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A review by rellimreads
The Girl I Used to Be by April Henry
4.0
I don’t read a lot of YA at this point. Mostly because I read a lot of romance and that’s become a little odd when the protagonists are the same age as my kids. Sooooooo, when I won a little contest on Amy McFadden’s Facebook page and she offered me a YA Mystery/Suspense/Thriller – I was all in.
This is my first book by April Henry and I will be adding more of her work to my “to read” shelf. These are exactly the kinds of books I would have consumed in my tween/teen years and they’re enjoyable as an adult as well. The book immediately starts with the discovery of Olivia’s father’s remains and sucked me in. I listened in just a few days and enjoyed Olivia/Ariel’s journey in learning more about her parents, their disappearance & murder, their hometown, and trying to discern who may have been responsible for their deaths.
There is a tiny bit of romance, but it plays such a small part in the story that I wouldn’t consider shelving this under that category. I feel like I had to stretch believability a bit when it came to how few people recognized Olivia considering how much time she spent interacting with close friends of her parents. Overall, I enjoyed the story and liked that, while I had my suspicions, it wasn’t immediately clear who the murderer was. Henry also included a thrilling chase aspect when the murderer tries to thwart Olivia’s investigation. The ending was heartwarming.
Amy McFadden is one of my favorite narrators for a reason. She has an amazing range of voices – which was perfect for this book as characters ranged from teen to elderly and she gave them all unique sounds. McFadden also highlighted the wide range of emotions for Olivia adding depth to the story.
I won a free copy of this audiobook from a contest on Amy McFadden’s Facebook page and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
This is my first book by April Henry and I will be adding more of her work to my “to read” shelf. These are exactly the kinds of books I would have consumed in my tween/teen years and they’re enjoyable as an adult as well. The book immediately starts with the discovery of Olivia’s father’s remains and sucked me in. I listened in just a few days and enjoyed Olivia/Ariel’s journey in learning more about her parents, their disappearance & murder, their hometown, and trying to discern who may have been responsible for their deaths.
There is a tiny bit of romance, but it plays such a small part in the story that I wouldn’t consider shelving this under that category. I feel like I had to stretch believability a bit when it came to how few people recognized Olivia considering how much time she spent interacting with close friends of her parents. Overall, I enjoyed the story and liked that, while I had my suspicions, it wasn’t immediately clear who the murderer was. Henry also included a thrilling chase aspect when the murderer tries to thwart Olivia’s investigation. The ending was heartwarming.
Amy McFadden is one of my favorite narrators for a reason. She has an amazing range of voices – which was perfect for this book as characters ranged from teen to elderly and she gave them all unique sounds. McFadden also highlighted the wide range of emotions for Olivia adding depth to the story.
I won a free copy of this audiobook from a contest on Amy McFadden’s Facebook page and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.