My mind was a bit blown to see Caroline Cooney pop up in my feed on NetGalley. I read her thrillers when I was a kid and teen, and they always kept me on the edge of my seat. Who knew that I would meet her writing again at late-thirty something?
I’m happy to report that her books haven’t lost their edge and grit, and I’m still blown away by her grasp of characters and nuance. “Before She Was Helen” is gripping, visceral, and spot on twisty thrilling; just like her books of my early years. She’s still very talented a writer, and has yet again, kept me on the edge of my seat. I couldn’t put this down! I’m so grateful to the publisher and NetGalley for my free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion! This is top notch thrills!

Before She Was Helen by Caroline B Clooney is about Clemmie, who goes next door to check on her difficult and unlikeable neighbor Dom, but he isn't there. Something else is. Something stunning, beautiful and inexplicable. Clemmie photographs the wondrous object on her cell phone and makes the irrevocable error of forwarding it. As the picture swirls over the internet, Clemmie tries desperately to keep a grip on her own personal network of secrets. Can fifty years of careful hiding under names not her own be ruined by one careless picture? This was an enjoyable cozy mystery. Although I enjoyed the book, it was confusing at times, especially near the end. It was hard to see who the culprits were as the script changed so often. The characters were well formed.

Really enjoyed this book! The title and book cover are what caught my eye so I was in the dark about the synopsis. So because of that I was very surprised about the setting and the characters and the fact it’s a senior community center. This was a very fresh approach and I loved every minute of it!

Before She was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney is a charmingly written story filled with wonderful twists, engaging characters and a clever storyline that pulls out all the stops. Even better, the setting is a veritable Peyton Place - a Sun City retirement village,

My grandparents were some of the first homeowners in the original Sun City outside Phoenix, and I spent many Christmases with them riding around in their golf cart and eavesdropping in on more gossip than my young mind could process. The author brought me back to that place and those people. The characterizations, relationships and conversations are spot on and so much fun.

Clemmie is the main character, and - like a lot of women in their 70s - there's more to her than meets the eyes. She is a woman with both a past and a great story, and the author does a wonderful job of unraveling both with perfect timing. And timing really matters in a story like Clemmie's. Without it, there is no mystery and no delight in discovery - Before She was Helen is rich with both!

The supporting cast and their stories are equally entertaining, .which just adds to the enjoyment of this book.

The writing is light and airy, with a consistent voice and a flow that is perfect for the storyline and the genre. I literally read this book in one sitting, stopping only to share the funny parts and plot twists with my accommodating husband ;)

If you're looking for a fun, quick read with engaging characters and a well-crafted and layered plot pick up a copy of Before She was Helen. I can totally see this book as a movie at some point. If you're in search of a hardcore mystery, however, you might be disappointed. Think Murder She Wrote not Homeland.

This review was based on an advance copy read.

I enjoyed this book. I fell in love with Clemmie right off the bat and loved her more as I read more of her story. Recommended.

This is not normally my genre but I was captivated by the cover and some nostalgia from the 90s.

I found the plot really engaging and was set in a really unfamiliar setting to me.
I enjoyed the characters and it made me think a lot about older people.

I knew when I saw Caroline B. Cooney listed as an author for an ARC adult novel on NetGalley, I had to try to get it. I used to love her The Face On The Milk Carton series. So really, in all my excitement about the author, I didn't take much time to read the plot synopsis and wasn't quite certain what I had gotten myself into.

I was pleasantly surprised by this story. It was an easy read, and I finished it within a day of starting it. It was an interesting story, with an interesting setting - I can't say I've read any other books that are set in a retirement community! It switched back and forth between present day Clemmie/Helen learning about and dealing with her neighbors' apparent illegal activities, and teenage Clemmie dealing with sexual assault at the hands of a family friend and the aftermath of that. There were a few things that bothered me (for example, Clemmie's grand-nephew's actions made no sense whatsoever) but overall I enjoyed this book!

Like many others, I think of Caroline B. Cooney only as the author of The Face On The Milk Carton and the rest of the YA Janie series. So I was interested to see how she translated to an adult read. Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Initially, I wasn't sure Before She Was Helen was my cup of tea. It's the story of Clementine, aka Helen, a resident of Sun City retirement villa. All is well until she discovers her neighbors are involved in drug smuggling and murder. So I thought the book was "mystery lite".
But it's more than that, as the story intertwines with Clementine's earlier life as a victim of sexual assault and subsequent measures to escape further violence.
A different story than I was expecting - it's a bit quirky and original, an easy read.
For release on May 5, 2020.

Clemmie is a woman in her 70's who lives a seemingly normal life in a retirement community known as Sun City. Except her life isn't normal. Her neighbors think her name is Helen. And one of her neighbors has disappeared.

At some points, the book flashes back in time to the 1950's, when Clemmie was in high school. Through these flashbacks readers learn the dark secrets that Clemmie harbors.

As Helen becomes involved in a surprising turn of events, she hopes to keep her secrets safe. Readers will discover that nothing in Sun City is as it seems, and everyone is keeping secrets.

This book was fantastic! It was not at all what I expected, but I loved every minute of what I got. Clemmie's past was horrific and made me angry and sad. Her present life was humorous, dangerous and exciting. I was on the edge of my seat with anticipation to see how things played out.

Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and Caroline B. Cooney for the advanced copy of Before She Was Helen in Exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
I thought it was an interesting, complex, twisty and addictive mystery/thriller.
It had an interesting setting and great character development.

This is the type of book my Mom and Grandma would love. It's intriguing enough to keep you reading but it won't quicken your pulse with insane action. I was very happy with the ending for Clemmie's sake but the realization of the murderer was a bit anticlimactic. Lots of build up to who it may be, where Dom went, etc. It felt like the author decided all of the important details in the last chapter or so instead of having it nodded to throughout the book.

The characters were well developed with great backgrounds. I truly felt sorry for Clemmie, wanted her to be my Grandma and wanted to kill her attacker all at the same time.

I will be recommending this one to my Grandma and Mom for sure.

(I will be reviewing this on my instagram - @shelf.loving.mamas )

I have kind of a love/hate relationship with Caroline B Cooney. In third grade when I discovered "The Face on the Milk Carton," I loved her. I read several of her YA thrillers when I was younger and enjoyed a lot of them. Then I read some of the others, the supernatural ones, the romance ones, and I was NOT IMPRESSED. But then I got older and moved on to different books and for the most part forgot about Caroline B Cooney.
Then one day I was on Netgalley looking around at the many choices available to request and I found a new Caroline B Cooney. I was expecting it to be the same YA thriller of my youth but instead found it to be set entirely in a retirement community with a cast made up of elderly people.

Clemmie's got a nice life in her retirement community. She's got friends and activities. She communicates with her niece and her "grands" (her nieces children) and she's hidden her past well enough that no one would ever suspect her dark secrets.
It all begins to crumble while checking on a neighbor and discovering a glass sculpture which she sends a picture of to the grands. From there, Clemmie's life becomes significantly more difficult. And then comes the body. Can Clemmie save herself and keep her secret safe?

I actually liked this book. The setting was interesting. I don't believe I've read a lot of books set in a retirement community. Told in the present with snippets of the past peppered in, I was intrigued by both mysteries and honestly a little horrified about her past. Clemmie is a scrappy old broad.

I did have a couple of problems though. My main problem was at the end. A man straight up pulled Clemmie on his lap and stroked her like a baby or a frightened pet. She's in her 70s. That felt gross to me. And her grand nephew. I'm not sure what he was actually thinking when he sold Clemmie out. Some details that I found important were left out, such as what he thought he'd gain from this. But all in all, it wasn't bad.

*I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for my review

This is the first novel I've read by Caroline Cooney, and it was a delight. It's hard to write a review for Before She Was Helen because it's quite a complex novel. First, in answer to the title, before she was Helen, she was Clemmie. Clemmie was a teenager in the 50s; Helen is a Latin teacher living in a retirement village in South Carolina. The novel is written from those two POVs until the two stories come together. In brief, Helen is a good neighbor, so when she hasn't seen her somewhat creepy neighbor Dom in several days, she uses the emergency key he has given her to check on him. He's not in the house, but during her investigation, Helen discovers an unexpected door in his garage that leads into another neighbor's house.. That neighbor only comes to the retirement village very rarely, so being naturally curious, Helen enters the house to see what it looks like. It's rather stark, but Helen spies what she takes to be a beautiful work of glass art. She takes a picture with her phone, and once home, she sends the picture to her niece and nephew. That begins a twisty tale of murder and drug dealing in her sleepy little retirement village where everybody is in everybody else's business.

I loved Clemmie/Helen. She's smart and she suffered some horrible things in her younger years. Her neighbors are also a delightful bunch of busybodies, and a lot of them are keeping some big secrets.

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed Before She Was Helen, which will be published in May 2020. Thumbs up from me.

Thank you Netgalley for an early copy. I enjoyed the face on the milk fatten very much but maybe I loved the TV Movie. I just didn't enjoy Before she was Helen, was too simplistic and cheesy. Just ok.

Readers who grew up on Caroline B. Cooney’s The Face on the Milk Carton series will devour this page-turning thriller set in a seemingly idyllic South Carolina retirement community.

Clemmie Lakefield has carved out a life for herself in sleepy Sun City, dividing her time between card games, line dancing, and shopping expeditions to the local outlet malls. But when checking on a missing neighbor leads to a perplexing discovery, Clemmie unleashes a series of events that threaten to dismantle the secret identity she’s spent a lifetime protecting and sends her peaceful little community into chaos. What will happen when all those old secrets are exposed to the light?

When you’re snooping around in your neighbors’ empty house and come across a stunning work of glass art, it’s probably not a good idea to photograph what you’ve found and forward the picture to a young relative who spends all his time on social media. Especially if you’re living under an assumed identity and don’t want anyone to know your secrets. In Before She Was Helen by bestseller Caroline B. Cooney (author of The Face on the Milk Carton), septuagenarian Clemmie makes that fatal mistake, and within hours the photo is all over the internet and her hidden existence in a quiet South Carolina retirement home is turned upside down by violence.

Clemmie has lived most of her adult life under the name Helen Stephens, appropriated from a dead girl she once knew, in an effort to avoid connection to a long-ago murder. She stays in touch with her family, but they don’t know about the false name and don’t know exactly where she lives. When her young relative circulates the photo she took of the glass art, the real owner -- a drug dealer -- spots it. It was stolen from him, along with a huge stash of money, and he wants all of it back. Through manipulation of Clemmie’s relative and some clever research, he quickly finds out where she lives and comes after her. A murder in the housing unit next to Clemmie’s complicates matters, and she finds herself surrounded by police and nosy retired neighbors who want in on the excitement while she is desperately trying to get rid of the criminal who has invaded her home. At the same time, her own dark past threatens to rise into the open.

Cooney tells Clemmie’s tale with a mixture of whimsical humor in descriptions of the retirement community residents and brutal reality in the depiction of Clemmie’s past. The flashbacks to Clemmie’s youth are terrifying in their evocation of a time when girls/women couldn’t talk about such things as sexual assault and stalking because they would either be called liars or would be blamed for what happened to them. Clemmie/Helen is a strong woman who has survived events that could have crippled her emotionally, and readers will cheer her on as she deals with the unthinkable consequences of one little click on the “forward” button.

Before She was Helen will appeal to all lovers of traditional mysteries, including those who seldom stray beyond cozies.

3.5 stars. This is a quirky and fun mystery. Not only a who-dunnit, but a "what actually happened here" kinda story. Clemmie is quite the enigma herself. She has her own very tragic past with lots of secrets. Now somewhat retired, but still teaching Latin part-time, and living in a Sun City retirement community, she finds herself embroiled with murder, shady neighbors, stolen goods and money, and other elderly residents with too much time on their hands. If you like a good quick mystery read, pick this one up.

Before She Was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney-This adult thriller keeps you guessing the entire time...guessing about the murderer, Helen’s true identity, Helen’s neighbors...truly guessing about everyone and everything. No one in Helen’s small retirement community seem to be who they say they are, including Helen. When a body is discovered in the house next to hers, everyone’s past, including Helen’s starts to unfold. Helen doesn’t want to relive her past. There’s a reason she left all things behind...including another murder.
Publishing date May 5th, 2020 #NetGalley #CarolineBCooney #Beforeshewashelen

'Her life didn't turn out the way she expected―so she made herself a new one

When Clemmie goes next door to check on her difficult and unlikeable neighbor Dom, he isn't there. But something else is. Something stunning, beautiful and inexplicable. Clemmie photographs the wondrous object on her cell phone and makes the irrevocable error of forwarding it. As the picture swirls over the internet, Clemmie tries desperately to keep a grip on her own personal network of secrets. Can fifty years of careful hiding under names not her own be ruined by one careless picture?'

I was so intrigued with the blurb and so happy when I got approved for an ARC.

This story about a woman leading two lives is a page turner. I was instantly immersed in the world of Helen/Clemmie and couldn't wait to find out how it would all pan out. It was a super book that I really could not put down.

A fast, interesting and engaging read!

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for sending me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Before she was Helen is the story of a woman leading two lives. Helen is a Latin teacher who lives in a retirement community and plays a lot of cards with her neighbors. Clemmie is a teenager in the 50s who is raped and stalked by a popular teacher. This story flashes back and forth between Clemmie and Helen until the two stories become one.

Helen, whose family calls her Clemmie, becomes involved in the investigation of a murder in the apartment next door. Dealing with a missing neighbor, an enraged drug dealer, and friends who are all keeping secrets, Helen is terrified that her true identity, her past, and the person she will do anything to protect will all be discovered.

This book was a wild ride that I could not put down. There is nonstop action and intrigue and even a little comedy. It flashes seamlessly between the past and present. Clemmie’s teenage. story will make you cry. Her actions as an older woman will make you laugh at times. And throughout the book you will cheer Clemmie on as she faces the worst with absolute strength.

I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley. My review is voluntary.