With thanks to the author, Mary Torjussen, and NetGalley.com for the Advanced Reader Copy.

"The Girl I Used to Be" is a well written thriller centered on Gemma, who owns a real estate firm in Chester, England, where she lives with her stay-at-home husband and 4 year old son. On a weekend training course, she bumps into a client and drinks a little to much at dinner, but cannot remember the details of the evening. Soon, a receipt for the dinner arrives in the mail, followed by a picture of herself kissing the client. Memories slowly return, but she's at a loss for why this is happening and what the sender wants. The plot keeps you guessing, and although I had an inkling of who might have started the trouble for Gemma, her accomplice comes as quite a surprise. The wrap up at the ending between Gemma and her spouse was a little too quick and easy, but all in all this was a quick and enjoyable read that kept me reading til the end.

This title will be enjoyed by fans of Gillian Flynn, Tess Geritson, and readers of psychological fiction in general.

WOW! Thank you to Mary and NetGalley for sending me a copy.

Be prepared to read through the day or night, because you will not be able to put this book down.
Be prepared to leave empty dishes in the sink and watch the laundry pile up.
Be prepared to put aside all your responsibilities.
Be prepared to be blown away.

EXCELLENT read.
Read it as soon as possible and then, if you haven't already, pick up her debut book, Gone Without A Trace!

This is one of those books that you can picture as a movie. No Way Home by Tyler Wetherall is a gripping story about Tyler’s childhood as the daughter of a man who was wanted by the FBI and Scotland Yard. The further I got into the book, the more I liked it and needed to know how everything was going to play out.

I love a good memoir and this one is the first I’ve read for 2018, did not disappoint!

Synopsis:

Tyler had lived in thirteen houses and five countries by the time she was nine. A willful and curious child, she never questioned her strange upbringing, that is, until Scotland Yard showed up outside her ramshackle English home, and she discovered her family had been living a lie: Her father was a fugitive and her name was not her own.

In sunny California, ten years earlier, her father’s criminal organization first came to the FBI’s attention. Soon after her parents were forced on the run taking their three young children with them, and they spent the following years fleeing through Europe, assuming different identities and hiding out in a series of far-flung places. Now her father was attempting one final escape—except this time, he couldn’t take her with him.

I enjoyed the authors last book, but this one I really could not put down. Cleverly constructed, the reader will be guessing right until the very end.

So I literally found myself turning these pages pretty fast because I wanted to see how it was going to end, We are introduced to Gemma who is a working momma her life is Rory and her business. Yet it seems she works more than she sees her son and she isn't too happy with that. When she goes to a meeting one weekend her life ends up spiraling out of control, the lies start adding up with her husband, she can't remember what happened that night of the conference, and to make matters worse someone is sending her messages.

Does something that happened to her over fifteen years ago play a part in her life now?

When it all came about I was kind of in shocked that it went that way because I honestly was not even thinking of this person being involved.

One thing I enjoyed the author doing is showing how marriage just is not easy going and happy all the time. We see how in Gemma's marriage there is that hostility there between the stay at home parent and working parent. It isn't meant to be that type of feeling but it can happen.

We do go back and forth from characters but it wasn't confusing at all which was great. The plot was a steady pace and kept me on the edge of my toes!

This was a definite page turner with some interesting twists. It starts with an event that happens 15 years ago and then moves to present time. The reader is taken on a roller coaster ride wondering what is going to happen next. A must for people looking for suspense.

Secrets, Lies, and silence are the words that come to mind in describing this book. Every time I thought I had figured out a piece of the puzzle, another detail would be revealed that changed everything. The ending was particularly satisfying. I hope there's more coming from this author!

The girl I used to be is a gentle thriller - if that's a category - that reminded me a lot of a cozy mystery. I never really felt that the lead character was in much danger. The situations she finds herself in just seemed uncomfortable but not really scary. The twist of who her stalker was came off well, but I wasn't sure I bought into the behavior of his accomplice.
As with so many thrillers these days, the style is reminiscent of "Gone Girl". In practice, this means that the book is relying on too many attempts to dance back and forth between points of view, the past, and the present.

I really enjoyed this book! There were many unexpected turns that were well thought out. When a book makes me go back through previous chapters and fact check the author, that is a good book to me. No random twists, everything was well plotted out from the beginning. I thought more than once "oh maybe...." nope. I was kept guessing all the way. I've started looking for other books by this author.

Story of a woman , Gemma who is being stalked/harassed by someone she met at a business dinner. The dinner started off innocently and went to far. Gemma goes back to her life with her stay at home husband and her son Rory. Soon her life begins to spiral out of control and she is telling her husband more and more lies. It was a fast read and had some interesting twists and turns. Good book for high school readers.

I enjoyed The Girl I Used to Be though it did not blow me away like Gone Without a Trace did. Gemma was an interesting character and the villain is truly dark, but parts of it were a tiny bit predictable. However, I did stay up late to finish it and it was better than your average thriller. Mary Torjussen has proven herself as a must-read author on the strength of these two books.

Gemma is dissatisfied with the arrangement she and her husband have made regarding work and childcare. In part, this dissatisfaction leads to a series of events that tie the present into a past event that changed her life forever.

This psychological thriller was a couldn’t put down kind of book. The story just flowed and kept my interest so I was reading into the late night hours. Gemma the main character had experienced a tragic past that she tried to put behind her. With a mystery man coming into her workplace and later nowhere to be seen it looks like her past is questionable and coming back to haunt her. I gave this book 5 stars and look forward to reading more by this author.

This is the story of a woman, Gemma, being harassed by someone after a relatively innocent dinner with a male client. She doesn't let her husband, Joe, know because she lied about what she was doing the night of the dinner. One lie leads to another until she's drowning in lies while still facing exposure by the man threatening her. The characters were believable, and I had a hard time putting the book down. There weren't any unexpected plot twists, it was pretty easy to see where the story was taking the reader, but I still enjoyed the character interaction. I gave the book 5 stars because it held my interest throughout and the characters were true to life.

Enjoyed this psychological thriller, however, it took close to three quarters of the story to get to what was really going on. Enjoy this author bout she needs to get to the point a lot faster and add more suspense.

A dinner with a prospective client goes horribly wrong for realtor, Gemma Brogan. She may have had one too many drinks, but can that explain the fact that she remembers almost nothing of the night after dinner? She begins to realize something is very wrong when she starts to get reminders of what actually happened that night, a picture of a kiss, audio of her complaining about her husband, and other, much worse little “surprises”. It’s clear that she’s being set up for blackmail, if she doesn’t cooperate, the incriminating video will be leaked. This was a seriously scary read, anyone who had too much “fun” at a party and can’t recall everything the next day will be able to put themselves in Gemma’s place. Torjussen puts a nice little twist int the story about Gemma’s past too. Highly recommended