Thank you to NetGalley, Aria and Sarah Simpson for this ARC of Who I AM in return for my honest review.

This is the first book I have read by this author and will be seeking out any others after this one.

Camilla and Andi met and shared a room during university days. Although from totally different backgrounds and upbringings they became best friends and were in the same accommodation as Jo and Cara during those days with an undercurrent of jealousy between Cara and Camilla.

A graduation party saw a tragic accident when two out of the four were lost at sea and assumed dead. A third one apparently committed suicide as a result of this, shortly afterwards.

The novel is based around Camilla and Andi from the university days to the present day but it is not clear how this has happened until towards the end.

Deep and dark and thoroughly enjoyable.

Recommended.

Who I am by Sarah Simpson is an unputdownable psychological suspense that will grip you right from the start. This is not a story you can easily breeze through. Pay attention, savor the story and reflect on everything between the pages. This story is full of twists that will make your head spin! Simpson throws in clues and hints of what has happened and what is yet to come and if you blink you will miss them. I had a hard time putting this book down!

Andi and Camilla were the best of friends during their University days. Although they came from opposite sides of the track, They shared a bond and were thick as thieves until a terrible tragedy occurs after a graduation party. It is now twenty years later and Andi is a married woman with children living an idealistic life. But, strange things have been happening and secrets that were once long buried are slowly becoming revealed. These secrets have the ability to destroy everything Andi has worked so hard to achieve. But, who is behind it all and why now after all of these years?

Who I Am is told in both the present and the past weaving an addictive, grab you by the seat story that you will not be able to put down. I really love alternating chapters and find that it slowly builds up the deeper you get into the story. I do admit that the slower pace at the beginning was a bit confusing going back and forth through the past and present, but once I got past the first fifty pages, I can see why the beginning was written this way and could finally appreciate it once I realized what was happening. I would also like to add that there is a third voice in this story and it is a mysterious one. I kept going back and forth on who it could be and I must say Simpson did such a great job at keeping me guessing.

Andi and Camilla as characters is a hard one for me. At times likeable and at times I disliked the both of them. Do they have some stand out qualities? Sure. But, I don’t think I really ever warmed up to either one of them. I don’t think they were necessarily nice girls and had a lot of issues stemming from family life, responsibilities and so on. There is manipulation, jealousy and alcoholism in their lives, but these qualities also made them seem real and relatable. So, even though I may not have always liked Andi and Camilla their characters did lend an air of realism.

If you are a fan of psychological suspense novels then you will definitely want to read Who I Am by Sarah Simpson. The story is twisted, sinister, and clever. I had a hard time figuring out who was behind it all and that is really an indicator to me of how much I really enjoyed this book. Well worth the read!

The story begins when an injured woman awakes to find herself in hospital. Despite being sure her name is Camilla Stewart she tells nursing staff it is Natasha Watts. Camilla never liked her life and set about chasing something better. To achieve that aim she befriends Andi who has a comfortable life and appears to have everything Camilla has ever wanted. Both of them have secrets which have had crippling effects on their life.
The chapters mainly rotate between the two women to bring the reader closer to understanding the past and what may happen in future. I was really curious what caused Andi to go down the path she was headed and felt compelled to learn her secret. Although I felt I understood why Cam was like she was she seemed borderline something and possibly dangerous.
Andi’s psych makes a few appearances and these add another twist to an already twisted story!
At the start I was a little slow following the Camilla/Andi swap then everything clicked into place and I was hooked from there on. It is a funny thing when you start a book and get a tingly feeling indicating things are going to get very interesting. I feel this is a story where you need to concentrate a little at the start in return be remarkably rewarded at the end (an ending surpassing most others). An amazing psychological thriller with twists guaranteed to hold you captive until the very last page! Read and enjoy.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy in return for an honest review.

Gripping, twisty & totally mind-boggling!

WHO I AM by SARAH SIMPSON was quite the engrossing, intense, entertaining and unputdownable psychological thriller that necessarily didn’t grab my attention right away but it definitely had me totally consumed with curiosity in trying to figure out what the heck was actually going on with these characters.

I really struggled in the beginning because I didn’t really connect with the authors writing style but with that being said there was definitely a purpose for the way that this story was written which becomes quite apparent as the story progresses. Regardless of my struggles the storyline definitely was filled with lots of suspense which was so intense that I was anxiously swiping through those pages as fast as I possibly could.

SARAH SIMPSON delivers a dizzying, twisty, suspenseful, and well-written read here that had my head spinning in circles pretty much throughout most of this read. The story is told in multiple perspectives with a past and present timeline which definitely kept me on my toes in trying to figure out how all the perspectives were related. At times I was getting pretty frustrated and antsy eagerly awaiting for some of those subtle clues. But boy of boy it was definitely worth the wait!

As always I like to play detective and my detective skills were on the right track but let me tell you I had no idea how the author was going to pull it all off. Well I am actually totally floored and truly impressed in the author's ability to pull this one together in such a way that was so cleverly plotted bringing the whole story together in the end. This is one that those little pieces of puzzles definitely fit together perfectly. And those are probably one of my favourite techniques that an author chooses to use when telling their stories.

Norma’s Stats:
Cover: Eerie, forbidding, gloomy, suspenseful, intriguing and a fitting representation to storyline.
Title: Intriguing, impressive, suspenseful, and an excellent and fitting representation to storyline.
Writing/Prose: Well-written, engaging, captivating, and mysterious.
Plot: Complex, suspenseful, twisty, bewildering, engrossing, fast-paced, held my attention and extremely entertaining.
Ending: An intricately plotted ending that left me feeling totally satisfied, elated and thoroughly impressed.
Overall: The psychological aspects, revelations, suspense and thrills along with those shocking twists and turns definitely made me one happy and totally satisfied reader upon finishing this book. Would recommend!

Thank you so much to Victoria Joss at Aria & Sarah Simpson for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

3.5☆ A Taut Pyschological Thriller
(Rounded to 3☆ for Amazon & Goodreads)

Who I Am is a Complex and Taut Pyschological Thriller.

There is a lot going on with this book.
So I definitely recommend giving yourself plenty of time, as it's a book where you need time to process.

I did find That the story switching back and forth to be somewhat confusing and it took me a while to get into the story.

The characters are not particularly likeable, I don't think they are meant to be.
But I also think I didn't connect with the characters as it took me a while to work out what was going on, and who was who.

I won't go into the plot as I think this is one that you need to discover for yourself.
What I will say it's a story about two very different women, friends from uni, grew apart as you do, but are held together by dark secrets from their past!
Things are about to seriously unravel.
But just who is trustworthy and who is out for revenge!

The story switches between present and past, as events are divulged, and the twists and turns kept coming.
The pace gradually ramps up as does the tension and suspense until it's difficult to know who to trust.

This is a book about, secrets, revenge, manipulation, jealousy, lies, relationship, trust, friendship and love.

Who I Am is a sinister and dark read.
It's a complex psychological thriller that will keep you on your toes.
Although I did find the writing style took me longer to connect with, I do believe that other readers will really enjoy the dark twisting plot and complex characters.

Thank you to Aria Fiction for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Fantastic read. Great mystery read that grasps you and sucks you in. Not knowing which way things are going to go. But that’s the beauty of this book

Ok this was a bit hard to get into it wasn't all that engaging but I did like a quote in the book by the therapist Eve it’s not what you see, what you know –it’s what you don’t see, what you don’t know. And in this case, who you don’t know.

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

Wow! If you love twists, and unreliable narrators this is definitely the book for you! This story is told from different points of view and past and present time lines. There were some predictable spots; the well to do best friend gets jealous of the new girl in her friend's life. The less fortunate friend trying to appear like the others by mimicking the way they behave. Otherwise there are lots of things you do not see coming.
I am hesitant to reveal too much because I don't want any spoilers. I enjoyed this book but found myself going back and rereading parts so I could follow along. Not to say it is a difficult read, it's not. You won't want to put it down until the end!

I feel like I just reviewed the exact same book. Maybe because this is such a common trope in book today. Maybe it works for airport novels, beach reads... but as someone who reads 100+ books a year, nothing about this made it special.

Two friends, from the past to modern day. There's a mystery. People are who you think they are, blah blah blah. Rich girl, poor girl.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The story divided into two parts - the past Andi and Camilla, carefree till a tragedy sets them apart and Andi now with a husband and two children who is drifting away from her family with no grounding at all, alcoholic addiction she has absolutely no way to control and deception which is going to erode her entire life.

This is no comfortable read and reiterates the fact that some things should be kept private! Confidences shared can come back to bite you very hard decades later and this is how it is turning out to be.

There were very tense and edge of the seat moments in this book. Twisty and you really do not like human beings at times when they act like this! There seems to be no forgive and forget and no happily ever after for those seeking revenge.

I feel this could have been a really good book but it was way to complicated and took me an age to read.

Andi and Kyle live in Cornwell and have two children. Kyle works in London during the week and is home on the weekends. Andi is busy keeping up their nice home and caring for the children.

Back when Andi was at university, she met a young gal named Camilla who didn’t have much money and was saddled with a father going into dementia. Camilla can’t afford to card for him and go to classes too. When her father is put into a care home, Andi offers to help Camilla by sharing her room with her and she accepts. They live in an apartment with several other friends of Andi.

Today, Andi is frightened by some tweets that have come through bringing back some terrible memories. She gets stressed and starts drinking more than she should. Kyle sees the empty bottles and is worried about her suggesting she see someone for her stress. But when events start happening that point to things Andi has done but she doesn’t remember, she really gets scared.

This book bounces back and forth from current day to the time Andi was at university with her girlfriends. Something bad happened and guilt is creeping in.

For me, this book was a total mess. I understand how some authors like to build tension in thrillers with slipping in a puzzle piece here and there but the “puzzle pieces” in this book were so confusing. I came very close to making this a “Did Not Finish” book but I stuck it out all the way through nearly 500 pages of total bewilderment. I can honestly say I don’t really know who did what to whom. I was very disappointed with this book and would suggest that readers not waste their time.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Wow! This psychological thriller was amazing! The twists kept coming, even though some I was able to predict pretty early on.

This was a true psychological thriller in that it had all the elements I crave in a dark read that will mess with my head. I feel like the psychological thriller label is often used on novels that are really more of a standard mystery/thriller but Who I Am is an excellent example of a what a true PT really is.

If you chose to add this to your TBR I want to advise you to pay close attention. There is quite a lot going on here; multiple narrators, and definitely the untrustworthy type, and it also jumps around from past to present. Each chapter is clearly labeled so it’s not confusing, but still this requires some focus in order to catch all the subtle nuances the author so deftly drops.

Andi and Camilla narrate the bulk of the book but there are also several chilling chapters from an unknown narrator that gave me goosebumps. I wouldn’t say either Andi or Camilla were likable characters but they were interesting and well drawn. Andi especially captivated me as she conveyed such a great sense of paranoia that made me uneasy. It also had that mounting sense of dread that I so love and the tension and pacing increases the further along you get. And of course there were some twists to be found and none that I saw coming, always so fun!

Who I Am in three words: Menacing, Dark and Intricate.

This is a complicated book but if you’re willing to do complicated and at times confusing then you will be rewarded by a good ish psychological thriller
The story revolves around 4 girls, uni friends, 3 are presumed dead after an ‘incident’ down by the Cornish sea one night, pretty much immediately you find out one of them, Andi is alive,she survived but told no one ( !!! ) and started a new life....then she receives letters saying someone else knows who she is, you know how it goes...then it gets complex as it goes back and forth between now and then and between an ever growing cast of friends, ex boyfriends, families past and present and well at times the list seems endless and I did have to check and re check who was narrating and remind myself of who they were ( most chapters I did this ) it didnt help that my mind wandered at times and I think that was the sheer amount of info you had to process from chapter to chapter
The story does malinger at times and things are repeated ie events, feelings and also thoughts on alcohol ( however Andi is an alcoholic so although repetitive I guess was needed )
The ending became clear, for me, just as the story reached its ‘twist’ and it was, again, complicated but have to say clever
Im not sure what else to say other than reiterate it is a good ish psychological thriller
6/10 3 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Aria for a copy of the eARC in exchange for a fair review.


Told in alternating views and between past and present.


Andi is tormented by guilt and she knows that someone knows her secret and lately she has been drinking quite a bit more and not sure how to handle life in general. Camilla is going to make sure that Kyle knows the truth about his lying wife.


As the days go and Andi thinks she is losing her mind, things are getting worse. Everyone knows she is drinking and her friend Carol isn't being so friendly anymore. Kyle is getting more disillusioned with the relationship and soon it will all come to a head.


I wanted to love this, but to be honest I figured out the twist or had a firm idea of it long before it became clear I was right. I don't think this was a dark thriller either. It was a good slow burn of a read, and clearly filled with a lot of liars and some major miscommunication. So I am kind of in the middle of the road with this one. I didn't love it or hate it, I kept reading because I was waiting for something more, but it never really delivered on that note.


However, this book was a great look at feelings, guilt, miscommunication, mistakes, and things that cost us too much.

Who I Am on the surface appears to be exactly the sort of thing I read just to relax, perhaps a little trashy but a decent story to settle down with if I'm not in the mood for non-fiction. Admittedly, the synopsis sounded the same as a gazillion others from this genre, but I guess you should never judge a book by its cover or its blurb, so I decided it was worth taking a chance on. It also joins a huge array of other titles that utilise the "you don't know them as well as you think you do" trope so is hardly the most unique of novels. That being said, the story really appealed to me in that it was dark with a plethora of twisty surprises throughout. One of the aspects that was very well done was the vivid descriptions of the setting: the beautiful Cornish coast. You can tell Simpson knows the area well, and although I have never been, I felt I could almost taste the salt swirling in the air from the sea spray. However, sadly, the fun didn't last too long as quite quickly it became a chore rather than a pleasure and navigating around amongst the non-stop action meant it was truly hard work.

I class myself as a reader who thoroughly enjoys complex and intelligently crafted plots but there was simply too much going on here that it became seriously messy, tedious and somewhat confusing. The story was incredibly convoluted with everything seemingly being thrown into the melting pot together and the author simply hoping for the best. This is often a mistake debut authors make but Ms Simpson has had a successful novel published previously so I'm at a loss as to how to explain it. If you're someone who needs likeable characters to cheer for then this is probably not for you as Who I Am is distinctly lacking in that department. All in all, not a terrible read but it lacked originality, pace and coherence, and at the end of the day, there were just too many minor issues/annoyances to make this a book I would recommend. In my opinion, there are much more accomplished thrillers out there. In fact, the market is positively heaving with them.

Many thanks to Aria for an ARC. I was not required to post a review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Thrilling and challenging mystery about what happened to four college co-eds almost twenty years earlier. The past rears its ugly head when a mysterious person realizes that revenge is the only answer in the compelling Who I Am.

Down-on-her-luck Camille insinuates her way into the life and house of college friends rich Andi, suspicious Clara and quiet Jo. A boat disaster breaks up the friends in the worst way possible. Now one of the friends is stalking Andi looking for revenge.

Split into three first person narratives at three different time periods, Who I Am is a twisty rollercoaster of a read. First, there is the slow clanking of the build-up to the first pause at the top of the ride. At this point, we learn the story of what happened to the four roommates on the night of a boating accident. There were only two survivors so why are there three narrators? And whoosh we are plunging downhill on the ride. There are many twists and turns in the plot—some foreseen and some not. The psychological suspense sets up an atmosphere of dread. The reader feels a twist coming but isn’t sure where it will lead.

Who I Am is a perfect Fall read. It is creepy, convoluted and has a challenging mystery to solve. So put on some sweats, get a cup of hot cocoa and settle in for an engrossing evening. 4 stars!

Thanks to Aria Books and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Who I am by Sarah Simpson is a psychological thriller.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

My Synopsis:
They were originally a group of four who lived together in university.

Joanne was the quiet one, whose bouts of anxiety and depression left her vulnerable. Andi took care of her.

Clara was the loud-mouthed, brash girl whose twin sister had died. She grew up with Andi, and became rather possessive of her.

Camilla was new to the group, of a different class from the rest. She was the poor, down-trodden girl, who was trying to fit in, and become one of the “elite”. Andi took her in and they became fast friends.

Andi came from money, and was the stable one of the group, or so they thought.

What started as four, ended as one. Two of the group died in a tragic drowning accident, their bodies never found. Another of the group committed suicide.

18 years later, we find that not everything that happened that fateful night was true, and those that “died” may still be alive. Andi is being driven crazy trying to maintain her wonderful life, home, husband and children. Between the alcohol and a stalker who knows what she did, she is slowly losing everything.

My Opinions:
I struggled at the beginning with this one. I found it difficult to like any of the characters, although their stories did grow on me. The characters all seem to be very unhappy with their lot in life, whether they were rich or poor, no one was happy. Although the story shows love and friendship, there is a lot of jealousy and lies, manipulations and secrets. Everyone has their own agenda, and some are not so clear.

The story is told by different characters and timelines throughout the book, but mainly Andi and Camilla, as well as one un-named person. Through the constant back and forth of the time-lines, we eventually heard the whole tale.

The mystery of trying to determine who is who had a rather surprising twist at the end.

Overall, it was a good book (although some of the grammar was atrocious…which I am blaming on the publishing crew, and hope will be changed when the book comes out - I am notifying them).

3.5 stars

Told from multiple perspectives and in different time periods, this is the story of two women- Camilla and Andi- and the secret they share. It's been years since the party on the beach but neither of them can forget what happened, in part because someone wants them to remember. No spoilers but as you might expect, not everything or everyone is what they seem. I'm always a fan of novels set in Cornwall so that made this a natural pick for me. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It does take some time to warm up but once it does it's a good read.