So I really don't know who was who but this audio was like going to the theater! I've never listened to anything like this before and I've listened to several hundred audiobooks. It was amazingly creative! I loved how you could hear the background during the podcast interviews... hearing the cafe noises or hearing people inhale and exhale while smoking.

As far as the storyline, this was a great one. It was interesting and a bit vague but ultra interesting! I do wish I had some definite answers to the story but not knowing everything makes it seem real.

Sadie was a dark, sad, and inspiring book at once. The characters' motivations are divulged over the book through Sadie's story as well as the podcast. The reveals are careful and loaded, and it was a great read.

Generally I enjoy Courtney Summers books but this one left me bored. The podcast component annoyed me more than anything and I disliked it being part of the story. I understand that a lot of readers would enjoy this part but I'm not a huge podcast person myself, I actually only listen to them when my husband puts them on and usually feel pretty meh about them. Also, this was meant to be a thriller of sorts I suppose, but it felt very classic YA to me rather than having any actual edge/thrilling aspect to it. Ultimately I was bored and did not terribly care about the MC or the story.

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"And it begins, as so many stories do, with a dead girl."

I must warn you that if you have a heart at all…then this book will absolutely slay you. Seriously, like no coming back from it, can’t sleep or eat until you have finished it, even after you have finished it-it is still with you slay you. REMEMBER…You have all been warned.

This book was horrifically heart shattering. The story is told in two different POV’s. Sadie is a nineteen year old whose little sister was murdered. She has a horrible stutter which she feels completely self conscious about. And she is looking for Mattie’s murderer and will literally stop at nothing to find him. The second POV is West McCray. He is a reporter for the podcast “The Girls” and was hired by Sadie’s caregiver to track down Sadie and try to piece together what had happened to Mattie.

I enjoyed the way Ms. Summers set up the book. We have Sadie giving us a background on their family while setting up to leave to find her sister’s killer. And West’s POV told kind of like we are listening to it on a tape being played back to us via an interview style.

"In our last episode, I introduced you to the two girls at the center of this podcast, Mattie Southern and Sadie Hunter. Mattie was murdered, her body left just outside her hometown of Cold Creek, Colorado. Sadie is missing, her car found, abandoned, thousands of miles away, with all her personal belongings still inside it. The girls’ surrogate grandmother, May Beth Foster, has enlisted my help in finding Sadie and bringing her home."

For those of you just tuning in, this is a serialized podcast, so if you haven’t listened to our first episode, you should do that now. We have more story than time to tell it – but I suppose that’s true for all of us.

Sadie’s life has been tough. Her Mom is an addict whom comes and goes. Sadie is left to raise her little sister whom she adores. The love that you can feel while reading for her sister is that of a mother and child. Sadie would walk through fire for Mattie and it is really a beautiful relationship. You would think that the book would be completely plot driven but it was absolutely character driven. These characters made the story and we meet a lot more along the way with Sadie’s Travels.

Imagine having to live every day knowing the person who killed your sister is breathing the air she can’t, filling his lungs with it, tasting its sweetness. Imagine him knowing the steady weight of the earth under his feet while her body is buried six feet below it.

The ending left me wanting so much more! I have never read a book like this and it really blew me away. I enjoyed it but it was also so exhausting. I had to get to the end. The writing was beautiful and I was able to capture the entire story. This one left me haunted and actually dreaming about it that night.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy in exchange of an honest review.

WOW. This book is everything. I loved it and I hated it but it's THAT good. It's dark. You'll be heartbroken. Read it. Trust me, you won't regret it. Courtney is a new-to-me author and I can definitely say this book will not be my last by her.

An important book, one that will stay with me for a long time to come. Completely different than what I was expecting, I really enjoyed it.

This was an interesting and intriguing ride from beginning to end. The multi-media format really added to the story and had a lot to say about how we discuss missing women. Deeply enjoyed this.

Wow! This was a difficult book to read! Besides the subject matter, the way that the dialogue was written in the story made it very difficult to follow. As I read further and got to know more about the characters in the book, I enjoyed it and was able to follow it better. It has a very believable storyline, and shows us that the ones that love and care about us the most are not always blood relatives. This is a story about Mothers, daughters and love. And the difficult lives that some families go through.

I received an ARC copy from netgalley for my honest review, so thank you netgalley and publishers for offering me this book! ♡
The cover and title is what originally drew me to this book.
Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.
But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.
When West McCray—a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America—overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it's too late.
Courtney Summers has written the breakout book of her career. Sadie is propulsive and harrowing and will keep you riveted until the last page.
This was my first book by this author. It was alltogether an easy read. ♡ I give this book a
5 star rating!

I requested this book kind of hesitant. YA mysteries can be really hit or miss. But I am so glad I got to read this book!! I cannot recommend Sadie enough. And now that it's out, I recommend listening to the audiobook which is AMAZINGLY performed.

This book follows Sadie, whose sister was murdered, and Sadie knows by whom. She sets off to find the killer and make him pay. Sadie is the star of this show, and I really loved her. Never does she waver in her mission, and I admire that in a character, no matter how grisly the mission is. In fact, I respect her more that she doesn't waver in this. Also, Sadie has a stutter, which is not something I see represented often in books. It was a unique characteristic that makes Sadie stand out, as if she wouldn't already. She's a strong girl who loves her family and demands recompense, and I really loved her.

We also follow a podcast run by West McCray, who at first thinks this story isn't anything special... until he gets into the meat of it and starts following Sadie on her journey. In the audiobook, the podcast is VERY well done, with sponsorship messages and background music and noise. When you're in a diner, it SOUNDS like you're actually there with the people in the background. This segment of the book is very well done and fun, because you already know everything West doesn't know, but it's still fun to follow him finding out the mystery along with you.

The one thing I did not like about this novel was the ending. It's very open-ended, and sometimes I don't mind that, but I do wish we got a bit of a clue or hint about what happens. Just something little that would help make the reader feel content with the ending.

Overall, this is a great book that deserves all the hype. I cannot recommend Sadie enough (especially the audiobook, if you can) and I hope that you all enjoy it as much as I do.

Sadie lives in a trailer park in a small town with her younger sister, Mattie. Sadie has practically raised Mattie by herself all her life, their mother being an addict who left them to fend for themselves.
Sadie's life is turned upside down when Mattie dies.
When the police investigation turns up no leads, Sadie decides to search for the killer herself.
Radio presenter West McCray hears Sadie's story while at a gas station. He starts a podcast, following Sadie's tracks and hoping to find out what happened to her.

Sadie is told partly in podcast form and partly from Sadie's point of view. I really liked this format. It was interesting to read as West McCray tried to track Sadie down, especially knowing what she had been doing in the places that he went to.
I liked Sadie as a character - she was determined and would do anything for Mattie. I felt really sorry for her - she'd had a tough childhood and then her sister, her whole world, died.
I don't think I've read a book where the main character had a stutter so that was different.
The plot was interesting and kept me guessing. There were some dark things that happened so if you are triggered by things like sexual abuse and paedophilia I would give this a miss.
The writing style was easy to follow and gripped me.
The book and its ending are definitely going to stay with me for a while.

Overall this was an enjoyable, emotional read.

Wow. Where do I even begin with Sadie?

If you are not ready for an emotional roller coaster then do not pick this book up. This is an important and powerful story that the author tells; it’s one of love and sisterhood and justice albeit vigilante justice.

The format of this book was very unique. It alternated between Sadie’s pov and an interview styled chapter which was ambitious and I think it worked most of the time but when it’s written that way, you miss out on a lot of detail and it got a bit tiresome after a while.

It’s also an open-ended sort of ending and if you want definite concrete answers you will be disappointed. Overall, this isn’t a book you love, it’s a book you read and recognize the importance in and tell others to read.

An old story told in a truly original format. I wasn't entirely sure how well the podcast episode framing device would work -- it's very clever, but it can quickly become a gimmick rather than add to the story -- but Summers pulled it off perfectly. I have a bit of a book hangover, because the ending left me totally reeling.

I loved Sadie and gave it a shout on the Barnes and Noble Teen Blog as one of my favorite 2018 reads: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/teen/bn-teen-blog-best-ya-books-of-2018/

I've read two Courtney Summers books before. One I loved. The other was just okay for me. When I first saw Sadie available for review, I decided to take a pass on it. But then I realized Courtney Summers was the author and I took a second look. Sadie isn't my typical preferred genre. While I occasionally like Mystery/Thriller/Suspense books, I usually prefer romance driven books. And well, there's not a romance in Sadie at all. But I try not to write books off entirely just because they're different from what I normally prefer because I've found in the past that sometimes I'll love a book that ends up changing my reading preferences. However, that was not the case with Sadie.

I really struggled with this book. The first 30% was very slow for me. And then I was probably 60% finished before I finally felt hooked into knowing what happened to Sadie and to Mattie. 60% is a long read when you're not fully invested. And I can't really give you a reason why I wasn't invested until that point because I liked Sadie. I liked the podcast and West McCray. I guess the pieces of the puzzle that we were given up until that point were slow for me. Of course, each piece is important for the overall story, but it was a process for me to get there.

The ending of Sadie was open. There's supposed to be the potential for hope, but it feels very faint to me. There's some justice which I think is intended to give the reader some satisfaction where the open ending might not fully satisfy. It wasn't a bad ending, but like I said, not completely satisfying either. I did read a note that Courtney Summers herself shared about the ending of the story which gave me a more comprehensive view of why the ending was left open, but I still can't say was satisfying.

Being a mother, the content and events of Sadie were hard for me to read as well. I don't ever want to imagine one of my children being brutally murdered, sexually assaulted, unloved, or missing. It's heartbreaking, and yet Sadie felt like such a real story. The events way too commonplace. It's heartbreaking when you think about any one piece much less all put together. *Spoiler alert* This is a sad story.

Sadie ended up being just an okay read for me. The genre is outside of my norm as I tend to prefer books driven by romantic relationships. The content was hard to swallow. And even though the characters were likable and I sympathized with them, they almost made the story harder to read. I had a hard time getting to a point where I felt fully invested, but once I did, I finished Sadie quickly. I'm giving Sadie 3 Stars. Have you read Sadie? What did you think? Let me know!

THIS BOOK!!! It was do good, I loved it. Definitely not something I normally read but soo enjoyable *cries*

To say I was excited to receive this was an understatement! One of the most wanted YA reads of the fall! It did not disappoint! Thank you for the copy to review!

Oh wow. Put some time away for this book. It has all the ingredients for a terrific psychological thriller.

No spoilers from me. Book is great with lots of lies, deception, tragedy, and twists. Also, loved the unpredictable ending. Can't say enough great about this. Read it today!!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this fabulous book.

Despite my love and respect for Courtney Summers’ books, I’m always deeply hesitant to start them. In this case, I saw it on NetGalley, got super excited, requested, and then, when it came to read it, I second guessed. I knew it would be good (it was), but I also knew it would hurt (it did). I knew it wouldn’t be pleasant to read (it was more pleasant than I expected but also mostly yep).


I’m a reader who, especially when shit is bad in the world, needs fluffy, escapist books, and Summers’ books are aggressively the opposite of that. They punch you in the face with realism, but they do it in this really subtle and quiet way that has you a bit off your guard. Unlike some of the so-called “issue books” or dark contemporary, Summers’ books aren’t melodramatic; they’re dark and scary and painful, but they don’t revel in it. Sadie actually looks away from it in this way that only draws your eye because you know how much worse everything is even than what you’re seeing.

So yes, I was scared to start this book, because it’s very much not a Christina book. Immediately, though, I knew Sadie would be good. The novel alternates between transcripts of a podcast about the search for Sadie, who is missing, and a timeline running slightly ahead from Sadie’s point of view. This sort of mixed media storytelling is either the best or the worst, and it absolutely pays off here. That first snippet of the podcast totally captured me, against my will.

The weird thing is that I don’t even listen to podcasts. I’m too much of a completist for them. But even so, I could hear the podcast like I was listening to the audiobook, rather than reading the egalley. It felt so real, leaped off the page. That’s something that only happens with the best authors, and I’ll never get tired of the feeling of it when it does happen. Actually, I caught myself tempted to google stories referenced within its pages, because I would actually forget everything was fictional. Which sounds a bit silly tbh, but that’s how real it all felt.

For the first part of the book, I loved the podcast, but I was less invested in Sadie’s chapters. Ironically, though invested in the podcast of her life, I was less invested in her actual life unfolding. By the end, I’d been sucked in to both timelines, though I never really did get a complete grasp on who Sadie really is. That may be intentional, though, because a lot of the point is that Sadie herself doesn’t know who she is without Maddie, her little sister who was murdered, her little sister who died. Sadie doesn’t have friends, she has one person who cares about her, and she’s been abused badly her entire life. Her only motivating force is revenge, so she’s not an easy girl to get to know.

Vengeance tales are as old as stories, but Summers makes this one feel different from the pack. Often they come with a moral, but this one doesn’t. It’s not all about how pursuing revenge prevents you from focusing on the positive, though there’s certainly a consideration of methods possible. In this case, Sadie’s revenge feels needful, deserved, if not for her than for the world. Sadie feels almost like an antihero, and though she’s at the center, the story at times seems like it’s less about her than about protecting every child in the world, as suggested by the distancing name of the podcast, The Girls. It’s her story, but it’s also not; she’s a microcosm, an example of the horrific shit that people let happen every day.

Unsurprisingly, Sadie is not a happy book. Beyond the quest for vengeance, it’s an unflinching look at sexual abuse of children. When I say it’s not melodramatic, there’s nothing that happens on screen, no detail. It’s not played for shock value. It runs throughout, and you might not even notice at first, but when you do you it hurts all the more for that. This book doesn’t preach or yell; it harshly whispers but makes you listen all the harder. The ending doesn’t leave you feeling satisfied, but it does feel like the ending this book needed.

I thought All the Rage was dark and intense and painful, but Summers definitely had some more rage left, and she put it to damn good use.