Jacqueline's Reads's Reviews > The Girl He Used to Know

4 It was okay stars

I was hesitant in starting a Tracey Garvis Graves read. I hadn’t read one of her books in a long time and the last book I read was okay but it was pretty popular.

If you could do the audio version of this book I would highly recommend it. I really liked the narrators and even though I had to speed up the narration by 1.5X just to have it at comfortable speed for me, I didn’t mind it. I tend to like my audio reads at a fast pace. I can’t remember the last time I listened to a book at normal pace.

There were aspects of the book I liked and there were some that felt awkward and forced.

I liked the premise and cover of this book. I liked that Annika was on the spectrum, she was beautiful and the story went from past to present. I usually don’t like past and present reads, but the overall tone of the book was very light. That was the real winner for me.

You understood that Annika and Jonathan were college sweethearts and they broke up, but it wasn’t like the huge plot of the book. The plot of the book was Annika and Jonathan meeting again and navigating life 10 years later.

Like I said, it was overall pleasant and light.

I don’t know if the author portrayed someone on the spectrum to the best she could. It felt like I was being told a lot of what someone on the spectrum would feel, rather than reading a book about a woman who is living her life but with autism.

The only reason why I didn’t love the book was the last bit of drama thrown in the end. I read a review before I started this book and I agree with the other reviewer. It was very not needed and it to me put the tone of the book in a different light.

I enjoyed Annika and Johnathan’s relationship. I felt like Jonathan was very patient with her and in a way I wished he knew someone who was Autistic to show how easy it was for him to be patient. He was just a little too nice and a little unbelievable in my opinion.

Overall, I liked some of the book and some of the book was okay.