April Henry

"Olivia's parents were killed fourteen years ago. Now, new evidence reopens the case . . . and she finds herself involved"--

The Girl I Used to Be

Marian L

Victoria

2.5
It was honestly pretty underwhelming. It was like reading an episode from CSI or Criminal Minds -- you know they're gonna end up catching the bad guy and the story behind the death is really not WOAH (if you know what I mean) but you continue on because you just want to know what happened and how it happened.

The climax was pretty uneventful. The protagonist found out the truth because someone told her the truth and that was pretty much of it -- nothing to be wowed over.

It was meh. But I did like the writing. And I like how it was such an easy read. But that's about it.

Reading With Chris

I started out loving this book. It was intriguing. I loved the premise. I was getting attached to the characters. It was addictive. The suspense and plot twists were great and then the ending just ruined it for me. It was so lackluster. 

Jeni Enjaian

I read this book as part of a book club of sorts organized by three middle school media specialists (librarians), including the one from my school. All invited teachers had the opportunity to read these books which will be presented to the students in the upcoming school year as books that they have the opportunity to read and vote on which ones they think are the best. Every single review I have seen in our group of this book has been one of absolutely love.

I am the oddball out.

The first thing that I noticed about the book, since I am reading it partially so that I could potentially recommend it to my middle school students, is that the protagonist speaks with a much more adult voice than one, my middle schoolers, and two, the protagonist herself, Olivia. The protagonist may be only 17 years old but she is an emancipated adult, paying her own rent, working a full time job, owning her own car and several other things that make her seem a lot older than she actually is.

Although the narrative itself is compelling, the mystery itself takes far too long to unravel leaving the ultimate discovery of "who-done-it" until the very end. It felt rushed and came almost completely out of the blue. It reeked of deus ex machina and while others may enjoy this, I do not. (I do not like Agatha Christie novels for the same reason.)

I think that some of my students would likely enjoy this, I simply did not.

claire

alexandra

Mahdis Riazikhah

Jennifer Papa

Tate

Nicole

Cynthi

Fourteen years ago, a three-year-old girl was the only survivor at a horrific murder scene. Now she’s determined to search for the truth—and the killer is even more determined to stop her. When Olivia's mother was killed, everyone suspected her father of murder. But his whereabouts remained a mystery. Fast forward fourteen years. New evidence now proves Olivia's father was actually murdered on the same fateful day her mother died. That means there's a killer still at large. It's up to Olivia to uncover who that may be. But can she do that before the killer tracks her down first? The Girl I Used to Be is another thrilling murder-mystery that'll have you on the edge of your seat from the New York Times-bestselling author April Henry, the author of the Point Last Seen series, Girl, Stolen, and The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die. "Henry has done it again with another edge-of-your-seat mystery/thriller. Recommended for middle school and high school mystery/thriller/suspense collections and for April Henry fans" —VOYA, starred review

Ally

katie rogers🌷

Elfie Jeong

Maegan Kennedy

Brianna

Winner of the Anthony Award for Best Young Adult Mystery Novel When Olivia's mother was killed, everyone suspected her father of murder. But his whereabouts remained a mystery. Fast forward fourteen years. New evidence now proves Olivia's father was actually murdered on the same fateful day her mother died. That means there's a killer still at large. It's up to Olivia to uncover who that may be. But can she do that before the killer tracks her down first? This title has Common Core connections.

The Girl I Used to Be

Reviews