A chance meeting between two girls, both named Sara.. just spelled different. Each orders a car for a ride home after a long night at a local club. One of them is murdered but was she the real target?

Interesting premise. Told in alternating pov's and dual timelines, secrets start to unravel. More of a plot driven novel, it will keep you guessing to the end. There's a lot pact into this novel, and at times comes across a bit convoluted and messy. Overall an okay read.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read and review honestly an advanced digital copy.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this. Sara is attending college and is a bartender at a local bar. While working she is asked to check on a woman in a bathroom who is also named Sara. The next morning she learns that the girl from the bathroom is dead. Sara is worried that she could be next. This book kept me guessing.

Saraswati “Sara” Bhaduri is working at the bar one night, when her boss tells her to get a girl out of the women's bathroom. There she sees Sarah Ellis laying on the floor, exceedingly drunk, and needing help to get up. Sara helps her out of the bar through the back door. They have both had too much alcohol and call rideshares. The rideshares arrive at the same time. Both Sara and Sarah get into their rides, but arrive to find out that they took the wrong one. Sara ends up in the wealthy part of town; and Sarah Ellis ends up in the sketchy part of town. Sara walks home to find police everywhere on her block. Apparently, not only did Sarah Ellis come to the wrong side of town, but she was strangled and murdered. Sara takes on the task of finding out if the killer meant to kill her or Ellis and also who is the killer. This was a fun book; and I loved the premise. The pacing lagged a little in the middle, so knocking it down a star. Still a very solid debut at 3 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow & Company for this ARC.

This was an enjoyable read with interesting characters and settings.
There were several plots twists to keep you interested. I especially enjoyed double plot twist ending!

All Sara wants to do is go home to her crappy apartment and sleep but instead her boss makes her deal with a sick drunk girl in the bathroom. When Sara meets Sarah, with an 'H', they have a few laughs before heading off in their Ride-shares. Sara wakes up after her ride to find out that she took the other Sarah's car by mistake and walks the long way back to her apartment that is crawling with police. Sara comes to realize that the other Sarah took her ride and was now murdered outside her apartment. She can't help but wonder if she was the intended victim instead.
This is a quick read with a few twists that keep you guessing. The characters weren't my cup of tea as Sara was portrayed as this strong woman but she is shown as being sarcastic, bitchy, and selfish. To me, that is not the definition of a strong women. Sara is also shown to be highly intelligent but at the same time makes bad choices that show her as being naive. So where the characters didn't impress me, the plot was enough to keep me reading and trying to anticipate who had killed Sarah.
Thanks to Netgalley, William Morrow, and the Scene of the Crime Early Reads for the advanced copy of the book. The opinions are my own.

I found the premise interesting and there were definitely secrets to uncover through til almost the end of the book. The characters were generally fairly unlikable and one dimensional which made it difficult to connect or care that much about their fates. The ending felt a bit rushed and patched together. Overall the book was just alright. Not something I'd recommend or read again.

This is a book where I wanted to love it so much because the premise is AMAZING, but I was just plain bored. I felt like this one dragged on and on - and I lost interest pretty quickly, but pushed through. If the plot had been a bit tighter, I may have enjoyed it more 😫

𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒂 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰'𝒎 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇--𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚--𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈.

ARE YOU SARA? was a twisty mystery that centers around a pretty startling premise...two women with the same name who don't know each other before one fateful night. Law student Saraswati “Sara” Bhaduri holds down two jobs in order to make her way through school, but she still struggles. She does things her family would not be proud of to pay her way through school and secure employment after graduation. Sarah Ellis is a drunk girl in the bathroom of the restaurant where Sara works, and her boss demands that she deal with her. The two have an immediate connection, become fast friends, and end the night with calling a rideshare. Sara falls asleep in the car and realizes she's in the rich side of town and most definitely belongs on the poor. She walks back to her apartment to find flashing lights and a body on her front stoop...Sarah's.

Sara fears she was the target, not Sarah. But Sarah has some secrets of her own that she's been hiding, Was the right person killed that night, and if so, why? If not, is Sara in danger herself?

This was a fun, twisty read that had just the right amount of drama and mystery. We will probably never know how many parallels there are in our lives and in the life of a total stranger. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my early read. Publishes August 9, 2022.

I had high hopes for this book. The premise was so exciting however the more I read, the more disappointed I got. Told in alternating chapters, you get a glimpse into the lives of both the characters. I also didn’t like the whole Jason angle. I was bored until the end.

One alcohol infused night, two Sarahs, one without an “H”, meet by chance and hit it off because they have the same name. They part ways each getting into a rideshare. One of them won’t live to see morning.

Who killed her and did they kill the right Sarah?

Are you Sarah? is available August 9, 2022

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow & Company for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Are You Sara? by S.C. Lalli is an exciting thriller that you will blow through to get to the end! The story revolves around Sara, a law school student who works as a waitress in a dive-bar to make ends meet. One night, she's taking care of Sarah, a rich white girl who has drunk too much in the bathroom. They get into their respective Ubers to head home. It turns out they took each other's Ubers. And then, Sarah turns up dead! Who was the real target - Sara or Sarah?

Here is a captivating excerpt from Chapter 1:

"There’s a dead girl in the bathroom.”
I look up. Gavin is staring at me, a tray of empties balanced on his left hand.
“Dead?” I ask.
“She’s a corpse. Who the f*** was serving her?”
I shrug. Although the place was packed earlier tonight, only Gavin and I were behind the bar. One of us had served her.
“Deal with her, would you?” he says.
“I was just about to leave.”
He gestures behind him. “Get her out of here, and then you can go.”
“But—”
“Just f***ing handle it, Sara.”"

Overall, Are You Sara? is an exciting, fast-paced thriller that you won't be able to put down! One highlight of this book is how intriguing the premise is. Who hasn't been mistaken for someone with the same first name before? What would happen if you got into the wrong Uber ride? Another highlight of this book is how it is an #ownvoices book featuring a main character of Indian descent. As a reader of Asian descent, I don't often seen main characters of color in thrillers. I am so happy to support this author, and I hope that the thriller genre will be more diverse in the future. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of thrillers in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in August!

I thought it was a good mystery thriller. Two women named Sara/Sarah, who get in different ride share cars to the others home and Sarah is murdered. Sara who is alive has skeletons in her closet, was it the person she is fleeing? Both are believed to be good girls to their families but neither lives a squeaky clean life. As the tale unravels going back and forth between the lives of the two girls, Sara who is alive has survivor's guilt as she believes she was the intended target. She becomes obsessed with the other girl's life and her ex-boyfriend. She begins to try to live the squeaky clean life. I was totally wrong where I thought the story would go and how it would end.

I requested this ARC because I was intrigued by the idea of what might happen if someone got into the wrong rideshare. Plus, the main characters shared my name, so I had to check it out! I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was dark and gritty, and the pace was fast, with lots of twists and turns along the way. Definitely worth a read!

Sara is closing up the bar for the night when her boss tells her to go to the bathroom and get the girl who has passed out there. Sarah is her name and they bond for a brief moment before inadvertently getting into each other's rideshare. They have no idea how tragic this small mistake will be. Sara wakes up on the other side of town, realizing what must have happened. She walks home to her apartment and is stunned to see police activity. Sarah has been murdered right in front of Sara's place. A case of mistaken identity? Sara is pretty sure that it should have been her, but why? What could she have done to make someone want to kill her?
Told mostly from Sara's perspective, we learn what a nice law school student with no money has done to survive. As more and more information was revealed, the story turned dark, though Sara's secret was not nearly as bad as I had imagined. Chapters from the now deceased Sarah give us a glimpse into her life, but this story belongs to Sara.
I liked the premise of this book. Two people with the same name, and something awful happens. I did think it veered heavily into Sara's investigative mode, more than I anticipated. It did make me change my mind often about who was the intended victim. The killer did and didn't surprise me(I can't say why because of spoilers). The ending was not at all what I expected, but after thinking about it, I should have seen it coming. 3.5 stars.

I was pulled into the story from the beginning. The story is mostly told from the point of view of Saraswati Bhaduri, a financially struggling law student. She is the daughter of immigrant parents with the attendant cultural expectations. The other point of view is told in flashbacks by the murdered woman, Sara Ellis. She is the daughter of a well-to-do family. Both young women want to live life in their own way rather than follow social norms. The story had twists and turns that kept me hooked.

Sarah Ellis is passed out in the bathroom of a local college bar. Sara Bhaduri, the bartender, is told to 'deal with' her by the jerk owner. The two girls bond over their matching names, giggle over small talk, share a joint and wait for their "Ride".

Sara closes her eyes, and when she opens them, she realizes she's in the wrong neighborhood and must have gotten in the wrong car. The two girls must have switched cars. Walking to her own her house, she sees police and a covered body on the ground....the other Sarah.

Was this a random accident or was Sara the intended victim?

The story then splits into Sarah Ellis or "Ellis" - before death and Sara before and after the incident. We learn how Ellis spent the last year of high school, rebelling against her parents, and falling in love with a boy who broke her heart. We also learn about Sara, who is anything BUT the 'good Indian girl' that the police, her professors and her friends think that she is.

The story spirals a bit until we find out who the real murderer is and who the real victims are....and who Sara chooses to be in the end.

The story itself is exciting but does read fairly young. I think this is likely more YA or "New Adult" rather than Adult Fiction or Adult Thriller, however, it did remain exciting enough to keep me reading way past my bedtime.

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

Ellis is murdered outside of Sara;s apartment after taking the wrong Uber and Sara feels she is the one that was supposed to be murdered because of her strange activities. She feels guilty while trying to figure out what happened. Chapters of the last hours of Ellis's life unfold as she tells what is happening in her life. Both are in college. A book that keeps you wanting to read more. A very intriguing story with a surprise ending.

3.5 stars rounded up.

This was such a wild idea and premise that I was so excited to read it. It was as advertised: a twisted, quick psychological thriller. It was fast paced and propulsive, which made it something I just zoomed right through. The writing was strong, and the character development really helped me feel connected to them, which is especially essential for this particular story. I liked that we got a dual POV in that we saw Sarah's last days through journal entries.

The thing that really brought down the enjoyment level for me is that Sara's "secret," which she's worried made her the target and Sarah was accidentally killed in her place, ends up not being part of the story at all. So I found that a bit jarring, that all of the backstory that we learned about Sara didn't necessarily really go anywhere.

Overall, I think this will be one that my customers are going to be interested in, and looking forward to reading more from S.C. Lalli!

CW: stalking, CSA (references, not on page), violence, death

This was a rollercoaster of a book in both good and bad ways.

Two girls, named Sarah and Sara, meet at a bar during last call. Sara finds Sarah passed out in a bathroom stall and tries to help get her home safely. They leave the bar and each order a rideshare to take themselves home. Sara falls asleep and when she wakes up, realizes she's on the opposite side of town. She realizes her and Sarah accidentally got into the other's car. After a long walk home, she arrives to find out Sarah was murdered on her own doorstep. Was this a case of mistaken identity or was the killer truly targeting Sarah?

I was really excited for the mistaken identity aspect of this book and I was a little letdown in that aspect. The book was more about Sara's investigation and immersion into Sarah's life and I think I was expecting more crossover.

The book starts strong and then takes a very unexpected, and fairly dark, turn but then slows way down towards the end. I was fine with how the book ended and the resolution of the murder but ultimately felt that a huge chunk of the book was pointless to the larger plot.

I enjoyed the characters but also felt some of the motivations and actions were really strange and not how people typically act in real life.

Overall, a thrilling and quick read but I struggled with the cohesiveness of the plot and my connection with the characters.

I was intrigued by the premise of this book and it didn't disappoint. Are You Sara is a fast-paced mystery/suspense that I quite enjoyed.

Thank you Netgalley & William Morrow for an eARC of Are You Sara? Two women named Sara each get into a rideshare. . . but only one makes it home alive. Which Sara was the real target? 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for Goodreads.

I didn't dislike this book by any means - I actually really enjoyed it and felt the pacing to be quick. However, towards the end it felt like 2 (or 3) storylines completely veering off in different directions. Maybe the author is planning for a sequel - In that case, it would make sense to end the way it had. Otherwise, I was a bit confused about why the story went in so many different directions. This one has dual timelines that I enjoyed - a twist that I didn't see coming - And loved the premise of this story. Be careful which rideshare you get into!