I never heard of this author before, but she’s apparently very popular in thriller reader circles. I have to say that this book which is out of the norm for her was very very good. We got some time travel here with some heart. And I do say heart though parts of the book is heartbreaking. I really did enjoy this and am happy I got to read something that took my mind off of things for a bit.
“The Girl I Was” follows Alexis who has had a bad run of luck since college. She finally thinks her luck has turned though when she finally hits the 1 year mark at her temp job which she was told would become permanent. Unfortunately, Alexis is let go, goes home, picks a fight with her long-term boyfriend, Andrew, breaks up with her. She finds a bottle that she didn’t recall from her so-so friends from college. She drinks it and wakes up back on her college campus. We get a twist though because Alexis is still in her 30s in this timeline and goes and finds her younger self (going by Lexie) who doesn’t believe Alexis at first, but promptly wants her gone though.
The book follows Alexis mostly (with some chapters with Lexie as the lead) who is determined to make her younger self change because it has to be her fault that the future that Alexis has is so bad right now.
I thought the book was insightful. I know that a lot of my college friendships just didn’t survive after graduation outside of one (Tanya–still hanging tight for 20 years!) and mostly that’s because you don’t let yourselves be vulnerable with each other. I also thought that Rose did a great job of not letting us readers know everything that was going on with with Alexis and the big event that changed/shaped her. I thought it was cleverly done. Parts of this book made me laugh and other parts made me tear up.
All in all, a great book about forgiving your younger self and moving on and being the better for it. And oh yeah, the confirmation that inspirational quotes really do suck.