A girl in a new country.

A dark secret left behind.

A dead body which might tell all.

Ever since she was adopted from an orphanage in Sri Lanka, Paloma has led a privileged Californian life: the best schools, a generous allowance and parents so perfect that Paloma fears she’ll never live up to them.

Now at thirty, Paloma has managed to disappoint her parents so thoroughly that their relationship will never recover. Unemployed and friendless, the only person still talking to her is Arun – the Indian man subletting her spare room. That is until Arun discovers Paloma’s darkest secret, one that could jeopardize her fragile place in this country, and the next day is found face down in a pool of blood.

On finding Arun’s body Paloma flees her apartment. But by the time the police arrive, there’s no body to be found or signs of struggle – and no evidence that Arun ever even existed in the first place.

The police may be quick to dismiss everything, but Paloma knows what she saw. Is this tangled up in her childhood in Sri Lanka and the desperate actions she took to leave so many years ago? And did Paloma’s secret die with Arun or is she now in greater danger than ever before?

No. of pages:- 384 pages

Date published:- will be published on 16th September 2021

Publisher:- Hodder and Stoughton

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:- 4.5/5

Que Sera, Sera…. whatever will be, will be? The future’s not ours to see…

When I found out that there is a psychological thriller written by a Sri Lankan author, I was so excited! I have never come across a thriller written by Sri Lankan author (there may be but maybe I am not too familiar) so this was my first thriller book written by a Sri Lankan author. And boy after reading this book, I was surprised at how good this book really was!

Paloma Evans was adopted from an orphanage in Sri Lanka by a Mr. and Mrs. Evans and moved to America to start a new life. Eighteen years later, living in San Francisco Bay Area, her parents have cut Paloma off from their trust fund and she had sublet her apartment to a person named Arun from India. But soon, Arun starts blackmailing her, saying that he knows about a dark secret of Paloma and soon, Paloma finds Arun lying in a pool of blood in her apartment. But when the police arrive at the crime scene, Arun’s body was no where to be found. Set between alternate time lines between Sri Lanka and San Francisco.

From start to finish, I was so engrossed into the book! I must say, the author’s writing was really good and witty and did a good job keeping the reader into the story. This was actually a fast-paced thriller, with chilling ghost folk tales shared among the children in the orphanage at night and towards the middle of the book, begins the twists and turns, so dark and unexpected! The main protagonist, Paloma seems to be witty and probably a bit unlikable character and I kind of had a love hate relationship with Paloma–at one moment, I liked her funny witty attitude and the other, I hated her for her personality. As a reader, I was curious what Paloma’s secret was but with the twisted and unexpected end, when the secret was revealed, I was so shocked that I had to take a breather!! Totally unexpected. The book was also realistic in many ways, particularly about Paloma’s life in San Francisco. Having lived in Ohio for five years, I got to experience some racism and the fact that people call Sri Lankan language Sinhalese as Sri Lankan and many Americans are a bit clueless about Sri Lanka is all realistic and the author has captured it beautifully, making it realistic as possible. Life in the orphanage and the corruption was all too realistic as well.. Overall, I completely enjoyed this book, staying up all night just to finish this book!

Overall, My Sweet Girl is a heck of a thrilling ride that will keep you up all night! Worth 4.5 stars!!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

When she isn’t recovering from a self induced book hangover, Amanda runs corporate trainings on Communication Skills Development, and works tirelessly as the Chief Taste Tester at the cookie shop she co-owns. She grew up in Sri Lanka and has lived in the California bay area and British countryside, before relocating back to her sunny island, where she lives with her husband and two Tasmanian-devil-reincarnate huskies.