Yet another debut crime fiction author, Cayce Osborne’s I Know What You Did is a most interesting premise. Living in New York, Petal Woznewski’s humdrum life is turned upside down when she reads a fictional novelisation of her childhood friend’s death. Petal is named as a murderer and there can only be one person who knows those secrets of the past, but she has disappeared. So, Petal returns to her childhood hometown of Madison, Wisconsin to uncover the truth. As the investigation raises more and more questions, Petal becomes more unsettled until the final unexpected reckoning. An enjoyable read with a flowing suspenseful narrative that doesn’t quite suffice in the end. So overall an average three stars read rating. With thanks to Crooked Lane Books and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without inducement.

I Know What You Did by Cayce Osborne is a highly recommended mystery novel that follows secrets from one woman's past.

Petal (Petta) Woznewski lives a quiet, introverted life in New York City where she self medicates too much and sees Gus Johnson, her friend with intermittent benefits, when she chooses to do so. She is shaken to the core when her name is used in an anonymously written thriller and the dedication page says: "I know what you did, Petal Woznewski. And now everyone else will, too." The novel seems to be based on events from thirty years ago when she was fourteen and living in Madison, Wisconsin.

At that time her parents had recently died and she was living with her aunt. She made two friends, Megan and Jenny. Megan died and Jenny and Petal kept the real story of that tragic night a secret, that is until the novel is published. The thing is, some details in the novel are correct but others aren't at all. The book is becoming a best seller, movie rights are sold, and Petta needs to return to Madison in order to find out who wrote it and why she is being named and targeted in the supposedly fictional novel.

Petta is an interesting character. She's not entirely likeable, but it is clearly her choice to keep her distance from everything and everyone. She can be cynical, funny, pessimistic, and introverted. Her character does experience growth and she is quite likeable despite her best efforts by the end of the novel.

I Know What You Did is a well-written, even paced debut novel. The narrative follows Petta's current actions and thoughts with excerpts from the questionable novel providing details about the past. The excerpts of a novel within a novel works well in this novel without feeling distracting. Clues are there as to who is the anonymous writer of the incriminating novel, so some readers are going to figure it out before Petta, but the journey is worth the ending.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Edelweiss, and Amazon.

Petal is content with her quiet life in New York City. That is, until an anonymously written thriller novel is dedicated to her with the cryptic message “I know what you did”. As she reads the story, Petal realizes that someone knows the secret she had worked to keep buried for the past thirty years. A secret that involves the death of her best friend, Megan. And the only other person who knew the secret was their friend Jenny. Searching for answers, Petal returns to her hometown to confront her past.

I loved the premise for this book - I thought it was unique for the secret to be confronted in an anonymous novel. It was a quick and easy read, with fairy good character development and a twist that I kind of saw coming, but that did not deter me from enjoying the s Tory! Thanks Crooked Lane Books for the ARC! This book releases July 18, 2023.

The MC is wildly unlikable and boring. I didn't enjoy this and had to DNF almost halfway. I appreciate the advance copy, unfortunately it just wasn't for me.

There’s something about a book that opens with a gyno appointment. LOL

Petta is shocked to find out her name has been used in a bestselling thriller novel that recounts a story that hits very close to home. She goes back to her hometown to figure out who’s behind the novel and what they want from her sketchy past.

I thought this was an enjoyable read but I didn’t love the twist. It felt too evil mastermind-ish and disjointed. I also found Petta’s narrative kind of awkward at times with weird pop culture references. It would take me out of the story.

The concept of this book was really great I was really interested in what happened to Petta and her friends in high school. The book within a book was a great addition as well!

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of I Know What You Did by Cayce Osborne.

An interesting debut, this mystery takes a different take on a story set across two time periods. Characters are easy to associate with, positively and negatively. The main character might not be everyone's cup of tea. I found her a tad annoying, although she did eventually get better. Her character arc is definitely well done.

The story itself was intriguing, with twists that do take you by surprise. I did find a few things a bit weird and over-the-top but, overall, it reads well and moves fast. Perfect for a quick mystery fix.

Plus, it has some very relatable pop culture references that were thoroughly enjoyable. I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for an easy, engaging read.

Petal's peaceful like is shattered when her name appears on the dedication page of a thriller: “I know what you did, Petal Woznewski. And now everyone else will, too.” The bestselling novel fictionalizes the death of her childhood best friend—and accuses her of the murder... she must figure out who wrote it and why. But when she gets back to her hometown, she finds out her friend Jenna, the only other person who knows what happened, is missing.
This psychological thriller is a debut novel, and it shows. It was not for me. It did not help that only 5% in, I hated the MC. She was childish and did little more than smoke pot all the time. I didn't care at all about what was happening to her and the ending was anticlimactic. The premise was really good, but it fell really flat. It was very drawn out, I feel like this could've made a killer novella. Also (and that's a me thing), I didn't like that there was not a lot of dialogue. I did, however, like the excerpts from the book the MC is reading, which brought us back to what happened that infamous night.
I received an advanced review copy of this book for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Wicked Wednesday…

What type of villains scare you the most? Is it a woman scorned? A cheating husband? Crazed stalker? An obsessed lover.

I will say that for me, it’s a group of unsupervised children but thats a story for another day…

This book right here left me in a tizzy. I was completely frantic while flipping the pages. I’m not sure how I survived holding my breath throughout this entire book! My pulse rapidly pulsed throughout my body. I was completely consumed as the words glittered gracefully across the pages.

When you love thrillers as much as I do, you would think I would get used to this feeling.

I don’t..

I Know What You Did

Teaser :

Petal Woznewski is content with her quiet, introverted life in New York City: she has her junk food, her movies, and her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Gus. That peace is shattered when her name appears on the dedication page of an anonymously written thriller with a cryptic note: “I know what you did, Petal Woznewski. And now everyone else will, too.”

As she reads, Petal realizes the story is rooted in a secret she buried thirty years earlier, when she was fourteen. A secret involving the tragic death of her friend, Megan. A secret that only one other person knows—their old friend, Jenny. Armed with a copy of the book and her own suspicions, Petal returns to her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. There, she discovers more questions than answers. Jenny has disappeared, and Petal’s old high school crush, Ben, doesn’t know anything about the book—at least not anything he’s telling.

As sinister clues pile up, and the thriller’s plot detours dangerously from the facts, Petal has no choice but to confront her past and solve the mystery of who wrote it—before her very real life ends as tragically as the novel.

I Know What You Did
by Cayce Osborne
Pub Date: 18 Jul 2023

A great fast paced psychological thriller that pulled me in from the first chapter! A book within a book. I highly recommend this 5 star book.

Synopsis:

When a bestselling novel fictionalizes the death of her childhood best friend—and accuses her of the murder—Petal Woznewski must figure out who wrote it and why. Truth and fiction collide.

Thank you #Netgalley and #CrookedLaneBooks for providing me with an ARC of #IKnowWhatYouDid.

It's been 30 years since Megan died and now someone's trying to blame Petal-using a novel which has been sold to Netflix to do it. But who? That's the question Petal has to answer. She heads home to Madison, a town she's avoided to dig out the identity of the author and the truth about Megan. This mixes chapters of the novel with Petal's own life. While both are well written, I gotta admit to being a fan of Petal, who is a sharp observer, No spoilers from me about the truth. Thanks to Netgalley for thee ARC. A fast (and short) good read,

3.5 stars, rounded up.

When Petal Woznewski first hears about the hit new book to hit the shelves, she doesn’t think much of it, except until she sees the book’s dedication, which is dedicated to her, by name, with the tagline, “I know what you did.” Worse, the book describes events, near perfectly up to the point of her best friend from middle school’s death, revealing “you had to be there” details. The author’s identity is kept completely confidential. Scared, and not sure who to trust, Petta, as she goes by, heads back to her hometown to look for answers, thinking she knows what must be going on. But she soon learns that there are things she apparently didn’t know about her best friend and that those secrets could be deadly.

The book alternates between Petra’s POV and chapters from the book.

This was a great idea for a story: someone who experienced a tragic loss and ran from it, only to suddenly have it shoved back in their face in a very public and random way. Like a New York Times bestseller. I mean, wow. And the fact that Petta maintains her innocence throughout but doesn’t reveal what happened until the end keeps the air of suspense really tense throughout the book. I really loved that. It made for two mysteries essentially: who was out for revenge on Petta and why, and how did her friend Megan really die?

The only sort-of disappointing part is that I figured out who the villain was pretty quickly. It was fairly obvious, IMO. There were some little twists and turns in there along the way, but the biggest of them all wasn’t that much of a surprise. That took a little bit of the fun out of it. Especially since the author tried to do a “big reveal” scene with the bad guy in the end. But oh well. I still enjoyed getting there, which is really the point, I think.

But I still held out to see how her friend died and who was responsible. That, I did not figure out.

Overall, this was a nice, quick thriller that had a good mystery at its core, and was an original premise which kept me reading. I’d recommend checking it out!

I Know What You Did is one of those books that you’re not sure if you’re going to enjoy when you start reading it and then all of a sudden you’re several chapters in and super intrigued by the story. I think I found it so easy to fly through this book because I LOVED MC Petta, a witty, sarcastic and relatable (to me) introvert and I would read many more books from her POV.

This book definitely falls under a more slow-paced category which worked for the way the author had written it. Although there was a good deal of mystery surrounding the situation Petta found herself in, I guessed the main plot twist not long before it happened and was a tad disappointed with it - I would have loved a bit more of a juicier and left field reveal! That is my only gripe.

Overall this book was not what I was expecting, in a great way - intriguing characters, a truly great narration from a solid main character and a story that keeps you on your toes.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books & Netgalley for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Petal (Petta) Woznewski has had a lot of loss in her life. As a teenager, her parents committed suicide, and then soon after, her best friend, Megan, also dies in a horrific accident. Petta and Jenny were there the night she died and swore each other to secrecy.

30 years later, while at the gynecologist, Petta is informed that her full name is being used in a best selling book about a teenager’s murder. The names of Jenny and Megan are changed, but Petta’s is not. The book blames her for Megan’s untimely death. Since there were only two survivors from that night, that means there are only two people that should know what happened, since Petta and Jenny swore each other to secrecy. Petta and Jenny no longer speak. Is Jenny the author? The book is written by ME Littleton, an assumed pen name.

Petta goes back to Madison to try to uncover the identity of the author. While she’s there, strange things start happening, and it becomes evident that this is what the author wanted. But why?

I enjoyed this debut novel by Cayce Osborne. I did figure out the “twist” very early on. I did find the format of the book. Very interesting. It alternated between Petta’s point of view and then chapters from “No One Suspected.” I have not read a book with that type of POV before, so that was a nice surprise.

What I liked:
- The book within a book format
-A limited number of characters making it easier to know who people are.
- References to pop-culture
- The pacing of the book was decent, I read it in about a day.

What I didn’t like:
- Petta I was a little bit annoying, and immature
- Easy to figure out plot twist
- The ending felt too abrupt

Again, this is the author’s debut novel, so I give her a lot of credit for having a solid first book. I will absolutely read more of her work in the future, as it becomes available, and hopes that her riding evolves as she grows as an author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lame Books for a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

Petal is fine with her quiet life in New York until a book is published that accuses her of killing her best friend when they were teens. Worse, it uses her real name. Petal decides to go back home to Wisconsin to confront her past and try to figure out who is behind the novel.

I think this one definitely picked up more in the second half. It took a lot of build-up to get Petal to Wisconsin and even then, it took a little longer to really get into the suspense. I liked the idea of having the novel chapters throughout, but I thought that writing wasn’t as good. This book had a lot of promise but more suspense could’ve really helped it shine more.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: July 18, 2023
Petal Woznewski left Madison, WI, and her adolescence, behind her when she moved to New York City. Now, Petal goes by Petta and is trying to live as normal of a life as she can, for an introverted pessimist who tries to push everyone away. When her new love interest (although she won’t admit it to herself), Gus, introduces Petta to the “must-have” novel of the summer, Petta realizes it sounds awfully familiar. It depicts a childhood tragedy that only one other person, besides Petta, knows the truth about. But the novel gives such detail, and even mentioned Petta by name, that she is forced to return to Madison to discover how many people know her secret, and what she needs to do to keep it quiet.
“I Know What You Did” is the debut novel by Cayce Osborne. Full of dark secrets that won’t stay buried and an engagingly twisted plot, it checks all the necessary boxes needed to make Osborne the next “one to watch”.
Petal is unique in more than just her name. She is the anti-protagonist protagonist, with her goth appearance and her negative view on life. However, it is this exact combination that also makes Petal completely lovable (much to her chagrin I’m sure), ensuring the reader will not only root for her, but will also expel a few laughs along the way.
“I Know” is a book-within-a-book, as Petal’s “past” is told through snippets of the novel supposedly based on Petal’s life. This is not at all as confusing as it sounds, as the book snippets are clearly marked and italicized and all of the characters in the featured book (besides Petal, of course) have different names. The reader gets to read the story at the same time as Petal does, ingesting all her thoughts and feelings about how her life is depicted. There were other ways to depict Petal’s past, of course, and I’ve seen variations of this in many novels, but I believe that Osborne went with the best option when scripting this story-within-a-novel.
Of course, the ending has a twist (and it’s a surprisingly unexpected one), but the overall conclusion has everything I could’ve asked for. “I Know” is a creepy novel with a hilarious and realistic protagonist, and Osborne has delivered with her new debut!

3.5 stars rounded to 4

What if you picked up a book one day that used your full name and not so subtly accused you of a horrific crime, while also alluding that there are more secrets that could come to the surface? And what if that book was already optioned for Netflix and all the rage and you couldn’t go anywhere without seeing it?

”The book was fiction, but it wasn’t. It told the truth but wrapped it in lies. I might’ve called it ominous if I were into the whole foreshadowing thing.”

That’s the premise for I Know What You Did by Cayce Osborne. This slow burning mystery requires patience from the reader, but the subject matter is so intriguing that I found it easy to stay glued to the story, and turning the pages as I neared the ending was a breeze. It’s a short novel coming in at 272 pages, so nothing incredibly deep in terms of characterization, but Petta/Petal has a distinct voice and the sense of place is really well done in this novel. I did not see the culprit ahead of time, which was also a nice surprise! If you’re looking for an atmospheric, slow burning mystery this summer, give this one a try.

While this is a relatively short novel it took me days to finish. I just couldn't make myself stay with it for long periods of time and almost didn't finish. The main character apparentky never matured past high school, all she does is smoke pot and eat. She has a long suffering part time lover that she treats terribly and leads a very selfish existence. Petal absolutely ruined this book for me, I don't feel like I enjoyed it at all.

Petal Woznewski is living quietly in New York City. She's an introvert who spends a lot of time watching action movies and smoking marijuana. She has an off and on boyfriend named Gus. She's content with her like. Then her gynecologist calls her attention to the latest book that is climbing the charts. He's amused that it is dedicated to a woman named Petal Woznewski. Petal buys a copy of the book and learns that it is all about a tragedy that happened more than 30 years earlier when three girls went to hang out and only two came home.

Petal is surprised at how much of the book gets the facts about her long-ago friendship with Megan right and how much it gets wrong. All the names have been changed except for Petal's. More impartant, the book has her killing her friend. Petal knows that isn't true and becomes determined to find the author and set the story straight.

But setting the record straight means that she has to return to Madison, Wisconsin, and open wounds she thought were healed. Petal had a charmed childhood until her parents committed suicide forcing her to go live with her aunt. Then, just a couple of years later, her best friend dies in an accident. It was no surprise that she left Madison as soon as she graduated.

Petta, as she prefers to be named, has to try to connect with those she left behind and she hasn't kept in touch. Her main goal is to find the third girl in their friendship triangle. Only they haven't spoken since Megan died and Jenny dropped out of school and left town after their freshman year.

Making new connections isn't easy and it made harder by the fact that someone is actively harrassing her. Someone doesn't want Petta to be able to clear her name.

This was an intriguing story with a conflicted narrator who has never really gotten over the traumas of her childhood and now has to gather all her courage to find some answers and finally be able to move on with her life. It was a compelling story.

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for my approval to read and review the e-arc copy of this book.

Petal Wozmewski is shocked to discover her name in a recent best seller book about an incident that happened roughly 30 years ago when her best friend Megan Hollister is found dead!! The story was brought to fruition with a mix of plots in the present with chapters from the book included. I will recommend this book.

Main Characters:
-- Petta (Petal) Woznewski – late 40s, does data entry work in New York, lives in a studio apartment in the Garment District, lover of movies but not books, raised with wealth until her parents died when she was 11 and then she lived with her Aunt Shelly until she graduated high school, Aunt Shelly died from cancer the year after Petta left Madison
-- Gus Johnson – Petta’s on-again/off-again boyfriend, she tends to be the one to pull away, but Gus seems to get her, he works as a day shift security guard in her office building
-- ME Littleton – unknown author of No One Suspected who Petta spends all of her time trying to identify
-- Ben – met Petta their sophomore year, and the only person Petta would consider an old friend, he was her local weed hookup then and she hopes he will still have a hookup in the present day, still lives in Madison and owns a sign-making business

When a book starts with the sentence “Substitute gynecologists are the worst,” it really sets the tone for the main character’s narration style. I love Petta’s voice. This is a fantastic debut novel, a very quick read, and I had a really hard time putting it down to…well…sleep.

Petta is in her late 40s (high school class of 1994), and she stopped going by her given name of Petal years before. Her voice is much younger than her years though. Half of the chapters excerpt ME Littleton’s novel, which takes place when Petta was a teenager, so I think the book would appeal as a young adult title as well. My teenage daughter found the description intriguing enough that I’ll be ordering the book for her.

Here’s the gist. When Petta was 14, she befriended Megan and, to a lesser extent, Jenny. She pretty much pushed Jenny out of the #2 spot with Megan. When Megan tragically dies, Petta and Jenny are the only two who know what really happened. So either Jenny wrote the book (renaming only herself and Megan), Jenny told someone what really happened, or someone witnessed the whole thing. Honestly, there’s even the possibility that Megan survived.

So Petta needs to find the author of No One Suspected because the book implies that she murdered Megan, even though it claims to be a work of fiction. I suspected pretty much everyone in this book of being the author of No One Suspected, with the exception of Petta of course. I even thought that the local police could be involved.

Osborne does an amazing job of concealing the author as well as the truth of what happened with Megan and Jenny when they were all in high school until Petta reveals it to the police. This book is fast-paced with the perfect amount of suspense to make you want to keep reading.