A wonderful debut novel!

The author has a way with words and the story? Intriguing. The way this story drew me in was nothing short of amazing. Basically? what are you will to do to keep a secret? Me? not much but Poloma? Giiirrrl!

At the end of it all, this is a wonderful book. A great recommendation for psychological mystery readers everywhere. A must read and that cover!

A brash, agitated, moody and hot mess of an unreliable narrator - Paloma (not the sweet girl you might think)

Alternating chapters with two timelines - One is of Paloma's past in a Sri Lankan orphanage and then we have the present after she is adopted by an American family.

She is now thirty and living in San Francisco, her parents have cut off her funds and her roommate, Arun has learned her darkest secret.

Things aren't going well for Paloma....

*She comes home to find Arun's dead body.
*She flees the scene, horror-stricken.
*The body goes missing! The crime scene is cleaned up! Where the hell is the body? There was a body, she saw it! (I'm wondering about the body too).
*Oh great, now the elderly neighbor is missing. What else can happen?
I really disliked Paloma. Her inner voice was so negative and cruel, I was annoyed by her over and over. She seems to see everyone in the worst way. I was tempted to take a star off the review because of her!

Lots of twists come flying at you near the end! I had to finish it. One of the twists may slap you in the face (like me)!

A little too long and a lot of too much Paloma in my head, but a solid debut!

That was amazingly good! It was so very creepy and I had no idea what could possibly have been going on. It kept me guessing and turning the pages watching it all come together. Pretty unique storyline and conclusion. I highly recommend if you need a good chilling thriller.

First, I have to comment on how gorgeous this cover is, I cannot stop staring at it! Ok, now for the book, told in dual timelines, past and present, this one started off strong and did not let up until the end. I could not believe this was a debut, it was so well done, so twisty, and I didn’t see the ending coming until right before it happened, and it was brilliant. There are other twists throughout the book but the ending is just spectacular. I cannot say enough about this dark, insanely good thriller, you just need to read this one for yourself. In the meantime I will be over here waiting to see what Jayatissa does next, because she has a fan in me.

Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the digital copy to review.

'My Sweet Girl': 3.5⭐

(Unpaid Review: thank you to @netgalley, @amandajayatissa and the publishers for allowing me to read this eArc copy in exchange for a review.)

I know I'm in the minority but I felt something missing in this story. I really enjoyed the dual timelines, between the past and present, a lot of details click in but the main character felt a bit off! Really recommend though!

Paloma is adopted from a Sri Lankan orphanage by a wealthy American couple when she's twelve. She's now in her thirties and her parents have cut off her funds so she's living in a small apartment. Her roommate finds out about her deepest and darkest secret and starts blackmailing her. One night, she finds his lifeless body in a pool of blood. The police arrives shortly but her roommate's body is nowhere to be found. The story is written in dual timeline and it's done effortlessly. We get to see Paloma's past in the orphanage and her present life living in San Francisco years after her adoption. This added more depth to the story, in my opinion. The book is a bit slow at some parts but I still thought the writing was clever. I enjoyed the paranormal elements as well. I guessed some of the twists right but I was totally surprised with the big revelation towards the end. I couldn't believe that I didn't see that one coming. Overall, this was a very gripping debut!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this title. This thriller hooked me pretty quickly, and I couldn't tell if it would end up being a supernatural story or a traumatic one -- or both. I thought the ending was a bit rushed after all the build-up, and left feeling a bit confused about what the author was implying in the epilogue. It was definitely an interesting thriller with a Sri Lankan protagonist that will keep you wondering what will happen next.

I really liked this one, especially as a debut novel! I enjoyed how the POV changed from present to when Paloma was in the orphanage. It added an interesting perspective to her character. My criticism is "not another book with the always drunk character that cannot remember specific details". This just seems to be an overused theme in thrillers. Other than that, I thought the book was very well done! I would definitely recommend it to my thriller loving friends.

OH MY GOSH WHAT A RIDE! This book has all the things: a ghost, creepy children in an orphanage, hallucinations/unreliable narrator, twists galore! I found some of the things predictable — and I think the author gave a good amount of clues to readers — but I don't hate when I get to call a few plot points. The ending was completely a chef'd kiss!

This was the perfect choice to kick off #SpookySeason !!

First off, how STUNNING is this cover?! 🪴 After seeing so many fabulous reviews about this debut, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it!

It was deliciously dark and diabolically clever! Full of twists and revelations, every time I thought I knew what was happening, I was thrown for a loop. Told in dual timelines and locations, this twisted read will have you intrigued from the very start.

This was definitely a fun and wicked book that has so many great layers. I’m excited to see what Jayatissa does next!

𝚀𝚞𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚛á, 𝚜𝚎𝚛á
𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎, 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚞𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚎
𝚀𝚞𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚛á, 𝚜𝚎𝚛á
𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎, 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 🎵

My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa is a terrific and dark debut with a lot of jaw-dropping moments! It's a tale of secrets and murder.with an unreliable narrator and a dual timeline. It basically checked all the boxes of my favorite kind of thrillers/character studies. The twists and surprises start in the past in an orphanage in Sri Lankan and continue to present day San Francisco. I can't wait to see what Amanda comes up with for her follow-up. Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

My Sweet Girl is anything but sweet. This story is dark, cynical and definitely qualifies as a thriller therefore it, and also the main character, are no where near the sweetness threshold. My Sweet Girl is a dual timeline story of Paloma Evans, a Sri Lankan orphan who was adopted from an orphanage in Sri Lanka by a rich, white American family when she was 12-years-old. Young Paloma leaves Sri Lanka with a secret that we spend a majority of the book trying to figure out along with who had cause to murder Paloma's roommate Arun who was blackmailing Paloma with this secret of hers. That mystery mixed in with the ghost story of Mohini the kids at the orphanage told to scare each other and the unreliability of our narrator, makes this one of those books where separating fact from fiction defines the majority of the plot and makes it a fun read.

I like how we got from point A to point B and I enjoyed the tying up loose ends ending. I'm glad it ended the way it did and that it didn't really go into the direction of cliche although it did briefly skirt the lines. Paloma's secret was actually pretty shocking to me and very much worth the wait for the reveal.

Something about the writing though was not my favorite. It definitely would not have worked if told in any POV but Paloma's but maybe it's just the way Paloma speaks that just doesn't vibe with me and also some of her actions as an adult made me face palm way too often. Either way I would recommend My Sweet Girl to those who enjoy thrillers with questionable characters at every turn.

TWs: pedophilia, victim blaming, microaggression, alcoholism, panic attacks childhood trauma

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for this eARC and the opportunity to read and honestly review this book.

Paloma thought life would be easy when she was adopted from her Sri Lankan orphanage by a wealthy American couple. And for many years, it was—until she turned 30 and her parents cut her off from their funds. When her new roommate Arun discovers her darkest secret and ends up unconscious in a pool of blood, Paloma isn’t sure if her secret is safe or more dangerous than ever before.

Twisty! Turny! Dark! This is an A+ psychological thriller with excellent characters and great pacing. I spent the whole book trying to guess the ending, and while I got bits and pieces along the way, Amanda Jayatissa absolutely kept me on my toes. Don't sleep on this one!

My Sweet Girl was a darkly humorous psychological thriller with a sarcastic bitch of a narrator! I throughly enjoyed this book even though I guessed the big twist about halfway through.

Paloma was an absolute hoot to read about and spending the book in her mind was fun, but a little disorienting at times. This was also the first book I've read with a Sri Lankan protagonist and it made me want to read more about the country.

I'd recommend this one for all the other sarcastic bitches out there who want to read about a fellow sloppy bitch without thinking too much or worrying about losing the plot.

If you are looking for your next great read, look no further!

Two of my favorite parts about a psychological thriller is an unpredictable narrator and the surprise twists. This story had both and some of the better surprises that I’ve read in a bit. I even forwent my detective hat because I couldn’t keep up. I thought it was this guy, that girl, but kept striking out, so I decided to just let go, strap in for a fun ride. And what a fun ride it was.

Jumping from the past and present, Paloma’s character was excellently shaped from a hopeful, but headstrong orphan in Sri Lanka, to a mess of a human being in America. Dependent on prescription meds washed down with alcohol impairs her memory so much that it’s hard to know what is truth, which actually made it that much more fun. The ending was one of the best I’ve read and when I was done, I sat there in utter silence and complete awe, trying to absorb what I just read. It was pure genius. If I was a cartoon character, my jaw would be thrown to the ground after the last page.

Ever since she was adopted from a Sri Lankan orphanage, Paloma has had the world at her fingertips. Now thirty and recently cut off from her parents’ funds, Paloma decides to sublet her apartment to Arun, a man from India. Feeling like she’s doing a good deed, while sympathizing with his story. That is, until Arun snoops around and finds out her secret. Threatening to reveal it, Paloma heads off to the bank to pay him off. Once she returns, she finds her roommate brutally murdered. But when the police arrive, they don’t find a dead body and become suspicious that Paloma is telling the truth. Did she have a roommate to begin with?

Paloma was adopted from a Sri Lankan orphanage by a wealthy couple when she was younger. Now she’s thirty years, she lives in San Francisco and she’s been cut off by her parents.

Her roommate, Arun, discovers her darkest secret. Arun plans to blackmail Paloma, but before he can Paloma discovers his dead body in their apartment. When the police arrive, the body is missing.

Is Paloma’s secret safe, or is she now in more danger than she ever was before?

Told through dual timelines by Paloma in the present and during her time as an orphan in Sri Lanka. This one has all the elements of a good thriller – unreliable/unlikeable narrator, suspense and fast paced. I was really enjoying the book until the ending. The ending confused me and it just wasn’t satisfying enough for me. Overall it was a quick read with secrets and full of suspense.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I participated in the "blog tour" (though I did it as an Instagram post) for this book. Thanks for the arc! I really think it had a lot of potential and has a great plot, but it desperately needed better editing. She's a promising writer but this ain't it.

This is the definition of a haunting read.

Paloma was plucked from a Sri Lankan orphanage and taken to America, her new parents promising everything she and the other girls had always dreamed of. But now an adult Paloma is estranged from her supposed saviours, viewed as a disappointment by everyone who knows her, and threatened by the man subletting in her apartment, who has discovered her deepest most devestating secret.

But when that man is found dead by Paloma in her apartment, and then the body and blood disappear by the time the police arrive, Paloma feels the increasingly creeping dread that her past has come back to find her and this time it's not letting go.

What's especially eerie with this unreliable narrator is that sometimes even she isn't sure how unreliable she is. Is she really seeing the terrifying ghost of her childhood? Why doesn't she remember strange actions others swear they saw her do? Is it the drinking or something else?

Then there are the things we readers know Paloma isn't telling us, in particular the overhanging life changing shattering secret that keeps being mentioned but never told. And I have to admit, when that secret was revealed, I was completely shaken. I never saw it coming, and everything that it meant just ripped everything that had come before out at the foundations. I'm honestly still thinking about those last few chapters and what they meant.

I would definitely recommend this book. It's eerie, it's an unreliable narrator who can't even trust herself, it's a giant secret from the past slowly brought into the light through tense flashbacks. It's a social commentary on what it means to be seen as a "brown person" an "Indian person" by those around you who don't try to know any better, it's seemingly small lies that shock when the truth behind them is finally revealed. It's women's faces in the windows in the pitch black night and the knowledge that maybe that ghost story from your childhood just might be real and looking straight back at you.

Really enjoyed this. The main character, also the narrator, is such a bitch. But she does try. It's a great little story that is just fun to read. Because I'm from San Francisco, I wish there had been more local references and I have to admit the ending confused me and I read it again and again. I think it's just not clear enough. Or, you can make the ending what you want.

I was so excited to be approved for this arc! The bookstagram buzz is strong right now and I must say it deserves the hype! So juicy!