Evocative and razor-sharp, Everything You Want Me to Be challenges you to test the lines between innocence and culpability, identity and deception. Does love lead to self-discovery—or destruction?
Hattie's last year unfolds as the investigation into her death begins. She has plans to leave her small town for New York and leave behind who she's been to become someone new. She has learned to be what those around her wanted to to be or expected her to be and she's tired of it. That is the least of the secrets she's been keeping. The new English teacher gives her day some brightness. He seems to understand her and encourages her free spirit. She is a bright spot in his miserable day as well. Recently moved to town with his wife to take care of her mother, he left behind a job and town he loved and wants nothing more than to leave. How far will he go to escape his miserable? Sheriff Del Goodman has to sift through what little evidence is left at the scene. When it leads to someone close to Hattie, the pieces slowly begin to fit with a twist at the end. Alternating POVs tell the story seamlessly. Hattie's angst and passion were well narrated by Caitlin Thorburn. I felt Peter's hopelessness as well as his hope, but thought John Moraitis' voice sounded "older" than the character I pictured. Del's dilemma of what to put first his job or his friendship was expertly narrated by Jeff Harding. Over all a good listen.
*Thanks to Lauren at Simon and Schuster for this audio copy*
