Sadie was all alone until her sister Mattie was born. Their mother, an addict, loved Mattie and not Sadie. Sadie lived for Mattie. When Mattie was 13 she was murdered. Sadie knew who did it and set out to find him to even the score. This story is told in serial radio episodes. It is hard to read because of the subject matter and impossible to put down. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my fair and honest review.

I had no idea what to expect from a podcast-format book, but I was floored . The dual points of view do a great job of framing the story and bringing in some really intense emotion. In short, one POV is a podcast host investigating the disappearance of Sadie Hunter, who may or may not have gone missing intentionally following the death of her little sister Mattie. The other POV is Sadie herself, as she goes on a journey towards vengeance.

I am so happy I got an ARC of this, and read it in a day. Quick, gripping, and heartbreaking. The ending was the perfect way to wrap up what felt like a real-life story, because real-life never really wraps up in a nice bow, does it?

I found Sadie very difficult to read. There is a story in there, but the formatting, at times like a play or script, made for a very stilted reading experience. I like stories that flow so I can get lost in the narration. Because of the stilted, jerky telling of Sadie, I never experienced that feeling.

[“St-Stacey was my favorite, but I always w-w-wanted to dress like C-Claudia.”
“I hate Stacey.”
Tough crowd.]

here i was thinking this book was about The Girls podcast but turns out it was the The Baby-Sitters Club Club podcast all along!!!

(a book that's almost entirely podcast transcripts? inspired! really any book that mentions podcasts is gonna Get Me ya know? it's like oh podcast ref, insert good rating now)

This was my first Courtney Summers novel. The unusual writing style I didn’t enjoy but that’s just me, those in YA will like the format. It was an intriguing and gripping story that will leave you wondering more about where is Sadie even after the last page.

Wow... This book was really, really intense. I found myself really having to pace my reading and could only do a few chapters a day. This book deals with a lot of heavy topics like sexual abuse, drug/alcohol use, child pronography, and mental health issues. I really loved the way the story was told: both through Sadie's point of view and West McCray's podcast. It was such an original concept and really added a new thriller/mystery layer to the story. The serious issues this book explores are something we don't talk about, despite the fact that they are very real and prevalent in society.

I really loved the book. The storyline, the way the characters were written and developed, the writing style, and the way it made my heart and my head hurt. I usually devour books in a day or two, but I couldn't bring myself to read more than a few chapters a day because the content is so heavy. It isn't a bad thing about the book; quite the opposite, really. I loved that the subject matter is real and something people shy away from- we need more of that so people like Sadie can get the help they need.

Read this book, you won't regret it.

This is the first book by Courtney Summers that I have ever read. Calling this book entertaining feels wrong and overall I didn't really enjoy it...this book deals strongly with child sexual abuse and if I had known that I wouldn't not have wanted to read it (nothing in the blurb mentioned the abuse part). Overall I found the book extremely dark and depressing with a sad ending. However I give it 3 stars as the style of writing is hard to fault and you can definitely see why Courtney has so many fans as she definitely has talent. If you don't mind dark topics then I recommend this book to read.

Thank you to the publishers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Loved the podcast format interspersed with Sadie's story throughout the book. Reminded me of Serial and S-town and drew me in immediately. Well-written and well-paced story with realistic characters that reminded me of people I grew up around in my small hometown. Received this arc from #NetGalley.

Rating: 5 stars

Jesus, my heart just doesn't stop aching?? This book punched me right in my freaking soul and I'm seriously doubting if I'll ever recover.

Sadie is just so goddamn real, it fucking hurts. It really does. The tale of Sadie Hunter was so raw, it touches subjects that are not part of your daily talk. But maybe we should talk more about the fact that there are so many children suffering because they're not being protected the way they need to be protected. The way Courtney Summers presents the horrifying events in this book, as I said, it fucking hurts because she nails conveying the hurt, the grief and the desperation our MC goes through. It fucking hurts, because even though you know what the MC is planning on doing is in no way okay, you get it and you feel angry on her behalf, that there was no one preventing any of these things that's happened to her.

What I really loved about Sadie is how you follow not only Sadie herself, but also West McCray. You slowly start finding out what's happened to Sadie, why and how, and at the same time you also find out how everything's impacted those around her. Honestly, I was expecting to not like West's parts, because I just needed to know what was happening to Sadie but boy was I wrong. Reading West's radio reports.. I think they were just as heartbreaking as Sadie's story itself. I found myself silently begging and screaming for him to hurry up and be on time before Sadie got herself in trouble she wouldn't be getting out of. It was torturous.

This book is so important, I really can't describe it in any words because I won't do Sadie justice. Honestly, I just basically need everyone to read this.

TW: childhood sexual abuse and molestation

Summers, Courtney. Sadie. Wednesday Books, 2018.

Sadie has disappeared. After raising herself and her sister in spite of her mother's drug and alcohol addictions, Sadie hits her breaking point when her mother disappears and her sister is murdered. Sadie is convinced she knows who did it, and she's on her way to find that person and get her revenge.

This book is told in the form of eight episodes of a podcast a la Serial and will likely be fantastic as an audiobook. I will agree with other reviewers that the conclusion was quite obvious to me from the beginning, but that did not diminish my enjoyment of the story itself. Sadie and I have quite a lot in common - older sisters born to single parents, abused by a man who took advantage of our mothers and threatened to abuse our sisters if we told, etc. The infrequent flashbacks that Sadie experiences were not triggering to me but may be to other survivors. I enjoyed this book the way I often enjoy episodes of Criminal Minds: we may already know what the conclusion is, but it's the journey and the explanation of the motivation behind the actions, which made up the bulk of the story, that was so fascinating. This one will definitely be popular with teen patrons.

Recommended for: teens, fans of thrillers or procedural crime shows
Red Flags: drug abuse, alcohol abuse, language, sexual abuse/molestation, murder
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Read-Alikes: I Am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall, Mind Games by Kiersten White, The Night She Disappeared by April Henry

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley for the purpose of review.

4.5 Stars

A big thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an early copy of this book to review!

I knew I wanted to read this book immediately when I saw Jay Kristoff raving about his excitement on Instagram for receiving an arc of the novel. Immediately intrigued by the cover I headed to Goodreads to search it up and the minute I read the synopsis I knew I needed this book in my life.

Two reasons I knew I would enjoy this book.
1. It is in the vein of Contemporary fiction
2. Podcasts.

A big part of this story is that it is split into two narratives that are interwoven. The first is a true crime podcast called 'The Girls' that is following the story of missing 19 year old Sadie and her dead sister Mattie. The second is of Sadie's own story as she runs away from home to serve justice for the death of her young sister, whom she acted like a mother for.

I was immersed in this novel from the beginning to the point where I would tune out my surroundings and when I would look back up into the real world for a few seconds I would have to remember where I was. I absolutely loved the nuanced discussion around hard topics such as our perception of individuals, our ability to play the bystander role too often as well as how we tend to blame the victim by being unable to reconcile that what we knew about someone 'close' to us might not have been the reality.

The writing was beautiful and it truly captured that small town atmosphere. I almost wish this was set in an Australian small town. That dynamic would be so interesting to see. The characters were all well-developed and as fleshed out as they needed to be. The pacing was good though I felt that it didn't have the traditional structure when it comes to the build to the climax as well as the climax itself.

I only dock one star because I felt unsatisfied at the ending. I read through other reviews and I know that it was intentional in the way that it wrapped up but I felt that Sadie's viewpoint could have wrapped up a bit differently. Additionally, I feel that we set out to answer a bunch of questions but got answers for questions that we didn't realise we needed to ask. Thereby not getting answers to the questions we set out to find.

That inability to reconcile the truth of an event and/or person hit home deeply.

Trigger warnings for pedophilia and sexual abuse.

"I turn the switchblade one more time in my sweaty palm, feeling the weight of it's neat black handle and the unforgiving blade tucked inside.
It was his a long time ago.
It's mine now.
I'm going to carve my name into his soul."

Sadie is going to crawl around in my consciousness for a long time. I don't know if I'll ever be able shake the profound grief it has left in it's wake. I felt like I was drowning the entire read, sinking lower and lower, flailing and gasping for air that's not there, air that will never be there. It's taken me longer to write this review than it took me to read the book because I am at a loss for words. There are no words to explain how this book affected me. For an author to be able to conjur up such emotion with words alone is a true gift.

I can't recommend this book enough. It will join the select few on my list of favorite books of all time

I was provided an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Courtney Summers is the queen of teenage girl povs. A heartbreaking book about a girl named Sadie trying to find her sisters killer and get her own justice.

Sadie is a story about sisters who loved each other from the moment they were introduced. Sadie is older than Maddie by six years. When Maddie was born Claire placed her the arms of Sadie giving her life purpose. From that moment, Sadie protected and cared for her sister. Claire their mother was single, yet she had no qualms with bringing men into their home. She abandoned and neglected her children to feed her addictions.

This story was told in eight episodes during a podcast show on the radio by West McCray who explored the unsettling mystery into the death of Maddie and the disappearance of Sadie known as The Girls. The format served its purpose. However, if I had been a listener on this radio show I would have appreciated this format much better. As a reader, I was unable to create the voice of a radio host. But I liked that Sadie’s confessional was delivered in sequence to the episodes. Yet, at times I felt the podcast rehashed the same information already given by Sadie. To reiterate had I been a listener rather than a reader I would be hearing only the podcast not Sadie’s story.

Sadie was nineteen when she took it upon herself to find the man responsible for her sister’s death. There are many unanswered questions associated with Sadie’s search, yet that didn’t hinder my ability for closure. In fact, I expected some plot holes considering this was a cold case. West McCray did the best he could given the circumstances. Not to mention no one else made an effort to bring closure to these girls.

Knowing what I know about Sadie’s experience and journey has me going back to process the format in which it was delivered. First I must begin with the podcast which served it’s one and only purpose of sharing Sadie’s story to the public to radio listeners. Second I liked how Sadie had a voice along side the podcast even though they were months apart from each other. Thirdly using West McCray a well known radio producer to share his findings on his broadcast show gave voice and recognition to the untold lives of these girls who lived in a small poverty town. Finally, had it not been for Danny Gilchrist who already had listeners following his Always Out There show on WNRK New York this case may never have had the closure the family needed.
I would imagine that the podcast format will sound amazing in audiobook. A separate narrator for the voice of West will bring this part of the story to life. As a reader I was unable to make the connection that this was suppose to read as a voice on the radio. Its delivery was lost and not appreciated to its full potential.
Now that I finished reading and can reflect back on the story it’s easier to see and appreciate the format. However, while reading I grew bored at times. I also questioned Sadie’s tactics for retrieving information. It all seemed so simple.

This is without a doubt the darkest young adult book that I have ever read. It’s darker than most adult books, even. It’s crazy to me that this story will be sitting on shelves alongside Twilight, Harry Potter, and depending on the bookstore, The Babysitters’ Club. As a former independent bookseller, good luck to everyone who has to explain the plot of this to parents and kids working on their summer reading.

Trigger warnings, violence and everything else that entails aside, the big question when it comes to Sadie is does the format rise above a simple gimmick and impact the story in a positive, tangible and necessary way? For those unfamiliar, Sadie has two threads, the first is the first person narration of the title character as she leaves home and travels across the country in search of a man who hurt her sister, the second is the script of a podcast hosted by West McCray entitled “The Girls” where West interviews people connected to Sadie, now a missing person, in hopes of finding her. A podcaster / radio journalist as the investigator and audience surrogate instead of a police officer is a unique hook for sure, but one has to wonder if this story would be better served by creating a multimedia version, instead of a book. If have the book is written as a script for a podcast, why not make it a podcast? There is more than a precedent for fiction podcasts at this point (Welcome to Night Vale, The Black Tapes) and I can’t for the life of me figure out why Sadie is better served as a novel.

As a suspense thriller, does Sadie keep the audience guessing trough the narrative, with a central mystery pulling us on? And when the answers are revealed, are they satisfying to the reader. To the first, absolutely; this is where West’s POV is crucial to the book, if we were left alone with Sadie on her journey, the suspense is limited. We know where she is, we know where she’s going, but with West always a few steps behind Summers does a really fantastic job of creating cliffhangers as she alternates between the narratives. My only complaint with the quality of the reveals, which if expected still hit the reader with a wallop, is to me, the biggest question mark in this book was the postcard, and the ultimate reveal of the story behind it felt tacked on and insignificant. Without getting into heavy spoilers, the postcard was heavy with emotional weight but was treated as an afterthought as West is wrapping up his podcast. I’m not sure if this is because Summers forgot about the postcard after the first 100 pages or because it wasn’t as important to her in the story, but either way, I wanted more on that front.

Sadie is not on drugs or alcohol, unlike many other characters in the book, but there are sections where her POV appears in an altered state. This could be because of the lack of sleep she gets on her trip, picking up an hour here or there when she pulls of the side of the road, or it could be the past trauma affecting her mental state. Most likely, it’s a combination of the two. The first time Sadie has one of these “visions” it takes a minute to fully grasp what is happening. There’s no stylistic change in the writing to indicate we’ve entered a dream or imagined sequence, and at first that can serve to its detriment. Now, if this was a film (and oh man, does this book ever scream ADAPT ME! ADAPT ME! if only it weren’t so insanely dark and depressing—but 13 Reasons Why exists so who knows) these would be some of the most arresting and haunting scenes in such a film. Personally, I enjoyed these scenes, and I did not count, but there were only three or four in the entire book. It was a neat way to get into Sadie’s psyche outside of her own narration and West’s musings on what she could possibly be thinking. One thing Summers never wanted to do was spell things out for the audience, and while this could at times be frustrating and cause some confusion, these visions Sadie has were a poetic way of conveying Sadie’s interior monologue without explicitly stating her thoughts and feelings.

Sadie takes on difficult topics in her journey to find the man who murdered her little sister. Told through Sadie's perspective as well as that of a podcast producer who is investigating her disappearance, we meet all of the people who have touched her life. It's a gritty, emotional, and dark discovery. The relationship between Sadie and Mattie isn't perfect, nor is their relationship with their mother, but you still get a sense of how much they all love one another. It's hard to imagine a satisfying ending to this story, however, and so we don't really get one.

This was so good, and so very different, from anything I can remember reading! The narrative switched from a “true crime reporter” to a “missing girl” at the start of each chapter. They complimented each other and really fleshed out what happened. It kept me on the edge of my seat.

Sadie is an amazing character. She will break your heart. She is strong, selfless, and funny (yes, believe it). The horrific life that she endures is made bearable by her love for her sister (which she is raising due to a negligent, then missing, drug addicted mother). The lifestyle, poverty level, and lack of education is so disheartening. I know it exists - I know it exists here in my town - huge opioid epidemic - I just don’t see it firsthand (or read about it). Maybe I should.

It strings you along skillfully, and keeps you wanting the happily ever after. Maybe we got it?? This one will stay with me for a while...

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for a copy in exchange for a review. This did not influence my opinion. I will definitely go back and check out the works of this author, very excited to do so!

"In Mattie , Sadie found a sense of purpose, a place to put her love . But love is complicated, it’s messy. It can inspire selflessness, selfishness, our greatest accomplishments and our hardest mistakes. It brings us together and it can just as easily drive us apart.

It can drive us."

This extraordinarily written narrative by Courtney Summers, depicts the tribulations of the book's namesake, Sadie, as she chucks her life in Cold Creek, Colorado in pursuit of the man she believes killed her thirteen year old sister, Mattie.

Split point of views between West McCray, a podcast creator who ends up investigating Sadie's disappearance, and the first person narrative of Sadie herself, as she navigates murky clues throughout an array of distressing circumstances, allows the reader to be intricately involved in a story that unveils like criminal reportage. It hooks you, devastates you, and it doesn't let go, long after the last page has come and gone.

Sadie is a story that demands your attention and your heart, as you face what drives Sadie to vigilante justice on behalf of the broken. Heartbreaking, raw and gritty to the end, Summers has created a powerful narrative that compels the reader to experience a gamut of emotions, all of which challenge the system of the norm and definitely leaves an impression by the time it's all over.

It is dark and it is disturbing. It is not easy. None of what is found within the pages of this book, is. It is uncomfortable and it is exhausting and that's exactly what it takes to address what lies deep and terrible within the hearts of man, exorcising everything in its wake as the reader hankers for a redeeming end from the offset.

From beginning to the end, Sadie by Courtney Summers is a rare reading experience, with an unbelievable, incredible protagonist none of us will soon forget.

I know I won't. Not ever, I don't think. Something inside me is carrying a bit of the weight for Sadie, and for the rest of The Girls, and for anyone who has ever had to live the devastating weight of the words contained within this book.

I would like to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

TW: pedophilia, sexual abuse, violence, substance abuse.

I really, really enjoyed my reading experience with this book. The places Sadie went and the things she did had such a realistic quality and all the side characters were rounded out. I do think that by not sharing a lot of “before” stories about Mattie, there was a little disconnect, but that’s in line with the podcast feel of the story. The ending wasn’t clean, and I want to be upset about it, but at times I can appreciated a messy ending because that’s how real life is, and this is a painfully real book. I also am really a fan of Sadie’s stutter because it takes away a bit of that inhuman quality that some revenge seekers get given in novels. I really do think that this book is definitely worth the read.

*I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

If I know anything, it’s that Courtney Summers will leave me feeling like my world has been tipped upside down. Her stories always find a way to open my eyes. ‘Sadie’ is no different...it’s shaken me to the core. I’d like to go on record and say this deals with some heavy topics—such as sexual abuse, drug abuse, and pedophilia. It’s is a dark story about love and revenge in the name of justice. For most of the book, my heart was in my throat. I desperately wanted and needed to know what would happen.

The layout for the book was interesting because we had it told in the form of a podcast and of course, from Sadie’s POV. The podcast definitely gave me the feels of some of my actual favorite true crime podcasts such as Serial and Generation Why. West McCray is following the story of Sadie Hunter—a young woman whose disappearance after her younger sister Mattie is found brutally murdered. Girls of all ages go missing all the time but this one is different. Because there’s reason to believe that Sadie is after something...or someone.

Ever since Sadie was a child, she hasn’t lived the most glamorous life. She has a stutter that everyone makes fun of and she’s the unofficial caregiver of her little sister after their mother left them. Her life had no purpose until her sister was born. Now we follow Sadie on a terrifying journey as she strives to bring justice to one who no longer has a voice to speak up. There was so much wrong in what I read because this stuff happens every single day. Ignorance is bliss is not something we can ignore when it comes to children. So in that aspect, it was hard to read about everyday people who who hide in plain sight but are actual monsters.

Deep and at times chilling, Sadie is a story that you must read. She’s a character whose brave and strong beyond belief. While the story does end on a note that could leave some unsatisfied, I think it was the perfect one for it. I can’t recommend this book and author enough. Read it!

*Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for an honest and unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.