This is such a fascinating story! Once I started reading I just couldn't stop, with each chapter alternating between Nora's horrific past and the present where she's in a hostage situation, I was desperate to learn more about everything she had been through previously and was currently going through. Nora's sister, Lee, is a badass. She went through some awful stuff as a child, the same as Nora, and now she does her best to protect her family. Speaking of family, the found family in this story is one of the best. Nora and Lee are sisters, but then there's Nora's ex-boyfriend and franken-friend Wes who has become part of the family. He stays with the sisters a lot to escape from his own crappy home life, and was the first person (outside of her mom and sister) the Nora ever explained her past too. She told him about the girls she'd been before, and he's the only man she's ever felt safe with. Then we have Nora's girlfriend, Iris, who came across really cute at first but then turns out to be a bit of a badasss herself with a few secrets of her own too. All of these characters saved each other in different ways and I love them all. The love they all have for each other really shines through while they're stuck in the hostage situation and only strengthens as the story goes on. Most of the flashback chapters where we see what Nora's childhood was like we fascinating, to see how she learnt to con people was a pretty interesting part of the story and really showed how she became the person she is today. However, some of the flashback scenes were disturbing. as Nora went through some really awful stuff as a child, There were a few characters in this story that I felt nothing but disgust and anger towards, and you'll see who and why if you read the book.

TW: sexual abuse, molestation, physical abuse, emotional abuse, child abuse, gun violence, death, murder, kidnapping, blood

Thank you to Netgalley, Hodder Children's Books and Tess Sharpe for my arc of The Girls I've Been in exchange for an honest review.

Published: 4th Feb 2021

The Girls I've Been is a twisty thriller in which most of the book spans only a few hours of a day. Nora is at the bank feeling extremely awkward meeting up with her new girlfriend and the ex boyfriend who walked in on them the day before, she's even brought donuts to break the ice. But as they head into the bank together the worst thing happens, two men show up to rob the bank and Nora, Iris and Wes are suddenly captives. But Nora is the daughter of a con artist and she's learnt from birth how to best people, and the bank robbers don't know who they're holding hostage.

This was a fun, YA thriller soon to be a movie starring Millie Bobby Brown. I loved the way it played out over a couple of hours switching between the current situation in the bank and Nora's past lives and the different girls she had been. I loved the dynamic between her, Iris and Wes and the bi representation was great!! Nora is such a strong and resilient character and at no point did I ever feel scared for her because she is such a fighter, incredible! It will make a great movie!

The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe was on of my most anticipated books of 2021. Having only read Far From You by her previously, I didn't know if I was going to be a fan of her work in general, or just that one book, but The Girls I've Been is already a strong contender for my favourite books of the year list.

Nora just wants to deposit the fundraising money at the bank, but she knows it's not going to be that simple. When she turns up to meet her current girlfriend and her ex-boyfriend in the car park, she knows things will be awkward, after Wes walked in on Nora and Iris making out. Maybe she should have told him about their relationship after all. But things go from bad to worse when the three find themselves hostages in a bank robbery. Along with the other customers and staff, they are locked in back offices, where Nora unveils bit by bit of herself to reveal the girls she's been - past personas she's had to adopt under her mothers instructions to con their way through life, relationships, and men who would never suspect them. And as Nora's past comes out, the bank robbers realise they have more than they bargained for holding her hostage.

The blurb of this book drew me in from the very start. Bisexual MC, bank robbery, past secrets, hidden identities and long cons. Sign me up.

But it was so much more.

Nora is the perfect protagonist for a story like this. She is strong, witty, level headed but sharp tongued, can assess a situation in two seconds and already has a plan forming. And you soon work out her whole life acted as training for her in that regard. Ever since she was born, her mother has been picking new names, new hairstyles, new characteristics for her to adopt and new marks to latch onto, lie to, steal from, and con, until they can drive into the sunset and resume a new identity in a new town.

I also love the way that Nora's sexuality was presented. She has a girlfriend, she had a boyfriend, she uses the word bi. There isn't any discourse about how one of her partners was just a phase, there was no one commenting about her sexuality or her relationships - and really, it's not the most pressing thing in a bank robbery - but between Nora, Wes and Iris, there was never a snide comment from one of the other two. It's a really great representation of a bisexual main character, and the queer rep is great all round. Iris isn't out to her mother yet, so they discuss that aspect of being queer, (and I can't quite remember if Iris uses the term lesbian or bisexual to be quite honest, but I think she was only into girls), and Nora's sister Lee is also into the ladies, and that is broached to Nora when she's still quite young, and that is dealt with great too.

I absolutely loved the friendship between Nora, Wes and Iris. They each show a deep bond and true fondness for each other, even when they're pissed off with one another, there is evidence of years worth of friendship, trust, and love between them. I think the relationships between them all are relatable and realistic and I could read so much more of their antics.

Also Wes and Iris are fully fleshed out, 3D side characters who each have their own shit going on and their own lives. I won't go into their back stories, but they each deal with some pretty pressing matters, and it's messy and they make mistakes and say the wrong thing and don't know what to do, because they're kids! But I really loved these two, and the three of them all together made me love this book so much.

In terms of action within the plot, we're into the bank robbery pretty much straight away. We slowly find out what these two men want and why they're at this bank, but throughout that there's enough drama and danger to keep you on the edge of your seat. And interspersed in all of that going on, are flashbacks to Nora growing up, assuming different identities and being trained by her mother into becoming a master manipulater and con artist. These flashbacks are woven through the novel at perfect intervals, slowly taking you up until the big moment, the moment that is alluded to throughout the whole book, the moment where these two robbers take a moment to consider who is really stood in front of them.

I can't speak highly enough of this book. It is gripping and tense, there's mystery and reveal, but there's also adorable moments and scenes that will make you want to weep. It really has it all, with a stellar cast and a phenomenal main character. I can't wait for more people to read this and I personally can't wait to read more of Tess Sharpe's work.

Ah. It’s one of those reviews where I can’t actually comment on the details for fear of ruining it for someone else.

What can I tell you? It’s a very clever YA thriller with an unusual protagonist. Very clever. Very, very clever.

Cleverness example 1. There are two timelines: the present moves nearly minute by minute and it’s tense; the past doesn’t always progress chronologically - sometimes it’s in reverse. It sounds complicated but it works effectively and Sharpe signposts the timeline so you don’t get lost.

Cleverness example 2. It feels pacy and action based but, when you reach the end, you realise it’s not actually plot-driven. Really, it’s a deftly handled character exploration that tricks you into thinking a lot is happening. Sneaky.

Cleverness example 3. It doesn’t end when or where you’d expect it to.

Cleverness example 4. Sharpe uses a lot of devices without it seeming forced: audio transcripts, therapy sessions, memories, lists, patterns.

Retailers are advertising it at readers 12yrs+ Whilst it’s chalked up as YA, I think any adult who likes this genre would appreciate the novel. Despite the age of the protagonist, I frequently forgot it was targeted at a YA audience. Moreover, I’d argue that a level of maturity is needed as the novel deals with physical, emotional and sexual abuse. So I’d apply caution when recommending it to younger readers.

Overall, it’s a brilliantly clever story. I know I said that already but I finished it four hours ago and I’m still sitting here thinking about its cleverness. Or, I should say, Sharpe’s cleverness: she’s aptly named.

Really enjoyed this book. There was a slight slowness in the middle but then picked up again up. I would gauge the book as young adult mainly due to the topics it covers. This enticed myself to read it as it’s soon to be a Netflix film but the writing of Tess Sharpe I feel that I have watched it already, with the detailed descriptions and deep engagement with the characters. I hope they can do it justice.
The story is based on three teenager friends, Wes, Iris and Nora, living in a small out of the way town. One day the unimaginable happens in this quiet town, two men come to rob the bank and Wes, Iris and Nora are caught in the middle of it. What the robber hadn’t planned on is Nora. She has a past that no teenager should ever have. The story flicks back and forth explaining about her past and the present. Along the way you find out about Iris and Wes who too, have had issues to deal with too.

I received an advance copy of this from NetGalley.
This was an unexpected gem. Short chapters and jumping between the present, a bank robbery in progress and the past, Nora’s range of previous personas.
Nora is in hiding. Brought up by her con artist mum, who involved her from a young age in the cons, she has had so many names and characters, she struggles to remember who she is. She has also become used to lying to protect herself. This does not help her in building loving, trusting relationships.
However, when she is unwittingly present when a bank robbery takes place, her past skills come into play. The bank robbers do not know what they are up against.
There are difficult themes dealt with confidently in this novel...trust, friendship, abuse, violence, guilt, sexuality. Highly recommended.

Tess Sharpe’s Far From You is one of my favourite YA contemporary novels of all time, so it won’t come as a surprise to you that The Girls I’ve Been featured on my most anticipated 2021 releases list.

The Girls I’ve Been follows Nora, the daughter of a con-woman, as she is caught up in a bank robbery along with her ex-boyfriend and her new girlfriend. Nora knows the day is going to be awkward – Wes caught her and Iris kissing last night, and she’s been purposefully keeping the relationship a secret from him – so she decides to swing by and pick up some donuts on her way to the bank, where the three teens are depositing money that they raised for a local animal shelter.

Unfortunately, the donuts have a lot to answer for. They make Nora late. If Nora hadn’t been late they would have already deposited the money and left the bank before the hostage situation occurred, and they wouldn’t find themselves in a fight for survival against two armed bank robbers.

There are so many things that I absolutely loved about The Girls I’ve Been.

Let’s start with Nora.

The main character, Nora has had one hell of an upbringing. Having a con-artist for a mother means that Nora was trained to become whatever her mother needed: pliant and perfect, meek and mild, silent and subdued.

The majority of the story is told during the bank robbery – counting up the minutes that the characters have been held hostage and the different assets that they find themselves with – but Tess Sharpe smoothly weaves in chapters from Nora’s past, introducing us to all of the girls she’s been throughout the years. My heart was breaking for the little girl who would do anything to please her mother, and it just broke further throughout as Nora came to the realisation that her mother’s work would always mean more to her than her daughter.

There is so much I could say about how much I loved Nora’s character. She prioritises the safety of her friends above everything, even her own wellbeing. She keeps a lot of secrets because of the nature of her upbringing, but isn’t afraid to confront her demons through therapy. She’s a 100% badass, and I’m desperate for Tess Sharpe to write a sequel because I want to read more of Nora (and I only finished this book two days ago!).

Then there’s Iris. Obsessed with vintage clothing, Iris may look girly and soft on the outside but she has nerves of steel.

Suffering with endometriosis, Iris is in agony for much of their time as hostages, but she isn’t afraid to use her period to her advantage. Iris taunting the bank robber with the fact that she really needs to empty her menstrual cup will go down as one of my favourite scenes of all time. I always love seeing periods in fiction – they’re a huge part of life if you have a vagina, and it’s unrealistic to believe that nothing exciting would happen during at least one character’s time of the month – but it felt so natural and realistic that it took me a while to actually think “Oh my god! Casual period discussion!”.

Iris and Nora’s relationship is a complicated one – Iris knows hardly anything about Nora’s real past, while she’s also keeping secrets of her own – and I wish we’d been able to see more of them. Obviously there’s a bank robbery going on, so Tess Sharpe has much bigger fish to fry, but I would have been happier if we’d had some more chapters set in Nora’s recent past. We get a lot more of the relationship between Wes and Nora than we do the relationship between Iris and Nora, but I think if they’d been focused on a little bit more then they would have ended up being one of my favourite bookish couples for sure.

That brings us to Wes. The son of the mayor, Wes has an abusive home life that leads to him practically moving in with Nora and her sister, Lee.

I absolutely loved the description of Wes and Nora as Franken-friends. Wes finds out about Nora’s past while they are dating. Her secrets and lies are too much for him to take, leading to the end of their romantic relationship, but they manage to cobble together a friendship which Wes affectionately refers to as the Franken-friends.

It would be great if friendships between exes could be normalised in YA. In my lived experience, people are far more likely to stay friends with their exes than to never speak to them ever again, but that explosive end to a relationship is still the one most commonly portrayed in YA literature. It’s something so small, yet so effective (which can also be said about the casual period discussions!). Tess Sharpe has a brilliant way of making her stories feel realistic, even though the bank robbery/hostage situation is an uncommon inclusion in YA.

That certainly upped the pace, though. I flew through the first quarter of this novel and found it very difficult to put down, so make sure to pick this book up when you’re able to set aside quite a chunk of time for reading! Don’t make the same mistake I did and start reading right before bed, because the situation that the three friends find themselves in definitely gets your heart racing.

This is the second novel by Tess Sharpe that I’ve read, and I think she’s quickly becoming one of my favourite authors. I’m always going to have a soft spot for books with bisexual rep, but Sharpe makes the sexuality a part of her characters and not their defining characteristic which I highly appreciate. These are characters who are comfortable with their sexuality. They don’t feel the need to come out or to justify their feelings for each other, and I think this quiet acceptance of their feelings for each other and who they are makes Sharpe’s characters much more believable.

My only complaint – and the only reason that I didn’t give this book five stars – was because I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending. It feels as though it tells either too much or not enough of the story. If the story had finished a couple of chapters earlier it would have been a five star, and if the story had been extended for another few chapters it would have been a five star, but because of where it ended I was left feeling a bit dissatisfied.

That being said, this is still a book that I’m going to reread over and over again, and I’ll definitely be purchasing a copy as soon as it is released. I already can’t wait to see what Tess Sharpe writes next.

“𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒔”

One way I can describe this book is constant stress, but in a good way if that's even remotely possible. Throughout the whole book I would tell myself “one more page” and then read a further 50 instead. I couldn’t put it down. If I had had time to blitz through it in one sitting when I started, I probably would have. There’s a blend of various genres in this book but a young adult thriller is the most accurate one to place it under.

The chapters flip between the present day and Nora’s past, slowly revealing small snippets of her dark story and life as a con artist. Often I find this to be irritating in books as I end up wanting to know about one part more than the other, but this wasn’t the case this time. While reading about the events of her past, I couldn’t wait to know what would happen in the present and vice versa. Both sides heavily drew me in.

“𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓. 𝑰 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒐𝒓”

From page one, it jumps straight into action. Tess Sharpe introduced the characters, the setting and the scene in enough words to understand everything you need to know. Nothing felt like it was missing apart from the mystery yet to come. Nora, Iris and Wes felt like fresh, new characters. It can be difficult to create characters that feel completely unique nowadays, but these felt new to me and not like copies of others. Sure they hold qualities others may too, but they were their own.

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒎”

Nora has a complicated life already and has now found herself as a hostage of a bank robbery, alongside her ex-boyfriend Wes and girlfriend Iris. I loved their relationship and chemistry as a trio. Their bond was unbreakable and even in a life or death situation, they stuck together and made a team. I felt their emotions through the page and was desperate for them to find a way out. Nora is such a strong and brave character. It was so inspiring, after every page of discovering more about her, to see how far she has come from the girls she was to the girl she is now. Nora.

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒔, 𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒘 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝑰’𝒎 𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝑰’𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕”

Every page felt so intense and the book also touches on some quite difficult subjects. Some were in more detail than others but all were written perfectly to get any emotion and power through the page. Plus the crossing of paths between past and present kept the mystery and thrill flowing. It never felt flat or as though it had paused at all. Each word drew me in more and I began to feel as though I was living it with them. Anxiety, uncertainty and anger.

“𝑴𝒚 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒂”

One thing I’m not too sure about is if I was satisfied with the ending, the conclusion of the bank robbery and their reasoning for it. After everything that happened and the dramatic build up to what was in the safe deposit box, I think I was expecting something slightly more. I didn’t hate the ending but it wasn’t the unexpected that I was excited for. Of course I was hoping to feel concluded after that roller coaster but I have to say, I still have questions I feel were left unanswered. I can definitely stifle a guess as to what happened but I don’t feel completely finished with the story. To name a few: What happens to Raymond and Abby? What happened to Frayn? What happened with the poker games? etc.
It was left as a very open ending. As for Nora, I like to think that she walked away with her head held high and lived a happy life away from the villains of her past. But there’s that little, nagging part of me that wants to know still.

The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe is a wave of thrills that kept me constantly gripped and attached while reading. Highly recommend giving this a read. I’m looking forward to seeing the Netflix adaptation once it’s released.

Have you ever read a book where 50 pages in you already knew it was a 5-star read? That's The Girls I've Been for me.
I was hooked by the very first pages. I love fast paced books with a lot of action and boy did it deliver. The action starts right away and doesn't stop until the very end.
The book starts with Nora going to the bank with her girlfriend, Iris, and her ex-boyfriend slash best friend, Wes, who learned about their relationship the day prior by walking on them kissing. So the tension is already high between them and it's about to get even higher because a robbery is about to take place.
As the robbery go on you start learning more about Nora, about her past, about who she really is, about all the girls she's been.

I'm all about found family tropes and ride or die friendships so this book was everything for me. The trio Nora/Iris/Wes was the absolute greatest. There's no love triangle, no reminiscing feelings between exes, it's just full of love and acceptance and being ready to burn the world down for one another. All three of them have such a good relationship with one another, Nina and Iris are dating and in love, Nina and Wes know everything about each other and are each other's family, Iris and Wes are really good friends with inside jokes and shared secrets. They're all such beautiful and complex characters and I adored following them throughout the book.
I also loved the sister relationship between Nora and Lee, the way they love and protect each other and would do whatever it takes for each other.

Cons, heists, and found family are some of my favourite things to read about and The Girl's I've Been gave me everything I was hoping for.

Tess Sharpe is the author of probably two of my favourite thrillers: Far From You and Barbed Wire Heart. So, it comes as no surprise that I loved The Girls I’ve Been just as much. The book covers darker topics than Far From You did, closer to Barbed Wire Heart in terms of tone, and it does so with respect and grace. I might even go so far as to say it’s probably my favourite of Tess Sharpe’s books so far.

The plot switches between the present day — and the events of an attempted bank robbery — and various times in Nora’s past. We slowly get to uncover everything that has led up to this point in Nora’s life.

I think hands down what I loved most about this book was the found family at the centre of it. Nora doesn’t trust easily, but those she does trust she does so unconditionally, and is incredibly loyal to them. And Sharpe is so good at making that clear through Nora’s actions. Everything in this book screams Nora’s love of Wes and Ivy and Lee. It’s the kind of relationship that will make you want there to be, oh maybe 500 more pages. I can guarantee you that you won’t want to put this book down for many reasons, and this is a key one.

But there’s also the plot. Tess Sharpe is expert at slowly building up the tension, and that’s the second reason you won’t be able to put this book down. You’ll be so driven to find out exactly what is happening and why, and whether Wes, Nora and Ivy escape, that you’ll finish the book in a single sitting.

Which, really, makes it the best kind of book. Characters you will love and root for, a fast-moving plot that you won’t want to even blink while reading in case you miss something, and overall just a highly satisfying story.

All of which to say: in two weeks’ time, I really hope you’ll pick this one up.

The Girls I've been before was a very unique YA mystery thriller, with a fast-paced narrative that flicked between the main focus- the heist, but also our character, Noras, turbulent past. The book had elements of romance, friendship, family troubles and various TW topics such as abuse and chronic illness, all which I think were handled well and weren't ever made just to be 'quirky' or to 'tick a box'-they all fulfilled a purpose. I thought the plot was clever, we saw Nora, who has gone by many identities due to her mother, who was a con artist, bringing her up in the path of danger, and how she ends up in the bank using this past life as her get out of jail card.

Whilst I thought the plot was clever, and unlike anything I had read before, it was so fast paced i feel like a lot was thrown at me and not much was left suspenseful or digestible- it all just seemed to keep happening and my brain at time couldn't quite flick back to the right person or place in which was being talked about in that 'act'.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the story as a whole, and would rate it a 3.5, but a very good tale for YA readers on the mystery side.

I loved this novel, great storyline and characters. Really interesting premise of a girl that has been used by her mother as a pawn in multiple cons and how that ultimately helps her to survive. Great read.

The Girls I’ve Been is a gripping, twisty thriller unlike anything I’ve ever read. Taking place over the course of only a few hours, Sharpe takes her readers on a high-stakes journey through past, present and six very different girls.

Nora O’Malley, our main character, is truly the star of the show. She’s a morally grey badass ex con artist who would die for those she loves, what more could you want? The narrative style created a real connection with her and was both effortless and enjoyable to read. I loved seeing how Nora’s past influenced her, both helping and hurting her. Sharpe handled discussions of trauma, recovery and therapy with incredible sensitivity while refusing to sugar coat the horrific nature of Nora’s past. I also adored Nora’s chosen family and her relationships with them: her sister, Lee; her girlfriend, Iris and her ex-boyfriend turned ‘franken-friend’, Wes. Through these characters, The Girls I’ve Been touches on other forms of trauma and their impact, as well as medical conditions through Iris’s endometriosis and sexuality through a bisexual main character and sapphic main relationship.

This book is intense. Sharpe expertly wields a dual timeline to maximise tension and explore Nora’s past identities. I had worried that so much flashing back would take me out of the main story but the chapters from Nora’s past perspective actually ended up creating even more suspense and left me unable to put the book down. The structure of short chapters flashing between past, present and reflective asides worked really well to aid the development of Nora’s character. This book is just so cleverly crafted and unique, with the stakes just getting higher at every twist and turn.

I really don’t have any complaints about this book, the only thing I would have liked is to spend a bit more time with Wes and Iris in the present. We get quite a bit of backstory and development of their relationships in the past and I’d have liked to see this continue into the present a bit more, partly just because Iris and Nora were adorable together and I wanted to see more of their relationship.

Overall, The Girls I’ve Been is an utterly unique book. Sharpe combines all the typical elements of a high-stakes thriller with a nuanced look at trauma and the power of choosing your own family, all while exploring the question, ‘what makes you who you are?’.

This book is perfect for older fans of Ally Carter. It honestly had all the elements I love: a cute romance, close friendships, strong sisterhood, con artists, a heist element, and a compelling story. The main plot takes place mostly over one day and the pace kept me on my toes. I also enjoyed the writing style a lot, sometimes witty, sometimes gut-wrenchingly beautiful.

The characters! Oh, the characters touched my heart. The main trio - Nora, Iris, and Wes - had such a heartwarming friendship and the f/f romance was so sweet! Them revealing little (or big) secrets of their respective pasts meant a lot and showed how much they all trust each other. Nora’s backstory was especially awful - and one thing I liked about this was that we see her going to therapy to deal with her trauma, as I don’t often see this in books.

Despite the dark themes, the characters are pretty witty, so there are moments of relief within the book. It was also active and thrilling in a way that lends itself well to a movie so I can’t wait to watch the upcoming Netflix adaptation.

CW: domestic abuse, child abuse, implied child sexual abuse

The Girl I’ve Been follows Nora who is taken hostage during a bank robbery however Nora has a lot of secrets from her past working with her mother who was a con-artist, secrets which can help her survive.

The book is a fast paced and exciting read, a lot of things happen quickly and right from the start we get thrown into the action. The book is split into different parts and Nora’s past is told throughout the book, I really liked how things were set out and it made the story interesting as information was told about Nora linking to what was happening to her during the robbery. I really liked the characters in the book, there is a strong focus on Nora and her relationships with the people around her. I liked the focus on her relationship with her mother and also the complicated relationship between her, her ex and her girlfriend, and I really liked Nora herself and how she handled things.

Everything happens really quickly in the book which I expected because of the setting/premise however I expected more mystery around Nora and her past, a lot of things get revealed about her past and what she had done really early on in the book. The book focuses a lot more on her past than I thought, the plot around the bank robbery gets pushed aside for the focus on her past – which I found interesting however there was so much being told and revealed that it just took over the book. So much gets revealed that there is no mystery or build up of suspense in the book, it was just constant answers and so although the book was not boring, the tone of the book was missing. Also, there were some parts of the book that were predictable and cliché especially the ending.

3/5

Crime thrillers with queer and chronic illness rep? Yes please.

Hodder books have put out some seriously awesome lgbt+ reads this year and I’m HERE FOR IT.

This book is intriguing with a ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ style, queer con artist romance that pulls on the tension of a love triangle with her ex boyfriend.

It’s great queer rep (f/f) and (f/m) , and the romance isn’t 100% the focus of the story. It’s apparent but very much just one part of a larger plot, with the heist acting as a tool for pause upon characters pasts (where the true stories lie.)

I really enjoyed the path of the story itself, it’s fast paced and pretty dark. Definitely a more older young adult / adult read due to the topics faced mainly in flashback form, as it delves into trauma and the struggle to overcome situations. This can be a heavy read so I’d advise doing a quick google of trigger warnings if you’re worried about subjects cropping up.

It took me a while to get into the book, just as it’s so fast paced most of the syntax are clipped to make for a quick read. However stick with it! The story twists the deeper into it you get and delves into a lot of character background and begins to flesh out.

I was hesitant about this read due to past reviews; however I’d say if you’re queer you will probably love this. It’s one of those stories where rep is handled so well it’s a breeze to read, and the plot is so fresh from other lgbt+ releases that it really gripped me.

Whilst I had some issues with the writing pace, I really enjoyed this and found most of the characters intriguing and the story gripping.

Go grab this book, a great ya/a crime thriller for reading in the evenings when you’re trying to hide from the world that is 2020.

I really enjoyed this cleverly unfolding story of a young girl whose life caught up in her mother's long cons has given her the skills and the courage she needs to survive when she and two friends get caught up in a bank robbery that goes wrong.

For the most part this is a first person narrated story, with flashbacks to her past and the different girls she's been before. We start to build a picture of the life she's been forced to lead as well as how she's dealing with the aftermath of having left it behind.

The story sweeps you along and I could barely put it down, staying up far too late to finish reading it!

This was a such a cute read, and quick to. I fall in love with it from the first page. This was a good YA read anf I think this will appeal to a wide range of readers.

This was for me 3.5 stars.

I was hooked by this thoughtful and clever thriller from the opening scene, I loved how I started off thinking the story was about one thing and it evolved into another. This has tons of teen appeal and I'll be recommending it to genre fans who like something with a bit of depth. Very enjoyable.

I burned through this book, reading it in as close to one sitting as possible - that's how much I enjoyed it! Immersive from the outset, with such a gripping opener involving a bank robbery turned hostage situation, the book hopes between that and the past 'lives' of our main character Nora (Also known as Rebecca, Samantha, Haley, Katie and Ashley). Deftly avoiding clichés (don't worry about the love triangle implied by the blurb) this is an immersive and thrilling read. The fact Netflix have already announced their adaptation plans (with Milly Bobby Brown as Nora being a fantastic casting choice) this needs to be at the top of your most-anticipated 2021 reads.