I think I’m changing Forthcoming Fridays to a more simple Review tag from here on out. I’ve started to finally get a little bit ahead in my reading schedule, and I’d love to get more reviews out for you guys ahead of time to help you decide what you want to pick up. With this new feature, I’ll be able to post more often than just Fridays, and should be able to let you know about more advance copies I’ve been able to read. When it’s an advanced copy, I’ll bold the release date so you can tell it’s still upcoming and not out yet. So let’s start off with something almost everyone has heard of by now, Sadie!

Sadie, by Courtney Summers
Goodreads ¦ Amazon¦ Barnes & Noble
Series?: No
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: September 4, 2018
Length: 320 pages
Source: ARC
Format: Paperback
Times Read: Once
Rating: The hype is so real and so worth it

What I Liked: When I went to Yallwest this spring, Sadie was the ARC that I hoped most to get. Wednesday Books ran (from what I could tell) an incredibly successful campaign that included both an official ARC drop, and, if you didn’t want to wait in that line, you could find one of several festival attendees who were chosen to wear #FindSadie red hoodies and post a picture of yourself with them to Twitter, which let you stop at the publisher’s table for an ARC at any time all day. Long story short, that was the very first thing I did, and I have no regrets.

♥ Sadie. You will think about Sadie long after you finish the book. She’s been abused by the men in her life, neglected and abandoned by her mother, and she is full of so much pain. She speaks with a stutter, but doesn’t let anyone give her shit for it. Sadie grew up taking care of her sister, and after Mattie was murdered, her focus became 100% about finding her killer. Sadie is on a mission, and no one is stopping her.

♥ West McCray. West is a journalist who stumbled into this story, much like Sarah Koenig stumbled into Serial. You want him to care more, to move faster, to catch up to Sadie, to figure this all out, to save the day. But West isn’t a superhero. West is just a man who got caught up in this story and in producing this podcast.

♥ The Format. The book switches back and forth between the podcast narrative, as West interviews those who knew Sadie and Mattie and investigates what might have happened, and Sadie’s first person perspective as she hunts down her sister’s killer. Flipping the story back and forth like this, hoping that West will catch up with Sadie, wondering where Sadie is within West’s timeline, really created a lot of tension and really worked as they raced each other to the end.

♥ If She Dies, She Takes the Truth With Her. It’s the tagline on the book for a reason, and it was running through my head the whole time. I was SO STRESSED reading this book. I wanted so badly for Sadie to get to the truth about what happened to Mattie, and for West to get to the truth about what happened to Sadie. Sadie grew more and more reckless as the story went on, and things grew more and more tense. I just wanted someone to save her.

What I Didn’t:

⊗ I mean even the part I didn’t like is a spoiler so I can’t say anything, but I totally get why the part happened, I just didn’t like it.