My sweet girl is a solid 3 stars for me mostly cause it not my typical genre and i found it to be repetetive in some ways and others ways i wasn’t sure what kind of genre it was attempting to be in. Is it meant to be a thriller, a murder mystery, not quite sure. The twist did make more sense out of the story once we got there so it ranked it up from a 2 to a 3. My sweet girl is written well, the characters are solid and creepy it just not my kind of book that i can hungrily jump into a devour. So good but not fantastic.

🤯🤯🤯😱😱😱 — These emojis totally described me right after I finished reading this book! OMG, that ending completely blew my mind away! I didn’t expect THAT! I was pretty confident around 65% of the book that I had it figured out, but turns out I missed some! And that’s the best kind of thriller for me - the ones that give me sudden whiplash that I had to talk to somebody about it!!! This novel kept me engaged from the start, never letting up until the last page! The inclusion of Sri Lankan myth Mohini definitely added to the suspense, aside from the dual timelines. It was my first time to read a book with Sri Lanka as one of the settings so it was refreshing to read. There’s a lot to be discussed in this novel and I’d be spoiling the whole plot if I mention it here. Suffice it to say, I loved loved this book and I highly recommend it to thrillernerds! I’m so happy that my first book of the month is such a hit with me!

Rating:4.5/5

"It didn’t come easily to me. I had to work at it. But if I learned one thing from Mom, it’s that it was usually worth it being the sweet girl."

————————————–

"'When you die, can I have your skin?' she asked calmly, tracing a finger over my face, before getting up and walking out of the room, leaving me so afraid that I couldn’t move."

Paloma Evans is 30 years old, living in San Francisco. She had been adopted at age 12 out of the Sri Lankan orphanage, the Little Miracles Girls Home. Recently cut off from her parental funds, she engages in dodgy on-line behavior to make a buck, (One of her creepy clients appears to be stalking her) and had to take in a room-mate to help with the insane San Francisco rental costs. But the roomie, an Indian immigrant, learned her big secret, and is blackmailing her, which is bad enough. Arriving home after a few too many, she finds him dead in her kitchen. It gets worse. Chased out of her own apartment by the presumed killer, a seemingly spectral figure, she heads for the stairwell. But fingers close on her neck before she can escape. She wakes up hours later, in the stairway, a scolding neighbor barking at her, presuming she had passed out, drunk…again.

Before she can figure out how to deal, the cops arrive. She tells them what she had seen, but when they look through the apartment, the body is gone. The detective does not believe her, and his skepticism is understandable. Paloma is a blackout drunk, unable to recall events that took place, actions she undertook during her blacked-out hours. She really has no idea what happened to the guy, but does remember that she had fled her apartment, looking around after discovering the body, and was chased out of the place by a ghost from her past.

Paloma may be an adult, but, despite years of therapy, she has carried from childhood a powerful belief in an old-country ghostly being called Mohini, (think the freaky girl who emerges from The Ring in desperate need of a makeover, dressed in white). Seeing that terrifying presence in her apartment just after discovering her roommate’s body reinforces her belief. Losing hours after fleeing her apartment does not help. So what’s going on?

"Mohini is my favorite ghost story. She is one of the most famous urban legends here in Sri Lanka, a stereotypical woman in white…It’s a story that is very special to me. It’s a story we grew up whispering to each other around the candle in the night. I have actually dressed up as Mohini…to scare my cousins…It was hilarious. I knew that I needed to include this ghost story element into the book…It was the story that defined a lot of the scary stories of my childhood". – from the Books and Boba interview

The tale takes place in two timelines, alternating chapters, today, presumably 2018, give or take, as Covid is not yet a thing, and 2000, also give or take, when Paloma was a 12yo orphan in Sri Lanka. We follow her story there, her friendships, her interests, her hopes. The home is not a bad place, those in charge are a relatively benign pair, but on occasion the girls are given a class with the terrible, the horrible, the most feared Sister Cynthia, a sadistic witch of a person, who delights in physically harming the girls and threatening them with eternal damnation. (zero stars in RateMyTeachers) She is, unfortunately, in charge of Saint Margaret’s Home for Girls, the place where those who are not adopted will be sent after they age out of Miracles, a terrifying prospect. The Evanses are a wealthy American couple, supporters of the orphanage, and many other charities. They are looking to adopt a child. The girls at the orphanage are all prepped for when potential adopting parents stop by for a look-see, orphanage management trying its best to make a good impression, get one of their girls adopted, and hopefully gain some extra financial support and good press from the adopters.

Paloma and Lihini are besties at Miracles. Physically similar, fair-skinned, similar in height, build and overall looks. They sleep together often, in the comforting child-like sense, not that other one. We see how their relationship evolves with each chapter back in Sri Lanka. As only one child will be selected, there is understandable tension between them.

Today, give or take, Paloma is frantic. She goes to stay at her parents’ suburban house, as they are away, and remaining at the scene of the crime seems unwise. Was she hallucinating? This is not entirely impossible as she had been warned by her therapist that drinking on top of her new meds could do really bad things to her. But did we mention that Paloma is a blackout drunk? Paloma goes all Miss Marple trying to figure out what happened to her roomie, and why. Then the oddities start to breed. A neighbor of her parents vanishes mysteriously, and who is that strange woman who seems to be spying on her?

The story is plenty fun enough on its own merits. But there is more going on here. Racial elements permeate. Lihini and Paloma stand out a bit from the rest of the girls because of their relatively fair skin, seen as an advantage for those hoping to be taken in by a westerner. There is a wonderful scene in a restaurant bathroom in which Paloma is mistaken for another Asian women by a somewhat inebriated white woman, an experience Jayatissa has had, and which many people she knows have had. It is not the only moment in the book in which someone is unable to tell two people of color apart. Toss in discussions with other POCs about stereotypes applied to South Asians. Her shrink, Nina, whom she likes, is raucously white, dressing in white, her office decorated all in white, and it is shocking when Paloma sees her wearing anything with color.

"She kept all her pristine white files inside a pristine white filing cabinet, in a corner of her pristine white office. When I say pristine, I mean surgical-level clean. When I say white, I mean eyeball-searing, detergent-commercial white. She even asked her clients to take their shoes off so they wouldn’t mess up the spotless shag carpet. And it always smelled like freshly laundered sheets. She probably had an air freshener tucked behind the couch or something, because there was never any laundry in sight."

Gender and madness permeates. The book opens with Paloma about to lose it, dealing with a bank employee who is not quite up to speed with the institution’s processes.

"I was suffering from the worst case of writers’ block, and to say my mood was bleak would be an understatement. And then I had a really annoying experience with a customer service associate at my bank, where I found myself wanting to scream and shout and make a scene, but of course I didn’t. I kept it together, like most of us are trained to do, went into a coffee shop, where I pulled out a notebook and a piece of paper and really let that customer service associate have it. I guess you could say that’s how Paloma came about." – from The Big Thrill interview

Difficult women are often presumed to be nuts, and many have learned to couch their displeasure under a polite veneer. Paloma does that in the book. In fact, while one might think of her as foul-mouthed, the profanity in her internal monologue remains unspoken. This is not to say that Paloma is not abrasive and does not need considerable therapy. She certainly is and she certainly does. Orphanage girls must cope with potential. sexual predation, always knowing that they will be called liars or delusional if they report abuse. And there is the trauma of losing children that can drive women mad with grief. Also the danger of internalizing it when people keep telling her she is losing her mind.

Several classic novels are mentioned, among them Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, Oliver Twist, and, most significantly, Wuthering Heights, all present in the orphanage library, the last being Paloma’s favorite. ("Mrs. Evans was going to be my Catherine. She was going to save me."). Unsurprisingly, most have to do with orphans. (Wish she had found a way to fit in a reference to The Pirates of Penzance, as well) Thematically, there are concerns from those books that are reflected here. Sister Cynthia certainly represents a Dickensian nightmare of orphanage management. The girls in these are hassled in other ways by people at an orphanage or a placement. There are other elements of contemporary orphanage life that echo the perils of being parentless in the 19th century, including the timeless emotional pain of losing, or being left by, biological parents.

At first glance, My Sweet Girl offers us an unreliable narrator in the mold of The Girl on the Train’s Rachel Watson, another troubled soul with a drinking problem. Both generally fall into The Madman sort in the classification system to be found here. But Jayatissa takes the unreliable narrator a step further, so that there are times when you are not even certain who the narrator is, let alone the veracity of her reporting.

Unrelated Random thoughts
There is an Agatha Christie, Poirot-ish feel to the story when the facts are laid out near the end.

The preparation the school does with the orphans for the visit by the Evanses reminded me of young women in Austen novels gussying up for the arrival of potential suitors, or going to a meat-market ball.

In addition to the rage at the clerk scene that opens the book, there are other elements taken from the author’s life, some noted above. She named a character for her younger brother, Gavin.

GRIPES
We never get enough of a feel for Paloma’s actual life with the Evanses. She seems not particularly fond of them at age 30. How did that come to be? This could have used more. I had issues with how the POV was handled. It was a bit like one of those time travel stories in which it becomes impossible to keep track of who is where and when. The guilt Paloma experiences is way out of line with what she had actually done. That was a stretch for me.

SUMMARY
Nevertheless, My Sweet Girl is a fun, fast-paced thriller that will encourage you not to drink to excess and be more discriminating in selecting possible roommates. It may offer ideas for how to monetize some used clothing, and offer a perspective on how people perceive people who do not look like they do. It will maybe give you a few chills, and make your head spin like Reagan MacNeil (without the pea soup), with the twistiness of the finale. And you might be forgiven, if, when you get to the end, you feel an urge to hold up your bowl and say, “Please, sir, I want some more.”

"…things that don’t feel real during the day have a way of sliding into bed with you at night."

Review posted – September 10, 2021

Publication date – September 14, 2021

This review has been cross-posted on my personal site, Coot's Reviews (https://cootsreviews.com/2021/09/10/sweet-and-sour/) and on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4047138204). For the full review, with an author pic and sundry links, check it out on one of those.

I received an e-ARC of this book from Elisha Katz of Berkley Books in return for an honest review. But then, I may have that wrong. I had imbibed a bit more than usual the day the offer came in, and I was quite distracted by finding that unexpected body in the basement, so…maybe it was her. I am beginning to wonder. And thanks to NetGalley for facilitating.

Thanks for the free book @berkleypub #berkleypartner 💚

Have you ever figured out a twist in a book waaayyyy too early? And you’re like, why did I have to be smart for once and see what was happening? 🤦🏻‍♀️ Because that’s what happened to me here and it was such a bummer for me because I was really into this one.

There is so much to like about this one, I really enjoyed the authors writing style and found Paloma to be such a wickedly funny and sarcastic narrator. This switched back and forth between present day San Francisco and years earlier in Sri Lanka when she lived in an orphanage and I was really invested in the past timeline. There was a great supernatural/gothic vibe in that timeline and parts were creepy and chilling. Overall everything about this was very interesting to me until I knew what was gonna happen. Definitely had five star potential for me and a really impressive debut, I just wish I could’ve been surprised by some reveals but that’s not exactly the authors fault, it really wasn’t obvious I just got lucky I guess? Anyway, still saying this is a solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and I would be interested in reading more from the author.

I received a gifted galley of MY SWEET GIRL by Amanda Jayatissa for an honest review. Thank you to @BerkleyPub and @Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review!

MY SWEET GIRL presents two timelines. In the present day Paloma is a young woman who is struggling with both her day to day life and with her past. Something has come between her and her family and she’s been cut off from her family funds. She’s barely making ends meet and she’s fighting with her roommate after he’s found something out about her past. She’s shocked to come home and find her roommate’s dead body and even more shocked that when she returns to the unit with the police, the body is gone and there’s no sign that anything has gone on. She decides to move into her absent parents’ home, but strange things continue to happen even there.

In the second timeline we’re following Paloma’s time in a Sri Lankan orphanage prior to being adopted and brought to America. There, the girls are haunted by a ghost of myth that Paloma’s best friend swears is real. It is clear that this ghostly figure is tied to Paloma’s present day fears, but it isn’t clear entirely how.

This book was a very wild ride and it constantly had me theorizing about what was going on! Present day Paloma was clearly an unreliable narrator and her memories and perceptions left me with a lot of questions as to how situations made sense. I thought that the way the past story was slowly disclosed interspersed with the present day was well done and kept me hooked to read more from both timelines.

There were definitely some twists that I expected, but I think the author did a great job of keeping me guessing if what I suspected was happening and how it all came to be. The clues were there for the reader such that the ending didn’t come too far out of left field, but there were enough twists and red herrings that it wasn’t too easy to figure out.

This is one I’d recommend adding to your TBR!

The best thing I can say is, try to take as little from the synopsis as possible. I think just opening this book and reading it right away with fresh eyes is the best thing ever. The writing is absolutely superb. The story itself is very similar to other thrillers, but I appreciated the cultural twist added to this one! If you read a lot of thrillers or mysteries, I think this is a toss up. You will probably guess the twists early on, but I really don't want you to miss out on how well this was written. All in all, a great debut. I can't wait to see more from this author!

When Paloma was growing up in the Little Miracles Girls’ Home in Sri Lanka, all she wanted was to be adopted. She could hardly believe it when rich, beautiful Mr and Mrs Evans from San Francisco took an interest in her and wanted to take her home as their daughter. It felt like a dream come true, even if it meant leaving everything and everyone she knew and loved behind. Secretly, she was also glad to be able to escape the terrifying future she saw in store for her under the sadistic discipline of Sister Cynthia, to whose care she would be transferred once she aged out of the home.

Fast forward eighteen years and the now Sri Lankan American Paloma Evans is an alcoholic barely holding herself together. Arun, the immigrant roommate she’s been illegally subletting to, has discovered the secret she’s spent so many years hiding, and is trying to blackmail her. Unfortunately for them both, her bank accounts are frozen, and the wealthy parents she’s been having such a hard time talking to won’t be unfreezing them any time soon. After an unsuccessful attempt to con a bank clerk into forwarding her the money she needs, Paloma stops at a bar. So what if she shouldn’t be drinking while on her medication for psychiatric disorders? She just needs a drink or two in order to build up her courage before facing Arun again.

When she finally feels ready and staggers back to her apartment to plead for mercy, she’s horrified to find her would-be blackmailer dead at their kitchen table. Worse, an apparition she thought she’d left behind in Sri Lanka appears, causing her to flee the apartment and lose consciousness in the stairwell. A disapproving neighbor finds her in the morning and wakes her:

QUOTE
The reality of what happened slapped me hard in the face. I didn’t just pass out. I had seen her. Mohini. But that couldn’t be. She didn’t exist. I had spent years in therapy understanding just that. Mohini was just a story we told ourselves in the orphanage. She wasn’t real.

Then what the hell had I seen in my apartment last night?

Fear flooded through me, the pounding in my head getting harder and faster. My front tooth started to hurt.

Arun.

Arun was dead.
END QUOTE

In the cold, sober light of day, Paloma is ready to return to her apartment, call the cops and report Arun’s death… only there’s no trace of a body or blood or other foul play. The police are ready to chalk up her story to the ravings of a hallucinatory drunk but Paloma knows something is deeply wrong. As visions of the terrifying female spirit known as Mohini continue to haunt her, Paloma must finally face her past and the crushing guilt she’s lived with for most of her life, if she wants to have any hope of future happiness.

My Sweet Girl is a page-turning and often genuinely scary psychological thriller, filled with more twists and bite than a rattlesnake! It’s also a searing, brutally honest account of what it means to be a brown person and especially a brown woman in America, a land that is seen as a beacon of happiness for so many people worldwide, yet too often fails those who finally make it to our shores. Twelve year-old Paloma believes that being adopted by rich white Americans and living in California will solve all her problems. But even though the Evans are as kind as they know how, the wounds they inflict on the psyche of their adopted daughter linger for years.

And while the well-meaning ignorance of parents is something most children eventually overcome, the damage wrought by the racism that said parents turn a blind eye to or, at best, exhort their daughter to overcome by becoming a “model minority”, is harder to fix, even if one can afford expensive therapists and medications. Paloma hides her constant, seething rage behind the sweet, polite persona her parents insist she cultivate, as in passages like these, where she tries to brush off a stranger in a restaurant bathroom who insists they have history:

QUOTE
What I had was a tan and the terrible luck of being a brown person in a place where everyone thought we looked the same because our skin was the color of goddamned caramel.

I braced myself and smiled even wider. “You have a nice night now.”

I pushed open the bathroom door with my elbow and let it bang shut. Stupid fucking white people. Find someone with brown skin and black hair and figure they all come from India, and they all know how to drape a fucking sari and make curry and dance the goddamn <i>bhangra</i>. It wasn’t just this drunk bitch in the bathroom--I was always being mistaken for some other chick, whether or not they looked anything like me.
END QUOTE

Having been forcefully told more than once by strange white people that either my memory is bad or I’m straight up lying for telling them that I am not the brown person they recently had a conversation with, I found so much of this book eminently relatable, and am so glad Amanda Jayatissa gives such uncompromising voice to people like me. Paloma is a deeply flawed heroine but her anger and complexity bring real heart and dilemma to this brilliant and quite frankly audaciously crafted tale. This haunting fable showcases both how racism kills and how it helps you get away with murder. I loved it.

No need to skim through this caption to see what I thought of this book, My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa. I loved it and think it is the best psychological thriller I have read lately!
⠀
Wow, my heart is still racing a bit as I come down off of that book hangover. It captivated me from the beginning and had me clinging on to every word for clues right to the end. At the half way point I had SO many questions, I didn’t trust anyone, and I just had a few weak theories on how things might turn out. Even my theories gave me more questions. Then things get answered one tidbit at a time, but often brought up more questions. The track this book took was anything but strait forward and I loved that.
⠀
It is told in alternating timelines which worked so perfectly for this plot. The modern day ruckus of Paloma’s adult life in San Francisco and her days as an orphan in Sri Lanka. I haven’t read anything that is set in Sri Lanka, so that was a real treat.
⠀
There is a bit of a spooky element here with the Sri Lankan folk tale of a ghost named Mohini that the orphans claimed haunted the girls home. I am a huge scaredy-cat and felt this was a great addition to this creepy, griping tale without scaring me to death.
⠀
I went into it blind so I am not going to tell you a lot about the plot because I really loved the way it unfolded and spun me through the turmoil Paloma experienced.

My Sweet Girl is another thriller that takes on a dual timeline format. While I did prefer the "current day" narrative, it does do a good job of keeping the book well-paced. While it was devious and dark, I didn't enjoy the writing style of the author. It was very crude and downright which got tiring after the first hundred pages.

Exciting plot but a frustrating reading experience, I'd recommend to fans of 56 days.

LOVED. I thought I knew where this one was going but I was so wrong!! What an ending! Definitely recommend to thriller/suspense fans.

This is a really tough one to review, because I figured out the twist very early on, and it was likely because it has essentially the exact same twist as another thriller I read last week. That said, the writing is solid, the story was engaging, and much more interesting than that other book I mentioned above, so My Sweet Girl gets a rating bump. If you want to read this one, go in blind to ensure the best experience possible. This will definitely be an author to watch!

I’ve been excited to read My Sweet Girl since @crimebythebook have it such a rave review. And Abby is never wrong- this was a total winner for me! This novel is an incredible story and by a debut author!

My Sweet Girl is told in two different timelines and countries. It’s partially set in Sri Lanka, the author’s home country. And it’s set 18 years later to the present in San Francisco. Paloma is raised in Sri Lanka in an orphanage where she and her BFF Lihini love to read together. She gets adopted one day by a wealthy white family, the Evans. The story follows the month up to her adoption. The present day story finds Paloma low on money and sharing her apartment with Arub, an Indian man who has discovered a deep secret about Paloma. She comes home one day and finds him dead at their table.

There’s so much more to this story! It’s a really fast paced novel with a unreliable narrator that starts with a bang. There were times I wished Paloma would just stop drinking and that reminded me a lot of the Girl on the Train. I thought the parts in the orphanage were really interesting and I liked that the girls told ghost stories that even later Sam, another Sri Lankan knew about! So the story does has some paranormal activity, but it’s a minor amount.

Thank you so much to @berkleypub and @amandajayatissa. My Sweet Girl is on sale next Tuesday, September 14. You won’t want to miss this one!

HELL YES. This book is everything. Phenomenal author, phenomenal plot line, phenomenal book: all the way around. I could not put this book down. It was perfect amounts of both creepy and mystery without taking it too far. AND THE TWISTS! They completely caught me by surprised. The perfect book to read (and devour) this fall.

Quick synopsis:

The book goes back and forth in time from an orphanage in Sri Lanka to modern day US where it follows one of the girls who was adopted from the home. I can't say anymore because I don't want to spoil anything but if you like fast-paced dark thrillers, with a hint of horror, ghost stories, creepy orphanages, and the "am I going crazy or is this shit for real' tropes PICK THIS UP! Also, it wasn't to scary because I am a weenie and totally loved it.

Cleverly crafted.

I think if you enjoy psychological thrillers you'll enjoy this one. From the paranoia of our main character to the haunted ghost story, there was enough here to keep my interest.

Paloma grew up at an orphanage in Sri Lanka and gets adopted from a couple in the United States. We get her adult paranoid, alcoholic self and then we also get sweet younger version of her. She carries with her a great guilt from her orphanage days and as that story unfolds she faces the present day...which may include a murderer/stalker. I really enjoyed the dual timeline and seeing different versions of Paloma.

The ending was a shocker, though you could probably figure it out a few chapters before the big reveal it wasn't super super obvious and the way the story was told kept it hidden, kudos on that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for allowing me an early copy to read for my honest review.

My sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa is a tasty and twisty treat. From page one, the book captured me and never released me until the early morning. The main character, Paloma, is intense, unpredictable, and just plain fascinating.
The author skillfully uses multiple timelines to supply color, seasoning, and background to embellish a remarkable story that never stops entertaining. Readers will enjoy guessing what happens and will be thrilled but saddened that they have finished this outstanding novel.

Will you look at that? I'm reviewing a non-romance book on the blog today! I've been eager to read and discuss My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa, a mystery/thriller, primarily because the author is Sri Lankan and half of the book is set in Sri Lanka. I don't think I've mentioned it super frequently here but my parents are from Sri Lanka and my entire extended family lives there. It's not often that we get books from Sri Lankan authors in the US/UK market, so I was shaking with excitement to get to My Sweet Girl. I'm going to keep this review on the shorter end because it's a mystery book and I don't want to give everything away.

BRILLIANT USE OF DUAL TIMELINES

My Sweet Girl is told using dual timelines, the first in a girl's orphanage in Ratmalana, Sri Lanka, and the second 18 years later in San Fransisco, USA. Amanda Jayatissa weaves the two timelines like a pro, making each section engaging and stand out on its own. That being said, I personally was more invested in the orphanage timeline because of the characters. The little girls, in addition to the protagonist, Paloma, at the orphanage were a terrific addition to this book with their vastly different personalities. Not everyone got along with each other, but there's this sense of shared bond between them because of their circumstances and desperation. Paloma's desire to want to be adopted but also not wanting to leave behind her best friend, Lihini, was a punch to the chest. The author makes her determination and her sense of guilt shine through these chapters.

Amanda Jayatissa also vividly brings Sri Lanka to life in these chapters. I felt like I was there along with the characters, eating the food they were having, participating in the games they were playing, and smelling all the scents they were smelling. I would be lying if said I wasn't delighted by the "Sri Lankan-ness" of this book. The author even nails the Sinhalese English!

AN ERRATIC PROTAGONIST

Much of this book's appeal to me is also the protagonist, Paloma. She is frankly a hot mess. She's rash, brutally honest, swears like a sailor, and has no filter whatsoever. She's not exactly the most likable but I don't believe the author meant for her to be someone you end up loving. It's a wholly unique experience being inside her head and seeing her thought processes. Paloma could not be easily trusted, especially as she became embroiled in the murder/missing person's case involving her roommate, Arun. Over the course of the book, we see the messy dynamic that existed between Arun and Paloma, which sheds a lot of light on her character as well. It's all fascinating, I promise!

THE MYSTERY

There are several mystery threads in My Sweet Girl with the primary one involves Arun's murder and his missing body. The mystery is a bit of a slow-burn one and you have to be patient with it. I did manage to figure out the main one fairly easily because the author left breadcrumbs all over the book. I don't mind figuring out mysteries in suspense books, but I do wish the ending here was wrapped up a little tighter in a more shocking way. That being said, there were also some chilling twists that I did not anticipate and I thoroughly enjoyed those.

I'LL BE READING THE AUTHOR'S NEXT

All in all, I was impressed by Amanda Jayatissa's compelling debut book. It's a story I had a hard time putting down. Plus, it was really great to see the good and the bad of my culture explored in this book. I look forward to reading Amanda's next read!

There should be a bright future ahead of author Amanda Jayatissa, and I'm basing my opinion simply on how her mind worked as she constructed the plot for My Sweet Girl. There are enough twists and turns to satisfy any reader who loves surprises-- or who loves to attempt to figure them out ahead of time. The book does fall victim to a couple of things that did lessen my enjoyment, however.

At 384 pages, the book has "too much middle," as a fellow mystery lover calls it. If the story had been tightened up, the second thing would not have annoyed me nearly as much. What is the second thing? Paloma, the main character herself. Through the first third of the book, I felt bad for Paloma. Her voice is filled with judgment, with profanity, with anger, with fear, with guilt. The judgmental attitude I could overlook to a great extent as well as the profanity. Besides, the way Paloma tells her story really made me want to know what made her so fearful, so angry, so guilty. But these strong emotions went on and on and on. If the book had had more editing to tighten everything up, I would not have had time to either deduce the main plot twist or to become increasingly annoyed with Paloma. But it didn't, and I did.

Yes, I did have some problems with My Sweet Girl, but there's a lot to like about this story that shows us the lengths to which people will go when they are absolutely desperate. On the strength of her plot and Paloma's voice, I'll be keeping an eye peeled for Jayatissa's next book.

Paloma has had the perfect life since being adopted by a wealthy American couple as a child. She’s about to find out perfection doesn’t stop the past from catching up with you.

I could not put this book down! While I did predict the twists, it was a majorly entertaining read. It has a dark feel to it, as the main character doesn’t seem quite with it during the story, but there is much to be revealed. There are also past chapters that take place in an orphanage, with a ghost story too. Can you ask for anything more?!

“Some people go through life having no idea what they really look like. Who they really are. You know that psychologists said that if you were to see a clone of yourself walking down the street, the chances are that you wouldn’t recognize them? That’s how little we really know about who we are and what we look like to everyone else.”

My Sweet Girl comes out 9/14.

Twisty, turny, angry goodness. An abundance of creepiness and dread. A knockout ending. Loved this thriller!

I thought this one was pretty good. I didn't absolutely love it, but I found it tricky to predict, which is what I want most from a mystery/thriller.