Saturday 20 February 2021

The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe Book Review

 Book Title: The Girls I’ve Been

Author: Tess Sharpe

My Rating: 4*

Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books

Publication Date: 04/02/21

Genre(s): YA, Thriller, LGBT

Pages: 336

Format Read: E-book Arc

Goodreads: Nora O’Malley’s been a lot of girls. As the daughter of a con-artist who targets criminal men, she grew up as her mother’s protégé. But when mom fell for the mark instead of conning him, Nora pulled the ultimate con: escape.

For five years Nora’s been playing at normal. But she needs to dust off the skills she ditched because she has three problems:

#1: Her ex walked in on her with her girlfriend. Even though they’re all friends, Wes didn’t know about her and Iris.

#2: The morning after Wes finds them kissing, they all have to meet to deposit the fundraiser money they raised at the bank. It’s a nightmare that goes from awkward to deadly, because:

#3: Right after they enter bank, two guys start robbing it.

The bank robbers may be trouble, but Nora’s something else entirely. They have no idea who they’re really holding hostage…

*thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review*

Nora is trying to forget her past and move on with her ex boyfriend turned best friend and her girlfriend. But little does she know when they turn up at the bank one morning and are caught in the middle of a bank robbery, that she is going to have to use everything she’s learnt over the years to try and stay one step ahead of the robbers and help her and her friends get out alive.

Split between the present moment and scenes from her past that highlight what she had to grow up with and how that has affected who she is today, this is a fast paced thriller full of action and drama that will keep you turning the pages right until the end! While the breaking up of the story did keep interrupting the tense drama in the bank robbery, the stories were all perfectly placed to help better understand Nora's character fully.

Each character had their own definitive personality, you could even see clearly the difference between all of the girls Nora had been forced to be in the past. Iris was headstrong and caring, Wes was loving and both characters were not just there to be side characters, they also had their own background history and good character development. Their friendship was amazing to see, how they’d made each other family after all the things they’d been through and they stuck by each other always.

The bank robbery was highly intense but Nora was smart, taking control of the situation and thought of all these little things to do to create friction between the two robbers and make sure everyone was safe. The last 10% was Nora’s biggest con yet and it had a lot of things riding on it to work out and I loved the ending (which you are going to have to read to find out!).

This is a book that you will not be able to put down and is a really easy read with a fast paced plot that is intense from beginning to end.


Have you read this book?

Is it on your TBR? Let me know in the comments!

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