The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves – Blog Tour

A huge thanks to Tracy Fenton from https://www.compulsivereaders.com/ for organising this tour and to Tracey Garvis Graves, Trapeze Publishing and Netgalley for a copy of this novel in return for a fair and unbiased review

Synopsis

What if you had a second chance at first love?

Annika Rose likes being alone.
She feels lost in social situations, saying the wrong thing or acting the wrong way. She just can’t read people. She prefers the quiet solitude of books or playing chess to being around others. Apart from Jonathan. She liked being around him, but she hasn’t seen him for ten years. Until now that is. And she’s not sure he’ll want to see her again after what happened all those years ago.

Annika Rose likes being alone.
Except that, actually, she doesn’t like being alone at all.

My Thoughts

This is one of those novels that you read expecting one thing and get something so surprisingly and wonderfully different that you spend days in a book hangover when it’s finished.

I was expecting a typical romance story – which I love – but what I got was lovable characters, a story of love past and present and a brilliant representation of what life can be like as an autistic woman.

Annika isn’t like everyone else but at college she meets Jonathan who seems to understand and love her the way she is but something causes their relationship to end leaving both of them broken hearted.  Ten years later an accidental meet brings them together again and so begins a new chapter of their story.

Not The Girl is intelligent and beautifully written and driven by wonderful characters.  The narrative is told by Jonathan and Annika and also moves timelines from present to ten years ago.

Annika struggles with social situations, noise, smells and change.  She is written with such care and love and it’s hard not to find her totally irresistible.  Her sensitivities really bring her to life and make her a very unique and realistic character and the way she has learned to manage these and develop her skills but still remains the same person at her core is just a delight to read across the two timelines.  I adore that she is written in a way that shows despite her difficulties, she can live a strong and independent life.

Jonathan is captivated by Annika form when they first meet and ten years later seems to have never gotten over her.  His perspective shows a different aspect of their relationship and although he can get frustrated with her (as all people in relationships do) he just seems to know how to support Annika when it’s needed.

Together they make a perfect couple but life isn’t always that easy and love isn’t always a fairy tale.

Once started, this novel is difficult to put down.  I cannot recommend it enough.

 

Author Bio – Tracey Garvis Graves

Tracey Garvis-Graves lives in a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa, with her husband, two children, and dog Chloe. She blogs at http://www.traceygarvisgraves.com, and can also be found on Twitter @tgarvisgraves and Facebook at facebook.com/tgarvisgraves. This is her first novel.