For some reason I was hesitant to read this book. The description is a little vague, I wasn't sure how the story would unfold, it took a few pages and then completely devoured it.

What I think surprised and gripped me was the unexpected history of Clemmie. From the description of this book you just don't expect to feel the weight of the pre-feminist movement. I love that Clemmie is not bitter, despite the fact that she had every right to be. She is such a surprisingly tough, independent character it was moving and overwhelming. I think what brought me to love this character so much is that she is an inspiration in some ways while being a product of her environment/time.

Caroline B. Cooney did a wonderful job depicting the intensity of social media and how it can lead to regret. She also brought out the shadows of the men who lurk about, and how scary words can be.

The book definitely could have been a bit longer, I would've kept reading!!!

Book started out a little slow but picked up as we went along. I can to sympathize with Helen and loved how the story showed how her past shaped her present and what a strong woman she is! Thank you for the advances copy!

Before She Was Helen was a very enjoyable read. It was a fascinating setting that I've never delved into before. A definite recommend to any thriller fans. The flashbacks were well executed and the twists had me second guessing until the very end. I can't wait to delve into more of Caroline B. Cooneys work!

I was excited to read a new book by Caroline B. Cooney, because I remembered that she wrote "Twins", which was my all-time favourite book about 25+ years ago! I was so excited to see she was still writing!

This book is what I would call a "cozy read". A retirement community setting, where everyone has secrets. Fun little read, but I would have liked a few more things explained (like Johnny's character for example, and his relationship with Joyce).

3 1/2 ⭐️‘s
Welcome to Sun City, a quirky retirement community in South Carolina. When Clemmie doesn’t hear from her next door neighbor whom she checks on daily, she takes her key and enters his villa, but he’s not there. Her further exploring gets her into trouble and when a body is found in her neighbors garage it soon becomes a free for all. Clemmie is hiding something, something life changing,something she doesn’t want anyone to know. As the murder investigation ensues Clemmie’s past also comes to light. A quick, fun read with some zany characters.

Thanks to Netgalley for the preview of this book. Unfortunately it was not for me. I found the storyline weak & it wasnt really what I was expecting.

There is a murder in Helena retirement community, right next door to her. An innocent foray into a neighbours house to check on him turns into a nightmare. No one is who or what they seem.
I really liked the characters in this story they were easy to relate to and have compassion for.
I found the story itself to be written very choppy when you switch from Helens present to her past. I wish the story would have just been the current story as it really didn’t relate to her past. Whenever the perspective shifted from her as Helen to her as Clemmie it almost felt like losing your train of thought as it seemed so random. I also found the “whodunit” to be pretty obvious from the start.

I was a huge fan of Caroline B Cooney growing up. i loved Face on the Milk Carton, and as i got older i loved her teen thrillers I thought it was going to be in the same genre of a teen thriller when i picked it up but i was wrong. It was listed under thriller/mystery but it seems to be more of a woman's fiction novel. It is not really a who done it and who but more of a recap of what happened and why.

Before She Was Helen is about an older woman, Clemmie who is living in an retirement community. She now goes by the name Helen but she is living two lives. She has one cell phone for her family which still know her as Clemmie and then she has a second one that she has for her "real life" friends/work where she goes by Helen.

She found out from her niece that an old cold case was being re-opened in her home town and you get many flashbacks back to that time.

This is not a cozy mystery nor a fast paced thriller. If you are into woman's fiction, you will probably enjoy it.

Helen is just a sweet little old lady, a Latin teacher, living in a senior community, spending her days chatting with friends and playing cards. Or is she? That is only one of the two mysteries that play out in this story. Helen’s neighbor is missing also. And it turns out there’s a lot more going on in the Senior living community than anyone ever thought.

This was a fun read. It dragged on a little, but I can forgive that as, like Helen, I’m getting older and tend to drag on sometimes myself. Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for supplying me with an ARC copy of this book in return for my review.

3.5 stars
Funny thing is, if I'd stopped reading at about three-quarters - my rating would have been higher.
The unusual characters of 'vintage' years was an enjoyable change from what is usually widely offered. Two story-lines that kept you reading but for me it fizzled and left me with unanswered questions.
The book was told with humour and gave a good perspective of 'how it used to be' in the fifties/sixties. Families had different expectations of customs and behaviours and this alone almost salvaged the book for me.
Not a throw-away but still rather disappointing.

I was desperately excited to read this book due to my middle school obsession with Caroline B Cooney and The Face on the Milk Carton. And it totally lived up to what I hoped it would be... Mixed up identities, excitement, twists, and plenty of drama.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

Clemmie's quiet life is disrupted when an unexpected discovery leads the police to her door, and threatens to unravel the double life she's been living for years.

Just like most people my age, I loved Face on the Milk Carton. It's a classic. As soon as I saw this title, I wanted to read it. Unfortunately, for me at least, the novel never really found its groove. I couldn't get into the story. At times it felt too silly, despite the heavy material, and at others, there there so many different story lines going on it was hard to remember what was happening. All in all, I found my attention straying, and I even stopped 30% in to read something else.

I did finish the book, but I didn't particularly feel satisfied by it. Mostly, I feel indifferent about the book. That's about all I can say about it.

Wow, this was not at all what I expected, but in a great way! It was fun, funny, chilling, thrilling, and shocking! The retirement community angle is newer to me, therefore it was original, realistic, and kept me flipping the pages! I thought that it was done in a way that really had me wondering who dunnit, but was also quirky and different from my normal thrillers! Overall, I think those who enjoy well written who dunnits, with a creative and crazy cast of characters, and a few thrills, chills, and shocks thrown in will absolutely enjoy this book! I recommend to my fellow thriller lovers and those who are now adults and loved Cooney when younger!
Will make sure to buzz it up on all the different platforms and use my low Amazon reviewer number on release date!

I wanted to love this so much because The Face On the Milk Cartoon was a staple on my childhood bookshelf but this book is just bananas. The timeline is all over the place, the chapters are choppy, and the sped was like driving in rush hour traffic - it would be super fast past and excited and then just slam the breaks and it felt like nothing would happen. The ending felt rushed and thrown together and just super impractical.

I’m very conflicted on this story. On one hand, I thought it was a fun mystery with great pacing. On the other hand, the narration read as if Clemmie was in her early 20s instead of much older. I didn’t understand how a character with such a crazy past could have such immature dialog. When the narration didn’t focus on Clemmie’s internal monologue, I enjoyed it.

A BIG Thank You to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of “Before She Was Helen” for my review.

I thought this book started off really well. I really enjoyed the parallel story-lines between the present and the past, and how a murder takes place in both. There are a lot of twists and turns so you really don’t know how things will turn out. I loved Clemmie as the main character, irrespective of how old or young she is. The plot and setting is also very unique and unlike anything I had read earlier. There was a lot of potential for this book being an amazing page turner. Moreover, I thought the author wrote Rudyard very well and was a terrifying negative character. He is truly insane and unpredictable, and I could sense Clemmie’s fear in confronting him.

However, I felt solely disappointed after completing this book! I felt frustrated to see so many questions left open-ended. For example, I still don’t know who the Coglands are and why their apartment was empty. I also don’t know who and why placed the priceless dragon artifact there. Also, while I liked how the killer turned out to be someone whom I would have never expected, the reason behind their kill was convoluted and didn’t make much sense. There were also a lot of unnecessary dialogue with unwanted characters from the cul-de-sac which didn’t add anything to the plot. For example, pages wasted on dialogues from gossip women on what happened. The present day murder story-line turned out to be a complete disappointment. After a point, I was only looking forward to the flashbacks of Clemmie’s earlier days.

Overall, I expected a more polished story. The only season I didn’t give it a negative rating is because I enjoyed the flashback story-line between Clemmie and Rudyard.

Clementine has three names. Her family doesn't know. She spent most of her life in hiding.

But it all begins to unravel when she sends a picture of a unique piece of art glass she finds in a neighbor's condo to her nephew. He shares the picture online and the questions begin. When a neighbor is murdered and she's caught up in the middle of it all, old fears come back to haunt her and she questions if her secrets will be exposed and if her life will fall apart. Can she continue being a quiet high school Latin teacher? Or will she be charged with crimes?

An excellent mystery, gripping and entertaining.
The author did a good job in managing the dual timeline even if the one in the past was fast paced and the contemporary a bit slot.
The characters are interesting and well thought, the plot well crafted and the mystery solid.
It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Discovering this book was such an unexpected pleasure! I decided to read it for nostalgia's sake, because I loved Caroline Cooney's books so much when I was growing up. But I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. Basically, I didn't want to put it down until I'd turned the last page. Clemmie, the protagonist, is a semi-retired Latin teacher who lives in a retirement community near Charlotte, NC. She stumbles on a mystery involving the disappearance of her neighbor, and what seemed at first like a simple misunderstanding that could be easily cleared up with a simple explanation turns into something much more complicated and dangerous. In addition, Clemmie is hiding her true past, and even her real name, from her friends and family. We learn why in a series of flashbacks to her past that are as fascinating as the present day mystery itself. In recommending this to readers, I'd probably consider it close to a "cozy" mystery, but with appeal to readers who want to go beyond some of the cozy conventions (cupcakes, bookstores, etc.). This story has a little more edge to it, but not so much that it would scare anyone away. Really enjoyed this book!

I was mostly drawn to this book in a reminiscent sort of way for this author and those like her that were extremely popular in my teenage years. Then when I first started reading I was slightly concerned about the age group of the main characters. However, this book did not disappoint as a good fluffy mystery. I call it fluffy only because some events were extremely convenient and many plot twists were predictable. Nonetheless, this book was far from disappointing. My reading preferences have definitely grown since I was a teenager, but I thoroughly enjoyed this trip back for a different kind of mystery than I usually read. I wouldn't recommend this book to everyone, but I would definitely suggest it for fans of the author, or who I believe was her competition in the 90s (R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike).