BOOK REVIEW: The Girl She Used To Be by David Cristofano

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ABOUT THE BOOK (from Amazon):

When Melody Grace McCartney was six years old, she and her parents witnessed an act of violence so brutal that it changed their lives forever. The federal government lured them into the Witness Protection Program with the promise of safety, and they went gratefully. But the program took Melody’s name, her home, her innocence, and, ultimately, her family. She’s been May Adams, Karen Smith, Anne Johnson, and countless others–everyone but the one person she longs to be: herself. So when the feds spirit her off to begin yet another new life in another town, she’s stunned when a man confronts her and calls her by her real name. Jonathan Bovaro, the mafioso sent to hunt her down, knows her, the real her, and it’s a dangerous thrill that Melody can’t resist. He’s insistent that she’s just a pawn in the government’s war against the Bovaro family. But can she trust her life and her identity to this vicious stranger whose acts of violence are legendary?

MY REVIEW:

I really enjoyed this book.  It’s definitely a page-turner. The general story line is very interesting – a young woman who basically grew up in the Witness Protection Program, Melody McCartney is tired of reinventing herself and not really knowing who she is.

Although I think David Cristofano does a great job of writing from a woman’s perspective, there were a few times where I felt like it was obvious that the book was written by a man rather than a woman. I hadn’t even noticed whether the author was male or female when I downloaded the Kindle format, but at one point I stopped reading and checked because the things that Melody was thinking during a certain scene were so over-sexualized that it just didn’t feel like something a woman would have written.  I also felt that there were a few parts of the story that were so far-fetched it was hard to get over it in my head as I was reading.

Despite these minor criticisms, the book is very enjoyable.  There is romance and suspense and it was hard for me to put it down until I was finished.

Published by Kelly Schuknecht

Kelly Schuknecht is a marketer with a background in the publishing industry. She is passionate about all things related to books and loves helping authors navigate the world of social media for book promotion. She recently launched the course Marketing Your Book on TikTok.

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