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Before She Was Helen
Before She Was Helen | Caroline Cooney
6 posts | 7 read | 8 to read
Her life didn't turn out the way she expected--so she made herself a new oneWhen Clemmie goes next door to check on her difficult and unlikeable neighbor Dom, he isn't there. But something else is. Something stunning, beautiful and inexplicable. Clemmie photographs the wondrous object on her cell phone and makes the irrevocable error of forwarding it. As the picture swirls over the internet, Clemmie tries desperately to keep a grip on her own personal network of secrets. Can fifty years of careful hiding under names not her own be ruined by one careless picture?And although what Clemmie finds is a work of art, what the police find is a body. . . in a place where Clemmie wasn't supposed to be, and where she left her fingerprints. Suddenly, the bland, quiet life Clemmie has built for herself in her sleepy South Carolina retirement community comes crashing down as her dark past surges into the present.From international bestselling author of The Face on the Milk Carton Caroline B. Cooney comes Before She Was Helen, an absorbing mystery that brings decades-old secrets to life and explores what happens when the lie you've been living falls apart and you're forced to confront the truth.
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SilversReviews
Before She Was Helen | Caroline Cooney
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BEFORE SHE WAS HELEN should be your next read because you never know what goes on in a retirement community. 

How could being a good Samaritan and checking on your neighbor in a retirement community turn into a disaster even though Helen was used to being helpful as well as having disasters in her life?

A delightful read. 5/5

FULL REVIEW HERE: https://tinyurl.com/5xa44mfc

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Tamra
Before She Was Helen | Caroline Cooney
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Pickpick

Enjoyable audio mystery! 🔍 Two stories involving the young Clemmie and the elderly Clemmie collide when she accidentally finds herself in the center of a drug related murder in her retirement community. Clemmie‘s backstory is a good one, though I was a little sensitive to the overt socio-political angle. Great characterization though!

JamieArc Cool to see she is still writing! Her books were staples in my younger days along with RL Stine and Sweet Valley High. 2y
Tamra @JamieArc This is a first read for me, I didn‘t know she wrote for kids & YA! 2y
LiteraryinLawrence She was The Face on the Milk Carton, right? I remember that so much from my childhood. @JamieArc (edited) 2y
JamieArc @LiteraryinLawrence Yes, she did. And I think some other mystery type books. 2y
60 likes3 stack adds4 comments
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MidnightBookGirl
Before She Was Helen | Caroline Cooney
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Pickpick

My October pick for #12BooksOf2021 hosted by @Andrew65

I loved this book- I can't get enough of feisty old people solving murders or getting away with them- I am here for it.

Andrew65 Great 👏👏👏 2y
64 likes2 comments
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MidnightBookGirl
Before She Was Helen | Caroline Cooney
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bookishdawg
Before She Was Helen | Caroline Cooney
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Pickpick

If you liked “The Thursday Murder Club”, you may want to check out this Edgar award nominee too…. Retirees involved in and solving crimes, with wry observations and gentle humor, may just be one of my new favorite things ❤️

BookishMarginalia Sounds great! #stacked! 3y
20 likes1 stack add1 comment
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SilversReviews
Before She Was Helen | Caroline Cooney
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Thanks to:

#OPPOSITEDAY
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@TheKidUpstairs

Today‘s Prompt: OPPOSITE OF “LOUD”

An enjoyable read...have YOU read it?

How could being a good samaritan and checking on your neighbor turn into a disaster.

Helen never knew was going on in her”QUIET” retirement community.  

FULL REVIEW: https://tinyurl.com/y4f7ru3z

#carolinebcooney
#carolinebcooneybooks

TheKidUpstairs Sounds intriguing! I remember reading some of her books for teens back in the day, but I've never read any of her adult titles. 3y
SilversReviews @TheKidUpstairs This is the first book I have read by her. Thanks for commenting. 3y
31 likes2 comments