LITTLE GIRL GONE (Procedural Crime Book #1) by Amanda Stevens is the first romantic suspense book in the new Procedural Crime series from Harlequin Intrigue.

Cold Case Agent Thea Lamb who specializes in crimes against children and has returned to her hometown where a young girl has been abducted from her childhood home. She is there for answers from her mother who was letting mother and child live with her in the same home were Thea’s twin sister was abducted twenty-eight years ago.

Special Agent Jake Stillwell is called in to lead the FBI CARD (Child Abduction Rapid Deployment) team in search of the missing girl. Jake is determined to find this little girl as the hours pass. Thea is willing to help, but she cannot get involved due to her mother being tied to this case, too.

But Jake and Thea have been involved personally in the past and this case brings them back together to not only try to save a little girl, but maybe let them resolve the misunderstandings that let them walk away from each other in the past.

I enjoyed this romantic suspense and am looking forward to reading more books in this series. The present-day abduction suspense plot is completed in this book, but the cold case is still unsolved and will hopefully be resolved in future books in the series. The suspense plot does move at an uneven pace and at times I was able to put the book down. This may be due to all the information on the cold case and the number of people involved in both plotlines. The second chance romance between Thea and Jake is well written and believable with the dedication to their careers and their troubled backgrounds. There are sex scenes towards the end of the book that are explicit, but not gratuitous. Overall, this is a good start to this series.

I will be looking for more books in this Procedural Crimes series and this author.

Solid Series Starter. Ok, so I use that same title a fair amount. But it applies so often! Here, Stevens focuses primarily on the investigation, as police procedurals tend to do, while establishing at least her primary leads fairly well, and giving readers reasons to want to continue to invest in them. Arguably one weakness is that this is a *very* slow burn, second chance kind of romance that may or may not meet the strictest "rules and regulations" of the genre in that regard. So for the absolute genre purists... read and decide for yourselves here. For the rest of us, this was a solid story all around, one that resolves its primary mystery while allowing enough to remain open that we'll want to come back to this world again - which is exactly what a Book 1 is supposed to do, so kudos there! Very much recommended.

When Thea Lamb returns to her hometown, her task is eerily similar to her twin sister’s abduction 28 years earlier. She and her partner Jake Stillwell must work together.

What really happened?

Will things pass the professional boundary between Thea and Jake?

I was hooked by the title and the fact that the story involved twins. I choose many books with twins in them as I was a twin.

The writing was quick paced but I did find some parts of the book too slow and was struggling to remain interested.

I could identify with Thea’s realistically portrayed personal reason for wanting to solve the crime, but other than that I found her and Jake hard to connect with.

Thanks to Amanda Stevens and Harlequin Intrigue for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

3 stars

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

Thea returns to her hometown to support her mother and to help with the investigation into a missing child. Her former partner and "friend with benefits", Jake is heading the investigation and Thea can't help realizing that her feelings for Jake are more than what she wanted them to be and it seems Jake may feel the same way. As the investigation into the missing girl continues it brings back memories of her twin sister who disappeared when they were young children, her body never found.

This was a creepy mystery that wraps up but has a sequel with some of the same characters (John Doe Cold Case by Amanda Stevens). I really enjoyed the mystery and its a quick read. I have enjoyed many of Amanda Stevens gothic romance mysteries. This is a nice easy read for the crazy holiday season.

I can't even imagine Thea Lamb returning home, and having to relive her own nightmare. Another child has gone missing from her mother's home, again? From the same window?
Add to this equation Thea's ex boyfriend, FBI Agent Jake Stillwell, is working this crime.
While Thea relives the original crime, all the while searching for Kylie, and flashing back to Maya her twin.
We keep meeting suspects, and there are a lot of twists and turns, and some answers are forthcoming, was I surprised? Yes, but in the end, I was left with a lot of unanswered questions, and wondered if justice for all will ever be served.
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Harlequin, and was not required to give a positive review.

Little Girl Gone was a riveting Intrigue by Amanda Stevens. However, if you're looking for romance, you aren't going to find it quickly in this first book. You know right away that Thea and Jake have a past, but as far as the current timeline, they're nothing more than colleagues. The book progresses to 92% before any romance hits the pages. It made sense once I figured out this was going to be a 'to be continued' type series but fair warning if you're looking for more than just an FBI procedural in this book.

All of that said, wow! I love a good police procedural and this one was a solid 5 star read that was done extremely well considering the limited word count. Jake and Thea had parallel stories as they investigated the kidnapping, which was interesting because they were both coming at it from different angles.

Thea has been in this position before. Her twin sister, Maya, was kidnapped from their bedroom when she was a child, and now, another little girl was taken from the same window. Her mother, Reggie, is once again accused of having something to do with the kidnapping, but Thea is sure that's not the case. Not because she's close to her mother, she's not, but simply because she's following the clues of the case.

Jake is an FBI agent worth his salt. His goal is to find missing children and bring them home, and he gives it his all every time. Even when that means he has to crawl into crevices inside caves looking for the evidence to break the case wide open. Even when his own life is on the line trying to save Kylie, the little girl gone.

I was never more pleased than to get to the end of this book and discover that Thea has discovered her roots again, and the knowledge that she made a mistake letting Jake go before. She's not going to make that mistake again, both with her family and with Jake. I can't wait for book 2 in this series so I can find out what did happen to Maya and if Jake and Thea are able to make a go of it. If you love a police procedural that is well-paced, snappy, and full of twists and turns, you can't go wrong with Little Girl Gone.

This was an excellent romantic suspense title. FBI agent Thea Lamb returns to her home town to support her mother when a child is abducted from her home. This disappearance echoes the disappearance of Thea's twin when they were four years old. No trace of her sister Maya has ever been found. That disappearance is likely why Thea joined the FBI and specializes in child abductions. It also has a lot to do with why Thea and her mother are estranged.

FBI Agent Jake Stillwell and his team are assigned to the case of finding little Kylie Buchanan. Jake and Thea were once involved, but a promotion for Jake separated them. Neither was willing to ask the other anything that would keep them together, but that doesn't mean that they have forgotten each other.

This was a very atmospheric title. From the local scenery to the town, things are eerie. Both Thea and Jake have "feelings" that might be paranormal if either believed in that sort of thing. There are also a number of suspicious characters around including Kylie's abusive and sociopathic father, a creepy next door neighbor, and an old flame of Thea's mother who has recently been released from a tough Florida prison and is looking to even the score.

I enjoyed the mystery and really liked both Thea and Jake.

Little girl gone by Amanda Stevens.
Another child had gone missing.
Twenty-eight years ago, the first child to go missing had been her twin sister, Maya.
A really really enjoyable read. Great story. I liked Thea and Reggie and Jake. I do hope there is more to come. 5*.

Little Girl Gone by Amanda Stephens was a thriller. This was my first book by this author. The story was a little dark with the main theme the abduction of a four year old little girl 28 years after the abduction of another little girl.

Thea lost her twin when they were four years old and they never found out what happened to her. This part of the story was very sad for Thea and her mother Regina. It is sad how the community treated them.

The current little girl also went missing from Reginas house. The FBI and police are trying to decide if it is the same criminal kidnapped both kids.

Thea’s old boy friend is wit the FBI and is working on the case. They also have to deal with their own issues.

I enjoyed the mystery but was disappointed that the author didn’t close up the lose ends. Not sure if they will happen in future books? There was a lot left settled.

Sexual content - 1 physical scene with no details.
Violence - a girl is kidnapped, memories of her sister being kidnapped.
Drug/alcohol - back story of her mom includes some drinking and drugs

LITTLE GIRL GONE is the first book in the new (and oddly named) "Procedural Crime" RS series by Amanda Stevens. While I am a big fan of the author's "Graveyard Queen" series, I also have an affinity for these category suspense series. FBI Special Agent Thea Lamb has come back to her hometown to look into a cold case, as well as put some of the ghosts in her own pasts to rest. Pretty good story by a Romantic Suspense author I enjoy. Pity she's not writing Graveyard Queen anymore, but I'll take what I can get from her.

Oh my goodness, this is one of the best books I’ve read this year. Absolutely loved every second of it, well maybe not the ending. But only because I need more of it. LOL.
Thea and Jake work so good together and I love how they interact together. I really hope this is the start of a series. The book was very well written and there was a lot of suspense and emotion.

This was a new author to me and I am glad I took the chance on her work. Thea & Jake are great characters who you can route for and the suspense had me staying up late to finish.

Amanda Stevens is one of my favorite authors and I have been reading her books since her first book was published. I really enjoyed this book and did like the characters. Has to be a series as not all the mystery was solved. Will definitely be watching for the next book in this series