When She Was Me Was Me by Marlee Bush is a debut that any fan of thillers should not miss. This book has me hooked from the very first page. The who time I was reading it I was expecting that Cassie and Lenora (who are identical twins) to switch places with each other or that one twin was a figment of the imagination. I do have to say that the ending was well worth the two nights I spent reading until midnight for. I can't wait to see what else Marlee Bush writes in the future. If you are a fan of Grady Hendrix, Ruth Ware, Claire Douglas, Lisa Jewell, Riley Sager then When She Was Me is a book you will love from start to end. Thank you to NetGalley and Poisined Pen Press for letting me read an advanced copy of When She Was Me.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel! I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was the author’s debut novel. It’s very well written and sucks you in from the jump!

I love stories about twins, and the past/present POVs were super interesting. I did guess ~part~ of the twist at the end but not even close to all of it.

Would definitely recommend anyone who loves a woodsy thriller to pick this book up May 2024!

Lenora and Cassie are twins. They have been living in a small cabin at a campground for the last few years. Running from a terrible night fifteen years ago, unable to move on in the present, their lives are upended once again when a family arrives at the campsite and a teenage girl goes missing. What really happened all those years ago and what is happening now?

When She Was Me has a unique isolated setting. A campsite where Lenora and Cassie are allowed to permanently stay with only two other cabins, just one of which is rented out to new campers. It makes for a claustrophobic yet somehow peaceful setting. And creepy. Definitely creepy.

The story is told by both Lenora and Cassie. We also get chapters from fifteen years ago but we don't know who is narrating. All of them are unreliable narrators, and the pool of suspects is small. You go back and forth trying to figure out what is going on. What is the twins' secret? What happened to the girl? The need to know was intense, a lingering question as I learned more about the characters.
Nothing made sense until it did.

Marlee Bush's writing placed me in the characters' shoes. I felt the dirt beneath my feet like Cassie did as she wandered in the dark. I felt the blistering cold as they visited the bathhouse in the middle of the night. I heard the trees shaking as shadows moved among them. I felt every bit of anguish as Cassie and Lenora struggled with their thoughts and emotions.

Marlee Bush, you managed to scare me with that shower scene. That's not easy to do. What an excellent debut.

Wow, what a debut! This book has all of my favorites in a thriller:
Multiple POV's
Twin trope
Dual timeline
Atmospheric and isolated setting
Twin sisters Cassie and Lenora living in an isolated cabin suffered a traumatic event when they were younger, and are now faced with reliving their past as a teenager goes missing nearby. Many of the events of this missing teen mirror what happened to them in the past. Now Lenora and Cassie are forced to face secrets from each other, trust their gut instinct, and relive what brought them into isolation in the first place.
Fast paced, well-written, and a highly entertaining psychological thriller!

Twin sisters Cassie and Lenora are inseparable, living an isolated life in a cabin in the woods. Readers will eventually learn why, as the events of the past slowly unfurl. For fans of mysteries and thrillers featuring identical twins. Atmospheric, claustrophobic, and deliciously creepy.

This was such a fast paced thriller with a shocking twist! The story of the twin sisters Lenora and Cassie was immediately intriguing because there was so much mystery surrounding these two and ‘that’ night.

What I liked:
- Multiple POV’s (including an anonymous POV)
- Thriller set in the woods
- Shocking plottwist (I feel like fans of Freida McFadden will like this too)
- The writing style

But why is this book 3 stars for me?
- I already guessed the plottwist halfway through the book (that’s on me because I probably read too much thriller books)
- There are 2 moments in the book where the information does not make sense (wrong name and wrong cabin number.. I really went back several times to check if I was reading it wrong but idk I still came to the same conclusion..)

In the end I really liked the book and I would like to read more from this author!

Thank you NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and of course, Marlee Bush for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the advanced reader copy from Netgalley.

I enjoyed this story line and didn't see the ending coming.

Definitely didn’t see the twist coming ! Wonderfully written suspense thriller ! Can’t wait to check more out by this author !

Miss Marlee Bush… what a debut!!! If you want a thriller where you DEFINITELY won’t guess the twist, this is it. I considered every angle and thought I had it somewhat figured out and boy was I wrong.

I also loved how connected I felt to Cassie and Lenora. I tend to feel that thriller protagonists can be very shallow and hard to connect with. But I loved these sisters.

This book is going to be on everyone’s radar!

Thank you NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and of course, Marlee Bush for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3 ⭐️

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for this ARC!

I’m clapping for Marlee Bush! Really good writing from her, especially this being her debut novel!

Took me some time to get in to this book.
The first 50% was a really slow build up but I loved the last 20% where the pace picked up. Plot was really clever. Loved how she switched between timelines but it was a bit confusing to keep track of the characters and who was telling the story. Had to go back and read some parts twice to understand what was happening.

Lots of twists to keep you guessing. Cassie and Lenora have their secrets, from the world and from each other. They live at a campground that’s not really a campground anymore. Sarah, the new owner, is quick to rent out the only available cabin. When the teenage daughter, Tilly, goes missing, weird things start to happen. Who’s in the shadows? What happened to Tilly?
Told in the past and present we try to piece together what happened to make the sisters who they are today. Very slow paced and somewhat drawn out.

When She Was Me is the psychological debut by Marlee Bush.

Cassie and Lenora are twin sisters who reside as year-round residents of cabin two on a remote campground in Tennessee. Cassie, a true crime podcaster, and Lenora, a writer, have managed to carve out an isolated and private existence after escaping the disturbing events of their pasts.

Their quiet peace is threatened when a teenage guest from a neighbouring cabin goes missing. A series of unexplained, and harrowing events follow, leaving Cassie and Lenora to question who they can trust, and even to question each other. In order to survive the present danger they must face the truth about what happened all those years ago.

Veiled in suspense and mystery, at its heart, it’s a story about sisters and their unyielding loyalty for one another. It’s also about grief, and loss, and trauma, and trying to come out the other side of it all. This creepy novel was made all the more thrilling through its ominous forest atmosphere, unrelenting tension, and unsettling relationships. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and author Marlee Bush for the ARC.

Something happened that night......Twin sisters Cassie and Lenora live on a Tennessee campground avoiding all the questions and looks from people wondering what happened.

Then a teenage girl comes up missing from a neighboring cabin and memories flood back.

What did happen that night and do the sisters know more they the lead on?

This was a thrilling book to read and highly recommend for anyone who loves a twisty thriller.

3.5 rounded to 4
This was an original and great debut by Marlee Bush!

This tells the story of Cassie and Lenora who are living on secluded campground, always looking out for each other. They also have a secret that they will do anything to protect.

When a new neighbor arrives, their little seclusion is turned upside down. There is a murder, strange occurances and the sisters doubting one another.

What is really happening in their area? And who can they trust?

The book gives Cassie and Leonra's POV, along with a "then" POV. There are some great twists and connections.

Thank you Netgalley, publisher and author for the ARC in return for an honest review.

This is another one that I was torn on. It was a very slow burn for me. I’m used to books that have a much faster pace, so I had to really get past the slowness of it. But the story was interesting enough to stick with it. Mostly because I just wanted to see if I was right about the ending, (I was, mostly). The last 30% or so of it definitely made up for the slowness of the first half of it though. That’s where I’m torn. The reason for my rating is not just because of the last 30%. For all intents and purposes, the writing was well-done and she had characters that I wanted to know more about, even though I didn’t like them much. I’m giving this one 3.5 stars rounded to 4 for the writing and the great use of dual POV and dual timeline.

Huge thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

The story follows twins, Cassie and Lenora who live deep in the woods, as they try to deal with the a ref’s of their past. When a young girl goes missing in those woods, the women are caught up in the middle of the mystery. Told in dual timelines and multiple pov, this story was decent, but didn’t really excite me too much. I ended up skimming about half way through to get to the ended of the book. I did enjoy the complicated characters of Cassie and Lenora and how they support each other no matter what. The twists were pretty predictable in the end.

Outlier alert! I didn’t love this one as much as I wanted to. It has so many excellent reviews, but I think it was perhaps just not what I was expecting. Still an entertaining read. I did enjoy it.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Marlee Bush's "When She Was Me" plunges readers into a suspenseful journey through the tangled lives of twin sisters Cassie and Lenora. 🌲 Set against the backdrop of an isolated Tennessee campground, the narrative unfolds with a sense of impending danger that keeps readers glued to the page. 💔 From the moment a teenage girl goes missing, the sisters are forced to confront their own past traumas and the unsettling secrets they've buried deep within.

Bush expertly navigates the complexities of sisterhood and survival in a gripping tale that is as haunting as it is suspenseful. 🕵️‍♀️ As Cassie and Lenora race against time to unravel the truth, the claustrophobic wilderness becomes a character in itself, adding an extra layer of tension to the already gripping plot.

If you're a fan of thrilling mysteries with twists you won't see coming, 'When She Was Me' is a must-read. Bush's masterful storytelling will leave you breathless until the very end 📚✨

When She Was Me is a fantastic debut from Marlee Bush and I look forward to seeing what she brings us next! This one kept me on my toes and intrigued the whole way through. I read it in one sitting!

The twists in this book - let me tell you! I appreciate that this wasn't set up like a typical thriller. You have a special dynamic here given the main characters are sisters. There is a certain trust level we often give siblings based on that sole fact, yet that exact thing is tested deeply in this wild ride of a story!
Throughout this book, you are left wondering often if Cassie and Lenora are truly the victims they are portrayed to be, or if there is something deeper to their story.
The varying points of view in this narrative keep it interested, but I also found myself less interested in some parts because of this. It is a bit slow in the middle, but the ending is not what I thought! The twists in this kept me engaged throughout.