My Sweet Girl

throat and smother the life out of him. How dare he? I can't believe I actually felt sorry for him. I really can't afford any more rent than this, please. You have to help me out. He totally played his poor-little-immigrant card, and I bought it all up. I knew what it was like to depend on the charity of others. To have your life decided by someone who just woke up one morning and thought they'd throw you a line.

 

And how the hell does he go ahead and repay me? He snoops around through my things. Finds out my worst secret. Demands I buy his silence.

 

Another pang of anger ricocheted through me.

 

I double-checked that the letter was still in my pocket. Good. I know it didn't do much to have it with me, now that Arun had already read it, but it gave me the tiniest bit of comfort having it back in my possession.

 

My hands gave another shudder. I sat on them and turned my focus back to Bethany. She shouldn't see me this upset. She sure as hell couldn't find out that my shit-bag of a roommate was one step away from ruining a life I had already sacrificed so much for.

 

Concentrate, Paloma.

 

I gave her my best smile. "Technology, huh? Supposed to make our lives easier . . ."

 

Score. Her relief was palpable, like a deer realizing that the oncoming headlights weren't going to run it over. I wasn't one of those assholes who would embarrass her by making a scene in this deathly quiet, needlessly ostentatious bank. Fair enough that I was dressed like a bum in sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt-it's not like I was in the best frame of mind to choose an outfit that would give bank tellers a good first impression of me, but I was making up for it by being so nice my jaw ached. Model minority, every part of me screamed. I wasn't here to cause any issues. Just take care of my request and I'll be on my way.

 

She smiled again, lipstick bleeding outside her lip line, as she keyed in

rattlesnake!
Criminal Element

Jayatissa's gift for plotting is matched by her grace with lacing her fleet narrative with rich social themes, among them cultural assimilation and the different values placed on white versus brown bodies. In a canny touch, the novel's plot hinges on the literary classic Wuthering Heights. My Sweet Girl may well become, likewise, a classic.
Shelf Awareness

A delicious, twisty, fast-paced thriller with the perfect hint of ghost story.
Michele Campbell, bestselling author of It s Always the Husband

Hot damn this book is good.
CrimeReads

My fave debut thriller of the year!
Crime by the Book

The thrills and chills narrative with numerous plot twists keeps the reader engaged from the first page.
International Examiner

A mysterious, thrilling, and sinister tale that will keep you up for hours wanting to know more interwoven with incredibly relatable themes surrounding identity and belonging.
Brown Girl Magazine

My Sweet Girl has it all: a paranoid bad-girl protagonist, shocking twists, and gothic chills in a totally original setting.
Amy Gentry, bestselling author of Good as Gone

Ridiculously good. Crazy good. Scary good.
Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today bestselling author of The First to Lie

[A] dark thriller of international deceit and murder."
BookPage

"In her debut novel, Sri Lanka based Jayatissa is a master of first-person narration as she delves into questions of identity--how individuals perceive themselves, and the tendency not to see others for who they really are. Her fast-paced mystery, with an unreliable but sympathetic narrator, will hook readers from the very beginning."
Library Journal

Equal parts witty, chilling, and hypnotic, and it includes some of the creepiest lines and images I ve ever read.
Megan Collins, author of The Winter Sister

Starts with a bang and doesn t let up. Haunted by her past, hunted in her present, Paloma must find her life in America, or lose it forever. A richly layered, firecracker of a thriller.
Eliza Jane Brazier, author of If I Disappear

"A gothic-inspired, page turner with enough twists and turns to keep you up through the night as well as a deft exploration of race and gender wrapped up within the thriller."
Nayomi Munaweera, author of Island of a Thousand Mirrors

My Sweet Girl marks the entrance of a new talent."
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

[A] dark, twisty psychological thriller.
Publishers Weekly

"...[M]ore than a bit shocking. This was a great mystery thriller and would make a cool movie."
Parkersburg News and Sentinel