Thank you to #NetGalley, Marlee Bush, and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read an advance copy of When She Was Me, to be published May 7, 2024. 4/5 stars for this creepy psychological thriller that kept me up past my bedtime! Twin sisters live in a cabin in Tennessee and couldn’t have more different personalities. This dual point of view, dual time-line thriller was an interesting character study of the two women. Good read. #NetGalley #MarleeBush #PoisonedPenPress

For being a debut novel this book was very well written and hop the author will publish more books.

This book was creepy, dark and just very twisty. As the Nana to Twins i just had to read the book. Dual timelines and Dual POV just makes the book and even though at times was slow i still was very intrigued to find out what was going to happen.

I am so glad i found this author and will recommend this book.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

A Compelling Debut with Surprising Twists

Marlee Bush's debut novel, "When She Was Me," delivers a gripping narrative that skillfully weaves together past and present, secrets and suspense, in an isolated Tennessee campground.

At the heart of the story are twin sisters Cassie and Lenora, who seek solace in Cabin Two after a traumatic event from their past. Their bond is unbreakable, but when a teenage girl goes missing from a neighboring cabin, long-buried memories resurface, threatening to unravel their tight-knit relationship.

Bush's storytelling prowess shines through in the alternating perspectives between Cassie and Lenora, offering deep insights into their individual struggles and secrets. While the narrative occasionally becomes repetitive as different characters revisit the same events, this repetition adds complexity to the characters and creates a sense of doubt about their reliability as narrators.

The tension builds steadily as the search for the missing girl intensifies, culminating in a shocking twist that even the most astute readers won't see coming. Bush's plot is masterfully crafted, prompting readers to go back and reexamine earlier parts of the book to fully appreciate its intricacies.

Set against the backdrop of the isolating wilderness, "When She Was Me" creates a palpable atmosphere of unease and suspense. The sense of foreboding is heightened by the claustrophobic setting, making every twist and turn in the plot feel all the more impactful.

Despite its occasional repetitiveness, "When She Was Me" is a compelling debut that keeps readers guessing until the very end. Marlee Bush proves herself to be a talented storyteller, delivering a chilling tale of secrets, lies, and the sinister truth lurking beneath the surface.

Overall, "When She Was Me" is a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers, offering a thought-provoking exploration of identity, sisterhood, and the dark secrets that bind us together.

Marlee Bush's breakout debut novel, WHEN SHE WAS ME, is an atmospheric, unsettling, twisty, hypnotic crime, psychological thriller—featuring twin sisters and the mystery, secrets, suspicion, and suspense surrounding their relationship past and present.

Each sister suspects the other knows more than she’s letting on—but what happens when the person you trust most is the person you’re most afraid of?

WHICH ONE IS THE REAL MONSTER?

The author keeps you on the edge until the final page in this slow-burn fascinating suspense. Which twin do you trust? Do they trust one another?

Something happened fifteen years ago. Since then, twin sisters Cassie and Lenora have been inseparable. The girls live at a Tennessee campground in Cabin Two. It is remote and isolated, and they can keep to themselves without prying eyes, the media, and true crime junkies.

Cabin Three has had plenty of visitors, from writers on deadline to weekend getaways and those wanting to unplug. The difference between the visitors and the twins is that the visitors always leave while the twins remain.

Cassie films a true crime podcast and cares for her sister, Lenora, who is an agoraphobe. The only time she goes outside is to the shared outdoor bathhouse.

The campground's old owner dies, and the property is sold to a new owner. The girls will continue to live there full-time. A woman named Sarah Hill has moved into Wayne’s cabin.

The novel alternates between Cassie and Lenora and then chapters from the point of view of one twin years earlier, but the reader does not know from whose perspective it is written.

The novel heats up, and the girl's quiet life unravels when Cabin Three is rented to a family with a teenage girl, Tilly, who later goes missing. Tilly disappears in the night and is later found dead. Who killed Tilly, and why?

It is told from each sister's POV, with past (then) to present. There is a lot of introspection about what is going on within the girls' heads and their inner thoughts. They are both secretive.

The author cleverly keeps the reader guessing as to what happened to the girls and they are unreliable narrators. Love, loss, and long-buried secrets.

Hauntingly beautiful! WHEN SHE WAS ME is an atmospheric, sinister, eerie, and spellbinding murder mystery whodunit (literary fiction) exploring trauma and complex, broken, and dysfunctional family bonds. The forest and this chilling campground, which is almost like another character, are the backdrops. Campgrounds and parks are scary and make great settings for this thriller. There is a surprising twist at the end and how the girls came to be at this campground.

Marlee Bush is an author to watch! I look forward to reading more from this new voice in fiction.

AUDIOBOOK: I listened to the spellbinding audiobook, narrated by Imani Jade Powers, delivering a spine-chilling performance. I also read the e-book.

The novel is for fans of Laura McHugh. If you enjoy twin thrillers such as The Lies I Told Mary Burton, First Born Will Dean, The Good Sister Sally Hepworth, Her Perfect Twin Sarah Bonner, and Beside Myself Ann Morgan—give WHEN SHE WAS ME a whirl!

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press, NetGalley, and Dreamscape Media for an ARC and ALC for an honest opinion.

blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4.5 Stars
Pub Date: May 7, 2024
May 2024 Must Read Books
May Newsletter

𝗔𝗨𝗗𝗜𝗢𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞 & 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 •
When She Was Me by @marleebushwriter 📚💖🎧

Thank you to @netgalley @poisonedpenpress & @dreamscape_media for the opportunity to read and listen to an advanced copy of this book!

WOW this book was a fun ride! I didn’t know what to expect. This book is a very strong debut by author Marlee Bush and I have a feeling she’s going to go far. The story follows two sisters who live in a secluded cabin after their parents died. One day a girl is found murdered near the cabin, and this leads to a lot of speculation.

This book is so good that I believe it’s best to not reveal too much about the plot. With that being said, I really enjoyed this book and I finished it in under a day.

The audiobook version was also really good. I was kind of surprised that Imani Jade Powers was chosen to voice both sisters, but she did a great job. I’ve enjoyed other books @imanijadepowers narrated including Bright Young Women. She has a very enjoyable voice. Right up there with Julia whelan, Bailey Carr and Brittany Presley!

In conclusion, I definitely recommend this book and I’m going to put Marlee Bush on my authors to follow list! 💖

𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗜𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘 Colleen Hoover, Megan Miranda

𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘
This book will be released next Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Definitely go pick it up at your favorite retailer!

𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗞 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗢 𝗡𝗘𝗧𝗚𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗠𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞 𝗜𝗡 𝗘𝗫𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗬 𝗛𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪!

A psychological thriller that will keep you guessing from the first page right until the end “When She was Me” will make you do a double take - where you gasp, stop reading, take a moment, shake your head, and reread several sentences - and then pause several more times as you finish the book to rejig everything you thought you knew about the book to fit what you now know. Were you able to follow that? I hope so, because Marlee Bush’s writing is a study of creating atmospheric tension that builds throughout the novel as you constantly question pretty much everything you know: what’s real, the definition of family, the lengths you will go to protect those you love, memories both real and imagined, who is deserving of your trust, and the human psyche. This debut novel is all the good things you hope to find in a thriller: suspense, intrigue, a shadowed past, slow burn moments, heart-pounding scenes, angsty characters, a beautifully dark setting, shadowy secrets, and a twist that I’m not sure anyone will see coming.

And might I, perchance, recommend that you read this one when you are at home and not staying in a strange house or cabin in the middle of nowhere where even the most seasoned individual will need to sleep with the lights on? Trust me on this.

As you read, keep in mind that, “they don’t warn you about this in school. They warn you about men in vans offering you treats to get inside. They warn you of drug use and STDs. But no one ever warned me about the dangers of my own thoughts. No one ever told me that there could come a time when trusting myself would be difficult and hating myself would be easy. What to do when the monster is you,” Marlee Bush.

Thank you @poisonedpenpress and @netgalley for the advance digital copy. I highly recommend this must read novel by @marleebushwriter

#poisonedpenpress #sourcebooks #debutauthor #whenshewasme #marleebush #netgalley #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookrecommendation #bookreview #youshouldreadthis #thriller #thrillerbooks #suspensenovel #psychologicalthriller #bookgeek #booknerd #femaleauthor #femalewriter #debutauthor

🔪 When She Was Me 🔪

This atmospheric, creepy, twisty book about codependent twins living in the woods was such a great suspense thriller. It has dual timeline and dual POV, and makes you ask what happened in the past, and what’s happening now?! The book was a bit slow in the first half but then I became very invested halfway through. It was long for a thriller but had good pacing in the second half.

For a debut author, this book was amazing and I will absolutely be reading Marlee’s next book. She absolutely knows how to make the setting a character itself, and makes you feel the creepy vibes all the way through.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.5 rounded up)
Pub Date: 5/07/24

Thank you Mandy Chahal at Poisoned Pen Press for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is more of a slow burn thriller and I would even say it leans a bit into the horror genre. There were definitely times when I was reading at night and got totally creeped out!

Cassie and Lenora are identical twins living in a cabin in the woods of a campground. They are living an isolated life trying to put “that night” from their past behind them. All is fine, or so it seems, until their landlord neighbor dies. A new owner comes in, a teenage girl is found dead, and things get creepy! Told from dual POV and timelines, this one will keep you guessing until the very end.

This was a good one! The character development was more full and detailed than you would usually expect in a thriller novel, which did slow down the pace of the book. This didn’t take away from MY enjoyment of the book, but if you are looking for a fast paced thriller from start to finish, this isn’t what you get here. The woodsy setting, among other things, made this one super eerie. Every character has you wondering if they really are who they say they are, and if they might be capable of murder. And the end… I don’t want to say too much, but it was a shocking conclusion for sure.

A really well done, thoughtful, twisty debut novel. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for future work by this author!

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 @𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺, @𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘴.

Rating: 3.5
This was a very interesting book from the start.. it kept me reading all the way. Although I did guess the big twist of the story, I didn't see other minor twists coming and that was very good. I listened to the Audiobook, but given that it is told from multiple perspectives, I needed to pay extra attention at the start of each chapter so I knew who was who. Highly recommended for fans of Lisa Jewel.. it's a similar style. #whenshewasme #NetGalley

When She Was Me is a captivating thriller. Set in an isolated campground somewhere in Tennessee; two sisters live in a small cabin together. Lenora loves to watch all the campers that stay in the other cabins, she stands at her window, spying on them and learning everything she can from afar and never leaving the safety of the cabin. Cassie, a true crime youtuber, the "normal sister," makes friends with a young girl, Tilly, who vacationing in cabin three with her parents. Lenora becomes jealous of Tilly and Cassie spending time together, and then one morning Tilly is no where to be found.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Not sure why exactly but this didn’t really work for me. Which makes no sense because it checked off so many boxes of things I like - the characters were interesting, the premise was unique, the atmosphere was creepy, and the mystery was intriguing. On paper, this should have been a hit.

But I was kind of bored reading it? It never really hooked me the way I expected it to. That, and I really didn’t enjoy how there was clearly a big secret that was being hinted at but not divulged until way too far into the story. By the time I found out what was going on, I felt annoyed there was all that buildup for something that didn’t really excite me. That trope can work really well in these types of books, but it felt forced here.

So all in all, this was a fine book, but a bit of a miss for me. But take my review with a grain of salt - I know a ton of people who loved this so definitely give it a shot if it sounds like something you might like!

When She was Me comes out tomorrow!

Twin sisters hiding from their past in a cabin at an isolated campground... The plot sounds great, but I just couldn't get excited about what was going on in this book. Chapters switch between the sisters, between past and present, and there's no sense of urgency to pull you into the plot or make you care.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and author, Marlee Bush for sending me this e-arc to read and review!

Ok. Wow. This book keeps you sitting in the shadows of secrets and suspense from beginning until the end when the truth bursts through making your jaw drop and drool on the floor. I am still processing everything I read and questioning my own brain's ability to absorb the twistiness. The atmospheric setting is creepy and cringy and absolutely perfect for the story of these sisters, hiding and running from someone? Something? Multiple pov’s and flashbacks add to the intense mystery of it all. Overall, an outstanding and addictive debut thriller from this author who I am sure will give us more nail biting thrill rides in the future!

When She Was Me by Marlee Bush is her debut novel, and it was very interesting. It is a slow burn thriller that takes place in a secluded campsite. Cassie & Lenora are identical twin sisters who permanently lice in Cabin 2. When a teen, Tilly, who is staying in cabin 3 with her family, goes missing memories come rushing back. With their past, they know that not all "happy" families are actually "happy." Cassie and Lenora must price together the truth of what happened before it's too late.

This book is told from both Cassie and Lenora's POV and a mystery person from the past. The twists in this book had me second-guessing everything. It was written very well and was a great debut thriller. I will definitely read more from Marlee in the future.

🔸️Thriller
🔸️Secluded Campsite
🔸️Past Trauma
🔸️Identical Twin Sisters
🔸️Dark Pasts
🔸️Mystery POV
🔸️Twists

I want to pluck your brian out and put it under a microscope. Roll it around my fingers and feel your thoughts.

She was me. I was her. We were the same.

They don't warn you about this in school. They warn you about the men in vans offering treats to get you inside. They warn you of drug use and STDs. But no one ever warned me about the dangers of my own thoughts. No one ever told me that there could come a time when trusting myself would be difficult, and hating myself would be easy.
What to do when the monster is you.

I received an advance review copy from Marlee Bush, Poisoned Pen, and NetGalley, and I am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

I was shocked to find out this was a debut. The writing was that of a well-seasoned author, and I was beyond impressed by it. The story is told in dual P.O.V's between twin sisters, Cassie and Lenora, both with an unbreakable bond and a strong love for one another. Now both are now questioning what the other is really capable of. This setting is atmospheric, you feel like you are in the Pacific North West woods, where cabins are nestled in between thick tree trunks. Staying in those other cabins are suspicious neighbors. read about how did they get where they are and what transpired beforehand to make them want to live in the woods. It’s a mysterious past timeline containing dangerous behavior.

This one is a slow burn, but I did like the way that the author was building the suspense, but for those who are not fans of a slow burn, the twisty ending will make it worth it. I loved this one and cannot wait to see what this author comes up with next.

Thank you NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and Marlee Bush for the privilege of being able to read an ARC.

Since that ominous night, twin sisters Cassie and Lenora have remained inseparable, residing as the solitary permanent occupants of Cabin Two, their sanctuary in an isolated Tennessee campground. Shielded from prying eyes, intrusive questions, and the fascination of true crime enthusiasts, they face the world together. The serene ambiance almost lulls them into forgetting the haunting events of their past—almost, until the disappearance of a teenage camper from a neighboring cabin triggers a rush of memories. As the crime unfolds with eerie familiarity, both sisters suspect the other harbors secrets. Surrounded by the oppressive wilderness, Cassie and Lenora must unravel the truth of their past and confront the sinister secrets lurking within, before it's too late.

For a debut novel, it has a very interesting premise which really piqued my interest. Although this book is sort of a slow burn for me, I enjoyed every bit of it. The storytelling of each other’s perspective builds the suspense and tension between Cassie and Lenora. Phenomenal! Marlee Bush successfully brought the creepiness of the story to life. It kept me guessing until the very end. And I would also like to point out that all the questions that I have formulated were answered towards the end.

This book will be published on May 7, 2024. Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! What a fantastic debut. This one is filled with all the twists and turns you want a good thriller to have and then more. I really thought I had the story figured out and nope I did not. I loved how the chapters were written with the two sisters povs and the flashback to then. Kept me turning the pages and wanting to figure it out.

This is an entertaining run of the mill thriller, with both strengths and weaknesses. The strengths are mostly focused on the twin sisters Cassie and Lenora, as we get dual narratives from each of them, which balances out both insight into each other as well as misdirection about each other due to unreliability. Unreliability about how they see each other AND how they see themselves. It makes for a lot of good red herrings as well as some well hidden secrets. But what didn't work as well was that the mystery was pretty run of the mill and didn't really think outside the box, as well as falling into pretty well explored tropes regarding twins and their co-dependence and how that can add to layers of a mystery. I was entertained as it was going and it would almost certainly be a good poolside read as we enter the summer months.

An incredible debut thriller that delves into mental health and dealing with trauma. We also get a heartfelt view into the bond of twin sisters. Ripe with murder mystery this will make anyone’s True Crime loving heart giddy. Read this book now!

When She was Me is such a confusing, psychologically draining and frustrating tale in so many amazing ways! This story is about two sisters that have suffered a very intense tragedy when they were younger and now their future mirrors their past forcing them to take a good hard look at themselves and each other.
This story is about devotion, the strength of blood, connection, truth vs perception. It touches on so many prolific themes while sending the reader on the biggest mind f@#$ journey that was honestly enjoyable and fascinating to be put through. The writing was brilliant. The world building and character creation was phenomenal. I can not say enough good things to do it justice.
When She was Me is a MUST READ! DO IT! I dare you... 😉😉😉😉 5 solid stars ✨🌟⭐💫☀️