Thank you Sourcebooks and NetGalley for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This literary suspense debut completely blew me away! It was propulsive, smart and absolutely unputdownable. The premise was unique and gripping, the execution seamless. I found it to be much more complex than a typical thriller with a fresh focus on the women affected by the murders as opposed to the murders/murderer himself. The characters were all well developed and raw and the exploration of the girls history, relationships and drama with one another was demonstrated expertly through their rotating POVs.

I would highly recommend adding this mystery to your TBR!

Don't Forget the Girl is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is an incredible slow-burn that creeps it's way into you until the title is an actuality of your life. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out Don't Forget the Girl asap.

4 1/2 stars

I found this to be an inventive and addictive storyline. The book centers around three college friends - - unfortunately one was killed in college so only two are surviving. It is told in alternating time lines and from different viewpoints. In the present day, their friend, Abby's suspected killer is a man who has been convicted of other murders even though they could never attach him directly to Abby's. This man, Jon Allen Blue is gaining fame as his execution date approaches.

It's been years since Abby's murder and all her friends, Bree and Chelsea want is for her to be remembered. It seems that the attention always goes to the killer and the victims are forgotten. When a new tv show is being released that plans to focus on the serial killer, Jon Allen Blue, it seems that they are losing the battle.

The alternating time lines was the perfect way to lay out this story. It was a brilliant way to parcel out the information a bit at a time without giving away too much at once. It definitely keeps the reader on the hook wanting more. Even though I saw some of the twists coming, they were still clever. It's a clever and well-written plot.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The audio version of this book is quite enjoyable. The narration kept me intrigued and listening every chance I got. Since I also had the ebook, I toggled back and forth between both versions which is truly my favorite thing to do. I think that given the type of story this was, it lent itself well to an audio format. 4 1/2 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for early copies of both the ebook and audiobook. I voluntarily chose to review them and the opinions contained within are my own.

This was a good book but again extremely slow burning. Beth’s character was very annoying but overall This was a mediocre read

Chelsea and Bree’s best friend Abby is murdered while in college. We spend the story learning about Abby’s two friends and effects it’s had on their lives and the different parts of Abby they knew. I really liked how we get chapters from Abby as well, the way she saw things and what lead up to her disaprence. . The way it was mixed with Chelsea and Bree's life in the present had me invested in figuring out what really happened. This was for me mostly a story of grief and how it can shape lives. I liked how it was a mystery up until the very end and I wasn't sure who was actually involved!
Being in Iowa now it’s awesome seeing things I recognize here like Iowa City!! It’s making me enjoy it even more!

Thank you to SourceBooks and Netgalley for my gifted copy.

This book was very interesting. I loved that she is from Iowa and based the novel off of a college girl in Iowa.

This book goes over Abby and her dearly after her killer is up to be executed for being a serial killer. There is much truth in the fact that we never remember the girls or boys but the killer themselves. Bree and Chelsea have to go through their truth, lord and everything in between for this podcast they are on. This was told in 3 different perspectives, which took me a bit to get used to since they aren’t all in 1st or 3rd but a 2nd as well.

Overall this book is very different than I have ever read and think for a debut author she did awesome. I would recommend this to my mom who loves mysteries and whatnot.

This book kept my interest throughout but at the end of the day, still wasn’t my favorite thriller I’ve ever read. The ending wasn’t super satisfying and while it wasn’t clear who did it the entire time, there was not much of a resolution and that’s not my favorite. Proceed at your own risk!

I loved the concept and title of this book but the execution and actual plot fell flat for me. I found myself bored and not gripped, thrilled, enthralled throughout like I was hoping. If it had a couple twists throughout it would have likely kept my interest more.

There are a lot of books that center around the main character still reeling from the mysterious (or suspicious) death of a best friend. But I though that Don't Forget the Girl brought a lot of new ideas to the table.

This book is about a trio of friends that was shattered when one of them vanished. The remaining two have carried on, but are reunited when a podcaster decides to revisit the case.

I loved the triple POV ( a little Lovely Bones-style narration from the grave), loved the new directions that this took a familiar trope.

Will keep an eye out for this author's future books!

I enjoyed the way that the author showed the dynamics of female friendship. The secrets we share and even keep from the most important people in our lives. And the lengths that we would go through to get justice for them. The narrator on the audiobook did a good job

When the debut is as stellar as Don't Forget the Girl, I can tell that Rebecca McKenna is going to be an author to watch. The dual timelines of Abby, Chelsea, and Bree's freshman college year and then ten years later of just Bree and Chelsea is the perfect way to slowly unravel the twisted web that is Don't Forget the Girl. Bree and Chelsea are both living messy, unbalanced lives, the mystery of what really happened to Abby making it difficult for them to move on. With the upcoming execution of the killer and the discovery of Abby's body, everybody's secrets are exposed, and it's so very entertaining to watch. I loved this one!

Good read - this was my first book by this author and I am happy I picked it up! Will definitely recommend and be adding to my bookshelf!

3.5/5 stars (rounded up to 4 stars)

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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We never remember the dead girls. We never forget the killers.

This was definitely more of a slower burn than I would usually like. It took me a little bit to get into the book and there were times where I felt like the author was getting caught up on details that weren’t necessarily needed. I really wanted to like this book because I like the aspect of not getting the people who are killed by murders but we always focus on the killers. I think overall, this debut has a lot of promise and I am looking forward to reading more from this author but unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me.

John Allan Blue will be executed soon for the murder of two sorority girls and the disfigurement of another. He’s also suspected of kidnapping and murdering other women; including Chelsea and Bree’s best friend, Abby.

Chelsea, Bree, and Abby were three best friends who attended the same school, and we’re figuring out life together. No one imagined that one of them would be murdered by someone they might’ve known. For twelve years, Chelsea and Bree, went their separate ways in life to grieve, but a break in the case may bring them back together.

I first thought this book was a mystery/thriller but now that it’s marinated in my mind for a few days; I found that it was very religious, repetitive and slightly boring in the middle. When I put it down to take a break, it was extremely difficult to pick it back up. Overall, I enjoyed the ending

Usually I love when an author adds podcasts, police records, and twitter conversations but in this books it felt confusing and rushed. Overall; I enjoyed the ending, and for that, I gave it three stars.

This was good. A little slower than I would have liked and a lot of detail, but still good. I found this story to be an interesting viewpoint on how we, as a society look at serial killers. We tend to want to read, watch and listen to all things related to them and forget the actual victims. Hence the title. Twelve years ago, college student Abby goes missing. Jon Allan Blue is a convicted serial killer awaiting execution and presumed to have also killed Abby, although she was never found. Her friends, Bree and Chelsea have not forgotten and have had their lives since then affected by not knowing for sure what happened. They decide to go on a podcast and a new can of worms is opened. I did not really connect with Bree or Chelsea, but I did like the way the story was told. We get flashbacks from the three women and also the podcast, interviews and social media. Very timely. I would read more from this author.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Rebecca McKanna and Sourcebooks, Landmark for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Jon Allan Blue isn’t just a name in a grisly headline—he’s the reason the girl they once loved is dead. No one remembers Abby, but Bree and Chelsea do. They can’t help but think of Abby every time they hear Blue’s name in the media, who is obsessively chronicling the countdown to Blue’s execution. Bree and Chelsea wish it would hurry up and happen already so they can move on.

But maybe in order to do that, the two of them need to revisit the past. Get closure. Hell, maybe even find answers. And what better way to do it than by going on a podcast?
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i really wanted to like this book but i just sadly could not get into it. the pace dragged at a lot of different points for me and i also felt like there were too many details and plot points the author tried to cram in. i’m also really not a fan of the “you POV” at all, which sucked bc i couldn’t get into Abby’s chapters and they’re the ones i really wanted to read. most sad is that i really didn’t find anything too likable about Chelsea and Bree. being unable to relate to them made it hard for me to keep going alongside the other problems i felt this faced. i think the fault is mine due to my own preferences and feel like this may be more suited for others with different tastes than mine.

This was a bit of a slow burn mystery for me more than it was a thriller, but it was an enjoyable read. It wasn’t your traditional mystery because while two of the main characters do what to know what happened to their friend when she went missing at 18 it wasn’t a book of tracking down clues or interrogating suspects like you might suspect. More than a book about a murdered co-ed this is a story about friendships and romantic relationships and identity. Chealsea and Bree haven’t kept in touch much since they lost their best friend Abby when they were all 18. While her body wasn’t found it was generally believed she was killed by the serial killer who was apprehended shortly after her disappearance and after he murdered multiple girls in a sorority house. The story flips between Chelsea and Bree’s current lives including discovering that Abby’s body has finally be found. The other narrator is from Abby’s perspective from the year when she was murdered. Overall I thought this book tackled a bunch of hard topics and did a good job. It just wasn’t quite the gripping thriller I had thought it was from the description.

This is one of my favorite books I’ve read around a crime in a long time. As someone who reads, watches and listens to true crime this book made me take a hard look at that practice and reminded me to remember to focus on the women who are so often the victims of those crimes. I was also the age of these protagonists so recalling the times and placing myself in the story was very easy. I will keep my eyes posted for another book by this author.
Thank you to a NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in return for my review.

Don't Forget the Girl by Rebecca McKanna

Pub: June 20, 2023

Pub week review ! Thank you @bookmarked, @netgalley for the gifted copy to read & review 💚

🚨 ALERT 🚨 New addition to my top reads of 2023 !

I’m officially calling 2023 the year of amazing debuts!

Q - what debuts have you loved this year ?

Don’t Forget the Girl is a book I will not easily forget. It’s a thriller with depth. It’s an exploration of grief, friendship, family, love and loss. And of course, there are serial killers.

I love McKanna’s writing style. Her characters are three dimensional and the atmosphere vivid.

She balances this with dual timelines and three POVs that keep the pace steady. The use of interviews, newspaper clips and a podcast script throughout the book adds further dimension.

As a consumer of true crime, the book also made me reflect. While I can rattle off names of singular victims (mostly white women, but that’s a whole other topic), I can’t do the same for victims of serial killers. But I can sure rattle off a list of the killers. I’m going to make a conscious effort to change that.

For my friends who don’t typically read thrillers, I encourage you to look past the “serial killer. “ This is just as much a book broken lives, how to life with your past and move forward. I truly think you will love it.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy. Run don't walk to get a copy of this book. I cannot believe this was the author's debut novel. I tore through this book in just a couple of days while working and wrangling a toddler.

This a very character driven drama/thriller. It beautifully explored the relationship between three friends and how a violent act shaped their lives. It is told from all three of their viewpoints and told over two different time periods. The author did a great job of weaving the past and present timelines together and I did not find myself confused. It is more of a slow burn and not necessarily a "whodunnit" but more of a "did he do it". I think the author was also able to end the book on a realistic note which I always appreciate.

Overall, excellent debut novel and I am excited to see what this author publishes in the future. Highly recommend!