The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe

Lynnie      

Amy         

young adult, contemporary fiction, thriller

The summary of this The Girls I've Been is pretty clear about what you're getting yourself into as a reader: Nora is the daughter of a con-artist who targets criminal men and Nora has been raised in the family business. When her mom falls for the mark instead of finishing the con however, it's up to Nora to save herself. Now, 5 years after getting out, Nora has been pretending to live like a normal teenager. Unfortunately, her best friend/ex-boyfriend just walked in on her kissing her new girlfriend right before the three of them must meet at the bank to deposit some fundraising money. To make matters worse, once they get to the bank, it immediately gets robbed and they become hostages. Of course, with a lifetime as a con artist, Nora is no ordinary hostage...

Lynnie's Review

The fact that I read this book in 3 days when it has been taking me ages to read books lately should be your first clue about how much I absolutely loved it and could not put it down. It will easily make my list of favorites of 2021- without question!

That said, fair warning, this is not an easy book to read at times. There is a lot of trauma in this book and the author, Tess Sharpe is very up front about that, including a comprehensive content warning list on her own blog, but most importantly, Sharpe handles that trauma with respect. Nora's story is gripping however and I desperately wanted to find out not only what would happen, but whether or not these characters that Sharpe forced me to instantly care so deeply about (Nora, Wes, Iris, Lee...) would be okay.

While the crux of the story takes place over a few hours, the book takes place over the lifetime of a girl with many names and stories of her own. We see how experiences shape who she has become and influence not only her actions but also her decisions and ultimately her resolve. The Girls I've Been is a story about a bank robbery, yes. But it's also a story about love, friendship, family by birth, family by choice, trauma, tenacity, resilience, and the lengths we'll go to for love and survival. I'll be thinking about these characters long after I've returned this book to the library.

Amy's Review

The Girls I’ve Been has an interesting story premise. Centering around Nora, the con artist, the pacing was perfect and the suspense kept me wanting to read more. The main characters were all worthy of the reader’s sympathy and care. The crafting of the novel was compelling and kept things interesting, switching between the current situation in the bank and Nora’s past. It was well done. The more I read, however, the more worried I became about the author. I sure hope that Tess Sharpe did not have to personally go through any of the childhood traumas that Mona went through. The novel deals heavily with abuse.

The author herself narrated the audiobook and she is a terrific voice actor! My complaint is that she really doesn’t have a repertoire of different voices to give to her characters. But, thankfully, it was usually clear which characters were speaking. I’ll give her an A-.