Ghosts, Dating Apps & a Serial Killer?! (Ask for Andrea)

Ghosts. Dating apps. A serial killer.

This week I’m reviewing Ask for Andrea by Noelle Ihli, a fast-paced thriller told from the POV of three murdered girls trying to get justice from beyond the grave. 

Messy thoughts, honest reactions, and my final verdict—was it actually good?

https://www.threads.com/@dwrtsbpodcast?xmt=AQF0Fkz9eLEVexsjff3_t2GBl6-AoOmx3XFc_iip9YNQTpM

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hi everyone, it's Sadie, and welcome to another episode of Did We Read the Same Book? Um, so for this week, I am reading Ask for Andrea by Noelle Ely. And it's not a very long book, so this one shouldn't take me forever. I'm already I'm not halfway done with it yet. I just started today by saying like maybe 30% in so far. Okay, so this one I like it. I I do like it so far, and I'm excited to, you know, see what happens and to finish it. It is from a really interesting point of view, I think. I don't know. It is from the point of view of victims of murder, but they are already they're already deceased, so they are ghosts. And I wasn't super sure about it because I was like, eh, from ghosts. It kind of reminds me of um, oh my gosh, what is that really sad book with you know lovely bones? That book is super sad, pulls at the heartstrings. I think it's a oh you read it once and then never again kind of book. But anyways, that's what this reminds me of a little bit, but for some reason it's not as heartbreaking because all of the murders are explained in the very, very beginning, and it's kind of quick, it's fast, it's not really in-depth or descriptive, and we don't really get to know the girls' lives beforehand, you know. So, like the book opens up with their first encounters kind of, and then we get backstory is what's happening now. So horrible, but okay, so let me get into it a little bit more. Sorry guys, my brain is not working today for some reason. So we have three different girls or you know, young women who are the main characters, and it's told from their their different points of views. So, first we have um, I think it's uh Bricia, I think is her name, is how you pronounce it, and she is we're introduced to her first. She was dating this guy for a week, right? And then she felt like it wasn't working out, and he was a little weird and off-putting, kind of like he looked really handsome. They he's explained to look like um kind of like a hem uh Chris Hemsworth, so you know, super cute, super attractive, older man though, and he is you know going after these younger women. He they're meeting him through dating apps, so be wary, I guess. I don't know. I don't know if this is a cautionary tale about dating apps, but yes, that's how it's happening, though. That's how he's meeting them. So he he's making his profile and you know, tailoring it to make him seem like he's really nice and friendly and fun and whatever, you know, and obviously he's good looking. So he meets the first character, Bricia, I think, and they start actually dating and their boyfriend and girlfriend, and then she does break it off, she breaks up with him because she's getting like her spidey senses are kicking in, and she's kind of like, I don't know, something's something's off. I don't know what, but I don't really feel the most comfortable with him. So then she breaks it off, and then he starts kind of like going into stalker mode, and this happens for a whole year where he's like aggressively texting her and messaging her, and he just cannot take um, you know, like I guess being tert told no, so he doesn't accept that, and he's like, you know, take me back, and then he's like, Why aren't you talking to me? And he starts calling her names and being very vile. Um, and that goes on for a year. She doesn't tell anybody really about it except for like maybe her friends, and she doesn't really tell anybody to that extent because she kind of feels like he's a little harmless, and it is what it is. So she moves on, and then she doesn't talk to him for months, and then he sneaks up on her one day, she's taking her trash out to the bin, and while she's doing that, he takes jumper cables, I think, out of her trash, and then he strangles her with them. So then she does die, she dies by her bins, by her place, and everything, and she is found. And the mystery is really just how did this happen and who did it, you know? So that is our first character. Then we meet. I think we meet next is Megan, and Megan is on a date again. So she's on a date with him, and she is at a bar. She sees, like, in the bar bathroom, you know, like if you need help or anything, please ask the bartender um for Andrea, which is where the book gets its title, I think. Ask for Andrea, right? And she thinks, like, oh, okay, well, that's really cool that they did that, but she doesn't think she's in any kind of trouble or anything like that, because she's just on a date with a really good-looking guy. So she doesn't think much of that. And she goes back, she sits down, enjoys her date, but what she doesn't realize is that this handsome, you know, Hemsworth guy roofied her, and then she starts to feel a little bit off. And then when she wakes up next, like when she's actually like, you know, herself again and she's back. She's back, she's not actually back, she's actually dead. Yeah. So he kills her in an isolated area in like the woods away from high trafficked areas and everything like that. Her story so far is like really sad to me. They're, I mean, they're all sad, but hers is really sad to me. And I kind of am like waiting, you know, I want to know what's gonna happen next because she's just sitting out in the woods right now. She's having like this, she thinks it's like a weird outer body experience, but then she realizes, nope, my spirit like literally left my body. I am no more, I am gone. And she's like, you know, she can see herself and she's trying to like figure out this whole ghost thing, and she's you know, trying to get people to someone to stop and notice her, but she is dragged pretty deep into the tree line, so people can't see her, and people aren't looking for her, and it's not a populated area, so she's literally watching her own body just like decay and get picked off by animals and different bugs and stuff. Um, she learned that she can communicate not communicate, but she can like revisit all of her memories that she's ever had, even the one she didn't remember anymore, you know, in like her, I guess her her living state. So she can like even visit old, old memories from when she was like a baby and a you know, small child and stuff, and in like crystal clear HD kind of like uh format. So she's able to do that and she keeps doing that to keep herself busy, but she's also scared that she'll slip away and not be able to come back to the living life. So she's you know, trying to be careful about that. She is able to kind of communicate with other people that are tethered to her that have already crossed over. So if they're in her memory, she reached out to like her grandma so far, and her grandma told her, like, you know, I wasn't expecting to see you this soon. And she's explaining too like, you know, if you're not ready to cross over, then I don't want you to uh stay stuck in the memories or to branch out into other memories. And that I don't know, it's it's weird to explain, and it's kind of like interesting, interesting concept. I do like to hear what other people think happens to us, you know, when we leave the physical world. So this that's interesting that, you know, like okay, so she's there, but she has the option to disappear into like memories, kind of, but the memories are real and tangible, they're not just memories, she can branch off and go into I don't I guess other, I don't know, like dimensions, maybe. I don't really know. How would you explain that? Spiritual dimensions, and she can meet her other family members and um be with family still. So that's Megan, that's the second one. Then now the last one, the one that, and she's the youngest victim. Um, her name is Skye, and she was actually working at a coffee shop, and he kept coming in and visiting and kind of like flirting with her, and then on one of her shifts, you know, she told him, like, you're not gonna see me anymore. This is my last shift, uh, or this is gonna be my last shift because I'm going to school soon. So then he's like, Oh, I'm gonna miss you. Anyways, he waits for her, and then when she finally leaves work, he's like, Do you need to ride home? And so she thinking like how cute he is and stuff, is like, Okay, sure. And then he's like, Well, let's go get something to eat first, and so she's down, she's like, Okay, cool, yeah, all right. Um, yeah, but that's not what happens, as we know, he is not a great guy, so he ends up uh murdering her, and her story is super sad too, and so she is now like following her mom. I guess she she said, you know, like she's haunting her mom, but not on purpose. But she wants so she's following her parents, and they are trying to figure out what happened to her, but they don't know she's dead yet, and they're really, really worried. She just has been gone and disappeared for a while. So they're trying to piece things together and they're like getting security footage wherever they can, and they're trying to figure out like where did she go? Um, meanwhile, Skye is trying really, really hard to communicate with them the best that she can. Um yeah, she's just she's trying to keep her parents safe. She's trying really hard to like just be there, I guess. It's really sad. I am waiting now for them all to meet each other because I think at some point that they will. But yeah, that is where I'm at right now. There's a lot going on, a lot of moving pieces. I am getting a little, I think I got the hang of it now, but I was getting a little confused earlier on in the book on um like who was who and remembering their stories and the characters and the order that you know they were all like kind of murdered in. Um, because there's it'll be like uh a year earlier, and then it goes to like Patricia uh Patricia's, I think that's her name. Sorry. Uh it'll go to her story, and then it'll be like I don't know, it's just jumping a lot, and I'm trying to keep track of who is who. Now, the main main character, the girl who was her first victim, she is stalking him, by the way. So that's super interesting, too. So we get to kind of get a daily insight on on him on the murderer. His name, he goes by a lot of different names because he's making a bunch of fake profiles too. But his name is James, and James is married. Okay, shocker. He is married, and he has two children as well. So he is trying to balance living a normal life while also being a serial killer on the side. But anyways, yeah, Bricia, Patricia, whatever her name is, the first character, she the first victim, she is stalking him because she and she didn't really have I don't her co-workers found her, and then I haven't really heard much about like her family, so I'm not sure if her like what's really happening with her story, like on the on the living side, you know, because it's just following her stalking him right now, and she's able to like manipulate the lights around him and like electronics, so she's like messing with him by like shutting his computer off and stuff while he's making his profiles or trying to chat with other girls. So she's doing stuff like that, and then she's also trying to like when he's on dates, he'll like mess with the light bulb or she'll mess with the light bulbs at their table or scream in their ears to see if she can get a reaction, and sometimes she says it works, sometimes it doesn't, and not that they can hear her, but maybe like a weird energy or vibe, like they can sense her a little bit, so that's happening, and I love her for that. Like, yes, you know, if I I hope nothing ever bad happens to me, but God forbid, if I was ever taken out by somebody, you best believe I'm gonna be over there haunting them, like for real. I'll do my best to haunt them at every waking moment they have. So that is what she's doing, and I love her for that. I am hoping they all get justice. I'm sure that they will. If they don't, that's gonna be a crazy twist, you know. Like, I'm not expecting it to be a um an even worse ending than what's already happening in the book. So I am hope I am expecting them to like maybe find each other, work together, and like take this guy down. I will finish the book probably, and then I will be back to let you guys know what I thought overall. Okay, so I just finished the book and I really did like it. Yeah, so no, I did like it. I I think the only criticism that I would have really is that it's I think that this book is written for like young adults or like maybe pre-teens or teens, you know. It doesn't seem very grown up. Like I think the right it's the writing maybe. Um, so that's about it. It's a little bit immature writing. Um, but overall, I thought the story was pretty good. It was different. I like the perspective from the three like ghosts, the girls. And okay, so it got a little crazy. So I know I talked about everybody's backstory and the ghosts and what they were doing, and kind of like how they met James, the serial killer dude, and that he had a family and everything like that. It it gets a little bit like crazy at the end because the girls do find each other, they do meet each other at the like police station, and they found evidence from for one of the girls, you know, and they kind of like linked her murder pretty quickly to uh James, and then the girls all end up meeting each other, right? And now they're kind of helping each other navigate their ghost lives and also what happened to them, and they're trying to watch over uh the family, like James's family, his wife April, and then their two little kids, because they're they're really worried and they think that you know he's gonna do something to his family. Now that he's getting kind of you know thrown into the I don't know, like now that he's being found out and people are looking at him and side-eyeing him, and they're suspicious, and there's like a warrant for his stuff, and so he is sketchy and he is like acting real suspicious here because he is, um, and he's not guilty, or he's not guilty, he's not innocent, he's very guilty. So he decides he's gonna flee with his family, and he takes them and he's like, Let's go, we're staying in this cabin. So he does, and then you know, his wife is very worried, and she is questioning things now because you know, before it's like I think she knew a little bit and she was kind of suspicious, but she didn't want to like face the truth, so she wasn't trying to like dig for the answers here, but now he's acting real suspicious. The cops are showing up at his house and they're asking questions, so she's like, um, okay. So they leave. The three ghosts are trailing them, they're making sure that the family's safe, they're trying to like do everything that they can to warn the wife, like, you know, he's gonna kill you, guys. He's gonna do it. Eventually, the wife comes to her senses a little bit with the help of the ghosts, you know. Like, obviously, she doesn't know that they are there, but they're trying their hardest to communicate, and she's kind of like she's hearing them, and mostly through her dreams and stuff, you know. So she finally gets the courage and the strength to leave. She has to flee, but he has hidden the uh the keys, so she doesn't know where they're at, she's looking, and then finally she just takes the girls and she tells, she knows she tells her husband, hey, we're gonna go for a walk, we're gonna go for a nature walk, and we're gonna build like you know, little pine cone uh characters. We'll be back. But really, she's they're going on foot, and it's about I think they say like about six miles away from from like the streets and and then the nearest town. So they start their walk through the woods, and eventually James is like, where the heck are they? So he starts looking for them in his van, and it's super scary, you know. My heart's beating a little bit too. Like, oh no, I hope he doesn't find them. He doesn't, and that's great. So he does not find them, and they do make their escape, and they end up going to like a near the nearest bar eventually, and they're all tired, they're all you know, hungry and scared. Um, the girls don't know what is happening at one point. They think they're running away from a bear, and it's like really sad, you know. But they get in this bar and then they realize that he's waiting for them there, like he's looking for them, you know. So the wife quickly, like when he's occupied, I think ordering a beer or something, she like rushes the girls in really fast and then goes straight to the bathroom and locks them in there. So she's in this bathroom and she's feeling really anxious and scared and she doesn't know what to do. Then finally, an older woman comes to use the bathroom and she cracks the door open. She sees a sign beforehand, you know, she sees a sign hung up that says that if you need help or you're on a date or something, to ask for Andrea. So she sees the same sign that was mentioned earlier on in the book by one of the other victims, um, who unfortunately did not make it. So April asks this older lady, like, can you please do me a favor and ask the waitress or somebody you know that Andrea needs them in the bathroom? Can you please do that? And then the lady's like, Of course I can. So she leaves, she does it. Um, one of the girls comes in, I think a waitress, and then listens to her story, and then calls the like she leaves the bathroom, tells her to lock the door again, she calls the cops, and then James is finally arrested. He's taken in, and he is arrested for the murder of I think it's Megan, is who they find. Um, yeah, so he's taken in, and then uh it's a happy ending. It is a happy ending, I think. Like the his family is safe and they're fine, and you know, they're gonna recover and everything. And obviously, they dodged is a really bad scenario. Um, so they are safe. The three girls, the victims, they finally are able to move on. And one of the characters in their Sky, I believe, the youngest one, she doesn't have anybody. On the other side waiting for her. So with the help of the two girls, they kind of like sift back into her memory far, far, far, far, far when she was a baby. And then they do find family like that she can reach out to and latch onto in the afterlife. So she is able to let go and she's able to move on with her life and not be stuck. So that's how it ends. Yeah, they all move on. He's taken in, he goes to jail. Um they don't wait to see if he's going to. Oh, wait, no. He okay, yeah. He is tried and found guilty for all three murders. Because I know at one point they weren't sure if they were ever gonna find out what happened to one of the girls, but the girl that was working at the coffee shop. So, but they do because they end up linking him in the videos, and they find like he threw away one of his coffee cups. So they do find it and they link all the evidence, and then they are able to prosecute him for all three murders. Yes, so happy ending all the way around. All of the girls have a you know, their families know what happened to them, they move on, and they all go to the afterlife, and the family, um, his family is safe. So that was the end of the book. It was a fast fake, fast-paced book. It was a quick read. I liked it, I enjoyed it overall. I do recommend it. Um, just know that, you know, it isn't it's not super detailed, which is fine, which is good, you know, but it I think it is more geared towards uh like teens. Yeah, I think it's definitely a young adult book. So with that in mind, though, yeah, it's good. I enjoyed it, and I'm glad I picked it up. So thank you guys for listening to my messy thoughts on this, and I will see you next week. Let me know in the comments if we read the same book.