Title: Sadie
Authors: Courtney Summers
Type: Fiction
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Mystery
Publisher: Wednesday Books (Macmillan Publishers)
Date published: September 4, 2018

A physical copy of this book was kindly provided by Raincoast Books, in exchange for an honest review.

Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.

But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie’s entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister’s killer to justice and hits the road following a few meagre clues to find him.

When West McCray—a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America—overhears Sadie’s story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie’s journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it’s too late.

For the complete experience: The Girls Podcast

– My Review –

Despite being quite busy, I devoured this book in two days! It was addictive, and I was very intrigued by the format used to tell Sadie’s story, because I had never come across anything like it before. For those of you who don’t know, this book alternates between Sadie’s perspective, written in the first person and taking place in the past, and a podcast about following Sadie’s trail and trying to find her. I have listened to a few podcasts over the years, and I have to say that the podcast that Summers wrote for Sadie read very realistically. When I found out that the podcast in the book had actually been recorded and made available on their website, as well as iTunes (among other places) for free, I knew that I had to check it out.

Despite my concerns about the quality beforehand, it turned out to be was so well done! I ended up listening to the podcast portions of the book, except for the last few episodes, which were not recorded into actual podcasts (probably because of spoilers). They used actors for each particular character who makes it into the podcast, and I was very impressed. I cannot say this enough! I also really enjoyed Sadie’s narrative. I liked the tone and the way that it was written (from an artistic point of view). It was very raw, felt very genuine, and left a lasting impression on me. I really felt for Sadie (especially as an older sister myself)! Although I normally prefer happier books, Sadie addressed some issues that really need to be talked about. That, combined with everything else that I raved about, has made Sadie one of my favourite reads of 2018!

– About the Author –

Courtney Summers was born in Belleville, Ontario, 1986. At age 14, she dropped out of high school. At age 18, she wrote her first novel. Cracked Up to Be was published in 2008, when she was 22 and went on to win the 2009 CYBIL award in YA fiction. Since then, she’s published four more critically acclaimed books: Some Girls Are, Fall for Anything, This is Not a Test and All the Rage, as well as an e-novella, Please Remain Calm which is a sequel to This is Not a Test. Her new novel, Sadie, is available now wherever books are sold. #findsadie In 2016, Courtney was named one of Flare Magazine’s 60 under 30.

– Purchase Links –

THANK YOU FOR READING MY REVIEW! HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK? WHAT DID YOU THINK? AND IF YOU HAVEN’T READ IT YET, DO YOU WANT TO, OR NOT? HOW COME? LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS!