• Raise your hand if you’ve ever been personally victimized by a book 🙋🏼‍♀️

• I can’t believe how much I related to Alexis. It truly felt like a look inside my mind. For the past year, I’ve been on a path of healing from grief and struggling to love myself; I couldn’t have read this book at more perfect time.

• Was this book silly at times? Sure. But the heart you felt in this book trumped over any silliness. I laughed with Alexis. I cried (more like ugly cried) with Alexis. I felt for her so much in learning to forgive/love her younger self, Lexi. As much as we want so badly to put the blame on anyone, but ourselves, even our past selves, we need to accept that the blame is just as much ours’. Of course, there are events that are out of our control, such as losing a parent, that we shouldn’t blame ourselves for. As much as Alexis wanted to hate Lexi and say she was the reason for all her mistakes, she needed to love her instead. Because who are we without all every version of ourselves?

• Yeah. This book hit me hard, if you couldn’t tell 🥲 I got 2000s vibes with a side of tears. Speaking of the vibes, they were VIBIN’. I hate to say that I’m nostalgic for the early 2000s because it makes me seem ancient, but I am nostalgic for them! Those were some of the best years and to read about them transported me right back, especially when Alexis had to use Lexi’s CoverGirl Dream Mousse foundation, probably two shades too dark (if you know you know).

• If you want to feel every emotion possible, read this. You’re going to have a good time, but make sure you have tissues.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This book was such a fun time and wildly different than any of Jeneva Rose’s thrillers, which made it even more of a ride! Alexis’ life seems to be coming undone, leading her to question the choices she’s made—until she’s suddenly sent back to 2002 to see if she can change her college self for the better.

I absolutely adored the relationship between Alexis and Lexi at the beginning—there were moments I was laughing so hard I had tears! Like, just imagine having to live with your own self—or even worse, your college self? I would completely lose it.

I also really enjoyed all the throwbacks to 2002—what a time to be alive! The fashion, the bleached tips, the pop music—it was all banging. That said, this book does dive fairly deeply into the “diet” culture of the 2000s and how toxic it was. It was very true to the time period but could definitely be challenging for some readers, so something to be aware of.

The story dragged a bit in the middle once the hilarity wore off and the emotional growth hadn’t quite clicked yet, but it ended with some really powerful messages that got me a little misty. Overall, a solid 4-star read!

1 star and my thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

This is just my opinion, other people may like the book more.

Jeneva Rose is the new IT-Girl for thrillers and I'm happy for her. But I got 10% in and knew this just wasn't going to be a book I'd enjoy. Alexis is supposed to be "30-some-odd" but acts like a child. She's supposedly in this committed and loving partnership but sulks and tells her partner that it's none of his business that she got fired. If the character gets better as the book goes on, good for her. But I don't have the time or energy to waste on characters like this.

Thank you so much Jeneva Rose and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the opportunity to read an advance copy of The Girl I Was.

If you only read one book this year, The Girl I Was is the book you should read.

I feel this book is going to live in my head, and heart, for a very long time and for good reasons. It’s such a wonderful book and beautifully written, you can really feel the heart that went into it. I truly believe that it’s a book anyone can pull from and relate to, whether you’re a Lexi, an Alexis or both or a mother, daughter or friend. If you’ve ever wondered “what if” in reference to your younger years, or your future years, this book is for you. While this book will pull at all the right heartstrings you’ll also laugh, a lot. Jeneva blends the different emotions together so well and you’ll find yourself easily feeling the same emotions that you’re reading on the page. If you were born in the 80’s, 85 here, you’re going to throughly enjoy the nostalgia and all the pop culture references!

There’s so much more I want to say but I don’t want to give away any part of this book.

Now, I’m going to go tell my daughter I’m proud of her, call my mom and be thankful for The Girl I Was and the woman I am because of her ;)

Thank you so much Jeneva Rose for giving us this amazingly wonderful book.

I couldn’t finish the book. I got 45% in and I’m bored to death. I love Jeneva Rose but I could not finish this one.

As a Jeneva Rose fan I was very intrigued by the premise of this book considering it’s not one of her typical thriller books and I’m so glad I requested this book! I really enjoyed it from start to finish and it might be one of my favorite books by her. This book is about Alexis who after losing her job and her long term boyfriend and long term friends she downs a bottle of wine and the next morning she wakes up back as a college student. When she meets her younger self Lexi she comes to realize there are things she needs to change and she needs to do it quick to back to her future self. She repairs relationships and family dynamics and goes on a self journey. Thank You NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this early copy in exchange of my honest review. Publishing date of July 15, 2025.

Alexis is at a crossroads. She's just been fired and her boyfriend broke up with her instead of proposing. After a little bit of magic, she ends ups back with her collaged aged self looking for places she can change her future.

This was a fun one! Here's what I liked:

The concept: It has such a cool vibe to it. It has a feel of the great movie Peggy Sue Got Married with the time jumping. Rose doesn't spent too much time trying to figure out what happened which works for the story. Alexis just happened to go back in time. I found so much of this funny as well. Both Alexises work towards finding a way for future Alexis to go home and incorporate a ton of movie plots.

Alexis: She's likable and unlikable all at once. But, I loved watching her journey to really be a better person. I also appreciated that this wasn't a romance. It's more about Alexis and who she can become then changing for a guy.

All in all, this was a fun sliding doors type story!

Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted copy!

I loved this book! I loved the magical realism of time travel the push and pull of Alexis and Lexi! I have so many quotes I highlighted for me to go back and re read again and again!

I discovered Jeneva Rose through her thriller books. This book proves that Jeneva can write any genre, it was fantastic! You will laugh and you will cry. So many of us wish we could go back in time and tell our younger self things to improve and Alexis is able to do just that. If you love books that deal with time travel or were a fan of 13 going on 30, this book is for you!

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an advanced reading copy of The Girl I Was in exchange for my honest opinion. This edition of this book will be released on July 15, 2025.

This is the first Jeneva Rose book I’ve ever read. It’s different from the thrillers that she is known for. The 2003 high school graduate in me loved how descriptive this book was of the early 2000s. When Alexis tried to warn Lexi about getting a tattoo on her lower back I laughed. I was one of the only ones of my friends who didn’t get my belly button pierced or my back tattooed. People like me, who graded high school and went to college in the early 00s will love the throwbacks to the reply 00s. I also liked how Alexis tried to correct her own self’s negative behaviors and correct her friends’ behaviors as well.

As she realizes why she has been sent back to the early 00s from 2016, she does what she can to write wrongs. We all wish we had this opportunity for some period in our lives. Reflective, this is perfect for every millennial who wants nostalgia and feel good wrapped together.

Ah, time travel. The perfect excuse to relive your worst fashion choices and most questionable life decisions. In The Girl I Was, Jeneva Rose tosses 35-year-old Alexis back into her 18-year-old life in 2002, where she’s forced to confront the younger, brasher version of herself known as Lexi, the human embodiment of glitter lip gloss and bad ideas.

The early 2000s nostalgia is strong. We're talking MySpace, Von Dutch hats, and dialogue that makes you smell the burnt hair from too much flat iron. For me this is a decade late for the college experience, but if this is how most college students were in the aughts then I am more than grateful to be old. Alexis and Lexi’s dynamic is obnoxious, hilarious, and surprisingly heartfelt. Watching them verbally spar is like seeing your inner critic fistfight your teenage journal entries if you were a teenager who exclusively made bad decisions. The book has a soft emotional center wrapped in a Juicy Couture tracksuit: grief, healing, and the age-old fantasy of giving your past self a much-needed slap (and a hug).

Don’t go looking for logic. Time travel here is more "just go with it" than "makes scientific sense." Lexi can be a bit much. But, to be fair, so can most 18-year-olds. That’s the point...and also the headache. Some of the life lessons get laid on thicker than Axe body spray, and the ending wraps up a little too neatly.

A funny, fast read with a big nostalgic heart and just enough cringe to make you grateful for personal growth. Sure, the time-travel logic is flimsy but the real journey is emotional and chaotic. If you've ever wanted to go back and shake some sense into your younger self (while possibly throwing away a lot of her clothes), this one's for you.

Jeneva Rose’s The Girl I Was is a witty and unexpectedly tender exploration of regret and the messy beauty of self-reinvention. Known for her thrillers, Rose pivots here into women’s fiction with a time-travel twist and the result is a character study wrapped in nostalgic charm.

Here's a bit of the synopsis: Alexis Spencer is at rock bottom—jobless, heartbroken, and drowning in debt. After a vodka-fueled blackout, she wakes up not just in a different place, but in a different year: 2002, face-to-face with her 18-year-old self, Lexi. What follows is a clever and emotionally layered journey as Alexis attempts to rewrite her past while confronting the very person she’s long blamed for her failures.

Rose masterfully crafts two versions of the same woman—Alexis and Lexi—with distinct voices, flaws, and emotional arcs. Their dynamic is both hilarious and heartbreaking, especially as Alexis begins to understand that her younger self wasn’t lazy or reckless, just lost and scared. The banter is sharp, the conflicts raw, and the growth genuinely moving.

What elevated the story for me was its shift from lighthearted silliness and at time unbelievability, to a deeper meditation on grief and the small moments that shape us. Alexis’s realizations about her past are handled with emotional authenticity.

The Girl I Was is for anyone who’s ever wished they could go back and give their younger self a pep talk. It’s a story of second chances, not just in time, but in perspective.

***ARC Review***
The Girl I Was by Jeneva Rose (Updated re-release)
Pub date 7/15/25

I just finished this book, and I am emotionally exhausted. This book was such a wild ride! It was expertly written with both humor and heart. I cried my eyes out through the last several chapters!

Alexis just lost her job, her boyfriend, and her apartment. Her life is falling apart and she refuses to take any responsibility for her own problems, so she does what she does best-- gets blind drunk--and curses her younger self for making bad decisions she wishes she could change.

When she wakes up from her blackout, she's in a strange bed, in a strange frat house, with no shoes and no clue how she got here. She's shocked to find she's back in her old college town, and the year is 2002! Not only that, but she meets her insufferable 18 year-old self, "Lexi", who's quick to point out all the flaws in her 30-something self's body. (TW: body shaming, eating disorders, and alcoholism) There are so any 2002 references in this book, it was nostalgic for this Millennial, but I do not miss how toxic the "healthy=skinny" mindset was.

After finally convincing Lexi that she's truly herself from the future, Lexi is bummed out by where her life took her. Alexis blames Lexi for everything wrong in her life, but Lexi wants Alexis to take responsibility her own poor choices. Then the two try to figure out how to get Alexis back to 2016.

The story was written well and set at a good pace, I didn't feel like it lulled anywhere. And I was thoroughly entertained throughout, if not extremely frustrated at Alexis/Lexi's bad attitudes and finger-pointing! The first half of the book was lighthearted, and the second half was somewhat heavy, but we needed that heaviness in order to do justice by the characters and to get closure.

This story was actually quite thought provoking. It made me wonder: if I could go back and meet my younger self, at what point in my life would I pick, and what would I say to her?

4.75⭐

I received an advanced copy of this book, and this is my honest review. Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA, NetGalley, and Jeneva Rose for the ARC!

The Girl I Was is a completely different style of writing from Jeneva Rose. I grew up in the 90's and it brought back some great memories. I lost my mom when I was 15 years old so I could relate to parts of this book as what I could have done different, how do i continue, why do things happen the way they do, etc. Don't miss out on this book! You won't regret it!

This book was different from Jeneva Rose's other books. The Girl I Was is the first book she published, but with a new look and special edition. It is thought provoking and will make you think about your present, past, and future self. The humor and entertainment made this a fun read about second chances.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jeneva Rose has such a way of making me not want to put a book down (even if it isn't a thriller novel!). With 13 Going On 30 in reverse vibes, this book made me both laugh and cry. It's a beautiful story about accepting the things we can't change explores how much of an impact our mindset and attitude can have on our whole life.
I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of this book, but you will certainly want to grab it when it hits the shelves in just a few days!

I just love a rerelease of a story that gets a "facelift" and extra chapters! Jeneva always knows how to hook you into her reading then slap you with a twist you didn't see coming!

This book is awesome! It’s funny and touching and honestly contains lessons we all need to learn! I don’t want to add any spoilers! It’s so good!

Wow! Such an amazing book. Couldn’t put it down. I read the original version and cried but this new version had me weeping like a baby. The heartache and walls we put up after heartbreak were so sad and felt so real.

Holy heck, this book literally put me in my feels. I didn’t think it would have such an impact on me, but it does. The girl I was made me the woman I am now, and despite the sadness and mistakes, it helped shape me to meet the people I know now. Thank you, Jeneva, for giving a story that was enjoyable to read and truly moved me. It was so beautifully written. I loved the flash to the past with the songs, dial-up internet, and can’t forget Blockbuster. It truly made me sentimental. I got the signed edition already of this book, but I really love the deluxe sprayed editions. So I’m going to have two copies! I loved drawing those “S” for no reason, and that sprayed edge just hits.

*This may not be her typical thriller, but it is just as good. A thousand rounds of applause, your momma would be super proud 🤍.