The Girl I Was would probably best be referred to as "women's fiction" with a side of fantasy due to its time travel elements. I bought my copy brand new at Book Bonanza 2022.
This review includes slight spoilers.
Review:
Content warning: parent death.
This begins with Alexis having an absolutely awful day. She gets called to HR, and instead of the promotion she's expecting, she's laid off. She's reluctant to tell Andrew, her long-time boyfriend, because he was so excited for her when she got the job, but he can tell that something's wrong and gets justifiably frustrated and upset when she tells him that it's none of his business (they live together, so I was as baffled and frustrated as Andrew was). They fight, and Alexis discovers that Andrew had planned to propose to her this evening. Now, unfortunately, they're breaking up.
Miserable, Alexis attempts to drink herself into oblivion. She decides that the root of all her problems is her college self, who never put effort into anything because "Everything happens for a reason" and "In the end, everything will be all right. If it's not, then it's not the end." She finishes off her evening with a bottle of vodka that she and her college friends once got from some woman who told them to drink it in an emergency - "Drink to forget. Drink to repeat." Because that's not weird at all.
And when Alexis wakes up with a terrible hangover, she eventually realizes that she has somehow been transported back to college in 2002. She figures this is a chance to make things right, but then realizes that she's still her present-day self. If she wants to fix things, she's going to have to convince her 2002 self to make some changes. Unfortunately, her 2002 self is convinced that she's the one who needs fixing.
