Downloading The Girl in Question (The Girls I've Been #2) (UK Edition)

The highly anticipated sequel to the must-read psychological thriller The Girls I've Been (soon to be a Netflix film).

Nora O'Malley has survived . . . senior year, that is. School's over, but her life isn't, which is weird since last she checked, her murderous stepdad Raymond is finally free.

Determined to enjoy summer before her (possibly) imminent demise, Nora plans a backpacking trip with Iris and Wes. And Wes's girlfriend tags along. Amanda's nice, so it's not a huge issue. Until she gets taken. Or rather, mis-taken . . . for Nora, that is.

Now they're deep in the woods. Raymond has a hostage. Nora has no leverage. Iris is carving spears out of sticks. And Wes is building booby traps.

It'll take all of them to make it out alive.

But someone is lying. Someone is keeping secrets. And someone has to die.

Praise for THE GIRLS I'VE BEEN

'Unlike anything I've read before... immediate, gripping, incredibly tense, heart-breaking, heart-warming and FUN! ' - Holly Jackson, author of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

'Slick, stylish and full of suspense' Sophie McKenzie, author of Girl, Missing

'A powerful gut-punch of a book that will leave you reeling long after its final pages. I couldn't put it down!' Chelsea Pitcher, author of This Lie Will Kill You

'I could hardly breathe until I finished. The tension! Absolutely loved it.' Emily Barr, author of The One Memory of Flora Banks

Gr 9 Up-Until she was 12 years old, Nora, who is white, had many names. Each came with a unique personality designed to help her mother complete the con she ran with the men she targeted. Beautiful and blonde, athletic with dark braids, and other appearances, each girl served a purpose to pull the most money out of the game. The last con ended when her mother fell in love with a man who knew the game far better than she, leading to a disastrous confrontation that sends him and Nora's mother to prison. Rescued by her older sister, Lee, who escaped the same family dynamic, Nora is helped by therapy, her white best friend Wes, and her new love, freckled brunette Iris. Also children of abuse, they help her to regain a sense of who she really is. All of this is threatened, however, when one day they happen to be in a bank as a robbery unfolds. This action-packed story sizzles with suspense as Nora quickly grasps that this is a situation she not only understands, but all that she has learned until now can work in her favor. She is going to run a daring con to facilitate their escape. Told in alternating chapters as the bank con unfolds, readers meet each of the girls that Nora became, the results of their cons and how each shapes her, giving her the skills she uses now to escape. But Nora can't do this alone. VERDICT In this thriller, characters prove that they can rely on their strength, friendship, and desire to be the confident and caring people they know themselves to be.-Connie Williams, Petaluma, CAα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A FORBES , BUZZFEED , BOOK RIOT AND KIRKUS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR **

*A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY AND CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR*

A BUSTLE , REFINERY29 , COSMOPOLITAN , BUZZFEED AND MARIE CLAIRE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2021

A BEST BOOK OF JANUARY 2021 ON POPSUGAR , E! ONLINE , BOOK RIOT , BITCH MEDIA , LGBTQREADS , AND CULTURESS

A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

A COSMOPOLITAN 100 BEST YA BOOKS EVERYONE SHOULD READ, REGARDLESS OF THEIR AGE

AN ALA RISE: FEMINIST BOOK PROJECT AND ALA RAINBOW BOOK LIST SELECTION

★ “A captivating, explosive, and satisfyingly queer thriller.” — Kirkus, starred review

★ "An arrestingly incisive narrative . . . fiercely captivating and impressively characterized, this tightly plotted thriller is engrossing from start to finish." -- Booklist , starred review

★ "Not since Veronica Mars have hardscrabble swagger, enormous grief and teenage noir been combined into such a satisfying piece of storytelling. The Girls I've Been is a heart-wrenching, perfectly paced, cinematic thriller . . . a romance, a tragedy and a story about reclaiming agency and power. It is a triumph." —Bookpage , starred review**

"YA thriller fans, The Girls I've Been is the perfect read for you." —BuzzFeed

"This action-packed story sizzles with suspense . . . In this thriller, characters prove that they can rely on their strength, friendship, and desire to be the confident and caring people they know themselves to be." —School Library Journal

"Sharpe ( Barbed Wire Heart ) focuses as much on [Nora's] trauma—and the systems of power that enable and excuse abuse—as on mystery and heart-pounding action . . . the small, complex cast of characters and emotional core make this a poignant thriller." -- *Publishers Weekly

• "The tension is absolutely nailbiting." *—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
• “A non-stop thrill ride… This book is so INTENSE. It jumps back and forth from the robbery in progress to Nora’s earlier life with her mother, a con woman married to a dangerous man. It’s so well done, extremely cinematic.” *—Book Riot
• “If you’re looking for a queer YA contemporary book with complex characters, loads of action to keep you reading WAY past your bedtime — and a story so well written I might have shed a tear over it — you need to read The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe. It will keep you captivated until the last page.” —Culturess

“Quick, full of plot twists and reveals that will have the reader on the edge of their seat . . . Strong female leads and well-written characters.” —Screen Rant

Born in a mountain cabin to a punk-rocker mother, Tess Sharpe grew up in rural northern California. She lives deep in the backwoods with a pack of dogs and a growing colony of formerly feral cats. She is the author of Barbed Wire Heart , the critically acclaimed YA novel Far From You , and the Jurassic World prequel, The Evolution of Claire.

Tess is also the co-editor of the young adult book, Toil & Trouble, a feminist anthology about witches.

Chapter 1: August 8, 9:09AM

It was supposed to be twenty minutes.

That’s what I told myself when I woke up that morning. It wouldbe just twenty minutes. We’d meet in the bank parking lot, we’d go in, we’d make the deposit, and it would be awkward, it would be so awkward, but it would be twenty minutes, tops.

I could survive twenty minutes with my ex-boyfriend and new girlfriend. I could handle the awkwardness. I was a freaking champ.

I even got donuts, thinking maybe that would help smooth things over after last night’s make-out interruptus, which I know is downplaying what happened. I get fried dough can’t fix everything, but still. Everyone loves donuts. Especially when they have sprinkles . . . or bacon. Or both. So I get the donuts—and coffee, because Iris is basically a grizzly bear unless she downs some caffeine in the morning—and of course, that makes me late. By the time I pull up to the bank, they’re both already there.

Wes is out of his truck, tall and blond and leaning against the chipped tailgate, the bank envelope with all the cash from last night next to him. Iris is lounging on the hood of her Volvo in her watercolor dress, her curls swinging as she plays with that lighter she found on the railroad tracks. She’s gonna set her brush-out on fire one of these days, I swear to God.

“You’re late” is the first thing Wes says when I get out of my car.

“I brought donuts.” I hand Iris her coffee, and she hops off the hood.

“Thanks.”

“Can we just get this over with?” he asks. He doesn’t even look at the donuts. My stomach clenches. Are we really back to this? How can we be back to this, after everything?

I press my lips together, trying not to look too annoyed. “Fine.” I put the bakery box back in my car. “Let’s go.” I snatch up the envelope from his tailgate.

The bank’s just opened, so there are only two people ahead of us. Iris fills out the deposit slip, and I stand in line with Wes right behind me.

The line moves as Iris walks over with the slip, taking the envelope from me and tucking it into her purse. She looks warily at Wes, then at me.

I bite my lip. Just a few more minutes.

Iris sighs. “Look,” she says to Wes, propping her hands on her hips. “I understand that the way you found out wasn’t great. But—”

That’s when Iris is interrupted.

But not by Wes.

No, Iris gets interrupted by the guy in front of us. Because the guy in front of us? He chooses that moment to pull out a gun and start robbing the freaking bank.

The first thing I think is Shit! The second thing I think is Get down. And the third thing I think is We’re all gonna die because I waited for the bacon donuts.