"That's Not My Name" by Megan Lally

 Wow!

This one had my heart racing!!! My anxiety went through the roof!

And I LOVED every minute of it!!!!

This might be my new favorite thriller!

If you liked any of the following books,

Then, you will LOVE "That's Not My Name".

A teen girl is found injured and bloody on the side of the road with no memory of who she is or what happened to her.  A police officer happens to stumble across her in the middle of the night and takes her back to the police station to try to figure out what happened. Not long after they arrive, a middle aged man shows up claiming the injured girl is his daughter, and he even has her birth certificate and pictures of her on his phone to prove it. After the police officer verifies the documents, "Mary" is released back into his care, hoping that her memories will return and she will remember this man. However, a series of odd incidents leads "Mary" to question if this man is who he says he is. And if he isn't her father, what does he want with her?

Drew, a teenage boy from a town about 2 hours away, is vilified by the entire town when his girlfriend, Lola, goes missing and he was the last person to see her alive. Most people in the town think Drew killed Lola, including the sheriff. Instead of actually looking for Lola, everyone just expects Drew to tell the police what he did to Lola so her family can have closure. But Drew isn't going to stop looking for Lola, no matter what it takes. With the help of his cousin, Max, and an unlikely ally, Drew finds a lead that proves Lola is still alive and he will do whatever it takes to bring her home. 

This short, fast paced thriller is told in alternating points of view between Drew and "Mary", which I loved but it also drove me nuts at times. I was so desperate to know what was going to happen next with the current character I was reading about that I didn't want to switch points of view.  

The suspense was intense and this is easily one of my favorite books that I have read in the past couple of months. Although it seems like the story is pretty straightforward, there were plenty of twists and turns in the plot that kept me constantly guessing and holding my breath.  I even had tears in my eyes by the end of the book. 

I can already tell I am going to have a Book Hangover after this one. 

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

"Be Not Far From Me" by Mindy McGinnis

 Warning: 

YOU ARE GOING TO NEED A STRONG STOMACH FOR THIS ONE!

This survival story is not for squeamish readers.

One stupid mistake leads to a fight for survival for 17 year old Ashley. At the suggestion of one of her friends, Ashley and her boyfriend, Duke, and several other classmates decide to have a party off one of the trails in the national forest to celebrate the end of their junior year of high school. 

Plenty of privacy

No adult supervision.

Surrounded by nature.

The perfect plan, right?

But when Ashley stumbles across her boyfriend getting a little too cozy with another girl, her rage and pain send her crashing into the forest with no light, no shoes, and no phone. In the pitch black of the forest, Ashley doesn't see the fall coming her way which results in a debilitating injury. 

Ashley has always loved the woods and has always had an interest in wilderness survival ever since she started going to summer camp as a kid. So she knows exactly how bad her situation is, and she also knows that no one is going to come looking for her for days because they will all assume she hiked back home by herself. 

If Ashley wants to get out of the forest alive, she is going to have to confront all the dangers and obstacles the forest has to offer and find her own way back to civilization. But confronting what is inside of her and finding the strength to go on may be her greatest challenge. 

Be Not Far From Me is a raw survival story that reminds readers that while nature is beautiful, it is not tame. McGinnis also wasn't tame in her descriptions of the pain Ashley endured or the experiences she had to go through in order to survive.

Mild spoilers:

Injuries that expose bone to the elements

Removing infected flesh in order to survive. 

Eating anything she could find to prevent starvation.

(And these aren't event the worst things, but I don't want to spoil it.😀)

I deeply regretted reading parts of this book during my lunch shift, but the story was compelling. Ashley's strength and determination in the face of overwhelming odds made me root for her, despite her being a flawed human being who had made many mistakes in her young life. Ashley was a relatable character for this reason. She wasn't perfect, but she never quit. 

Despite some of gruesome elements that came along with this kind of survival story, I truly enjoyed Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis.