Siri, Who Am I?

March 2, 2020
Tschida’s breezy rom-com debut sees a woman with amnesia trying to piece together her identity with only her Instagram account as a guide. When Mia Wallace wakes up in an L.A. hospital, she has a phone and a designer party dress but no memory of who she is. She follows clues on her social media to a mansion she assumes is her house, only to be met by a cute, bewildered housesitter named Max who has never heard of her. Max agrees to help, and the pair crisscross the city following leads about her life. Max proves the perfect confidant and the bond they form as Mia rediscovers herself is more real to her than any of the alarming things she learns about her past. But as more unsavory facts about Mia’s life come to light, she has to figure out how to set the new Mia on a better course than the woman she used to be. Mia’s narrative voice—punctuated with hashtags, chat-speak, and humorous footnotes—won’t be for everyone, but the mystery of her identity is fun and satisfying. This entertaining romance puts a cute twist on the genre. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Literary.

March 1, 2020
A young woman with amnesia must use social media to figure out who she is in this quirky mystery. Mia wakes up in an LA hospital dressed in Prada and a tiara with a massive head wound and no idea who she is. The trauma of the injury has caused amnesia, and the doctor says time in familiar surroundings will help her remember. Unfortunately, the only reason she even knows her own name is because of her phone. Having retained a wide knowledge of pop culture and Twitter muscle memory but no clue about herself, she takes to her social media profiles to discover who she is. An Instagram photo of a house with the hashtag #homesweethome leads her to think she might be on the right track. Upon entering the house, however, she meets Max, a grad student who says he's housesitting for a French billionaire, not Mia. With Max at her side, Mia attempts to figure out what exactly is going on before she runs out of money or the true owner of the house comes back. Tschida's debut shines in its prose, maintaining a light, chatty tone as Mia narrates her struggles, complete with footnotes when appropriate. Despite not knowing who she is, Mia has a strong personality that will endear her to the reader, who will worry for her as the plot twists and turns. The dynamic between Mia and Max is playful and fun, keeping the mood light even when things start getting darker. Tschida's a deft hand at characterization and dialogue; characters jump off the page and interact in interesting ways. The mystery isn't easily solved, and the journey to the solution is clever and enjoyable. A strong debut that's fun and funny, perfect for lovers of modern romantic comedies and light mysteries.

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April 15, 2020
Mia wakes up in the hospital, bruised and beaten, with no memory of how she got there or who she is. Her phone quickly points her to her Instagram account, where she's delighted to learn that she's an influential and, very possibly, rich woman with a hot boyfriend. Still wearing the Prada dress she had on when she landed in the hospital, Mia uses her old social media posts to locate what she hopes is her house. It turns out to be the house of the hot boyfriend, owner of a chocolate empire, currently occupied by a house sitter, Max, who's kind of cute himself. Setting out with just her phone for clues, Mia and Max work to piece her life back together, hot on the trail of who put her in the hospital, and why. The mystery takes a back seat to the fun ride, but readers may just be left thinking about how social media alters our perceptions of one another and ourselves. Tschida's debut is a millennial Bridget Jones Diary meets Legally Blonde.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

April 24, 2020

DEBUT Amnesiac millennial Mia wakes up in a hospital not knowing her name, let alone how she suffered a memory-erasing head injury. Luckily, she has her phone with her, and tech assistant Siri comes to her rescue regarding her name, but Mia apparently likes to keep clean inboxes. Her Instagram account provides more clues and allows her to find the place she may have called home. There she finds Max, a science geek house sitter who says the owner is a French billionaire (her boyfriend?), and they set out to figure out what happened to her, as her memories slowly begin to return. This caper takes place in less than a week and requires suspension of disbelief and a lot of patience. Mia is a frustrating character, and part of the narrative's premise is shaky--what kind of hospital discharges a patient with no memory or caretaker? Readers must also contend with many footnotes and hashtags as they learn more about Mia's history. VERDICT Despite the story's few flaws, the desire to know Mia's story propels readers to keep turning the pages.--Samantha Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY

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