Throwaway Girls is a dark, gritty, and stunning debut. We follow the lead character, Caroline, as she abandons her privileged prep school life to take the search for her missing friend Madison into her own hands after realizing the failures of the police department.

The search for Madison turns up a trail of several other missing girls before her, but nobody was looking for the others due to their lesser economic and social backgrounds, thus dubbed the "throwaway girls."

Weaved throughout the main plot, we get to see snippets of Caroline's life before the search began. She had come out to her parents and was sent to conversion therapy because her mother felt this was an embarrassment. Her girlfriend, Willow, took off to California leaving only a series of goodbye letters. She had to hide everything in her life, so it's no wonder she couldn't open up and trust easily.

I had a bit of difficulty distinguishing between the two points of views in each chapter. I believe it would be beneficial to label the narrators' names.

This was a very exciting thriller, and I will definitely keep an eye out for more books by Andrea Contos in the future!

Okay here's the thing. This was a good book. Maybe even really good. It was also . . . not my thing. That makes it really hard to review, because like . . . I really don't have much to criticize, but I also don't have glowing praise. I guess I'm just going to do a short little list of Things, both good and bad.

- The themes were really good!! I do wish they had been pulled to the forefront a little more, but I really liked the discussions of abuse of power, privilege, and the people who society does and doesn't deem worthy of saving. I truly think these themes were the book's biggest strengths, because they were so well done.

- I was sometimes . . . very confused? Which isn't necessarily the book's fault lmaooo, I think I might have just been too braindead to follow what was happening. But the fact remains that I still don't entirely understand everything that happened ahfghghfg

- Okay but the twists though. This book absolutely nailed the twists you absolutely should have seen coming and yet somehow didn't. I leap to every possible conclusion when reading mysteries, so I did sort of predict one of the twists, but in a "hm maybe THIS" way that was then promptly forgotten, so I was still very surprised + I didn't even come close to guessing the other big twist. Everything came together so well in the end, and I'm still shook.

- The main character was . . . this weird mix of like . . . really complex and sort of boring. I think the book tried to make her too complex, and instead she fell a bit flat. We were told how many layers she had, how much she drew people to her, but . . . I never really saw it?

- The side characters, however, almost made up for it. This book had one of the most well-fleshed out, fascinating casts of side characters I've seen for quite some time.

- The writing was amazing. Like . . . wow. It left me awestruck, at times.

Overall? The good parts of this book couldn't quite make up for it's flaws to me, however I truly do think it's a masterfully done book and I fully recommend it. I wasn't in the right headspace for it, but I do think this is one I might revisit down the line and fall in love with.

Here's the thing: if you aren't a thriller person (like me) this likely isn't going to be your book. But if you are in the headspace for a thriller, I cannot recommend this enoug

Throwaway Girls is a breathless thrill-ride from start to finish. Boarding-school senior and girl-from-the-right-side-of-the-tracks Madison has gone missing, but the police are looking in all the wrong places. So it's up to her best friend, Caroline, to find her before it's too late. Along the way, Caroline discovers Madison's disappearance is linked to that of several other 'throwaway' girls, the kinds of girls who don't always get justice. Until Caroline.

I loved the concept of this book but unfortunately it was disappointing. You were thrown into the storyline but there wasn’t really that much going on, just going through the motions. Characters needed more development along with the reader being given more background information of other characters that are a mainstay. There are a lot of references to information to do with the main character Caroline that’s not explained enough. I just found it really dull and it wasn’t for me. I really wanted to love it but found it hard to get through.

Thanks to Netgalley and Kids Can Press for the opportunity to read this ARC and review that was published on the 1st of Sept.

A mystery/thriller YA title from a debut author--set once again at a private school, but yet I still found it enjoyable.

When Madison, Caroline's best friend goes missing without a trace, she will stop at nothing to track her down. Throwaway Girls by Andrea Contos is a thriller with a solid LGBT lead. While I read this book seriously quick for being nearly 400 pages, there were parts of the book that didn't track and jumped around a bit. Parts that went almost there but fell short such as Caroline's time at a conversion camp. Her friendship with Madison started strong in the beginning but soon felt hollow as more time was given to her relationship with Willa.

Sometimes I wish Goodreads would have .5 option, because this book is a solid 3.5 for me. Good thriller aspect, the relationships better characters could be a bit stronger.

Thank you to Andrea Contos, Net Galley and Kids Can Press for this ARC.

I picked up this one because it is sapphic and that is severely missing from the thriller genre. I really liked the characters and the path they take to solve the mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the beginning and the middle portions of this book, but then the novelty kinda wears off. The ending left me very unsatisfied because I think it tries too hard to surprise you. In my opinion, a thriller/mystery book should be rewarding to those who are playing close attention, rather than just trying to one-up everyone's thought process with a wild ending.

I liked this book more than I expected to. I appreciate that there are more YA mystery/thrillers out there now. I found the missing girl story compelling, although I did figure out who the suspect was ahead of time. Unlike many of the other reviewers, I did like Caroline. I think she's sort of a unique character, especially in the prep school world.

I found it interesting that she continued to try to exonerate her teacher. I kept expecting to find out that he was complicit.

My issues with the book were that I thought the ending was melodramatic and farfetched and that there was no explanation regarding who Willa actually was.

Maybe it's just me, but I've gotten a bit tired of thrillers that take place in prep schools where everyone has secrets, but then the secrets are never that worthy to explain WHY a girl was murdered. Also, this had a very typical trope (won't mention it as it's very spoiler-y). Ultimately, it just didn't work for me.

I found the plot and characters in this story engaging. I loved how the main character went about getting all of the information she needed to solve the mystery. There was a big twist at the end that I never saw coming. The only thing that I found confusing was the main character went by a different name in some of the chapters. I assumed it was a completely different person. It wasn't clear to me what was going on until it was spelled near the end of the novel. I would would read more books by this author.

“There are people who come into our lives to disprove the lies we believe about ourselves.”

What a suspenseful, surprising book, I am SO glad I got to read this one, I devoured it!

The alternating POV chosen was at times a bit of a mystery, but when it wrapped up at the end I realized how important to the story it was, & how much more I enjoyed it - it won me over!

It wasn’t just a mystery of missing girls, but so much more - the secrets we keep, and how it can affect your role in your family, to others, compared to who you want to be - Caroline was so relatable, and you just FELT for her as she tried to get over her own failures, and the things she should have done differently as she tries to find her missing best friend.

Fantastic YA debut, highly recommend for anyone who enjoys a contemporary thriller, and a huge plus - it’s LGQBT friendly in a way I really admired. Thanks to Netgalley & Kids Can Press / KCP Loft for the advance reader copy in exchange for my personal review!

Throwaway girls was a wonderful missing girl thriller. I was on my toes and was actually really surprised by the ending!

The characters were good. I felt really connected to them each in there own way. I like when that happens but also its hard because I don't want anyone to be "the bad guy" haha

The mystery itself was well done. The author did a great job of highlighting the societal issue of missing girls who no one looks for. I felt SO frustrated along side the main character who was basically doing a full police investigation for the police. The story was sad in parts but also hopeful and empowering in others!

There were quite a few good twists and turns in this one. I think if you enjoy a crime thriller or missing person thriller this would be for you!

I'll leave with a TW: substance use, kidnapping, missing person, murder

A very strong start for a debut author. I like the two points of view within the story because it kept you engrossed and engaged. Edge of your seat reading with twists and turns that seem to come from nowhere Oh and the ending? Never ever saw it coming and neither will you. Happy reading!

Wilder girls starts off as a typical murder mystery/thriller. There's a fancy prep school and a candlelight vigil. The missing girl's mother is begging for information, and the best friend has a secret to hide. In fact, it seems Caroline has quite a few secrets to hide.

The story starts out with good backbones. The protagonist, Caroline, had a secret girlfriend. Her biggest rival in the classroom but also a close friend, Jake, seems to know more than he's letting on. And is there something off about that teacher?

I did find several parts of the book to be unrealistic, which contributed significantly to my rating. Between the unexplained murders, the creepy man in the woods and the blackmail... I don't know. It seemed a little far fetched. Every decision that Caroline and Jake made felt foolish to me. Maybe it was just too YA for me?

Anyway, there were enough twists to keep me relatively interested.

I had trouble getting into this one. I couldn't connect with the main character and ended up skimming through most of it just to see how it ended. There was also an extreme amount of language for a YA book, as well as a lot of casual drinking, smoking, and doing drugs. This one wasn't for me.

I will be honest and say I didn't finish this book. As to why, it's kind of hard to explain. Every time I thought about reading it, I had that feeling like "Ugh, what a chore". HOWEVER, when I DID actually push past that non-sensical feeling, I really enjoyed what I was reading. So I think this is more an issue with me than with the book or the writing! I just couldn't motivate myself to read it all the way through. What I read DID keep me hooked and interested thought. So 4 stars for what I did read.

This book starts off slow, but don't give up on it! My guesses as to what was going to happen next were wrong for a good part of this one, which is unusual. The author's ability to write such a suspenseful novel has me wanting to read more of her work!

Caroline just needs to hang on for three more months, and then she can be rid of her small town and start living her life as her true, authentic self. All that gets complicated when her girlfriend leaves her and her best friend disappears. After going through her own issues with the police, Caroline can't depend on them to find Madison. When she takes it into her own hands, she starts learning about other missing girls. Could all of these somehow be connected? 

This was very entertaining and had me on the edge of my seat. The beginning was slow but it definitely picks up and by the end, I couldn't read fast enough. For me, the twist and reveal came out of nowhere and I was really surprised—that always makes for a good mystery/thriller.

So why only 3.5 stars? I hated our main character, Caroline. Now, I'm totally on board for an unlikable character, but she was just mean, manipulative, and entitled. She kind of bullied her friends to help her, not caring what they had to give up to be there for her. Some of the things she did felt a little unbelievable like being gone from her home for days on end and never having to suffer any consequences for her actions. Yes, she is angry and hurt for some of the traumatic things she's experienced, but that doesn't give her the right to be awful.

I also feel like the plot was unnecessarily convoluted at times. The author tried to pack so many things into the mystery plot that it made it pretty confusing. She had a great story to begin with and didn't need to add in a lot of nonsense that did nothing for the story.

So while this was entertaining, it was a little bit of a letdown. 

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book in response for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book so badly. Lesbian main character? Mystery? Anxiety rep? I thought I'd like all these things mixed together, but sadly I DNF'd at 25%. The main character, Caroline, was just so annoyingly frustrated. It turned into every other mystery where I was practically screaming at the pages to "TELL SOMEONE!". She seemed to think that she could fix everything herself and solve the mystery, even going as far as omitting things to the police. All that was in the first chapter. It was frustrating to read, and made it impossible for me to sympathize with a MC that seemed to be written for me to actually like.

Overall, I think that if I hadn't read so many books with MC's just like Caroline, I would have finished it. But I just became so disinterested in Caroline's journey, that I stopped caring about the mystery. While the actual writing was compelling and clearly Contos is a talented author, I just couldn't get past the actions taken by the MC. Some people may love it, and who knows, I may have ended up actually liking the book had I been able to get past by own issues with it.

"I'd talk about a world that honors power and influence above twelve girls' existence."

I had lots of mixed feelings about this book, but I think, in the end, I enjoyed it.

I really appreciated the thriller/suspenseful aspect of this novel. It reminded me of a darker version of They Wish They Were Us maybe mixed with The Lovely Bones. It not only had me trying to figure out what happened to Madison, the main character's missing best friend, but also had me wondering about a plethora of characters, their secrets, and an unknown character whose POVs were occasionally showcased. The dark suspense had me hooked throughout the whole book.

Something that was perhaps most convincing and heartbreaking in this book was its overall message. The truth it spoke of "throwaway girls"; girls, or people in general, who are looked over by the public because of their social/economic/racial statuses. It was a hard and much-needed look into the way things are and how they need to change.

That being said, it was difficult for me to get into this book at first. I liked the thriller parts of things, but it kinda had a slow beginning. Things picked up later into the book, but not until about halfway through. If I hadn't been committed to figuring out the whodunit, I might have stopped reading.

I also wasn't a big fan of Caroline. I understand she was going through some hard things throughout the book, but I just wasn't a fan of her character. I can't tell if she added or subtracted from the main voice of the story, but she was who I learned this story through anyway.

Overall, this was a great book that gave a hard look at society and how things truly are. It's never easy for me to read these kinds of books, but then again, change is never easy. And it definitely sparked a change in my heart.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.