Cover Image: The Girl I Thought I Knew

The Girl I Thought I Knew

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Member Reviews

This book was good but didn’t feel very thrilling.
The story is told from dual timelines with a good storyline.
The ending was good.
A enjoyable book

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This is the first book I've read by the author and I enjoyed it. With the dual timeline, the reader is taken to the past and the present. With twists that leave the reader wanting more, this gripping novel is a must-read. (Detailed review coming soon).

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The Girl I Thought I Knew by Kelly Heard was a very emotional story and beautifully written throughout. I was hooked from the very first few pages. Kelly has a way of writing that just draws you in and you don't want her books to end.

I highly recommend Kelly's book's 5* read as always x

Big thank you to the publisher Bookouture and Netgalley for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review.

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Daisy gets a wedding invitation from her childhood best friend, Stella. The wedding will be in Daisy’s North Carolina hometown where she is still known as ‘the crazy one’ for telling people that she saw a dead girl in the woods a summer day 15 years ago, a girl who looked just like her and whose body was never found!!

The book alternates between then and now and is told from Daisy's PoV. This is more a story of friendship and betrayal than a thriller. I enjoyed the way the tension builds as the story goes on. Overall, a really enjoyable book!!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, Bookouture, for providing me with an ARC of this book.

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This was such an intense read. It was romantic, tragic, captivating, and emotional. I really enjoyed the process of reading it. I have already recommended to friends!

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This story was very suspenseful., and there are many elements present. What will Daisy find when she faces her past? The suspense builds with each page.
Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

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Daisy lives with her partner Anderson . One day she receives a wedding invitation from an old friend. Daisy doesn’t really want to go back as when she lived there, there was an explosion at her fathers works . Daisy saw a young girl die in the explosion but there was no mention of the girl and they deny all knowledge.
Daisy goes back and it opens a tin of worms up but all daisy wants is the truth.
Thanks NetGalley

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Daisy returns to her hometown after being gone for 17 years to attend her old best friend Stellas wedding, the whole town thinks she lied about what she saw during a fire. Daisy decides that she isn't done telling her story and that she will speak the truth one last time.

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Absolutely loved this book!!! Heartbreaking, emotional... couldn’t put it down!
Daisy was such a compelling character.. and her relationships were complex and indicative of who she became. Well
Done!!!

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This book wasn't exactly what I was expecting. The story line had a lot of potential but there wasn't any climax or that "aha" moment. I was expecting more. This book definitely left me hanging.

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A good read. Daisy returns to her home town after seventeen years estranged from the town, her parents and her friends. She left under a cloud with people questioning her sanity. She returns for her former best friends wedding. Some great twists and lots of hidden secrets. A real array of characters and I loved how I felt about the town at the beginning and then the end.

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I received an ARC copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest opinion of it. The story is about Daisy and her best friend, Stella, from her teenage years. Daisy has since grown and moved away and lost contact with her when out of the blue Daisy receives a wedding invitation from Stella and she decided to go back home and attend it. Back when she was a teen, Daisy witnessed a fire at her dad's work and tried to tell everyone that she saw a girl in the fire and wanted to save her but no one believed her. The story is told in the past and present and it was just alot of drama to me and not at all what I expected.

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This was a well written book, that not only provided the needed thrills, chills, and shocks thrillers/mysteries deliver, but also made sure to bring in some emotional turmoil for the reader. Not many books are able to do this and continue the fast paced need I crave from my thrillers, but Heard did. It was well written, unputdownable, and packed with so many twisted lies, which brought the much loved thrills and chills! I highly recommend those looking for a heart breaking, but fast paced, well written thriller!
Will make sure to buzz it up on all the different platforms!

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I was gripped by this story right from the beginning. Daisy knew the truth about what happened on that fateful night, but no one believed her. But as they say - the truth will out. Very good book

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Daisy Ritter's whole life has been overshadowed by the chemical plant in the town. It has led to her father's drinking, her mother's recurrent miscarriages. Finally it led to her being estranged from her family for 17 years after she witnessed a girl dying in a fire but no one believed her and she was forced to leave town.
Now, in the present day, she receives a wedding invite from her former best friend and returns to town, ready to confront the past, her friends, family and her lost love.
Will anyone believe her this time...?
The writing style is similar to that in Kelly Heard's last book, Before You Go (it's had a title change since I read it!) and, as I've said before, reminds me of Margaret Atwood in style. There are plenty of things half said and unfinished thoughts which allow the reader to make guesses about the plot and characters. I'll admit that this book took me a while to get into as I was anxious for more detail to grab my attention.
Daisy is a likeable lead character and the dual timeline narrative structure allows us to see her unhappiness at home and the impact it has on her now as an adult. I felt angry on her behalf at the unfairness and doubt that characterises the way she is treated by the town, her friends, her family and her partner both in the past and present.
There is such sadness in this book as so many characters have lost love: unborn children, unhappy homelife, unsupportive friends, unfaithful lovers. Daisy's trust has been repeatedly broken by all the people she loves most, yet she remains a source of hope and determination which lifts the plot and gives everyone a second chance.
The Girl I Thought I Knew is an enjoyable novel with elements of drama, thriller, mystery, emotion and romance.

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I enjoyed the majority of this book, but I thought that the ending was a bit of a letdown. I expected more, especially given how much the events from the past had guided Daisy’s life for so long. I did like Daisy’s journey and how she realized her strength at the end, and how she made decisions to move forward. I would recommend this book. For more thoughts, please visit my blog at Fireflies and Free Kicks Fiction Reviews. Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for a digital ARC of the book.

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The story follows Daisy who out of the blue got a wedding invitation from her former best friend from high school. Daisy left her hometown seventeen years ago after seeing a girl who looked like her die in a fire, but no one believed her, not even her parents or her best friend. Would you go back to a place where everyone thinks you made everything up? Where everyone thought you were crazy?
Opinion: Really enjoyed reading this story. The plot was intriguing, and the character development was well done. However, it was not as “page-turner” as I expected it to be. The plot twist however was brilliant! It was well worth the wait.

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First, I want to thank Kelly Heard, Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review.

The Girl I Thought I Knew by Kelly Heard has so many twists and turns within the many different storylines she wrote. This was one book where I didn’t really know where it was going or how it was going to end. The ending took me by total surprise.

One thing I loved about the book was all the many reunions between characters. Learning about their past stories and how it intertwined with the present. This was a good chunk of the story.

There was a huge mystery in this book that seemed like everyone wanted to cover up. Between this and the reunions were my favorite part of the book.

The book goes from present day to the past.

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If your favoured reading material is a compelling tale with a good sprinkling of drama, heartbreak and harboured secrets, then The Girl I Thought I Knew by Kelly Heard is a must-read for you!

Right from the opening line there was such a lot happening in this wonderful suspenseful drama. Daisy was an interesting character and it was a journey to get to know her. The story goes seamlessly back and forth between in time and is told exclusively from Daisy's point of view in a gripping tale of friendship, first loves, betrayal, trust, and hope for the future. The author really worked wonders with most of the characters and even the less personable ones still had very good parts to play and did not dampen my enthusiasm for this fascinating tale, as I was immediately drawn into their lives. There was lovely depth and poignancy to Kelly Heard’s writing which kept me hooked throughout.

I totally appreciated this story and its realistic, touching portrayal of a young woman and her relationships with her partner, Anderson, her parents and her best friend from her schooldays, Stella. The plot was great and moved along at a really comfortable pace and I was very happy with the author’s general writing-style.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it with confidence.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Bookouture via NetGalley at my request, and this review is my own unbiased opinion.

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Daisy gets an envelope and it is for a wedding invitation. She has no idea why she would get one since it was from a former friend who she had not spoken to in years. Daisy had left her hometown and never looked back. She has a career and a boyfriend and seems happy.
The invitation brings back all the memories of her mom and her alcoholic father. She left when people called her the crazy one after she had witnessed something that no one believed.
So Daisy and her boyfriend, Anderson, go to the wedding. There are so many memories there and her parents don't seem to be to happy to see her. Now that she is there she wants to prove that what she saw did happen. That opens up a whole can of worms. Will people start believing her? Also Anderson seems to be acting a little strange as well.
I liked the story and I had a little feeling of how it was going to end. I did not see Daisy as needy as Anderson made her out to be.
I received this ARC from Bookouture and NetGalley for review.

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