Initially I could not finish this book. I circled back, a long time late....

I finished this go around and even though it still isn't for me; I feel like there are some who would enjoy it a lot.

Helen's managing her addiction (sort of) but then she learns about Carrie, her childhood friend. She's under the microscope but she also wants the truth. It's a good read with a unique protagonist.

I was not able to finish this book, so I decided not to feature it on my blog.

The premise and general direction of the plot was quite enjoyable. I love fast paced, psychological thrillers that tend to get under my skin. Unreliable narrators are sometimes my favorite. I didn't particularly find the protagonist very likable in this story, but I do love to hate on some characters at times. However, Helen was frustrating. The continued making of bad decisions made me want to throttle her but I suppose that is what her character was about. Overall a decent read.

3.5 stars. I kinda liked this one.

Helen has cleaned up her life, she is working at her aunt's bakery, has a stable boyfriend and is three years clean from her addiction. She openly talks about her addiction through out most of this book..so if that bothers you this ain't your book.


What was her addiction? *not a spoiler* Meth. Meth so hard that she admits to soliciting and anything she could to get the drug.

I'd never had a man give me jewelry. Drugs? Sure. VD? Absolutely.

The author does not shy away from showing a true drug addicts recovery and it makes Helen a powerful character. Is she really like-able? No, not really.

No amount of personal care could hide what drugs had done to me. I'd always have the hollow-eyed stare of the junkie, the premature wrinkles and lines of someone who battled their demons and lost. I was the girl who had lost her innocence and who could never get it back, could never fake it's return.

Then you see that Helen has another condition that goes along with her recovery.


So what happens in this book without going spoilery? Helen gets a visit from a detective and finds out that her best friend from childhood has been found dead. She was found with nothing except a note with Helen's name on it.
Since Helen is the only lead in the case the detective starts digging at Helen and she can't really handle the stress.
She starts looking back at her past and at her former friend..but Helen is an addict so things don't go smoothly and her friends and family begin to think the worst.




Even as a reader from her point of view I doubted her.

I will say that most of this book kept me turning the pages very fast, the only disappointment I had with the book is all the twisty-turny-wrap up. I think that is having to become the norm in thrillers and you really don't need all that and the kitchen sink.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review

This was such an intense thriller. Helen is a great main character - she's determined to figure out what is going on despite her mental health, drug addiction recovery and possible arrest for a murder she's not sure if she committed. From the get go you see how much she wants this new life of hers to work - her NA meetings, her new boyfriend, a job with her family's business (that she's surprisingly good at it), but one phone call makes her world turn upside down.

The story lets us see into Helen's past as a teen with her friend Carrie, who happens to be the deceased. It shows you how her best friend went missing and how that affected Helen's life. You see the drug addiction up close and you see her fighting hard to keep from relapsing. That's not to say she doesn't make some stupid choices along the way to uncovering the truth, but considering what hell she is going through, I'd say they may have been the lesser of two evils.

Carrie's family leaving didn't only affect Helen's life, but many other characters as well. It was interesting to see how one person could do so much just by not being around anymore. Perhaps it wasn't in the going away, but in how it all played out. The feeling of hope and then it being gone.

The story is written in a way that you are never quite sure what the truth will be - who did this to Carrie, why now and is Helen really involved? I was rooting for Helen the whole time though because there was just something about her that made me want to see her make it and prove people wrong.She works so hard to try and figure out what has happened to clear her name, because "no one could save you but you."

The entire book is filled with twists and crazy things keep happening. I loved every little detail that Helen uncovers. Honestly, twist after twist kept coming and many I hadn't figured out which is how I know I'm reading a great book. I bet you won't see the twists coming or the ending - I sure didn't.

What would you do if you were sure you weren't losing time, but the facts are making it seem as though you were? Is Helen back to drugs again, is she mentally unwell, or is someone framing her?

This was a page turner with a shocking end. If you liked The Girl On the Train You will love this book. The only thing that annoyed me was the repetition of the lead character's backstory and her struggles with addiction.

If you’re into the Mystery genre you might want to think about giving this a chance. Haines has provided a well-crafted story on the life of an addict which starts off slow but provides some detailed world and character building including the all-important backstory.

Haines did a respectful job in providing a decently accurate life of a recovering addict who is trying to fight her addiction to stay clean and build back trust with herself and others. Beyond the standard mystery genre, the author has added an element of psychological suspense with plenty of twists as you try to discover truth from fiction.

That ending was definitely worth pushing through to get to as Haines did not disappoint with her in-depth examination of the drug culture, the efforts one will go to for their addiction, and how fighting against relapse is a daily battle that never ends.

The Girl from Yesterday, by new to me author Kathryn Miller Haines, focuses on a woman by the name of Helen Darden. Helen is a recovering drug addict, a woman who has been clean for (3) years, a woman who has been on probation for (3) years, a woman who is happy working alongside her Aunt, while avoiding caffeine, alcohol, or any other medications. She is about to become the woman who sees her 30th birthday come and her life twisted in ways that she never could dream of.

It all starts with a call from a San Antonio PD Detective named Reggie Simmons. Simmons asks Helen to come back to the place she left (4) years ago in order to help identify a body that was found with Helen's card and name on it. Helen soon finds that her entire life is one tangled mess after Simmons hounds her to the point of ambushing her where ever she goes, where she lives, and where she works.

But, there is much, much more to the story. This is a twisted story folks. I had no idea what was happening until pieces started to fall in place. Helen is by no means an angel. Her past is murky, she is a former meth head, a person now has a fear of dying, a fear of spending the rest of her life in prison, and a fear of someone setting her back on the road to becoming yet another sad story. She has a motto that says Tomorrow is a fantasy, yesterday is gone, there's only today.

Helen begins to set her own course of action. A course that will see her being set up, betrayed, while uncovering a plot that goes back 15 years to when Helen was best friends with Carrie Reinhardt. It is a story that will have you asking so, so many different questions. What really happened to Carrie? Is someone intentionally sending Helen back to the dark place where meth is her only friend, and outlet? Why would anyone go to the depths that pushes Helen into losing what she's worked so hard to overcome?

I received a copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! That was so good. Clear your schedule. You will not be able to put this book down and you do not want to be interrupted.

If you liked The Girl On the Train You will Love this book. I hope they make a movie.

I thought all the characters were well developed and likable. The writing style was very enjoyable. Lots of twists and turns I did not see coming. Very suspenseful and fun trying to solve the mystery along with Helen.

The only negative to this book was that it was a little confusing at the end. There were a few details I was not sure who did what after all the twists and tuns. But that did not detract from the book.

I would highly recommend this book if you like psychological thrillers

This is a book that I couldn't put down! I began it late one evening and stayed up to finish it! It began right away with suspense and didn't let go till the final pages. When Helen, who is a recovering meth addict, receives a phone call from the police asking about her best friend, whom she hasn't heard from in 15 years, it sets off a chain of events that will have you spiraling. After that, Helen begins her own investigation to find out what happened to Carrie. The question is: is Helen losing it? is she using again and losing time? or is somebody setting her up? You'll have to read it to find out!! Excellent mystery that will keep you guessing!

**Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was a good mystery. When a dead body is found and a card with Helen's name and phone number is the only item found with the body, the police obviously have questions for her and since she is a former addict with a police record, the police tell her not to leave the State. Helen is determined to find out why her best friend, who disappeared 15 years ago was murdered. This was a well-written, suspenseful read with an ending I didn't see coming!

Another book that in my eyes showed promise but I did not see the results. Over the course for several days I read six chapters. I didn't have an issue about Helen. In fact, I like that she was "broken". It made her more human. Yet, I still felt like I didn't really know or even barely scratched the surface of who Helen was and why her childhood friend, who Helen has not seen or heard from in a long time would have her name in her pocket. Due to the fact that there was not a lot happening in the first six chapters, I decided to put the book down. Give me something!

Helen, a recovering meth addict, finds herself finally in control of her life. She has a steady job, a boyfriend and attends her meetings religiously. However, on her thirtieth birthday, everything changes. A phone call from the police, a dead woman and Helen’s name in her pocket, puts Helen in the spotlight and leads her down a path she has fought hard to move past.
The Girl from Yesterday, the new release by Kathryn Miller Haines, was a suspense thriller that had been on my radar for a few months.
I really enjoyed the premise of this novel and the general direction of the plot. It had all of the components that I love in a fast paced, psychological thriller. A shady past, an unreliable narrator, tension filled situations and smart, witty dialogue. When I started this novel, I knew it would be one that I wound hunker down to finish in a few sittings.
This is where I hit a huge snag.
I, however, found the lead character to be incredibly unlikeable. I know that when a character is unreliable, there is always a sense of that general disdain. However, I found Helen to be downright irritating. She continuously made the wrong choices and this made me exasperated towards her than sympathetic.
Overall, this one was an interesting read and I wouldn’t let my pure hatred for this protagonist deter you from picking up this novel; Kathryn Miller Haines is able to write an extremely addicting story and truly does suck you in.

I have been reading a lot of psychological thrillers lately and I very picky about them. I want to be kept in suspense, turning page after page trying to figure it all out. This book did not disappoint me. I really enjoyed it. I do have to say that I have always found the topic of drug use and abuse interesting (in the sense that I want to possible work as a counselor for addicts) and so knowing that Helen struggles with addiction and has been clean for 3 years, really added to the story for me.

This was indeed a page turner with a shocking end. The story flowed smoothly and held me captive. That is a must for me with a thriller.

Helen is an addict. Three years sober from a meth addiction, she works at her aunt's bakery, has a steady job, and a never misses her weekly NA meeting. That is until a detective in San Antonio requests she come identify the tiny "if found" card from the wallet of a friend she hasn't seen in fifteen years. Almost overnight Helen finds herself as a suspect in a murder, discovers someone is leaving bags of meth in her apartment, and desperately tries to hold onto the life she has struggled so hard to rebuild. Helen has to unravel the mystery for herself to find answers before she finds herself behind bars.

The Girl From Yesterday needs one giant trigger warning on the cover. If you're affected by anything to do with sexual assault, alcohol or drug abuse, over dosing, familiar abuse, or incest, put this book down and move onto someone else. Whenever I thought I had finally come to the worst this book could possibly throw at me, something even more glaring would seemingly drop into my lap from the pages. That being said, this book is good. This book is finish it in three sittings because you had to go to work and cook dinner in between good. It is not a comfortable book. I did find myself shifting in my seat multiple times going "oh no, don't do that!" Helen is a believable character because she is so flawed.

Author Kathryn Miller Haines has concocted a book that is on one hand painful to read at times, but page turning as all get out. While you may be disgusted with Helen's life choices at times, you desperately want to know who is responsible for raining down the insanity on her life. Is it her? Is it a teacher she helped put away for possible murder? It is a girl she hasn't seen in fifteen years?

The Girl From Yesterday is available from Pocket Star Books April 17, 2017.

Recovering drug addict Helen has finally gotten her life together. She regularly attends her NA meetings, doesn't drink alcohol or caffeine, and doesn't have sex. She has a job she loves working at a bakery with her aunt, and has a stable boyfriend. Things are finally looking up - or so she thought. When she's contacted by the police who inform her that her childhood best friend Carrie has been found murdered and that her name was found on the body, things start to fall apart.

Even though Helen hasn't heard from Carrie in 15 years, the police are still suspicious of Helen's involvement. In order to prove her innocence, she dives back into her past and starts her own investigations. In doing so, she uncovers a lot of lies and a lot of secrets, and on top of that, it seems that someone is hell bent on getting her to break her sobriety. As she falls farther down the rabbit hole, she starts to question whether she can even trust herself...

I LOVED this book! I was completely enthralled from the very first page, and read the book in a day. I was dying to know what happened, and I loved our protagonist, Helen. If you couldn't tell from the initial synopsis, The Girl From Yesterday does talk quite a bit about drugs - specifically meth, though others are mentioned (including weed and cocaine) and delves into the lives of addicts, the side effects these drugs called, and the desperate measures an addict will go to in order to get their fix. I want to be very clear that this is a large part of the book, as I know it may be a trigger for some people. If that's not something you can or want to read about, you may want to pass on this one!

That said, I loved the way it was done. I felt like we saw Helen try and be strong through so many points where it would have been easy for her to relapse, but we also saw how much she struggled to remain clean in some of these points, which I felt was probably much more realistic, as I don't imagine an addict wakes up one day and never thinks about relapse.

I also really liked that we learned so much about Helen and Carrie's past together. Carrie and her family moved away during high school, and that loss of friendship is part of what drove Helen to meth, so we saw that relationship in fragmented pieces of Helen's memory and we saw how much it affected her to have Carrie move away and never hear from her again. In Helen's personal investigation, we start learning bits and pieces of lies Carrie told her, and Helen has to wonder why? How much of these lies came back to bite her in the end? Are they part of why she was killed? It had me desperately turning the pages until I got my answers!

This book was full of twists and turns, and I actually didn't see most of them coming until they were about to smack me in the face, and even then, I didn't see some of them coming! I LOVED that! My jaw dropped at points of the book and I was talking out loud to the book - which is the sign of a great book to me! Helen was a broken protagonist that you didn't know if you could trust, but I rooted for her the entire time, even when she made mistakes.

As it currently stands right now, the book doesn't have very many reviews, and does have some low ratings. Normally, this isn't something I focus on, but I wanted to point it out because I don't want the current low rating to deter anyone from picking up the book, because it was amazing! Given the subject matter, I can see why it may not be for everyone, but if you know that going in and don't mind it, I think you'll enjoy this book. I'd highly recommend it for fans of psychological thrillers, especially if you love books where you aren't sure if you can even trust the narrator/protagonist. Personally, I can't think of a single thing I didn't like about the book. It's jumped to one of my favorite thrillers I've read so far in 2017!

A huge thank you to Netgalley, Kathryn Miller Haines, and Pocket Star for an advanced copy of the book. It was my pleasure to provide an honest review. The Girl From Yesterday comes out on April 17, 2017, so be sure to pick up your copy!

In the mood for a great suspense thriller? Some days just call for a little mind bending and today I have the perfect book I was able to review to help you with that.

The life of an addict was extremely well depicted in this interesting story. While it seemed to start off slow, the author was actually building in all of the hints and backstory that was needed to bring this book full circle.

The story takes us from the mundane life of getting through day after day, fighting your addiction and staying clean, to the gritty streets and life of an addict. People don’t trust you, you don’t trust yourself.

Are you using again and not remembering? Are you hallucinating? Why do you not remember certain things and actions? What have you done to make someone try to set you up? Did you really do it?

The author has a crafted a captivating psychological thriller that has you wondering what the truth is. Some things you can figure out but she has added a few twists that you didn’t see coming.

This was one book I could not put down. If you have an afternoon or evening for some mind-bending reading, make sure to add this one to your list.

This absolutely was not engrossing nor was it in the same perameter as Gillian Flynn.

Helen has managed to keep her life on track, she attends her weekly NA meeting faithfully and avoids alcohol, drugs, sex and caffeine. She even has a boyfriend (sort of), But a call from the police throws Helen into a nightmare. A childhood friend, who disappeared in high school, has been found. Her body that is, with Helen’s name in her pocket. The police are suspicious about Helen’s involvement and it’s clear she’s a suspect. Helen must try to sort through lies, secrets and things she wishes she could forget in order to uncover the truth, all the while trying to stay away from the things that tempt her to spiral back into her old life. As compulsive as eating peanuts, this book is impossible to put down