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.

When She Was Me started off well, I enjoyed the way it was told and the mysteriousness of everything. But at about 85% we took a wild turn that came out of nowhere and got things all mixed up in my head. I think part of this was because the characters were all so similar, it didn't make the intended impact.

When she was me

The book starts out by drawing you in with the enticing and intriguing storyline involving twins and told from a dual timeline and povs. The middle to end of the story brought about confusion and some twists. Overall an entertaining read


"When She Was Me" draws you in right away with the enticing and intriguing storyline involving twins , skillfully weaving a tale through dual timelines and perspectives. While the beginning grips you, the middle to end introduces twists that might leave readers slightly confused. However, the ending ties it all together and offers clarity.
Overall, its an engaging and entertaining read, perfect for those who enjoy domestic suspense with plenty of drama and twists. 3.5 stars.

'Ever since that night, twin sisters Cassie and Lenora have been inseparable. As the sole permanent residents of Cabin Two, their refuge on an isolated Tennessee campground, they manage to stay away from prying eyes, probing questions, and true crime junkies. Just the two of them, Cassie and Lenora against the world. The peace and quiet is almost enough to make them forget what happened all those years ago. Almost.

Until a teenage girl camping at the neighboring cabin goes missing, and the memories come rushing back. As the crime becomes ever more recognizable—they know better than anyone that so-called 'happy families' can be anything but—each sister suspects the other knows more than she's letting on….'

This surprised me when I realized it was a debut, because it's really good! It's a bit slower paced than I usually like but the story line made up for it! This book made me curious from the very beginning and kept me hooked the entire way through.
Thank you Marlee Bush and Netgalley

Thank you so much Netgalley for allowing me to check out this debut by Marlee Bush. I always look forward to checking out a new thriller.

When She Was Me is a twisty thriller that follows twin sisters and their relationship. The whole book has very eery vibes from the descriptions, twists and setting. Bush did a great job keeping the reader entertained with mystery and secrets. This book had multiple points of view, which was fun, but sometimes hard to follow as I listened to this book as an audiobook. I loved discovering the secrets of their past as well following craziness of their present lives.

Although I enjoyed the writing style and the narrator's expressions and storytelling, I unfortunately had to dock a point for it being hard to follow at times as an audiobook (because the voice was the same for each character). I think I would have much preferred a physical copy. So audiobook would be a 3 star for me, writing I'd give a 4 star.

When She Was Me
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Marlee Bush

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, Poisoned Press and Dreamscape Media and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: There's only one way out of these woods…

Ever since that night, twin sisters Cassie and Lenora have been inseparable. As the sole permanent residents of Cabin Two, their refuge on an isolated Tennessee campground, they manage to stay away from prying eyes, probing questions, and true crime junkies. Just the two of them, Cassie and Lenora against the world. The peace and quiet is almost enough to make them forget what happened all those years ago. Almost.

Until a teenage girl camping at the neighboring cabin goes missing, and the memories come rushing back. As the crime becomes ever more recognizable—they know better than anyone that so-called 'happy families' can be anything but—each sister suspects the other knows more than she's letting on….

Trapped in the isolating, claustrophobic wilderness, Cassie and Lenora must piece together the truth of what happened—and the sinister truth lurking in their own pasts—before it's too late.

My Thoughts: For a debut novel, this was great. Cassie and Lenora are identical twins. They live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the woods. Their lives are quiet and they can almost bury their traumatized past. Another family moves into the cabin next door for the weekend. Their teenage daughter, Tilly goes missing in the middle of the night. The only other person that could have witnessed what happened is Lenora, however, she does not recall anything as she was sleepwalking in the middle of the night. With a short list of suspects, Cassie and Lenora must try to get to the truth, before the trauma from their past is exposed.

The story was narrated by Cassie and Lenora, in their POVs, with past flashbacks sprinkled in. Our protagonists are unreliable, at best. Cassie is more extroverted, while Lenora is more introverted, does not like to interact with anyone other than her twin sister. Cassie uses the trauma she has been through in a job where she focuses on victims of murderers. Lenora hides from her trauma and is barely surviving. The twins have very different contradictory personalities but have undying loyalty to one another, that they would not break for anything.

The characters were well developed with mystery, secretive, and intriguing. The author’s writing style was complex, compelling, twisty, and engaging. The author had me invested from cover to cover. The author does an amazing job at setting an atmospheric, claustrophobia isolated setting in the woods. The descriptions and scenery paints a picture that draws you in and makes you feel like you are there. The characters were built up in a slow burn manner. There is a bit of internal monologue, but it works well for this novel. The plot was fantastically delivered in twisty layers, even twists within the twists. Then the final conclusion was clever and unpredictable.

I had the pleasure of having the digital and audio book ARCs. I leaned more on the audiobook. The narrator, Imani Jade Powers, was impressive. Her voice variation was spot on with appropriate character distinction. Her pace/flow as perfectly smooth, allowing me to listen at 2x speed with no issues keeping up. This has all of the elements of a good thriller, it was creepy, dark, twisty, captivating, compelling, and gripping. Watch out for Bush, with her master storyteller abilities, she will quickly make a mark in the thriller genre. I highly recommend picking up or borrowing from your library today.

I really struggled to get into this book. It was slow going for me. It did have a creepy vibe that seemed like it might turn into something that could pull me it, but just wasn't for me.
Thank you to Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for this audio ARC.

Thank you so much to Dreamscape for the copy of the audio!

I am torn on how I feel about this book because I really enjoyed the first half of the book but then suddenly, I had no idea what was happening.

I thought the story of having the two sisters who obviously are hiding from something or had experience some sort of trauma. They are very different one Cassie is more of the mother figure of the two and Lenora is reserved & does not leave the house unless she has to.

I really enjoyed the mystery of the young girl going missing and finding out what happened to her. But as I mentioned somewhere in the middle, the 50-70% range was where they lost me. I am not sure if it was the flashbacks or the dual POVs but I just was not sure what was going on. And then suddenly we were in the present and the twists were happening.

I thought Imani Jade Powers did a good job with the narration and tackling both of the sisters. Her tone and cadence made it to be very easy listening.

Even though this ended up being just an okay read for me, I will give Marlee another try as this is her debut.

After finishing this, my review is kind of middle of the road. I thought the plot was interesting. I liked the creepy vibe of the setting and the twin sisters telling the story back and forth, but I also wasn't fully interested in the story. It was a slow burn and had a repetitive feel at times. The narration for this was on point and fit well with the vibe of the story..

⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5 Stars
Happy pub month to Marlee Bush and When She Was Me! Thank you to Marlee Bush, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen 🎧 to this book for an honest review.

📅 Tuesday, May 7, 2024 was the pub date for When She Was Me. 📅

🎧The narrator for this audiobook is Imani Jade Powers.🎧

There’s only one way out of these woods and that’s for twin sisters, Cassie and Lenora to stick together and protect one another. They’ve learned that you can’t trust anyone which is why they’ve become permanent residents of Cabin #2 at a Tennessee Camp Ground.

However as their old landlord dies and a new landlady arrives in the scene, can they continue their strong bond and trust of each other and make it out alive? All circumstances and evidence (<— yes, evidence) leads them to believe that they no longer know each other and of their intentions.

An interesting read, for sure! Enjoyable, fast paced, and even a turn of events or two that the reader doesn’t suspect!

**3.5-stars rounded up**

When She Was Me is an enticing, and compulsively-readable Psychological Thriller centered around twin sisters. Cassie and Lenora are permanent residents at a campground in rural Tennessee, Cabin Two to be exact. For the most part, their day-to-day life is peaceful, and they can almost...almost...forget the events of their troubled past.

After the death of the long-time campground owner, a new woman, Sarah, takes ownership and charge. Cassie and Lenora are initially concerned that Sarah will want to change things, thus disrupting their quiet life. Much to their surprise, she actually seems pretty cool, implementing only minor changes, and Cassie, in particular, ends up interacting with Sarah more. Their life does end up disrupted though, after a teen girl, who'd checked into the cabin next door with her family, goes missing.

The girl, and the unsettling circumstances under which she disappeared, brings back a lot of memories for the mysterious sisters. Both Cassie and Lenora suspects that the other may know more about the events surrounding the disappearance then they're letting on. The narrative cycles between the two sisters, filtering in a past perspective as well and with a past that eerily mirrors the present, and everyone's motivations a little unclear, this story is rife with unreliable narrators.

Both sisters try to figure out what happened to the missing girl, but it feels like a helpless race against the clock, as well as their own personal demons.

When She Was Me is a very promising debut from Marlee Bush. Even though the writing style wasn't great for me, I still found the story to be incredibly compelling; I couldn't stop. The characters were well done and I appreciated the way Bush delivered the twists! When I mention writing style, it's no shade against the author, it's just preference. It was more obscure, more stream of consciousness narrative than I tend to prefer.

Nevertheless, the content and the character work kept me flying through. The atmospheric setting was fantastic as well. I loved the isolating feel, not just of the campground itself, but also of the sisters' way of life. They had essentially cut themselves off from the outside world and as the intensity increased, you could really truly feel their solitude.

The characters were all so interesting. I had a ton of theories over the course of the story about what was really going on; some panned out, others didn't. I always appreciate it when an author can keep me on my toes. Ultimately, I didn't see the final resolution coming by a mile. It was clever and unexpected, leaving me with a big, sinister grin on my face. I had fun and definitely recommend the audiobook as the format for taking in this story. The narration fit it so well.

Thank you to the publisher, Dreamscape Media, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I'm really looking forward to reading more from Marlee Bush!!

Maybe it's because I read two ARC's back-to-back about campgrounds, but this one just fell flat for me. I struggled to finish it - I really enjoyed it in the beginning, but then the story of the two twins just kept getting weirder and weirder. Years ago they were on the campground when a body is found, and now, in present day, the same thing happens. The entire story was just a bit off for me. But again, had I not read two stories back-to-back about people living on a campground, I might have enjoyed it more.

Full of twists and turns, When She Was Me was the perfect amount of suspenseful, mysterious, and satisfying. Lenora and Cassie were such fascinating characters, and I found the POV in this novel so addictive as I tried to source out the truth in this novel. I loved it! It was so creepy, and every time I thought I had finally figured out what had happened, I was surprised anew.


Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When She Was Me by Marlee Bush. I really wanted to love this book. The description, the cover, the title.. I was ready to read it. BUT.. it fell short for me. The book was slow, the ending was confusing and seemed to come out of nowhere. I did enjoy the narrator. I also felt like most loose ends were not really tied up. I am not mad I read it, but it was just okay for me.

The story starts strong with an interesting twin sister POV/dual timeline set up. It got a little confusing, but the premise was good overall. This book loses a little momentum in the second half. It's a suspenseful read with a slow-burn mystery/horror vibe, set in a creepy Tennessee campground - a setting and vibe I generally like, but this one fell flat for me. I didn't care much for the sisters because of these issues, and while I'm sure this book has an audience that would love it, I'm not a part of that group. Thank you for the opportunity to provide an honest review!

This was a slow one but if you keep with it the ending is a good payoff.

After a fateful night when they were younger, twins Lenora and Cassie have relied on each other. Currently living in a cabin on a secluded campground they live a pretty peaceful existence; at least from the outside world. After the passing of the owner of their campground a new woman has bought it and moved in. Then a couple and their teenage daughter come to stay for the weekend and all three of the cabins are occupied. When the teen goes missing and is soon found dead the twins start to suspect everyone that was there at the campground. They even start to suspect that each other knows more than they are sharing. Their peaceful cabin is now riddled with danger and they must figure out what's going on before one or both of them are next.

This book is very slow. Luckily the writing is good and it makes reading it enjoyable. I found both sisters to be frustrating but overall good characters and learning about them made reading it enjoyable as well. However, about halfway through I became frustrated. The story is told from the perspective of both Cassie and Lenora and also a third perspective that isn't revealed until the end. For the first half of the book I was collecting more and more questions and was not getting any answers which is why I was getting frustrated. Luckily I kept with it and by the last quarter of the book I got most of the questions I needed answers to. And the answers I didn't get weren't that pressing to the story. The twist was exciting and made sense which also made the payoff worth it.

I also really enjoyed the narrator which also made listening to the book easier. She really made each character come to life; even the characters you weren't sure who they were yet.

I recommend but I'd go into this knowing that it's a slow build.

When She Was Me is a strong and unique debut by Marlee Bush.

While I found it a little slow to start, it quickly picked up pace, and once in the second half of the book I couldn’t put it down. The alternating timelines, and POV were so cleverly done, after a while I could tell which way was up. In the best possible way.

The narration of different characters was not easily discernible, but in the case of this story I thought it worked really well. I put my trust in the author, and while I was lost for much of the story, it came to a satisfying and shocking ending, with everything falling into place - the sign of a great thriller.

I’m hesitant to say more, as this is a great one to go into blind. Suffice it to say I’ll look forward to future publications from this author.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for a copy of this audiobook. Opinions expressed are my own.

This book was intriguing, but quickly got confusing and hard to follow. The chapters alternated between sisters and then unknown chapters. The narrator used the same voice for all.perspectives which made it even harder to follow on audio since I couldn't flip back to double check who's chapter it was. The pacing was slow and the twist came so late that by the time I realized what was going on, I didn't care anymore. The book would have to be reread to understand what was happening throughout, and unfortunately I'm not a rereader.

Thank you to Netgalley, Marlee Bush, and Dreamscape Media for an ALC.

When She Was Me
Marlee Bush
Nice times out of ten I give a positive review. I like to read, I like authors, I love books; I try to see the book through the eyes of the writer. However, I could not get into this book. I listened to every word but it never clicked with me. I wanted to like it. The blurb was fascinating and promised a great read but the actual text fell short of expectations.
In When She Was Me we met Cassie and Lenora, identical twins. They live in a cabin they rent in the woods in Tennessee. From the beginning the young women seem a bit off. There are two other cabins close by. Wayne lives in one of the Cabins and the other cabin is empty and ready for a tenant. Wayne recently passed away. Sarah Hill has recently purchased the campground; she moves into Wayne’s cabin. This story is told from Cassie and Lenora point of view, alternating between them and the past. It was difficult to discern who was who. A teenage girl goes missing and later her body is discovered.
I found this book confusing.
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

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.

I paired the print and audio and did enjoy the narrator.

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