Before You Knew My Name is a unique spin on a mystery about a dead girl. Alice Lee, who has been murdered in New York City, narrates this story as the woman who found her tries to learn her identity and heal her own past mistakes. Ruby, a woman in her midthirties has just moved to New York from Australia to get away from a toxic romance. She is out running when she finds Alice's body. This shakes her and changes the trajectory of her life, giving her some focus despite her trauma from this event. The story is a slow burn and I was entranced by Alice's life. Ruby took a little longer for me to connect to, but I really enjoyed her journey. This was a thoughtful and sensitive novel about death, lost possibilities, and starting over.

Thank you Atria Books / Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

This book was so depressing and I just felt sad for the MC throughout the entirety of the book. Definitely kept my attention but it was strange how halfway through the MC almost changes and we have a different persons complete story.

Alice Lee arrives in New York City on her eighteenth birthday with little money and few possessions. She’s starting to get settled and is planning on attending college when she becomes a Jane Doe.

Ruby Jones is also new to the city. She’s out for a morning run when she happens upon a woman’s body.

Alice feels that Ruby will be able to finish telling her story and help to ensure that she’s identified and no longer a Jane Doe. Ruby wants to carry on and live a normal life, but she feels compelled to make sure there is closure for the Jane Doe she found.

Two women arrive in New York City on the same day and are inextricably linked, one woman doing whatever she can to tell the story of the other.

I really liked this novel and how it was told by both Alice and Ruby. I would definitely recommend it to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for allowing me to read an ARC of this novel. #NetGalley #BeforeYouKnewMyName

Wow. This book really impressed me. It was unique and well-written. Heartbreaking and captivating. I would round up to 5 stars.

Unable to review at this time. Will review at a later date. I'm cleaning up my netgalley in order to review 2023 books. This book sounds delightful and will read once fully caught up on my account. Thank you for this opportunity! I look forward to reading this book!

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bubitz from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. WOW - I found this book to be incredibly moving and heartbreaking. This book will pull you in and make you question your own life all the way through it. It is truly one of a kind and I highly recommend you take the time to read this.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the setting of New York City and how the characters were drawn to the city to try and find themselves. This was a tragic story but so beautifully written. Alice is such a haunting character and I love how she slowly gives us glimpses of who she was before her life was taken. I resonated with Ruby the most throughout the book. Trying to find herself in a city of millions, and along the way finding new friends, and realizing she isn't the person she was trying to be. Her determination is her best character trait. She never gives up in trying to find out who the girl was that she found in the river. Thank you for this arc, it was such a great read.

I found this book very hard to get into. i even tried the audio book version from my local library. it just wasnt for me. thank you net galley for the arc.

This book just wasn’t a good fit for me. I found it very slow, and became frustrated as it lacked progression .I could not get behind either character.
I also attempted the audio version hoping it would help me connect with the two women. Unfortunately that didn’t help as I struggled to to keep the POV’s straight. There was little distinction.
Others loved this book. Just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books.

Alice Lee and Ruby Jones don't know one another. They are brought together are brought together over a dead body, a stolen camera and $600. The body belongs to one of them.

Alice is sure Ruby is the key to solving the mystery of her short life and tragic death. Ruby just wants to forget what she saw…but she can’t seem to stop thinking about the young woman she found. If she keeps looking, can she give this unidentified Jane Doe the ending and closure she deserves?

This book was just ok.
I don't really know why, but I just couldn't connect to the characters or the story. It felt a little rushed and boring to me.

Genre: suspense/mystery
Quick summary: Alice Lee is murdered a month after she arrived in NYC, and Ruby Jones is one to find her body. Can Ruby find justice for Alice - and keep herself safe?

I love when an author finds a good twist on the "dead girl" trope that we see so often in suspense novels. I paired my e-ARC with the audiobook, and I loved Penelope Rawlins' narration. She brought Ruby and Alice to life for me; it almost felt like listening to a true crime podcast a al Serial. I appreciated how author Bublitz fleshed out both Ruby and Alice's characters, making them feel three-dimensional rather than the female stereotypes we sometimes see in true crime. I was glued to the story, and I can see other readers having the same experience.

If you enjoy suspense novels that will make you think, give this one a try!

Thank you to Atria Books for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A beautifully written, thought-provoking debut novel!

This is the story of two women – one alive, one dead – both recently arrived in New York City, looking for a fresh start. Not long after she arrives, Alice Lee is dead, but her story is far from over. Ruby Jones’s story becomes inextricably linked with Alice’s when she is the person who discovers Alice’s body.

This haunting and heartbreaking story is all the more extraordinary considering it’s the author’s debut. Although the plot is slow-moving at times, this is prose to be absorbed, to be savored. The character development is rich, and Alice’s omniscient perspective from the afterlife is unique and compelling. Lots of themes to think about here, particularly feminist themes of consent, personal safety, and violence against women. It’s the kind of book that stays with you for a long time.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Emily Bestler Books for providing me an advance copy of this book.

Thank you to Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for my gifted digital review copy.

Alice Lee arrives in New York City with cash, a stolen camera, and big dreams. Upon turning eighteen, she seizes her first chance at freedom from her small town in Wisconsin. Fate has other plans for Alice Lee, however, and she ends up brutally murdered just a month after arriving in the city. Ruby, an Australian transplant searching for a fresh start of her own, is jogging in Riverside Park when she discovers Alice's body by the water.

I really wanted to like this one, but it comes off as a Lovely Bones knockoff with no soul. Alice narrates the story from beyond the grave, and I really couldn't connect with her character at all. Her musings on death, living, and 'the Big Apple' may ring true for an eighteen year old, but bored this thirty-something native New Jerseyan to tears (and had me rolling my eyes a fair bit). She introduces us to Ruby, an Australian woman who flees to New York City after it becomes clear that the man she was sleeping with wouldn't leave his fiancée for Ruby. She self-medicates by holing up in her studio apartment with booze and junk food, but also goes on the occasional run, but also ends up obsessing over a dead girl she never knew. Her arc was pretty boring and predictable. I know it's supposed to be redemptive and heartwarming, but it just felt cheesy. The murderer is also easy to suss out- there's no real mystery there unfortunately. Bublitz was pretty heavy-handed in his portrayal as 'very very bad', and so he wasn't an interesting character to me whatsoever (we also don't learn very much about him).

I skimmed pretty much all of this book from the first page with the exception of the passages detailing Alice's relationship with Mr. Jackson. I wish the rest of the book could have been that interesting.

There are a lot of wonderful reviews for this book, and I really wanted to like it, but it just fell flat on so many fronts. I'm very tired of the whole 'small town girl comes to the big bad city and is eaten alive' trope. Oh well, on to the next one.

I wanted to love this book so much because of all the rave reviews I was seeing about it. Maybe I hyped myself up too much because I could not connect with the characters or the story no matter how much I wanted to. I ended up DNFing. Maybe I was not in the right frame of mind at the time, so I will definitely give it another try.

This was a good book. It was interesting because it was told from the perspective of the dead girl.

When Alice Lee leaves her home town after her affair with her high school teacher turns bad, she heads for the bright lights of New York City. She is lucky to find a room with an old bachelor and his dog. They are getting along great, when she decides to go take some pictures by the river during a rain storm. It is there that Ruby Jones finds her, the Riverside Jane Doe. While Ruby is desperately trying to find out the dead girls name, Alice is trying to help her from the other side. Once they discover her name, they seek to find out who killed her. But is Ruby getting too close to the suspect?

Beautifully and fantastically written debut novel, Before You Knew My Name. Two women are embracing on new beginnings running from bad relationships and starting over in New York City. Ruby is 36 and coming from Australia. Alice arrives in New York City on her 18th birthday. These two ladies are so different but so similar in many ways. The book is mostly told from Alice’s point of view and about Ruby trying to figure out who she is. In doing so Ruby grows as a character and learns so much about herself.
The early chapters of book pulled me into the story wanting to learn more- loved it all way to the end. Many thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own

I was completely blown away by this book. I never would have thought that I'd be left so in love with this one when I picked it. I've never heard of the author, I didn't know what it was about, there just something about the cover and the title that intrigued me. I waited so long to review this book because I needed time to find the words for it. I could never do it justice with my words, compared to how beautiful a writer Jacqueline Bublitz is. Her characters and word choices were simply beautiful. Right away I was captivated by two women and their stories. On their journey's, I got to know them intimately. Another character in this story that deserves a mention is the city of New York. The setting took on a character of its own and that made everything so much more poignant and real. I fell in love with NYC! I also can't help but admire how this author chose to shine a light on female victims of violence and who they were before they were killed. That is something that is not talked about nearly enough. They really do get forgotten after the dust has settled on their cases. I don't know if this was a personal story for the writer but as the reader, I came out being impacted by these two women and the journey they went on. If you're a woman, this book is incredibly heartbreaking, relatable, and hopeful. I wish I could give this book 10 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria, and the author for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest feedback!

Alice Lee and Ruby Jones are two strangers that have fled their hometowns and arrived in New York City on the same day. Two young women with their whole lives ahead of them, eager for a fresh start in the Big Apple. Only one of the women, Alice, doesn't get that chance because her life was taken from her.

We see it in the news all the time when murders are reported - "their body was found by a jogger on their morning run..." but what happens to that person who stumbles across the dead body? Unfortunately for Ruby, she is that jogger, and her life is completely thrown off course. Fear and worry turn quickly into obsession as Ruby searches for answers and justice for New York City's newest Jane Doe.

Before You Knew My Name is such a stand-out novel because Jacqueline Bublitz focuses on the woman Alice was before people knew her as the murder victim. This book is definitely in the Mystery/Thriller genre, but it's so much more than just a "Who Dunnit".

This book will resonate with all women who:
- have been guilt-tripped by a man after turning them down
- lock their car doors right after getting into them
- are afraid to accept drinks from strangers at the bar
- have been told to smile by a man walking down the street
- are scared to take a walk at night with their earbuds in
- who have been judged by what they wore and how much they were drinking
and ESPECIALLY those who have encountered harassment/assault/violence from a man.

Alice's story is unfortunately like so many others, but this author is taking a feminist approach in this story, and reiterating that it doesn't HAVE to be that way. If we held men to a higher standard and didn't blame victims for what happened to them, the world would be a completely different place. The news media should follow this author's example and focus on the innocent victims, and not the average (usually white) men that take them from the world.

I highly recommend this incredibly well-written and poignant debut novel to everyone. This story will stay with me for a long time. Thanks again to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Jacqueline Bublitz for sharing it with me.

Thank you to #netgalley for allowing me to give an honest review on this ARC. I liked this book, did not love it because I figured it out long before the ending.