A review by readundancies
The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe

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. 
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