I received a copy of SADIE on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and author.

Five stars and here's why:

I laughed. I cried. I wanted to throw my kindle app/phone against the wall more than once. Ms. Summers delivers a gut punch of a story. The author does a great job of sucking you right into the story with the conflict and soon you’re glued to the pages. Serious book hanger. I just loved it so much.

The book format takes some getting used to – it’s a transcript/podcast/Sadie POV. It’s a story about a girl’s love for her younger sister. Abandoned by their drug-addicted mom, Sadie raised her younger sister Mattie. She makes it her life mission to solve her sister’s murder. Sadie Hunter is out for blood. Her sister’s killer’s blood. And nothing is going to get in the way. Except for her own grief.

Prepare to start this story and not put it down until the very end. Highly recommend.

Sadie is missing. West is on a quest to find her, recording it all along the way as part of his Serial-type true crime podcast. The novel bounces between Sadie's story and the podcast, fleshing out her background and the people she meets on her way to find her sister's killer.

Sadie is a person obsessed with one desire: kill the man who killed her sister. Her story is fraught, filled with the horrors of a child overcoming the neglect and abandonment of a drug-addicted mother and the sexual abuse of her mother's boyfriend. She pours herself into mothering her baby sister, only to have her torn away from her too young. Sadie is a broken girl in all ways, from a broken family in a broken small town. There is no hope for Sadie. There is only guilt and blame and revenge as she sets out on this quest, thinking back on the love she had for her sister, the one bright spot in her broken world that has been snuffed out.

I really love that Courtney Summers takes on these terrifying topics, and for the most part does them well. Sadie is a story about abuse, true. But it's also a story about how gut-wrenching love often is--life-ending, paralyzing, all-encompassing. Losing her sister ended Sadie, not her single-minded attempt to find the killer, and it's this loss that really packs an emotional punch. As the mother of an eight-month-old daughter, I felt those punches acutely.

That said, there are weaknesses. The book drops plot threads in Sadie's story only to pick them up and tie them off well past the point of relevance for West's benefit. Then there's Sadie's rushed ending. The book gives preferential treatment to West's lingering questions about Sadie's whereabouts when West never feels more like a framing device to flesh out what Sadie is not capable of telling us herself. The story is Sadie's, not West's. And that the whole book is about this particularly driven girl, it feels like a disservice to her character to unceremoniously cut her short and then leave what happened to her to West, who will never truly know.

Overall, I am certain this is Summers's best novel to date.

I think my issues with this are more to do with how I dislike podcasts, so the format including transcripts of a "podcast" was difficult for me to get in to? I really enjoyed Sadie's sections though.

The ending also felt like it left me hanging a bit. It was fitting though so I can't really hold that against the book.

Being both a fan of true crime stories and Serial, I was naturally excited for this novel. Add to that the buzz it’s been receiving and you got me setting my expectations high, which is something I’m wary of because half the time I end up being disappointed in the book.

But Sadie more than held up.

Trigger warning: Pedophilia, child abuse, drug abuse

Sadie centers on 19-year old Sadie Hunter's quest to find her sister's killer and the subsequent search for her by radio personality West McCray.

Abandoned by their drug-addicted mother when she was sixteen, Sadie is left alone to fend for herself and raise her younger sister, Mattie. Sadie makes Mattie her purpose, taking every thing the young girl throws at her, so when Mattie is found dead, Sadie makes it her mission to hunt her sister's murderer.

I love this book! But let me warn you, Sadie is unapologetically dark and raw. Courtney Summers pulls no punches with this one, trust me.

Sadie will reel you in from its first word down to its last. It unfolds bit by bit, chapter after chapter, going back and forth between McCray's podcast transcripts from The Girls set five months after Sadie's disappearance and the titular main character's first-person perspective set immediately after she leaves her small town to begin her search.

It was the perfect way to tell the story.

It may be off-putting for some, but I cannot imagine having this particular story told another way. I loved reading both the podcast transcripts and Sadie's POV in equal measures. The alternating chapters, a modified before and after trade-off, flawlessly moved the narrative at the right pace, revealing enough of the story to keep readers guessing but not too much that it spoils the whole thing.

Another thing I loved is the writing. Courtney Summers is no stranger to writing hard topic books, just take All the Rage as an example. Summers’ writing is sharp and on point, and she created a realistic, complicated, very human protagonist in Sadie Hunter. I can't help feeling for her - sad at what she has been through and angry at what has been done to her. Then, there's West McCray - a reluctant character who becomes more and more invested as he gets to know Sadie through the eyes of the people who knew and loved and her. West's search for Sadie mirrors Sadie's search for her sister's murderer, and I think writing the these two characters' narrative this way will give readers a broader view of the story.

Still, Sadie's boundless love for Mattie is the heart of this story. Even though she starts out the determined to avenge her sister's death, the depth of Sadie's love, and the grief and the guilt she feels for her sister stands out.

Sadie will break you and make you care. It will keep you turning the page until you reach the end. Comparable to Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak and Louise O'Neill's Asking for It, Sadie will open up discussions about the realities of life that are hard to talk about. I definitely recommend this to everyone.

The format <i>Sadie</i> is written didn't work for me. I couldn't get into the story or connect with the characters.

The story is written in a kind of interview/podcasts format. I don't know... I just didn't dig it.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this title

First of all, thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for approving my request and sending me an eARC in exchange for a honest review.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.

Courtney Summers is one of my favorite authors – the way she writes, the atmosphere she creates, her girls that crawl inside you and you know they’re gonna stay with you all your life, no matter what.

Parker Fadley, Regina Afton, Eddie Reeves, Sloane Price, Romy Grey and now Sadie Hunter.
This will be one of the hardest reviews of my entire life.

What I love about Courtney Summers’s books? Everything.
My words won’t ever bring it justice and I can’t wait to get my hands on the physical copy because, even if Sadie destroyed me, I’m sure gonna reread it.


Sadie Hunter is nineteen.

Her life was never easy: an unknown father, a young mother too much keen on alcohol and drugs since she was a teenager, unable to take care of Sadie and herself – unable to look at her because she didn’t look like her, because she looked too much like her mother Irene.
Sadie’s world really came alive when she was six and Mattie was born and Sadie, who wanted someone to love and someone who loved her back, makes taking care of Mattie her mission in life – with a little help from May Beth, the woman who acts like the girls’ surrogate grandmother and rents them the trailer where they live.

Help so much needed when Claire takes off, leaving them alone – and this is gonna be the first and real fracture in Sadie and Mattie’s relationship.

Then Mattie, age thirteen, gets found dead – the victim of a horrible crime.
Sadie knows who did it and she’ll stop at nothing to get her revenge on the one person who took the light from her world, because without Mattie she has nothing else to live for.
Sadie is gonna do anything in her power – and she knows she’s gonna kill that man.

Five months after her departure, May Beth calls West McCray trying to get his help in finding Sadie, since her car full of her personal belongings was found abandoned along the street without a trace of the girl. West says yes - even if he disregarded the story when he first heard it – and retraces Sadie’s steps: he gets some answers but he gets even more questions. Soon he becomes invested – afraid of what he might not find, even more afraid of what he could really find along the way.


Courtney Summers wrote another masterpiece, she wrote another book that tears you apart, she gave voice to another girl who gets under your skin and you know she won’t ever leave.
Sadie broke my heart.

Courtney Summers has this flawless way when it comes to write about the ugliness in the world and in human beings, blurring them like you’re spying through the keyhole – you can’t see the entire scene, but you know too well what is happening. You don’t need for her to write every single detail, you don’t need for her to say it out loud: she shows you through Sadie’s actions and thoughts. As a reader, you only have a hazy image of what Sadie went through, but Courtney Summers expresses it in a way you get to live it, you get a lump in your throat, you get sick to your stomach.
It sounds awful, but it’s awesome – I think it’s awesome the way she gets her readers to empathize with her girls just suggesting what happened, totally captivating them.
Sadie's memories - Sadie's nightmares - of what happened to her as she was wide awake gave me the chills.

I loved its structure, the change between West’s podcast and Sadie’s voice.

Both of them bring something to the book: West talks with people, he asks questions, he sometimes hits a dead end, he lets us know Sadie through different eyes: May Beth, a professor from her school, her employer, the ones Sadie met pursuing the man who killed Mattie.
West, the one who didn’t want to be involved in the beginning, then he feels like he knows Sadie somehow and he cares about what could have happened to her.
Then there’s Sadie – this stubborn, reckless, strong, desperate, brave, exhausted girl full of grief, guilt, hate, rage and desire for revenge. This girl with a disenchanted look in her eyes who’s able to sense a lie when it gets told to her face, but who still kinda dream another life she could’ve had had the circumstances been different. This girl who’s hurting, but is still set to do everything to get some peace.

This is not a story about hate and revenge, even if it looks like one – this is a love story. It’s a story about sisterly love – a love not always idyllic, but big nonetheless. It’s the love Sadie feels towards Mattie – who we get to know through Sadie’s memories – that gets her going, even when it all looks too difficult to bear.
It won’t bring Mattie back because it’s too late to save her, but maybe she can save other girls – and she doesn’t care about herself, not until Mattie gets justice.

I loved this book, it hurt and it kept me on the edge with every step Sadie made and with every clue West discovered – bringing him close to Sadie and the truth.
That truth Sadie never told anyone.

Sadie – the book and the girl – broke me to pieces and Courtney Summers proved herself amazing once again writing another unforgettable novel: you won't be able to put it down.
I cried at those last pages because the ending is somewhat perfect in its own way and if I could give it all the stars in the world, I would without a second thought.

Never stop writing, Courtney.

Sadie revolves around two sisters, Mattie Southern and Sadie Hunter. Shortly after thirteen-year-old Mattie is murdered, nineteen-year-old Sadie disappears on a quest for revenge. The narration alternates between Sadie in the first person and transcripts of a podcast hosted by West McCray, who has come out to this small town from the big city in the hopes of learning more about Sadie’s story and maybe even finding her in the process. Some natural questions emerge quickly. Will Sadie find who she’s looking for, and did he actually kill Mattie? Will West find Sadie—and will she still be alive? Will May Beth, Claire, the other residents of Cold Creek get any closure? Yet more important questions blossom in the background. To what lengths will people go to conceal the monsters within, or in their family? Just how far can you run away from, or towards, something before you fall apart? And what, exactly, can you do when the only thing in your life that gives you meaning is brutally ripped away?

On the one hand, Sadie feels a little out of time; like many books set predominantly in that “small town America” milieu, it is filled with set pieces that freeze everything in place: a diner made up like the fifties, suburbs full of the affluent upper-middle class spilling out and blurring the edges of the bigger cities, sketchy bars looking the other way and serving the under age. On the other hand, this is a book very much of the zeitgeist of the 2010s. Sadie does some recon by stalking a fellow teenager on Instagram in a telling scene that reminds us of how much information you can find on someone online.

Similarly, the podcast half of the dual narrative feels very now. Everything about West McCray, from his name to his voice, screams NPR-like radio host, and The Girls podcast is reminiscent of investigative pieces like Serial. I never can visualize characters, but I can totally hear West’s voice in my head, the even-handed way he carefully describes the people he interviews, the places they live, the ways in which they react to the news he tells them. Summers manages to capture the cadence of a podcast perfectly yet in a way that never makes the transcript format imposing or uninteresting.

West himself acknowledges that girls like Sadie disappear almost everyday, that this is a very common story in our society. And it seems like, by adding this podcast layer to the narrative, Summers is making a statement on how these girls’ stories get told. How, once they disappear, if they are not ignored entirely then they are pieced together, rebuilt out of the stories that those they leave behind can tell the media. The picture of Sadie that West provides us is different from the Sadie we get to know from her own voice. Neither is necessarily the authoritative version (more on that below); neither really tells us “the whole story”. But you can sense the ambivalence in West’s voice, the way he is aware that even as he tries to bring attention to Sadie’s story and, by extension, the stories of other girls who have disappeared like this, he also knows he is perpetuating the appropriation of these stories as media spectacle.

There’s a lot happening in Sadie, and I’m still not sure I have unpacked it all in my head, let alone figured out how to articulate it in a review. (I guess I’m just going to have to revisit this when I get the physical copy in September….) There is so much more here than just the story of Sadie, alone on the road, looking for the man who killed Mattie. This is about what people remember about Sadie, the way they think about her. As always, Summers eschews stereotypes and stock characters in favour of rich and deep personalities who don’t always conform to our expectations. Sadie’s mother, Claire, is perhaps the best example of this: it’s easy and perhaps natural for us to want to vilify her for her absenteeism and negligence—yet Summers confronts us with Claire’s humanity, with that brutal reminder that Claire was even younger than Sadie was when she had Sadie.

And so this is book not just about Sadie, or about girls who disappear, but also about how we judge those girls—and indeed, girls and women in general. We judge them for how they act, or don’t act, how they speak, or don’t speak—basically, we find them wanting whenever we want something from them. In this way, Sadie is a tragedy, yes, but it’s a tragedy that cuts to the heart of our society’s hangups about how to talk about girls and women. Sadie’s story has been overlooked until The Girls podcast precisely because she doesn’t conform to the stories we want to tell, like the heartwarming tales of small town girls overcoming adversity and making it big. Sadie is not a stereotype, nor is she a statistic: she’s a young adult driven by a dangerous cocktail of determination and desperation.

Let’s talk about unreliable narrators for a moment, because holy shit is Sadie unreliable, and it’s fantastic. I love the unreliable narrator conceit in general, because when the author nails it, they can do incredible things to the narrative. That’s exactly what happens here. Thanks to the dual narrative structure, Summers can use West’s podcast to reveal details that Sadie doesn’t witness or chooses to omit. There’s a moment close to the end of the book where West interviews a character with whom Sadie crossed paths, and we learn that there was an entire scene between this character and Sadie, in which she reveals something very important, but she completely leaves it out of the story she tells us. I literally did a doubletake while reading and very carefully paged back through this book to the point earlier in the narrative where Sadie interacts with this character, just to make sure I hadn’t somehow missed this scene. Nope. Sadie left it out. And then she goes and lies to us.

Brilliant.

As usual, I also just love the quality and timbre of Summers’ writing too. Her descriptions, in particular, just jumped out at me in Sadie as lush and evocative:

> Cold Creek arteries out into worn and chipped Monopoly houses that no longer have a place upon the board. From there lies a rural sort of wilderness. The highway out is interrupted by veins of dirt roads leading to nowhere as often as they lead to pockets of dilapidated houses or trailer parks in even worse shape.



This passage would be sublime with just that first sentence. I know exactly what she’s communicating here. OMG, that juxtaposition of “arteries” and “veins” tho—it elevates this to perfection.

Sadie is a such a smooth yet intense read. It builds, quickly and violently, towards an explosive series of confrontations before settling down into a resolution that probably won’t surprise anyone, although certainly some might not be satisfied with it. I, for one, didn’t mind it at all. Once again Summers manages to capture all the awkward in-between moments, the dirt and grit and apposite exhaustion of a single-minded quest. This is Kill Bill stripped away of its grindhouse trappings. This is realism meshed with revenge fantasy, and there are moments where it seems like it’s about to lurch dangerously to one side and spill over, yet Summers manages to keep it all together into a coherent tale.

At one point in the novel, Sadie describes herself:

> My body is sharp enough to cut glass and in desperate need of rounding out, but sometimes I don’t mind. A body might not always be beautiful, but a body can be a beautiful deception. I’m stronger than I look.



I’m in love with that phrase, “a beautiful deception”. Paired with “sharp enough to cut glass” and, again, although I don’t actually visualize what Sadie looks like, I feel like I understand what she looks like now.

More importantly, “sharp enough to cut glass” is a perfect way to describe Summers’ own writing, and thanks to the clever narrative structure, Sadie is definitely a beautiful deception.

Dear Courtney Summers.

I am not very happy with you. You f’d up my routine. I can’t get The Girls theme song out of my head, I can’t stop thinking about the ending of Sadie, and there’s a two-litre bottle of Diet Coke sitting here on my desk that’ll get me through the morning, but I’ll have to go to the bathroom, a lot.

I don’t know where to start… The character of Sadie, “I’m the result of baby bottles filled with Mountain Dew.” Authentic, raw, brave, and heart-wrenching. Her journey for revenge is heroic and gritty. A fully developed tortured soul who takes awesome risks for her family and those less-powerful than her.

And while I’m engrossed in Sadie’s narrative, forgetting about the podcast… rip it’s gone. But The Girls podcast was just as good a thread. I could distinctly hear West’s voice, the interviews, and the back and forth with the producer. No one ever forgets that NPR sound, which you got perfectly.

Seriously, this book will stay with me for a long time. It was so damn creative and important and addicting.

Thank you for the book, no thank you for the book hangover.

Paul

Note: Sadie tells the story of a 19-year-old driven to revenge after the murder of her sister. It is told through the alternating points of view of both Sadie and a Serial-type podcast.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, and Courtney Summers for the advanced copy for review.

This book was like a punch to the gut. It’s going to leave one hell of a book hangover. Beautifully written of course. Some of the words I’d use to describe it are dark, disturbing, angry, fierce, emotional, hopeful, messy, real. Sadie is made of nails but also so very vulnerable. This book is raw & full of fierce love & the need for justice. Damn. I want to start on page one again.

Thank you Net Galley and Wednesday Books for providing the ARC.

I absolutely loved the format in which this book is written - as the transcript of a radio show or podcast. Because of this, I really wanted to give this 5 stars, but reading it from the perspective of my YA readers, I think that some not-so-strong readers might get confused with the switch back-and-forth from the radio transcript portions to the action-in-flashback portions. If the readers can handle the narrative switches, then they will definitely love this story.

Strong characters make for people for whom I feel empathy or sympathy, and it made me want to keep reading to see if Sadie and the reporter both meet their personal goals. (Minor spoiler alert: Readers who want neat, spelled out endings shouldn't expect one from this story; life's not like that, and neither is this book.)

Summers does an excellent job of creating tension and mystery without frustrating the reader but also without giving too much away. Very skillfully done! I can't wait to get this for my HS library.

You’ve done it again Courtney Summers! Written a book that opens doors for conversations that we need to be having and exposing us to the harshness of a reality that, somehow, continues to remain undiscussed.

This book is not only beautifully written but a necessity. Please read this (along with ALL of Summers books), tell your friends to read it, and keep this conversation going. It isn’t going to be easy but the most important things rarely are.

Phew. This book pulls no punches. Be prepared to ache, to cry, and to feel every agony as you dive into these pages. Courtney Summers has written the breakout book of her career. With startlingly real characters, vivid action, and realistic relationships, this book is all about growing up, and the heartbreaking reality for many kids. 

The book unfold in two parts: one storyline follows Sadie as she hunts her sister Mattie's killer across the United States (not spoiling anything, it's in the book description), and the other storyline follows Podcast host West in Serial format as he hunts Sadie, who has since gone missing. Sadie is raw, like a fresh wound, and West starts out all-business, but the deeper into the story he goes, the more the ache settles in his storyline as well.

Sadie's younger sister was brutally murdered, and though the police trail has long since gone cold, Sadie follows her intuition and hunch from a previous experience, hunting her sister's killer across the United States. She leaves no rock unturned, and in't afraid to break the law to get her revenge. You will be chewing your nails to their stubs as you follow her take gambles, both painful and heartwrenching, to get to the bottom of the mystery. West follows her, his story intercutting with interviews from Sadie's adoptive grandmother, addict mother, and the characters Sadie has left behind on her hunt for retribution. But this book isn't just about revenge. This book is about the love between sisters, and how nothing can ever get between that, not even death. 

Both storylines interweave, meander, and eventually unfold into a tumultuous finale that will leave you exhausted. There are many thematic events that probably deserve a disclaimer, but that makes the book all the more real and heartbreaking. You will inhale this book, and it will burn the entire way down. Fans of the podcast Serial and the novel One of Us is Lying will devour this book!

I was really excited when I got approved to read an ARC of Sadie. Courtney Summers has been one of my favourite authors since she wrote This is Not a Test and I have read every single one of her novels. Summers is phenomenal at writing realistic young adult characters. Her characters are raw and honest. They’re never a caricature of teens or what adults perceive teens to be like and fail at portraying them. Summers also conveys emotions so viscerally that I actually feel like it hurts to read her books. She doesn’t shy away from difficult topics and she has a way of ending her books so it’s incredibly realistic and not all neat and tidy.

Sadie encompasses all of the great things I love about Summers’ novels. Sadie Hunter is a great character. She’s a high school drop out, she has a stutter, and she comes from a very difficult background. But she is also extremely driven by her love for her sister, Mattie, and she doesn’t let her shortcomings deter her from trying to hunt down her sister’s killer. It’s easy to get swallowed up into Sadie’s emotions and experiences, and if this were a book just about Sadie, it would be pretty difficult to get through because of what she’s endured.

In between Sadie’s chapters, there are transcripts of a podcast called The Girls by West McCray. The Girls follows West’s journey as he tries to find the truth about Sadie, who has gone missing since her sister’s death. I love when books include different mediums and the podcast was really well done. It builds suspense and it also reveals the outsider’s perspective of Sadie. I also liked how it gave more insight on the minor characters in Sadie’s life and how she impacted the people she came across.

While the cover is beautiful and looks more light-hearted compared to Summers’ other novels, the text on the cover is a key giveaway that this book will not be what you expect. It’s captivating, heart-wrenching, and bone-chilling. This may be a new contender for my favourite novel from Summers.

Courtney Summers really did it again. Sadie was nothing short of great.
Sadie, guilt stricken over her younger sister's death, sets off to make things right, going off on a man hunt to find her sister's killer.
Sadie's first person narrative was weaved in with a television show that showed the search for Sadie, which really gave it an added intensity. On one hand, the reader is thrown into the excitement of Sadie's world, and on the other hand, they are tangled up in the excitement in the search for Sadie. This book keeps you on the edge of your seat, and it was definitely a Can't-Put-Down type of book.
It was equally heart-wrenching and exciting. Sadie's story, as terrible as it was, was told beautifully by Summers who really captured the image of a young girl struggling with the aftermath of abuse and tragedy. Her descriptive writing really allowed the reader to understand who Sadie was and where Sadie was, taking me right into the book.

Plain and simple, this book was like a punch in the gut. It's not original of me to compare Sadie to The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis (one of my favorite reads of 2017, which, too, left me feeling like I'd had the wind knocked out of me), but I can't not offer that comparison. Even so, Sadie can absolutely stand on its own merit, which is why it earned 5 stars from me.

The premise of this book was interesting enough to grab my attention and make me want to read it as soon as possible, even if I wasn't already a Courtney Summers fan. My murderino heart sang when I saw that Sadie's story is told largely in the form of a podcast aiming to track her down after her disappearance. And just that aspect alone made this book great- its chapters alternated, for the most part, between transcripts of the podcast itself, and narrative from Sadie's point of view. This was something I'd never seen done before, and loved! I could practically hear West McCray's voice emanating from my Kindle like I was listening to a real actual podcast (and I'm curious to know whether there's going to be an audiobook, because if so, I'd love to hear how they treat the podcast chapters!).

Going into this book, especially as someone who loved The Female of the Species so much, I realize now that I expected Sadie to be a lot different than it was. I expected we'd see Sadie go through step after step of her mission for revenge to its ultimate culmination and that that would be the focus. Instead, this dark, gritty, sad, twisted story was somehow one of love. Chapter after chapter we gain more and more insight into Sadie's troubled (to say the least) past, her tragic upbringing and every horrible detail that contributed to her ending up where or how she did. It's difficult to stomach, at times. But even in the face of all that darkness, Sadie is fueled by her love for her sister, Mattie, and though she can't bring Mattie back, we learn that Sadie's love is still enough to ensure that she will stop at nothing to make things right.

I really enjoyed the characterization throughout this book. I found myself rooting for Sadie with a fierceness, of course, but I was also surprised to find myself rooting for her mother by the end, although at face value Sadie's mother is not a good person whatsoever. I even enjoyed getting to know West McCray himself, although it's a bit more tricky with him- we are only privy to his words on the podcast, where he is, of course, rarely talking about himself. But we're given little kernels of information about him throughout the course of the podcast (side note: more casually gay characters in books, please!), and each one of these endears him to us that much more.

The ending of Sadie is tough, but not in the way that you might think. If you're looking for a story that will wrap up neatly by the end and answer all of your questions, this is not the book for you. But honestly? I appreciated that more than if it had wrapped up neatly. After being taken on such a heartbreaking journey, one that kept me up until the wee hours of the morning because I needed to know what happened next, I finished Sadie with a small glimmer of hope. And that alone, really, was all I could've wanted.

4.5 stars. This was really good, written in two POVs--one in podcast format and one in Sadie's. It was interesting to watch the story unfold and follow Sadie on her journey for justice. I would have liked a more definitive ending, but that happens a lot (personal preference, I guess). I highly recommend this and plan to read more from this author.

I started this book on a Thursday night, intending it to be my weekend read. I was done by Friday evening. To put this into better perspective, I'm a Mom of 4 -- I was reading between everything. A little bit heartbreaking but such an unexpected page turner! I do not want to delve into the plot here because I don't want to spoil it for anyone but Sadie was such an endearing heroine. A sad soul but determined to not only avenge but to prevent future heartbreak for others no matter the cost. This book is highly recommended.

I knew that this book would be heartbreaking. I did not know how much it would break me. Sadie was such an incredible book. But all kinds of painful too. Real and honest and gutting. Five stars to this stunning book. Though I am not sure my heart will survive it. I shall try my best to share the reasons for why I loved this book.

First I will start by saying that I adore Courtney. She is all kinds of sweet, and her books are so good. I had hoped I would love Sadie, and I am so happy that I did so. I felt that her All the Rage book was so important. I think that Sadie is even more so. These two books are heartbreaking. And evil. But so very important too.

I very much loved the writing in this book. So happy about that. It is told in two ways. First from the point of view of Sadie. And as a radio show, mostly told by a man named West. I have not read a book like this before, written in that way, and it was awesome to do so. It was written well. And I was so caught up in this story. I loved reading from Sadie. But I loved reading about the radio show too. Sadie's part of the story is her journey, searching for the person who killed her little sister. Sadie is nineteen, her sister, Mattie, was thirteen. Her death was brutal. And that breaks my heart so much. It was not described, which was good. But oh, my poor heart. This book tells the story about Sadie. It shows her past and her present, how she is searching for a killer.

There is so much that I loved about this book. Though I should say that I mostly feel ruined right now, after having finished this book. It was brutal. Not graphic, but real. And it was pretty bad to read about. Yet important. And I loved every moment of it. Despite this weird feeling in my stomach right now. Ahh. Because this book killed me a little. And I am not sure I will ever forget about it. Getting to know Sadie ruined me. But I loved it too. She was the most amazing girl. Brave and loving and just so very strong.

I'm not going to say that much about what happens in this book. But I will mention a little of it. Sadie has been taking care of her little sister ever since she was born. They have lived with their mother, until she ran away when Mattie was ten. Their mother was a drug addict. And she did not care about Sadie at all. Which broke my heart. Because Sadie was the sweetest child. Sniffs. So Sadie was taking care of Mattie, from when she herself was just six years old. She was her mother. Sadie loved her more than anything.

But then Mattie died, age thirteen. In such an awful way. And the killer was not found. Sadie was broken after that. There are some scenes sharing those moments, and it hurt my heart a lot. This poor girl. Ahh. I loved how Sadie had always taken care of Mattie. They argued sometimes, sure, but they were the best sisters and I just loved reading about them. This book is about Sadie leaving home to find Mattie's killer. Because she is very sure that she knows who he is. Ahh. But the search for him is not going to be easy.

This book takes place in a few different towns, and I liked reading about all the different places Sadie went to. All the things that she learned. It was so painful. But so good too, kind of. And learning of her past broke me so much. I just loved Sadie. And want the very best for her. The other point of view of this book is the radio show, taking place a few months after Sadie left home, as she is missing, and people are trying to find her, and figure out her story. It was all just so amazing to read about. But so so painful.

This book has no romance. While I always want romance in my books, and while I felt like there could have been a romance in this one too, I'm very much okay with there not being one. Because Sadie was such a short book, ack. So much happens. Yet I wanted more more more. I wish the ending had been a little longer, with a few more details. Ack. I cannot help but wish for a sequel. I know it will not happen, but I want one. So much. No romance in this book, but that was okay. Though I really wanted that for Sadie.

The pain in this book was personal to me, in a way. I was abused in the worst way by my father when I was a child. Not as bad as what happened in this book, but bad enough. I do not remember the details of it anymore, and I am glad for that. It took place for years, until my mom found out about it, and he got put in jail. But it ruined my life in so many ways. And reading Sadie made my heart hurt so much. Because of how personal it was. Because of how real these stories were. And Courtney wrote this book so very well.

There is so much that I could say about this book. But I'm trying not to write too much about it. I just wish it had been a little bit longer. But gosh, Sadie was an incredible book. And I cannot wait to read whatever Courtney is writing next. She is amazing. But oh, I do not want to let Sadie go. I need to know more about this precious girl. But yeah, my heart is a little broken over this book too. Huge thank you to St. Martin's Press for approving my request to read this book early via Netgalley. So glad I got the chance to read it.

Sadie ended up being such an amazing book for me. All kinds of heartbreaking. It gutted me. But I loved it so. Getting to know Sadie was the best, though I do not think my heart will ever stop hurting for her. The ending ruined me a little too. I need to know this one detail. And I need to know it so badly. Oh. Sadie was perfection, though. And you are all going to love this book. It is dark. But it is worth it. And it is a book that I think everyone should read. It's honest and dark and heartbreaking yet it has a few happy moments too.

4.5 stars! I really enjoyed this story - it’s told in alternating perspectives from Sadie, a girl who has just lost her sister and has run away looking for justice for her sister, Mattie and from a podcast called The Girls, which is investigating the disappearance of Sadie herself! I have such an affinity for this style of storytelling ( I absolutely loved Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber last year!) and I think Courtney Summer did a wonderful job writing the podcast and Sadie’s perspective. I have a feeling this one is going to be a huge hit in September!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy. All opinions are my own.