Sadie - Courtney Summers

A Bookworm's World is today's blog tour stop for Courtney Summer's brand new book, Sadie.

Sadie has been raising her little sister Mattie all of her life. Their addict mother left and Sadie has been trying to give her the best life she can. When Mattie is found murdered, Sadie is devastated. The police investigation is going nowhere, so Sadie decides to find the killer herself.

Now here's the fun part. Sadie is told as a podcast. A brilliant idea Courtney! I love listening to podcasts and starting 'hearing' the book as I read. We come to know the host, West McCray,  and follow along with the investigation week to week (chapter to chapter).

"...The Girls explores what happens when a devastating crime reveals a deeply unsettling mystery. It's a story about family, about sisters, and the untold lives lived in small town America. It's about the lengths we go to protect the ones we love...and the high price we pay when we can's.  And it begins, as so many stories do, with a dead girl."

Now I don't know about you, but I was hooked by that introduction from the podcast.

Alternating are chapters from Sadie in real time as she pursues the killer. We get to know her more intimately in her chapters and become privy to her inner thoughts, worries, hopes and more. I liked her as a lead character very much and was firmly in her corner as she set out. But oh, some of it's downright gut-wrenching. (And don't even get me started on the ending!)

Sadie turned into a one sitting read for me - I just couldn't put it down, caught up in Sadie's pursuit and West's exploration of what happened. Such a great read! Here's an excerpt of Sadie.

"Courtney Summers was born in Belleville, Ontario, Canada in 1986 and currently resides in a small town not far from there. At age 14, and with her parents' blessing, Courtney dropped out of high school to pursue her education independently. At age 18, she wrote her first novel and never looked back. Her first book, Cracked Up to Be, was published in 2008, when she was 22. To date, she has authored five novels and is best known for her unapologetic, difficult female protagonists. In 2016, Courtney was named one of Flare Magazine's 60 under 30." You can connect with Courtney Summer on her website, like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.