Another great read by one of my favorite authors.

American Girl by Wendy Walker was exciting, fast paced and I was totally invested.

Highly recommend

Thank you for the opportunity to preview American Girl. Wendy Walker is a contemporary author and a very good writer. I think this book is more of a YA and with that said it is still a good book.
Charlie is autistic and lives in a small town and she just wants to go to college, and mostly get out of the town she lives in.
Charlie lives with her mom and stepdad but she’s an outsider.
Charlie works at a diner and all is well till the owner dies and Charlie is at the center of the crime.
She knows a lot but she’s not gonna tell her secrets but maybe she will. To save her family and friends Charlie will do anything
Good book but a bit wordy
3 5 stars

2.5⭐️ rounded up
Ugh I had high hopes for this one!! Nothing exciting happens in the first 65%. Just inner dialogue of the MC on what she should do and her rules she’s made up. It starts to pick up and then rushes to wrap everything up. Disappointing!!

3.5 stars. I liked the idea of this story being told from an autistic teenager's POV. I liked the beginning of the book but it started to get repetitive very fast and started to drag. I like playing detective but there wasn't much to go on, just the inner thoughts of the main character who seemed to know what happened but wasn't sharing many details with me, the reader. A lot of things were finally revealed around 80%. It wound up being an interesting mystery that that unfolded in a way I didn't expect.

Read if you like slower suspense mysteries and small town settings. Thank you Blackstone Publishing, NetGalley and Wendy Walker for the arc. American Girl releases on October 17, 2023.

Tomatoes, pickles, onions, lettuce😁

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I might. The mystery was solid & you certainly won’t guess correctly in the first half. I also enjoyed reading of a different protagonist, a teenager on the spectrum. I think it was told well. Not lessening the person at all, only showing that she was different, as we all our, in our own way. Four solid stars!

While I love Wendy Walker’s book, this wasn’t my favorite but I did really enjoy it. I couldn’t figure out the ending, which I thought was well done.

“American Girl” by Wendy Walker



“We were all just trying to figure out how to be, in our own ways.” - Charlie Hudson

In this suspenseful whodunit that’s equal parts murder mystery, thought-provoking reflections about life, small-town drama, and manual to the brain processes of a neurodivergent high school senior, Charlie is a 17-year-old autistic girl caught between her dream of getting out of her dead-end town and the troubling security camera footage that places her at the scene of the murder of that same town’s most powerful man, and her boss, Clay Cooper. One of her methods for navigating a world that doesn’t often function in a way that naturally makes sense to her centers around a series of rules by which she lives her life, for example, “Rule Number One: If someone says the same thing over and over again, that means they don’t believe it.” As Charlie’s observations about the way people relate to one another rang true one after the other, I highlighted line after line, and found myself reflecting on how much our society would benefit from being able to learn more broadly from the perspectives of neurodivergent people. In “American Girl”, this idea is front and center, as Charlie uses her rules & her unique perspective to put together the pieces of the puzzle presented to her.

I was able to snag an advanced copy of this book from Blackstone Publishing/ NetGalley, but make yourself a calendar reminder to go grab your own copy on pub day: October 17th!

I was really hoping for more from Wendy Walker's latest novel. It didn't quite live up to my expectations of a thrilling mystery. I found the storyline to be very straightforward, with no real guessing involved. In fact, it was quite boring. The characters lacked depth and the storyline was predictable. I suppose this book would be better suited for those who prefer a more simplistic read, without the need to play detective.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for letting me read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

PUBLICATION DAY: October 17, 2023

Charlie has always been told that she is different - by her mother, her estranged grandparents, her classmates. Autism has made it difficult for her. She struggles to fit in with her own stepfather and brothers. She keeps her head down and works hard - so when she’s accepted by someone, they become her family, and she’ll do anything to protect them. Including what happened the night Coop was killed - nope, she’s not telling a thing.

PROS and CONS:
This read a little like a YA novel to me, perhaps it was the age and naivety of the main character? It’s completely different from other books by this author. I appreciated the opportunity to see the world from the perspective of someone with autism, and have seen this trend (of unusual MC) emerging in fiction. The mystery itself wasn’t particularly engaging, it’s more about Charlie and how she sees the world. But I was invested and was certainly interested in seeing how it would end.

READ IT?
If you’re looking for…a small town mystery from the perspective of a 17 year old with autism - then this one’s for you!

3.5 Stars
- note: also be sure to remove references to "Billie" in the interview with the police. Name must have been changed to Charlie later in the process.

A psychological suspense thriller about Charlie, a small town 17 year old girl who is on the autism spectrum and very high functioning. She may or may not be a witness to a murder but everyone in this town is connected and people seem to think that Charlie has the answers.

This page turning pulse pounding adventure will have you cheering Charlie on. I was so invested in her character when she gets the hot head I could feel it and I wanted her to do great things.

This is a weekend nonstop read. My first by Wendy Walker and yes, I have added her others to my TBR list

This was such a good, heartfelt story about Charlie, an autistic seventeen year old girl who works in a sandwich shop to save up for college, getting out of the small town she grew up in. When a murder occurs of the most prominent person in the community, Charlie goes on her own mission to help protect and save those she loves, putting herself in harms way in this spiderweb of a mystery.

This author did a phenomenal job of writing from the perspective of an individual on the spectrum. She did it with class, while putting the reader into the of the train of thought of this particular character, Charlie. Charlie was so highly likeable and the writing was so descriptive that it was hard not to fall into the fictional world this author created. The mystery was brilliant, slowly unfolding itself as it went. The twists were there without trying too hard for the shock factor as many authors do these days. I really liked this one and most of the characters involved. I highly recommend this, Four Stars.

Thank you Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for this ARC.

I enjoyed this book. I didn’t really see the ending coming and feel like it wrapped everything up nicely. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC

What a great book ! I was so invested in Charlie's story and you will be too!

Charlie Hudson, is a teenager on the cusp of leaving her small town and attending college. She works as many hours as the can in the local sandwich shop and avoids the odious owner when she can. Charlie has autism and uses a series of life rules to deal with the emotions and situations that come her way that are confusing. She is true to her friends and determined to getting out of the town.

When the owner of the sandwich shop, a very important and powerful man in the town is murdered, Charlie is brought in by the police. At this point she has to rely on her wits and her life rules to ensure that she protects those she loves. Can she do it and stay safe?

An awesome character, I would love to follow her adventures in the future!.#Blackstone #AmericanGirl #WendyWalker

I really wanted to like this book but it just wasn’t for me.

American Girl is about a girl with autism, Charlie, whose boss at the sandwich shop that she works at is murdered.

I’ve loved every book of Wendy Walkers I’ve read before this so I had high hopes but the book was very boring to me. I didn’t connect with any of the characters, the twist was far fetched and the end was just ridiculous.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and the author for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Charlie is a 17-year-old girl working at a sandwich shop in a small town when her boss is murdered. Soon, she is pulled into the web of suspects and must protect herself and those who are important to her.

This book was a quick read - fast-paced and had great storytelling. The main character development was great, and while very few of the characters were likable, the small town vibe made everything make sense. I look forward to reading more from Wendy Walker!

This was a fine book, it just wasn’t for me

~This was given by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Walker writes in such a descriptive way that I felt like I was in the middle of the story with her characters. This had a spooky vibe in my opinion and I liked the setting of the depressed PA town. It was good to read a book from the POV of a teenager with autism. I haven't explored many books where the main character was like Charlie. Well done! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Four stars.

I knew I would love this book by one of my favorite authors with the title of such a classic song by Tom Petty. It exceeded expectations and as always with Wendy Walker’s thrillers it kept me guessing cover to cover. Charlie was a compelling character and she won me overquickly - - incredibly smart, hard working, compassionate, loyal, and a girl that deserves a break. The small town dynamics were perfect for this story and I could clearly picture the town itself as well as many of the characters.

If she writes it, I’m going to read it. Especially after Don’t Look For Me. This one has interesting perspectives and made for a really unique read. If you like her previous stuff, you’ll love this one too.

Thank you to NetGalley, the Publishers, and Wendy Walker for an ARC of American Girl. I absolutely fell in love with Charlie. She was an outstanding character and it pained me to put the book down. She was what made this book 5 stars - following her journey and her creating her rules. The mystery part about it was okay - but we need more Charlie books! This was my first book by Wendy Walker and now I’m hooked and will be trying more! This was honestly a pleasant surprise.