This is one of those novels that you never truly forget about. Sadie is that novel that grips your heart and doesn’t ever let you go. 

When I first read this book almost ten years ago (literally can’t believe it’s been that long), I remember thinking that it was revolutionary. I had, after all, listened to the full cast audiobook (crazy how far we’ve come). I still highly recommend the audiobook over reading it because I think you get the most out of it as a reader with the beautiful production of this audiobook. Regardless, rereading my favorite book has shown me just why it was my favorite. 

My original review for Sadie can be found here, but I want to touch on a few points in this post as to why it is my favorite book still, and also why it’s held up so well over the years. 

Just a heads up, there are mild spoilers for Sadie below.

So, why is Sadie my favorite after rereading it nearly a decade later?

• The emotions
  • Sadie’s love for her sister is unmatched. No matter how much Mattie annoyed her, Sadie still held Mattie on a pedestal. It was beyond heartbreaking to see how Mattie’s murder took a toll on Sadie. 
• The dual POVs
  • Having this told from Sadie’s point of view (the past) and West McCray’s POV on his podcast (the present) seriously brought this book to another level. You never truly know how far behind West was from Sadie until the end and BOY does that leave an impact. 
• The difficult truths
  • The person Sadie was chasing? An absolute monster. But in chasing  the monster who is her sister’s killer. Sadie finds monsters who are even bigger and worse. My reread for this book happened as a mom. It nearly broke me reading about the experiences of Sadie and others. It was so difficult, but so necessary at the same time. 
• The open ending
  • So many people obsess over “what actually happened” that I think they miss the entire point of the open-ending. Sadie’s whole entire purpose was Mattie. Getting her revenge was all she wanted after Mattie died. Anything after that really never even mattered to Sadie. This open ending, though? It was done so well (kind of like Verity), that people still talk about it almost a decade later. That right there? That’s something special. 

There are so many things to love about Sadie. Rereading this book? My favorite book? It still shows me just how amazing of an author Courtney Summers is. If you’re thinking about reading a novel, I highly recommend picking up this one. SO many things hurt while reading this (and obviously almost a decade after reading it since I still remember how great it was the first time I read it), so please check out the trigger warnings before picking it up. But, as for me? Rereading my favorite book reminded me why it is so important to care. Why we shouldn’t look the other way. Why we should hold people accountable. “Because I can’t take another dead girl.”

Source: Audiobook from Audible

(P.S. You can read this book for free by signing up for a free trial of Audible, which gives you two free audiobooks of your choice!)