The Girls I've Been

Tess Sharpe's "The Girls I've Been" popped up on several You Need To Check This Out posts, and I put it in my wish list for a while. Then it showed that Millie Bobbie Brown was going to be staring in a Netflix adaptation of this book, and I was fucking sold.

["A slick, twisty YA page-turner about the daughter of a con artist who is taken hostage in a bank heist.

Nora O’Malley’s been a lot of girls. As the daughter of a con-artist who targets criminal men, she grew up as her mother’s protégé. But when mom fell for the mark instead of conning him, Nora pulled the ultimate con: escape.

For five years Nora’s been playing at normal. But she needs to dust off the skills she ditched because she has three problems:

#1: Her ex walked in on her with her girlfriend. Even though they’re all friends, Wes didn’t know about her and Iris.

#2: The morning after Wes finds them kissing, they all have to meet to deposit the fundraiser money they raised at the bank. It’s a nightmare that goes from awkward to deadly, because:

#3: Right after they enter bank, two guys start robbing it.

The bank robbers may be trouble, but Nora’s something else entirely. They have no idea who they’re really holding hostage…"]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT. Honestly. I just... FUUUCK. This book was fantastic. Feminist and about surviving trauma and becoming a survivor. One of the first chapters says something about how the line "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is a lie; what doesn't kill you makes you a victim. And hoooly shiiiit. (so please, please, please heed the trigger warnings below before consider reading this book--its dark and twisty and lacking in pink sparkles)

The chapters were easy to consume at a quick speed because of the content and the cliffhangers, but also because they were just short. And dotted among the main plot was backstory as well as telephone dialogue between the bank robbers and the outside world. So unique and just a great deviation from the traditional format.

Also, like look at the badass simplicity of this book cover. That (and Nora) makes me want to cut my hair off and dye it black (though, let's just stick to the black nail polish for now, yeah--at least for me, you do you, boo).

I have a lot of things to say about this book, but they're all mostly spoilers so (like the parallels of this book to the #aftg series is just like wooow)... just READ IT.

Trigger Warnings: child abuse, domestic abuse, dating abuse, sexual assault, homophobia, manipulation, blackmail, murder, violence, etc

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