When I Was You, by Amber Garza

After seeing this one pop up on my “suggested for you” page over and over again, I had to pick up a copy of When I Was You, by Amber Garza to see what the hype was all about. Thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed at all! This suggestion was spot on!

When I Was You follows a middle aged woman named Kelly Medina who becomes a little obsessed with a much younger woman by the exact same name. It’s the name that draws Kelly to this younger woman and eventually they become unlikely friends. The younger Kelly has a baby boy named Sullivan and the older Kelly takes them both under her wing. And I’m stopping right here because I really don’t want to give too much away. In fact, go into this one blind!!!

This one is labeled as a psychological thriller and while I didn’t feel like it fell into the “thriller” category, it did sort of blow my mind. Several, “well I didn’t see that coming” kind of moments and I don’t always feel like that’s easy to achieve…I can usually call the twists early on, but not with this book. I was pleasantly surprised!

When I Was You was an easy, fast paced read. I think I flew through it in just a couple of days. It had all the trappings of a well written suspense….stalking, obsession, family drama…and features my favorite psychological thriller trope, “the unreliable narrator“! My personal favorite books are psychological thrillers so while I might be biased toward books in this genre, I honestly thought this one was really well done. Of course, as with any suspense novel, there are many unbelievable/unrealistic elements…but overall this one is a book I’d definitely reach for again!

4 out of 5 stars

TW: death of a loved one; violence