Y’all… THE TWIST 🤯 the language, the setting, the characters, wonderful. The twist, though!!! This is top-notch popcorn thriller!

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and Dreamscape Media for the copies to review.

I enjoyed this debut, it is a little on the slower burn side but my attention was held the entire time. The audio was great and enhanced the story, which was so fascinating. Twins are interesting to me and I loved how they were incorporated in here. The twist also caught me off guard in a good way, I did not see it coming at all. Overall this was very well done, very creepy and the ending was satisfying. I am looking forward to seeing what Marlee Bush writes next as she is definitely on my radar now.

Title: when she was me by Marlee Bush

Rating: dnf /5 Stars

Summary: Cassie and Lenora, twin sisters and the only permanent residents of Cabin Two in an isolated Tennessee campground, have been inseparable since a traumatic night years ago. They live in seclusion, avoiding attention and questions. Their peace is shattered when a teenage girl from a nearby cabin goes missing, bringing back old memories. As the crime becomes familiar, each sister suspects the other of hiding something. Trapped in the wilderness, they must uncover the truth about the past and the sinister secrets it holds before it's too late.

My review:
I had really high hopes for this book it kind of reminded me of We have always lived in the castle by Shirley Jackson

Unfortunately, it turned out to be a miss for me. I only read to chapter 4. I really tried but just didn't connect with the characters.

I didn't like reading about the one sisters casual relationship. Her interactions with the guy didn't add to the storyline at all. Their encounters were only physical, with no meaningful dialogue or connection, which felt unnecessary.

The story felt too repetitive and slow, with little progress being made. It just didn't hold my interest at all.

I had really high hopes for this book and I’ve been seeing really great reviews but unfortunately it’s a miss for me. I got about halfway through and gave up. I felt like it was too repetitive and slow and we just weren’t getting anywhere with the story.

This one was an odd read and if I could capture into two words, it'd be mysterious and interesting? I can't even think of how to describe it. You'll meet twins Cassie and Lenora who have been together for a LONG time, after an incident with their family years in the past *you'll find this out the further you read*. Cassie and Lenora stay on these campgrounds when one night a young girl goes missing and they are suddenly the suspects...

I swear anytime I picked this book up again, I kept getting the main characters confused... I didn't know who was who, but eventually I started to figure it out. With that being said, I recommend reading this book in as little sittings as possible to avoid confusion lol. Overall a good read, but it did drag out in parts and the suspense was a BITTTT carried out... As in, at a certain point you're kind of saying "ALRIGHT LETS GET TO IT" - but of course not that aggressive. The ending really sealed the 4 stars for me because if it wasn't for that I would have leaned towards a 3 star rating. This book highlights how far you'll go for someone you love, even if it means sacrificing your own morals.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! When She Was Me by Marlee Bush is a fast paced psychological thriller. Cassie and Lenora, twin women living in a cabin on a campground could not have imagined the turn their lives would take when the owner, Wayne, passes away. The story follows two separate timelines and flips from the present to the past. This, at times, I found to be very confusing but I kept reading, wondering how and when the stories would intersect. There were so many twists that I couldn’t put it down and just had to keep reading. What I was most surprised at was the ending. I really didn’t see it coming. Overall, a great novel that I will recommend to others.

I’m giving this book a 3 star rating.

I found this book extremely confusing up until the last 40 min of the book. Im guessing that was the desired effect from the author, but I found myself re-reading certain parts multiple times to make sure I wasn’t misunderstanding my confusion…. I wasn’t, it was confusing as hell. I found it hard to follow and then of course it all came together in a very weird way, right before it got confusing again, and then wrapped back up.

Thanks NetGalley and Poisoned Press for the ARC of When She Was Me in exchange for my honest review

This book was slow for me to get into but I really enjoyed the pacing, the depth of the characters and how the author wove the story together!

Thank you so much to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for this review.

Holy smokes I DEVOURED this book. The pacing and multi-POV / narration is brilliant. What an excellent debut for Bush. Sisters. Foils yet completely entwined. Something dark is happening in the woods, but who is responsible?

I loved how each chapter kept me hanging, yearning to find answers to the twist. Deep desire to finish and find resolution. I did personally predict one of the twists, but overall am very satisfied with this novel and the time spent!

I’ve seen some mixed reviews on this one. For me, it probably would have been a 3 star book if I hadn’t enjoyed the ending twist so much! I felt the story had a slow buildup, as we kept dancing around some big secrets. I enjoyed the dynamic between Cassie and Lenore and it kept me intrigued. I think at times, the book was confusing, but I think it was on purpose to make you not see the ending twist. After finishing the book, I wanted to pick it up again and read it just to understand better!

If you have been thinking about reading this one, move it up on your list! It would be a great summer read!

Overall, I’m really excited to read another book by Marlee Bush as this was a great debut thriller!

🔪 Dual Timelines / Multiple POV
🔪 Thriller / Psychological Thriller
🔪 Isolated Cabin in Tennessee
🔪 Twin Sisters
🔪 Debut Author

"When She Was Me" by Marlee Bush was a fun read filled with twists and turns that will surely keep any thriller fan entertained.

Any story that leaves me guessing until the very end is a success in my book and I can't wait to tell my bookish friends to check this one out.

Cassie and Lenora are a set of twins living in near isolation in a small campground. When their only neighbor/landlord suddenly dies, they immediately become wary of the new owner.

The new owner quickly welcomes guests to the campsite. but then one guest suddenly turns up dead. Now there is a race to discover who killed her, who this new owner is, and why the twins are in isolation in the first place.

Thank you NetGalley, Marlee Bush, and Poisoned Pen Press for gifting me this ARC. I can't wait to read more from Marlee Bush now!

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the arc of this book.

I really enjoyed this book, I will say I spent most of the book thinking that one person was responsible and was pleasantly surprised by the ending. This book does skip between the past and the present which I found to be helpful because it gave you an overview on how we got where we did.

This book kept me guessing.

Twins- Cassie and Lenora- live in a cabin in a campground. Both suffered some past trauma that is slowly uncovered throughout the book. Suddenly a family stays next door with a teenager and she goes missing and is found dead. Questions start to surface while the investigation is going on and the twins begin to question memories from their past and begin to piece together the memories of what actually happened that made them isolate themselves.

It is told in Dual POV with past and present timelines showcasing the perspective of sisters Cassie and Lenora and their views on everything that happened. As much as the book kept me guessing and I enjoyed it, I did feel it was a bit slow at times, but overall really good.

There's nothing creepier than super identical twins. Ha. Cassie and Lenora have such a mysterious past, I was just waiting to finally read what happened to them and why they chose to live such isolated lives. Although they look alike, they definitely have different personalities. Then when Tilly goes missing, the twins secrets must come out. Lenora was the only other person outside that night, but she was sleepwalking, and Cassie and Lenora both know that it could have been the girl's family that did something to her. Especially since the twins have their own experience with unhealthy families. I loved the alternating POV between the two sisters. I enjoyed the ending and can't believe this is a debut.

This book had the best eerie feeling while reading it as it’s a slow burn that was done so very well. At times, I can get bogged down and bored with a slow burn book (of any genre), but this one really had me hooked. I like the author’s writing style and as this book got going, I was definitely interested and enthralled! I loved that there were some twists and turns I did not see coming and really enjoyed this book overall! I was so surprised to hear this was a debut and I am absolutely looking forward to reading more by this author!

This one did have a twist I didn't see coming! It was definitely a slow burner, at times I definitely wanted things to pick up/be less repetitive, but that made the ending a little bit more of a surprise. I'm impressed this was a debut given the pacing and that it caught me by surprise. I prefer more action-packed thrillers in general so a lot of the slowness/pacing preferences I have are based on that.

However, one thing that I found really distracting and why this was only a 2.5-rounded up to 3-star read for me, was the irritating, grating sentence structure. The. constant. periods. and. short. sentences. were so irritating and juvenile to me. It drove me crazy by the middle of the book and from then on I kind of had to skim just to make it through.

I never quite knew where exactly this book was going to take me but I loved the ride. Have already recommended to a friend and am looking forward to this author's next novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Cassie and her twin sister Lenora live a secluded life in a cabin in the woods. The owner of the cabins took them in and allowed them to live her for a reasonable rent and they kept to themselves and stayed away from everyone. When the owner of the cabins unexpectedly passed away the girls met the new owner Sarah and she agreed to honour the same arrangement for the girls to reside there. Cassie and Lenora had a troubled past and lost both their parents in a horrific way which still haunts them to this day. When a new family rents a cabin for the summer, Cassie runs into the 16 yr old daughter in the woods and they strike up a casual conversation. Needless to say Cassie can not believe the horrible news the next day when the girl has gone missing. Will secrets of the past surface again for Lenora and Cassie as each of them suspects the other is involved somehow or is the new owner Sarah also keeping some secrets hidden from the past. Great story and kept me entertained throughout.....enjoy!!!!

This was such a great debut novel for Marlee Bush! It had me riveted from start to finish even though it was a slow burn thriller. The slow build-up made it even more satisfying once the story picked up.

There were seriously some crazy twists and turns, and the dynamic between Cassie and Lenora was truly fascinating. So much of this book was deeply uncomfortable, and the pivotal scenes were very intense. Overall, this was a well plotted thriller and definitely worth the read!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I can’t believe this is a debut! This kept my attention from the get go, even through the parts that felt a little slow and drawn out (my only real complaint). Nice things picked up, they really took off and had me second guessing what I thought I knew. The twists and turns were crazy and took some work to keep straight, but that’s part of the appeal to me. And just when I thought I had it figured out for sure, it took one more crazy turn. And on top of it all, this took one of my worst fears and brought it to life in a truly creepy way. I will definitely be reading more of Bush’s work whenever she releases more!