This was a really fun debut novel from Marlee Bush. I was really hooked on it. The reveal definitely threw me off. The only thing I have a problem with is the title. I didn’t quite understand what it meant.

Bush's writing style was engaging, with vivid descriptions that bring the story to life. The characters are well-developed, each with their own unique struggles and motivations, making them relatable and memorable. Overall, "when she was me" was such a breath of fresh air! I was COMPLETELY surprised by the end! I kept trying to figure it out and just when I thought I had it narrowed down I would get a new piece of information.

For starters, WOW! I read this book within a day. I simply could not put it down.

You follow twin sisters, Lenora and Cassie who have run from a trouble past, only for new trouble to find them in the camping cabin which they reside.

This book is full of twists and turns. I could not see the ending coming if it hit me in the face! There were multiple parts in the book that kept me on edge and my heart rate rising. The split chapters between the sisters was a great way to really see each sister and how they were feeling and viewing the world through their eyes. I especially loved the “then” chapters and how it kept it anonymous on who the narrator was, and really kept you guessing. Which again, I definitely did NOT have it figured out.

I cannot believe this is Marlee Bush’s debut novel! Fabulous writing style and such a great book! Easily one of my favorites of 2024 so far!

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC of this book!

The first 25% of this read was a little slow. I struggled to understand why the author wrote some of the beginning chapters — I felt the story could have been told more efficiently and excitingly without the fluff. There is also a lot of introspection that doesn’t build much and feels rather redundant. I don’t like to give up on books until I give it all I’ve got til the 50% mark, so I kept going, and at 25% it got a lot easier to read as suspense built, though there were still quite a few plot holes.

What are the sisters hiding? What is this past they both keep having flashbacks to? Is their Mom out there somewhere? What about Dad? Why did Sarah move here? And what happened to Tilly?

3/5, it’s a good read, however, I feel it could have been refined a little bit more. Thank you to NetGalley, Marlee Bush, and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this book!

I absolutely loved this book. I am shocked that it is Marlee's debut. This book was so well done. I loved the way the chapters flowed and that we got both sisters' perspectives in addition to flashback chapters. I also love when I do not guess and twist and I did not guess it in this one. I loved Cassie's character and how she worked to protect Lenora. It was interesting to see how two completely different but very identical twins worked together. I did find it hard to believe Lenora was the killer. but there were so many easter eggs that made me question myself. The "Then" chapters were done so well and I loved how it was written without knowing who the narrator was. I highly highly recommend this one to any of my thriller lovers out there!

While twisty and engaging, I wish that there was a little more distinction between Cassie & Lenora’s points of view. I found myself confused multiple times because I couldn’t remember whose chapter I was reading.

Another book I have read about twins. I was invested in finding out about why they were where they were. I didnt really like how the timeline jumped back and forth. It was unpredictable and thats what I liked the most.

What a wild ride this one is!
You might think you know what is going on in the now and than story line but you will not.
This does have long chapters that made it feel like it took forever to read.

This book had me intrigued from the very first page and kept me hooked the whole time. The whole twin thing was very creepy and I wondered the whole time what was going on! The author did a great job of describing the characters so the reader feels invested. Switching back and forth between the points of views was kind of confusing because of the amount of characters. But, I still enjoyed the book and loved the twists and turns! This book definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.

🖤🖤🖤⚡️
3.75/5

𝙼𝚢 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛. 𝙼𝚢 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚜𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚍-𝚞𝚙 𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛. 𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚖𝚎.

The story starts with two twin sisters, Cassie & Lenora, that are living in a cabin in a remote camping area. Cassie is a true crime youtube channel. The twins went through their own true crime. A girl, Tilly, whose family is on a camping trip to one of the neighboring cabins goes missing after a few brief interactions with the twins. The story unfolds as we find out what happened to Tilly, the past of Cassie & Lenora, & how it all intertwines.

For a debut novel, I was floored by the dialogue between the characters, the painting of the picture of the scenes, the feelings described in each sense heightening moment, & the overall writing style. Parts of this did feel like they were dragging a bit. I kept waiting for the “OMG WOW THAT’S WHAT WAS HAPPENING?!” moment that I get reading a thriller I’d rate at 5 stars, and it fell short of that. It went from nothing much happening and I hadn’t figured much out to figuring out the biggest surprise & to too many things going on. It felt a little convoluted. But I do think this was a great debut novel! I review harder on thrillers because I’ve read many really amazing ones.

Things I loved about this book:

🎧 I loved that Cassie’s podcast focused on the victim’s pov. She put herself in their shoes. One of the first mentions of this, she discusses how most true crime followers can name serial killers, but can we name their victims?

📚 the last chapter redeemed a lot for me. I loved the wrap up, the last little twist in the story, the truth unfolding that we were waiting for the whole time.

🖤 I straight up loved Cassie & Lenora & their bond.

I love an identical twin trope in a book, it just adds a level of creepiness to it. I absolutely devoured this one. Cassie and Lenora are on the run from their past and a girl goes missing on their campsite. The emotions were high, fingers were being pointed, you truly didn't know what to believe. I loved the opposite personality in the twins, it really added an extra element of surprise to the story. I really enjoyed the alternate POVs, that is something I enjoy in any book I pick up. This was an intense read for me; I was thinking I had it all figured out and couldn't have guessed the ending by a long shot. I was shocked to learn this was Marlee's debut novel, I am looking forward to future books by this author.

Just finished this on NetGalley and my jaw hit the floor so many times. I loved the different POV’s & the writing style. I can see this author quickly becoming one of my favorites! It was SUCH a fun ride with twists I never saw coming & I was sure I had figured it out. Solid 5 stars for me! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this book ahead of publication! My review will appear on my blog and Instagram on May 1, 2024. My review will also be posted to Goodreads, retail sites, Fable, and The Storygraph at that time.

Review:

If you have followed my reviews on my blog or Instagram for any length of time, you know that I have a knack for pegging "whodunnit" or figuring out the twist way early in a book and then spend the rest of the time waiting for it to play out. Occasionally, an author will surprise me, but it's been a long time since an author has been able to completely blindside me. I am happy to say that Marlee BUsh (a debut author, no less) has done just that!

"When She Was Me" is a gripping psychological thriller that had me on the edge of my seat, eagerly trying to piece together what the hell was going on in the Tennessee woods where the story is set. Marlee Bush has woven a complex narrative that balances the knife edge between reality and memory, leaving the reader questioning everything and smacking them in the face during the last few pages.

The book focuses on identical twin sisters, Cassie and Lenora. The two live together in one of three cabins at an isolated campground in Tennessee. There's a lot of mystery surrounding these two women, and that mystery permeates the story and is really what drives the narrative.

At the top of the novel, we learn that the sisters have lived in the cabin for a few years - they are hiding from something, and the seclusion of the woods suits them. Cassie is very protective of Lenora, who has agoraphobia and is also prone to sleepwalking. The owner of the campground recently passed away, and with a new owner taking over, the sisters worry that they may be evicted and forced to find a new place to live, which causes Lenora's anxiety to worsen. Their situation takes a turn for the worse when a family of three rents one of the cabins for the weekend, and their teenage daughter goes missing - and is then found murdered - but by whom? To say much else would ruin the reading experience, and I absolutely don't want to spoil anything because this is one that you definitely need to read!

The characters in the novel are compelling and multi-dimensional, with Cassie and Lenora standing out as particularly complex and intriguing. The bond between the twins is palpable, but an undercurrent of suppressed emotions and hidden truths adds an air of mystery to their relationship. As they grapple with the events of the past and the escalating crisis in the present, their flaws and vulnerabilities are laid bare, making them feel like real, relatable people rather than just characters on a page. I never knew who I could trust, and I absolutely loved that!

Bush does an exceptional job of painting a vivid picture of the isolated Tennessee campground where the story takes place. The setting itself becomes a character in the story, with its dense forests, eerie silence, and lurking sense of danger adding to the growing tension. The author's attention to detail allows the reader to fully immerse themselves in the novel's world, feeling the chill of the night air and the weight of the sisters' shared secret pressing down on them.

One of this novel's strengths is how Bush slowly builds the tension, ratcheting up the suspense with each passing chapter. The pacing is relentless, and the tension keeps the reader guessing and second-guessing until the very end. As I mentioned earlier, the sudden reveal at the climax of the story took me by surprise and had me smacking myself in the forehead, wondering how I'd missed it.

Overall, I found this to be a standout thriller that is not to be missed. Bush has crafted a chilling, atmospheric story that had me eagerly turning the pages. Focusing on themes of trauma, memory, and the nature of identity. The novel raises thought-provoking questions about the ways in which our past experiences shape who we are and the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love. If you're a fan of psychological suspense and unpredictable twists, be sure to add this book to your reading list.

this was a harder one to get through mainly because there was a lot of switching between the narrators. Both sisters and then a mystery third narrator that we assume is one of the sisters in a younger setting, This made it a little hard to follow at times - with a rushed ending.

I think this would've been better with some more viewpoints or involvement with Sarah or perhaps more foreshadowing. Overall just a lot going on and I had to force myself to finish this one

This book was amazing. The dynamic between Cassie and Lenora was fascinating to read about. How everything tied together was perfect. I did NOT see the ending coming. While reading, I thought I knew what was going on, but I was super wrong and I LOVE that. Superb writing

Marlee Bush and her debut novel will leave its mark on the thriller world! You go between alternating time lines and POV’s. You have a story from a perspective that you do not know that is THEN. And alternate between Cassie and Lenora, twins living in Cabin 2.

If you want a thriller where everyone is lying, a huge unexpected twist that will take your breath and an ending that leaves no stone unturned - this is for you. I am a thriller lover through and through and this met all of my expectations. I will follow Marlee Bush’s writing career into the future

What a page turner! The relationship between Cassie and Lenora was so captivating and I couldn’t wait to see how the story ended. I rarely read a book cover to cover in a day but this one did it for me. If you enjoy thrillers where everyone is lying you will really enjoy this book. And what an unexpected twist toward the end! I would rate this 4.5 stars. Although the ending was solid and left no questions unanswered, it just didn’t have a “wow” effect that I wish it had. (And that is just me being an avid thriller reader with really high expectations) I would highly recommend this book for any thriller lover! So so good!

The story of Cassie and Lenora immediately intrigued me and I was excited to read about how they got where they did and what transpired beforehand to make them want to live in the woods. The story jumps back and forth between POV's and timelines and slowly builds up to the end which I did not see coming. I did enjoy this book but did find myself distracted a bit while reading it but I'm glad I stuck with it. Great book for a debut author and I look forward to reading more from them in the future.

Listen. I have yet to DNF a NetGalley book, because if I commit to something I like to do the damn thing, but this one had me actively like "time to continue reading this book I don't like" every time I picked it back up. I pretty much never check out an excerpt before requesting a book, and this is the novel that's going to change that.

I cannot overstate how much I did not vibe with the awkward staccato sentence structure that infested this book like termites in the walls. I get my hackles up as it is when a thriller fails to gracefully breadcrumb terrible past events (oooooh, something awful happened that you don't want to think about even though you keep thinking about it? guess you better repeatedly brood about it without specifically naming the event, that is for sure how real human thought patterns work), but when it's done poorly AND the style is like "I think of it again. That night. When it happened. No. I can't think about it. I won't think about it," I have to mentally start replacing all the punctuation with relevant emojis just so I can begin to stand it.

(I think of it again 🤔💬 That night 🌙 When it happened 🥺 No 😩‼️ I can't think about it 😔🙅‍♀️ I won't think about it 😖👎🏻🚫🥺)

A stone cold banger of a plot line could have maybe distracted me, but unlike my own emoji-strewn stream of consciousness life update paragraph texts to my dad, this book didn't have that either. I will not harp further because I'm just grateful this obligation is out of my life, except to also highlight that it is a WILD narrative choice to have one of the two MCs be a true crime YouTuber, with a massively popular channel focusing on victims, and then when there's a murder victim practically on her doorstep, she...doesn't really seem to think about the victim at all, does no investigating, and makes no content about it (I'm sorry, you got to a million subscribers while being completely indifferent to the opportunity of your goddamned CAREER?!). This is her full-time job, which obviously came about due to her deep interest and dedication to the subject, but with the complete lack of effect this seems to have on her thought processes this character might as well have been making like, soap cutting ASMR videos. Weird choices in this book. Weird choices!!! ❌😒

My thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

I couldn’t put this book down, it was so fast paced and kept me guessing. Whew that ending too!!
This book is a great read for fans of isolated thrillers! And I absolutely loved the identical twin aspect. Great writing style too. Can't believe this was a debut novel! Can't wait to see what the author writes next.