When I first began reading The Girl She Used To Be I got a weird sense of dejavu. Never been in the Witness Protection Program (and god willing I never will be), but the restlessness, the need for something different, new, extraordinary to happen in my life I understood well. The need to be an active participant in my life and not just a piece to be moved in some game I'll never understand.

Melody was a surprisingly strong character that I found much to identify with. Not the math jargon--anything but the simplest math goes over my head--but she made mistakes I could easily understand and see myself making. What's more natural for a teenager to do then to hit their parents' weakest point and exploit just so they know they can? So that next time their parents will think twice about countermanding their wishes and remember?

Jonathan definitely made a romantic hero. As Melody admits later on, "Perhaps I did fall in love with Jonathan because he set me free." (pg. 240) Which I think she proves when she originally meets her new Witness Protection Handler and has a number of flirty thoughts regarding him and immediately places him on a hero pedestal because he is so different from the last handler she had. She was ready to fall in love with whomever made her life less dull and un-extraordinary.

What made me love this book however is the second part to the quote: "But I believe we all fall in love for some esoteric and simple reason: the first time a man comes to your rescue, the way he holds you when you kiss, his smile that haunts you and has you endlessly daydreaming." (pg. 240) That is possibly the most realistic explanation I've seen of what 'love' means. In the end she wanted to be with him, trusted him, loved him because he made her feel like a real person. He made her feel extraordinary just by holding her hand.

My only lingering question was early in the book Jonathan mentions the fact that his family has a very reliable contact within the Witness Protection Service and that's how he was able to track her all these years. Nothing more is said and its left dangling with no clear closure.

This was David Cristofano's debut novel and it leaves me eager for more in a genre I don't normally read (straight fiction that is). ( )

From the book jacket: When Melody Grace McCartney was six years old, she and her parents witnessed an act of violence so brutal that it changed their lives forever. The federal government lured them into the Witness Protection Program with the promise of safety, but the program took Melody’s name, her home, her family, and ultimately her innocence. Now twenty years later … when the feds spirit her off to begin yet another new life in yet another new town, she’s stunned by a man who accosts her and calls her by her real name. Jonathan Bovaro, the mafioso sent to find her, knows her, the real her, and it’s a thrill Melody can’t resist.

My reaction
That last half-sentence from the book jacket should have warned me (that is, if I’d read the jacket in advance). But I’ll get to that later.

On the positive side, Cristofano writes a fast-paced suspense filled story full of twists and turns. Like Melody herself, the reader doesn’t know whom to trust, which story is factual, which person truly has her best interests at heart. I was quickly hooked and turning pages far into the night. But then …

That “thrill” that Melody feels coming from the Don’s son, Jonathan... Sure he buys her nice clothes, corrects himself when tempted to swear in front of her, comes to her defense when a college boy bothers her in a bar, and buys her wonderful meals with fine wine. But he’s hardly a candidate for “best boyfriend.” WHAT is she thinking?! What is HE thinking?! The situation just stretches credulity too far in my opinion.

At the end I’m left just shaking my head and muttering “Huh?” ( )

Wow!

First novel, fantastic book! Melody Grace and her parents witnessed a brutal murder and were torn from their lives and put into the witness protection program. 20 years later, Melody (aka Sandra, Michelle, May, Shelly, etc.) is found by the son of the Mafia boss her parents testified against. Instead of killing her, as instructed by his father, Jonathan hopes to save her.

Wonderfully written, this book really gives a sense of the complete disconnection felt by someone whose life is uprooted and reshaped every time a whiff of fear is in the air. And the ending was perfect! :) ( )

Similar to Nicholas Sparks' writing style, this is a gentle, entertaining holiday read which will appeal to all the romantics out there. ( )

A fun, but insubstantial, read. ( )