nora's past. There is a lot of back and forth and it is just done so well.

My only complaint is that the kid/teen characters read older than what they actually are. I don't doubt that Nora would act/feel older than her 17 years but I have a hard time believing her friends and another side character (a 10-year-old girl) would read that much older. But it didn't stop me from completely enjoying this book and wanting to read more from Tess Sharpe.

All in all I would highly recommend this book.

kamiacam's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

paramore83's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5

julialucci's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 methinks

caslovestea's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

readundancies's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Welcome to my first 5-star read of 2021!

To start, this story did not begin as expected and I am here for it - we are dropped head first into this plot line like goddamned paratroopers and my what a wind we ride as we descend.

I don't want to reveal too much, but within the first 50 pages give or take we encounter a torrid F/F love affair, a soap opera truth bomb moment, a tenuous and straining relationship with an ex/friend, a dark grifter/con artist backstory, and the haunted undertones of some real twisted evilness hiding at the edge of each unturned page. It only builds from there.

From a writing standpoint, the story doesn’t breathe - it’s very fluid as it builds and it doesn’t give you any time to catch your breath in its delivery, so you suffocate under the expanding feelings crafted in the characters themselves. Nora's delivery is blunt yet vague in the beginning, and with every chapter that progresses we get to see more of the tortured person behind the multiple masks she's worn throughout her life. She’s unequivocally calculating with her internal monologue; she keeps her cards close and her smiles even closer and it is brilliant to watch the story of her past unfold alongside the present. The way the plot furled into itself; we got the slow simmer of a backstory building up in the smoke of the rapidly evolving tire fire that was the hostage situation/bank robbery gone wrong. It was suspenseful and unsettling as it allowed both the present and the past to converge at the climax.

And by the end, we see that this book is really about survival, and all of the dark and damaging aspects of existence that shape how we live our lives and the choices we're forced to make in a crisis.

I genuinely think this is everything I’ve ever wanted in a YA thriller. I managed to force myself to stop last night in finishing off the last third of this novel because I wanted the experience to last as long as possible.

And I can't wait to pick up a copy to add to my personal library, because this is one of those novels that deserves to be re-read over and over again.

Content Warnings