Cover Image: The Girl in the Headlines

The Girl in the Headlines

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I've gotten books by Hannah Jayne before so I knew for sure that I couldn't pass this one up. So glad I didn't!

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I will admit to saying that I had very high hopes for this book. The description pulled me in from the first time I read it, and I knew it was going to be a book I devoured. Funnily enough, I read this entire book while working the night shift at my own hotel. I'd say it provided a unique experience.

This book took a different turn than I was expecting but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I really hope my girl Andrea gets some better friends and sues the s*** out of that news station for defamation of character. And Nate truly deserves ALL the respect and love in the world. The only OG in this place. My only wish is that there would have been more to this book (hint hint romance between Andrea and Nate) and I would seriously have loved for this to be sooooo much longer.

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Very good strory, perfect for my high school students. Andi asked the way a normal high school girl would act given that she couldn't remember what had happened, the reactions of her "friends" and the questions about her background. Nate was a believable character who was trying to help her. Her story was well enough told that I didn't not immediately figure it out. The only problem I had was with the ending that was too abrupt.

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I have read four other Hannah Jayne books before. Some I loved and some I thought were okay. This led me to have high hopes for The Girl in the Headlines and Hannah Jayne did not disappoint. The Girl in the Headlines brought mystery, suspense, drama, and started out instantly with a bang.

Right from the beginning the story was intense. This wasn’t a book that started slow or built up to the intense stuff. The first sentence had me hooked and Jayne kept you in her grips the entire story. We follow Andi as she wakes up covered in blood and finding the news playing on repeat that her parents have been murdered, her brother is missing and she is the prime suspect… with no memory of anything that happened. With the help of some unsuspecting strangers, Andi journeys to find what really happen.

I really enjoyed Andi as the main character. She comes from a very upper class home, but isn’t afraid to get dirty and do what is necessary. She’s not afraid of hard work. I also really like Nate. He balanced Andi out a lot during the story and I grew to love him. I’d be friends with someone like him. I also liked that I had no idea how the story was going to end. I had suspicions, but Jayne kept me guessing. Each time I thought I might know, she threw me a curveball that had me second guess my thoughts. The story flowed really well, even when Andi had flashbacks of memory. I liked how Jayne wrote in little things from Andi’s background so we understood who she was more and more as the story went along.

The Girl in the Headlines is my favorite Hannah Jayne book to date, and remember, I have read four other books by her. It was gritty, dark, twisty, and gorged full of suspense. I loved this book from cover to cover and cannot wait to see what story Jayne writes up next. Definitely read it. You will not be disappointed.

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DNF. I love a smart, resourceful character put in an impossible situation. If you’re looking for that - I highly recommend The Hiding Girl by Dorian Box. Because unfortunately this isn’t that at all.

Andie is 18 - she wakes up the day after her 18th birthday covered in blood. She sees on the news that her parents are dead and her brother is missing and she’s being sought as a suspect. And then she makes terrible decision after terrible decision. And I’m not willing to stick with her to see how it all ends.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free advance reading copy.

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I want to thank the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review The Girl in the Headlines. I absolutely love this YA Thriller and it kept me guessing on what exactly was going to happen next. I don't know what it is about thrillers where the main character forgets about what happened to them but I absolutely love them. Throughout the entire story, I was pretty curious if the main character actually did anything. A lot of things were leaning towards her killing her family, but would she really do something like that? She knew they loved her and she loved them. Kind of a scary thing if you end up forgetting some of the things that you did and I enjoyed every minute of it.
I do kind of hate the main character's friend though. They are supposed to be best friends... Almost like sisters. So, it kind of made me a bit mad when she threw her under the bush. I really can't wait to read more books by Hannah Jayne!

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Book was archived before I was able to read and review.


*Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity.

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Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the chance to read The girl in the headlines by Hannah Jayne. While I have read and enjoyed Hannah’s adult urban fantasy books, this was my first contemporary YA book of hers and I was eager to check it out. The beginning grabbed me right away, and while I enjoyed the story, it just didn’t have the total OOMPH I am used to – ok I will admit I was expecting some teenage romance, which was not there. I think overall it is a good summer teen book.

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I did enjoy the mystery to the story and it kept me reading. There were some issues I had with some of the events that didn’t seem to really add to the story but just added drama to it. But the accuracy of the what the news headlines were was pretty spot on.

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trigger warning- addition, death, gun violence, blood, medical content, kidnapping, death of a parent, murder

honestly, the writing of this book was not good. like, it was just very childish and that it was just so boring and dull writing. and i mean, i feel like there are moments in this book were i honestly didn't even what to read this book anymore cause the writing was just so so bad. and i mean, i feel like some books where the writing isn't everything, were i feel like mystery books need to have great writing. so, i the writing was just so annoying.

but, i also feel like the writing did get to be way to poetic. like, i feel like there is a time and a place for the writing to be poetic and to have that style of writing. and i honestly don't think a mystery / thriller book is the type of book were you can get it. instead, i feel like if you want the poetic writing, that works so much better in a romance. and the whole type of being poetic just was so annoying and really took away from the story.

also, andi's character was just so terrible. like, for one, she just got on my actual nerves about the way she talked or what she said and acted in some ways. i honestly did not like it and i mean, like i think she was about 18 years old, or she was late 17. and i mean, she was just so naive it got to be so so annoying. like there was multiple moments were she would say anything and it was almost like she didn't even know how the world worked. and like this girl didn't even know how the bank gives a loan, and like other things i thought were jut common knowledge that she just didn't know about or understand, so it just annoyed me so much.

but, i honestly liked nate so much more than i liked andi. like, i feel like he knew the real world and that he knew how the world worked and he was honestly the realist in the relationship, which i honestly really liked. and i thought it was honestly so cool to see him help andi even though he just met andi and he still wants to help her and to help her find her brother and to see who actually killed her father and than tried to kill her mother. so, i honestly really liked it and that we got to see this part of it all. and i honestly really liked that they were so different, that i thought it was honestly so cool.

i also think that the whole plot that andi could kill her parents were just so stupid. like, she was way to naive that she probably couldn't figure out how to use a gun cause she was so dumb. but, i also think that yeah it added to the plot, to a degree, but it was still so freaking stupid and i don't think she could actually do it. but, also it just didn't add up with her timeline of events, so i think it was just so annoying.

and i also think that the book honestly was such a mess with answers. like, in the start of the book they kept bringing up the whole plot with her friend and ex boyfriend, and i honestly wish they wrapped them up, since i feel like for the friend it was don't talk to each other and than the plot with the ex boyfriend that he is an insane cheater. and they never had a wrap up too their plot and i feel like it was just so stupid that they never said, oh yeah they all made up or she never talked to the ex boyfriend again or something along the lines. and i think it was just so stupid and really just pissed me off.

but, also the end of this book was way to quick. like we had the action plot point, the resolve, the happy moment, and than it wrapped up. and i honestly didn't like it and i thought it could have been done so much better or at least give it an epilogue, so they could do five months in the past or something, but it honestly was just so annoying that it didn't have one and the end was just yay happy ever after. and honestly this book just wrapped up way to quickly, which was just so so annoying and i honestly hated it so much.

i also think that the relationship between nate and andi was rushed and just odd. like, for one, i don't think i would just become besties with this girl that allegedly killed her father, put her mother in the ICU, and kidnapped her baby brother. like, he met her and they were already doing petty crimes and just becoming best friends. and like i think it just moved so so quick and that was honestly something that i didn't really like that much, and i wish they become besties slower than from right when they met.

but, i also think that jayne just needed to do more thinking when it came to this book. like nate and andi would suggest these things like 'oh maybe you did these crimes than you went to the gas station,' yet she was covered in blood and any worker would call the cops. and that they really just didn't making sense and that she probably should have just thought that threw more when they were writing this book.

and also i feel like this book was a big circle. like, something would happen and than we would move forward with it, and than we would back track, talk about the other event first, and than move forward just to do this all again. and it honestly just pissed me off, since it could have just been written so much more better and that it wasn't so much more of a spinning in circles.

but, i also feel like the who did it was so obvious. like, i feel like it was just so easy to tell who did it and that they were kind of the bad guy through the book, so it was like oh yeah of course they did it. and i honestly hated it and that i think they should have done it by someone else. so, i feel like that was just kind of boring and i wish it was someone else, but it still made it a quick read.

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I didn’t like the short chapters of this novel. I liked the description and plot line but I had higher hopes for the execution.

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I really did not enjoy this book and it was very hard to get through. The plot was not very well thought out because there were too many plot holes. Some of the characters were very unnecessary like Lynelle’s dad. I hated the main character because she was too naive. Nate was the only normal character because he was practical and smart. However, the writing was good and so was the originality. Overall, I would not recommend this book and I was disappointed because it had a lot of potential.

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What happens when you wake up in a strange room, all alone and covered in blood?

This is what happens to Andrea McNulty.

Andrea, who leads a normal life with her normal family, now finds herself the girl in the news headlines. Her parents attacked, her father dead, her mother in hospital, her little brother missing and Andrea is the main suspect. The problem is, she can’t remember anything about what happened.

What can she do? If she goes to the police, will they believe her or will they just arrest her without investigating other possibilities?

With the help of Nate, the boy who works in reception at the seedy motel where she wakes up, Andi sets about solving the mystery of what happened to her family, and why.

This young adult mystery covers all the bases, but for me, it wasn’t a home run. I found the main character, Andi, not particularly likeable or relatable, and secondary characters not particularly well developed.

The plot twist feels a bit forced and overall, I feel this is a bit of a ‘paint by numbers’ mystery that would benefit from a bit more depth.


Thanks to NetGalley and SourceBooks Fire for the review copy of this book.

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A very engrossing suspense filled story with lots of twists and turns. The author did a fantastic job of putting the reader in Andi's shoes, so you can feel all the terror, rage, confusion, and guilt she felt. I really buzzed through this one, it was a read in one sitting kind of read. Great read!

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This book sounded like it was going to be so good but unfortunately it didn't completely deliver. I was expecting this to be a rich, fast-paced mystery filled with secrets and high stakes, but I really didn't feel any of that. The plot seemed to focus more on incorporating red herrings (that were very obvious, might I add) than actually developing a full and complex story. Most of the book took place inside the motel that Andi woke up in which would have been fine if it hadn't made the book so dull and the pacing so slow. I read that Andi was "on the run" in the summary but she was really just hiding. This was super misleading because I was expecting this to be fast-paced and more thrilling but it focused more on the influence of media portrayal and Andi's mental health, both of which were interesting but just weren't enough for me to really stay engaged with the book. The ending felt like it was supposed to be a bigger deal than it was and I wasn't really satisfied. I couldn't relate to Andi at all and didn't love her as a main character. None of the characters felt like read people and there were lots of loose threads by the end. I think this book had the foundation of a great read but it ultimately fell short for me.

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This one wasn't too bad. MC was a little whiney but I would be too. Good little twist and had plenty to keep the plot interesting. Thanks to Netgalley for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for sending me an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and any quotes used are subject to change.

"Maybe I wasn't meant to be the heroine. Maybe I was the villain."

I had such high hopes for this book. From the synopsis, I was expecting it to be a "sitting on the edge of my seat" YA mystery/thriller. It was not. I knew who really committed the crime from about 8% in. That being said, the story was developed well and it was a solid book. I do think the characters could have done with a bit more development and the plot could have been changed slightly to make it harder for readers to predict the real perpetrators.

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This book reminds me of the show "The End of the F*cking World" but set in America. It was really well written and I enjoyed the story overall. I found the ending to be pretty predictable but it was still good.

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This book was book was okay, not great, not terrible, just okay. It follows the story of Andi, whose life is turned upside down on her 18th birthday. When she becomes conscious, she struggles trying to piece together the fact that her brother is missing, her dad is dead, and her mom is in the hospital. On top of that, her face is plastered in the news as a suspect. This book was longer than it should be, in my opinion, but it allows the reader to go through this process with Andi. The ending wasn't the best, but I've definitely read worse.

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I had higher expectations for this book, as the description really hooked me. Unfortunately, the book didn’t meet any of my standards. The biggest issue is that it just didn’t make sense. The story would jump between topics and scenes with absolutely no connection making the reader feel lost. Even worse, the ending made no sense and didn’t really wrap up the story or connect all of the dots.

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