The Forgotten Girl by Jessica Sorensen3.5 What in the actual f@ck is going on stars!
This book is going to be difficult for me to review... Everyone knows I am a huge Jessica Sorensen fan. I love her emotional stories with her severely damaged characters. It works for me. This book is unlike anything I've read, especially from her. After reading I had the biggest wtf moment. It was late at night and the first thing I could think was... Yep. That's gonna give me nightmares. This is NOT a romance. This is a dark and disturbing thriller. Maybe it’s just me, but I spent a majority of the book in the dark. I was confused. It did come together in the end, but I still was thinking wtf just happened here!
I’m hiding behind a mask.
I’m hiding behind my amnesia.
I’m hiding.
Lost. Lost. Lost. Drifting.
After an unexplained accident when Maddie was only 15, she has lost all her past memories. Six years later, she still suffers from amnesia. But it’s not just that. As Maddie gets glimpses of her past, she also struggles with the dark side of her. Maddie is not just Maddie, the good daughter and nice girl. She has a bad side. A side she tries to tune out, but often threatens to take control.
I never wanted to be crazy. Never wanted to fully act on my twisted impulses, the one’s I’ve been fighting for the last six years. They were just supposed to be thoughts, but now... is it possible I’ve brought the madness out and made it a reality.
As Maddie’s dark side starts to take over more and more, she starts blacking out. While she’s out, lots of terrible things are happening and she doesn’t know if she’s to blame, or if someone else is setting her up. She’s lost, out of control. Therapy is not helping. Her controlling mother is not helping. She can’t confide in anyone. As things from Maddie’s past start to come to light... she’s more confused than ever.
Up to the very last few pages, I didn't know what to expect. I like darker reads, but this was almost out of my comfort zone. I liked it. The writing was amazing and the story line was original, but it just didn't hit my love buttons. That being said, I would never deter anyone from reading it. This one may be right up your alley, so if it sounds like the type of book you like, I would give it a go! 3.5 stars to me means I liked this book, I just didn’t love it. There was something about it that just didn’t quite work for me. Just an fyi- it is a standalone with no cliffy, though I felt things were left a little unresolved. I wound’t call the ending a HEA.
*ARC kindly provided by author in exchange for an honest review*
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Synopsis
Twenty-one year-old Maddie Asherford is haunted by a past she can’t remember. When she was fifteen years old, there was a tragic accident and she was left with amnesia.
In the aftermath, Maddie’s left struggling with who she is—the forgotten girl she was six years ago or the Maddie she is now. Sometimes it even feels like she might be two different people completely—the good Maddie and the bad one.
Good Maddie goes to therapy, spends time with her family, and works on healing herself. Bad Maddie rebels and has dark thoughts of hurting people and sometimes even killing them.
Maddie manages to keep her twisted thoughts hidden for the most part. That is until she starts having blackouts. Each time she wakes up from one, she’s near a murder scene with no recollection of what happened the night before and this helpless feeling like she’s losing control of her life. Maddie doesn’t want to believe she’s a killer, but she begins to question who she really was in her past. If she was bad Maddie all along and that maybe she was a killer.
In the aftermath, Maddie’s left struggling with who she is—the forgotten girl she was six years ago or the Maddie she is now. Sometimes it even feels like she might be two different people completely—the good Maddie and the bad one.
Good Maddie goes to therapy, spends time with her family, and works on healing herself. Bad Maddie rebels and has dark thoughts of hurting people and sometimes even killing them.
Maddie manages to keep her twisted thoughts hidden for the most part. That is until she starts having blackouts. Each time she wakes up from one, she’s near a murder scene with no recollection of what happened the night before and this helpless feeling like she’s losing control of her life. Maddie doesn’t want to believe she’s a killer, but she begins to question who she really was in her past. If she was bad Maddie all along and that maybe she was a killer.
Excerpts
Teaser #1
After sitting for a while, I manage to get to my feet and check my pocket for my phone, but it’s gone so I stagger through the trees and mud. I don’t even know where I’m going, what woods I’m in, how deep I am in the trees. I could walk for miles and be going in a circle and never know it, but I’m not worried about that. There’s a spark of recognition in my mind and it feels like my feet are following an invisible path, like they’re my compass, guiding me toward wherever it is I need to go. Maybe I subconsciously remember hiking out here last night. And I luck out. After walking for about five minutes, I hear the sounds of cars. There’s a road nearby. Even though it hurts, I pick up my pace, tripping over my feet and bumping into trees. I’m getting closer, the sound of the cars becoming more defined, when suddenly it happens. A spilt second before it occurs, my mind registers that it’s going to happen but before I can respond, I trip over something solid and fly to the ground face first in the dirt, my nose slamming against a rock. Blood drips out of my nostrils and runs down my chin as I roll over, terrified to look, because I know what it is
A dead body.
Lying in the dirt. Face up. Eyes open. Wavy hair matted with dirt and smothered with blood, along with his polo shirt, the top one missing. The man from the bar that got rough with me is dead by my feet. And I can’t remember last night. Again. I can’t do anything, but check. Putting my hand into my pocket, my fingers brush a small, smooth object. I don’t take it out, already knowing what it is. Tears burn at my eyes, my heart thuds violently.
Run!
Bio
The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Jessica Sorensen, lives in the snowy mountains of Wyoming. When she's not writing, she spends her time reading and hanging out with her family.
Giveaway
Jessica is giving away:
- $50 Amazon Gift Card
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