The premise of this book had me hooked
“You’ve only just met.
But she already knows you so well.
When Rachel moves into the spare room in Mary’s flat, everyone is quick to jump to the conclusion that there’s something strange about her. Everyone apart from Mary.

Rachel becomes a friend and an ally, and Mary soon discovers that they have more in common than she ever could have imagined.”

I am a big fan of thrillers, especially psychological thrillers so I had high hopes for this one. It was good, but it fell a little flat for me. I felt some of the characters actions rather unrealistic which took away from the story for me. I find it hard to really submerse myself in a story if I cannot believe the characters around me. I found myself getting rather frustrated.
I did love the short chapters as I felt these helped the story to keep moving. Unfortunately, they did feel a little jumpy and disjointed at times and I found myself having to re-read a fair bit.

Overall a good book, with some twists and turns along the way.

I really enjoy thillers; it is one of my favourite genres, so was glad to be able to read this book as it is a psychological thriller.
The story has themes of friendship and also what occurs when friendships are jeopardised. The story is told in alternating chapters, which some readers may not like. A good twist and element of suspense!

*thank you to Netgalley, HarperCollins Australia and Ingrid Alexandra for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

3 stars.

For the most part this was a good story. It had enough mystery and thrills to keep me interested. I felt the ending wasn't a huge revelation but I think that is because for me this book got rather personal. I have a lot in common with two of the characters in this so by half way through I'd already guessed one of the big twists that was revealed to readers by the end. It also for that reason, made it a hard read in parts. I tried to put that aside though when thinking about how to rate this. It was a good story. I didn't find it boring and with all books in this genre, I ask myself one question. Does it keep me guessing? And yes, again, for the most part it does. I feel that if I didn't have the personal connections to this then I probably wouldn't have figured out parts of it prematurely. Looking at this from the perspective that if I didn't work things out, I would have been questing right until the end and would have been surprised by it. 

I liked all the characters. I did doubt them all at times and that's what makes me like this book. The not knowing what is really going to happen with each character and who is being honest or a fake. Having all the pieces fallen into place at the end, again for me was predictable, but I still enjoyed reading it and having the author write it all the way she did. I wasn't disappointed with this and I would recommend it. It's not a huge intense thriller but it's still worth reading.

This book was good but at times it was somewhat confusing and, as a consequence, I’m confused as to how I feel about it.

I’ll start with the confusing blurb. I don’t think the book’s blurb, nor its title now that I come to think about it, really represents the book’s content and plot. I was expecting a Single White Female type thriller but the new girl moving in and acting creepy is more of a sub plot. To be perfectly honest I think the book would have worked a hell of a lot better without the Rachel character altogether.

The mystery plot was more to do with our lead, Mary, blocking out a lot of her memories. She starts to remember bits and pieces and realises she and her abusive ex boyfriend might know a little too much about the murder of a young man at a party. There is also the mystery of why she has such gaps in her memory and the mystery of her parents disappearance a few years earlier.

The next thing I’ll mention that was confusing was the journal entries which are scattered throughout the book. They were really unnecessary and I didn’t think they added anything to the characterisation or plot. If anything, they bugged me immensely and caused confusion of the timeline. If Alexandra’s idea with the journal entries was to disorient the reader along with Mary, she succeeded.

Number three confusing award goes to every character in the book’s level of substance abuse. Mary downs drugs (illicit and prescription) and alcohol like they’re going out of fashion. But she’s not the only one. Everyone drinks copious amounts of alcohol. And even with the apparent gaps of memory that Mary can’t account for, and the drugs she’s been prescribed, no one seems to be dissuading her from her drinking habit at all. This is confusing.

The actual ending of the book was confusing. Not that I didn’t understand it but that it was written so confusingly. There’s an info dump (always an automatic mark down with me). There was a couple of twists, one which was glaringly obvious, but a couple which I didn’t see coming at all. And, I don’t know… Just the way it was all presented seemed really confusing and wrong. I think I again put it down to Rachel’s involvement.

If I was editing the book I would have advised to dump Rachel and the journals and have Mary trying to solve the mysteries using alternate methods. It could have easily been done. Scenes from the point of view of Mary’s best friend, Mary’s ex, and Mary’s potential new boyfriend could have been used instead.

It’s a shame because, as I said, there are some good things about this book. I know I loved the way Alexandra wrote tension in the ordinary. I mean, at one stage I was anxious over a magpie!

I also liked the short chapters. The story moved along nicely for around 3/4’s. It only became bogged down from the climactic scene (around the 75%) mark onwards. Also I must admit the climactic scene was pretty good.

And, as I said, there were some good twists. For most of the book I had no idea who was up to no good and why. Again, this might be why I’m so confused as to the ending which really didn’t do the rest of the book justice.

I think I’ll settle on a 3 out of 5

Terribly convoluted and a real skimmer for me. The narrator bored me to tears and i just didn't enjoy this.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Avon, HarperCollins Publishers Australia and the author, Ingrid Alexandra, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of The New Girl in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I thought this book offered a good, quick read. The storyline was well thought out and written and the realistic nature of the characters certainly holds the suspense. 3.5 stars.
Worth a read for fans of the genre.

Mary is running from something. From a past that haunts her every move. Living away from her demons with her good friend Cat, they are on the look for a new roommate. In comes Rachel. They’ve only just met, but she already knows you so well. But something is not quite right about her, well that’s what everyone else things. soon Mary discovers she has more in common then she thinks, more than Mary might even know herself.

A really interesting book and definitely one I couldn’t put down. Mary has so many holes in her memories of the life she had before moving. So many things that don’t quite make sense and no one is able to answer her questions. You know from the start that something seems odd about Rachel, but the ending shocked me in a way that I was not expecting. I wasn’t expecting it would be Rachel that would have all the answers. While I loved the build up of this story and the twists and turns that were thrown in, the ending wasn’t quite what I expected and did leave me feeling a bit lost and not quite content. I wanted something more and discovering that Mary (or Sophie as she was known) was actually behind everything didn’t quite give me the shocking feeling I needed to end it. I did looove everything up until the end though....

The New Girl
By Ingrid Alexandra

4 stars

The New Girl sucks you in with a slow burn of building tension, that sets off alarm bells, before revealing itself as a psychological thriller.

Rachel is the New Girl, moving into the spare room in Mary’s flat in Sydney, but everyone, except for Mary, thinks there is something strange about her. Mary however feels a connection, a bond that expands throughout the story.

Both plot and characters are well developed and believable.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

#TheNewGirl #NetGalley

Reviewed by Heath Henwood
www.books-reviewed.weebly.com