Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for providing me a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All the opinions and views expressed in this review are purely my own and not affiliated with any brand.

This was a very good book. It went along the lines of Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. So if you liked that book you will love this one! Ripley Jones wrote a compelling story that was easy to follow. Even better, I wasn’t able to figure out who the murderer was. The characters were all likable with the exception of one. But I think that character was unlikeable by design which makes me like Ripley Jones even more! I don’t usually read a story where the antagonists are meant to be unlikeable so its true skill to hit it on the nose.

Overall, this was a very well written book with an excellent story line. I would recommend this book.

“Missing Clarissa” by Ripley Jones is a gripping YA true-crime novel that delves deep into small-town secrets, how society romanticizes the pretty young girls who go missing, and the devastation unsolved mysteries leave behind on family, friends, and the generations that come after.

Blair and Cameron start a true-crime podcast for their journalism course in high school. Picking Clarissa Campbell started off as a joke. She was a popular cheerleader who attended their high school years ago before she inexplicably disappeared. What happened to her still remains a mystery. No one truly knows what happened to Clarissa. Did she run away from home and start a new life somewhere else? Or did something terrible happen to her?

Blair and Cameron think they can get to the bottom of what happened to Clarissa. Yet, as they dig deeper, they realize this story is bigger than they ever could've imagined. What started off as a joke soon becomes a story the two teens are invested in and will stop at nothing to solve. Cameron and Blaire are convinced something horrible happened to Clarissa and whatever that may be, whether she's dead or alive, deserves to come to the light. Even if it means prying into the past where the residents have long since buried their secrets and shining a light on those awful truths may have terrifying consequences.

Jones offers an intriguing insight into why stories of young, popular, pretty girls get blown up in the media that will make readers think about the way these tragic stories get romanticized and blown out of proportion. Despite being teenagers, Blair and Cameron raise a lot of brilliant points about the way pretty missing white women are portrayed by the media and the general public who have their own opinions and conspiracy theories about what happened.

Having the podcast tie into the story was a neat addition because it allowed other characters to have a voice in not just the story as a whole, but in Clarissa's story, too. Having these characters speak their part shows how much one person's disappearance can affect so many and how they all have some part in Clarissa's life and the last few days before she went missing. It did feel as though the story needed a few more podcasts for it to drive home the theme and style of the story.

Blair and Cameron were fun characters. Their personality shined throughout the novel as they delivered punch lines, wit, sarcasm, and a whole lot of teen angst in perfect harmony. There were a lot of laugh-out-loud moments as well as anxiety-inducing ones. They were definitely the best characters to follow along on this mystery and true crime podcast!

"Missing Clarissa" by Ripley Jones is an addictive, fast-paced read that is worth picking up on its expected publication date of March 7th, 2023. Add this to your reading lists because this is one heck of a true crime read that's about to be unleashed!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press (Wednesday Books) for inviting me to read a free e-arc of this novel and for the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review.

Ripley Jones’s debut, Missing Clarissa, is a fun, fast-paced, young adult thriller. Blair and Cam, two teenage girls, decide to focus a journalism project on a local missing woman from twenty years ago. What starts out almost as a joke, becomes more serious as the girls dig deeper and interview people that were close to Clarissa. But they soon learn that digging into the past can be dangerous and whoever murdered Clarissa is still out there…and aware of their podcast.

I finished the book quickly because I could not put it down! The podcast causes much of the book to be dialogue, which adds to the fast pace of the novel. I loved the interviews with those who knew Clarissa and the mysteries surrounding her life and death. I do think Missing Clarissa would benefit from more description. When Blair and Cam take a little trip and they end up close to Forks, WA, I had no idea the setting was the PNW. More description of the environment would aid the overall atmosphere of the book. While I enjoyed the mystery, I wasn’t scared reading this book and felt the stakes could be a little higher.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Missing Clarissa and look forward to more from Ripley Jones.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Missing Clarissa by Ripley Jones is a YA thriller/mystery with a twist that you won't see coming! The story revolves around Blair and Cameron, who are working on a true crime podcast. They decide to focus on the story of Clarissa, a popular cheerleader who disappeared in a rural town in Washington. Nobody knows what happened. Was she murdered? And by who? It's up to the two teens to find out the truth before the killer comes for them!

Here is a gripping excerpt from the Prologue:

"We looked away out of respect. We could give her that much. We could pretend we didn’t notice. We weren’t happy to see her fall. We liked her. She was nice.
Most of the time.
None of us saw Clarissa leave the party.
And none of us saw her again.
And, in our hearts, we know no one will. Because that’s one thing we’re sure of, though we’ll never say it out loud: Clarissa Campbell, wherever she went that night, is dead. And the last person who saw her is the person who killed her.
We don’t know who. Not for sure.
But we have a few ideas. And we know this much:
Everybody loves a dead girl."

Overall, Missing Clarissa is a YA thriller/mystery that will appeal to fans of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. One highlight of this book is the exciting climax. There was a reveal that I absolutely did not see coming. I was definitely surprised in a good way. Another highlight of thsi book is the LGBT representation, which was nice to see in a YA thriler. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of this genre, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in March!

I think what attracted me most to this book is the whole true crime podcast theme to it. It had an Only Murders in the Building meets Nancy Drew vibe. As a person who tends to enjoy the Mystery/Thriller meets YA genre these days, this book was right up my alley. I flew through it pretty fast and pretty much read it in under 24 hours.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

Blair and Cameron start a true crime podcast focusing on their local town's unsolved murder from 1999. The popular cheerleader, Clarissa, is presumed dead or murdered, after disappearing during a party and is never seen or heard from again. The girls discover small-town secrets and truths that were never meant to be revealed.

Being a lover of true crime books and podcasts is what initially interested me in Missing Clarissa. I think the YA community would really enjoy this book, given the age of the main characters. Some parts of the book fell flat for me personally, but overall I did enjoy the read.

⭐️.5 stars
I’m a sucker for a true crime book. Also a huge sucker for true crime podcasts. So I really thought this book was going to be it for me.
The story follows two high school best friends creating a podcast in order to solve the mystery of the disappearance of another high school girl from 20 years before.
Here are my thoughts.

1. I enjoyed the podcast set up. However, I do not think it was exercised very well, only getting drops of it at the end of a few chapters, and even then it was more of someone’s monologue rather than an actually conversation going on between hosts. I would have preferred that.

2. It being in third person, it got a little confusing as to who was thinking what and in whose mind we were ultimately in. I had to go back several times to confirm what was going on.

3. Blair’s shtick of “I suck at writing, I don’t want anyone to read my stuff” but then as soon as someone says she’s good, its “stop lying to me, I know you’re lying, how could you say that?” was may too much for me and ultimately just plain annoying.

4. There were a lot of good characters but unfortunately I felt no connection to any of them, so there’s definitely a need for more character development.

5. This was probably my biggest pet peeve through this book; these are 16-17 year old high school students who just seem to be allowed to go around asking people really personal questions about and ongoing investigation and these grown adults are just spitting out extremely personal and also very incriminating things, which was very unrealistic to me and took me out of the story a little.

Unfortunately this just wasn’t a good read for me but it may be for someone who is looking for a true crime novel that wouldn’t be so invested in the details.

*this ARC was available to me in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.*

This book was absolutely wonderful. I could not put it down.

Two high school best friends, Cam and Blair, team up to create a true crime podcast for their journalism class.

While they have no real clue experience into podcasting, the girls begin researching the twenty year old disappearance of another highschooler, Clarissa Campbell in their hometown.

I loved the twists and turns of whodunnit, the character development among Cam and Blair, the amazing Irene, the supportive Mr. Park, and the thrill of trying to answer what happened.

I also loved Ripley Jones’ writing, phrasing, and overall word usage. An incredibly enjoyable read.

This book is everything I love about YA books. Both Cam and Blair are smart and nuanced, but not without flaws. Their friendship was one of my favorite aspects of the story. Throw in some humor, a solid plot and a strong supporting cast of characters, and you have a page-turner. However, I wish there would have been a little more to the conclusion; it felt like once the crime was solved, there was no background to wrap things up.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Blair and Cam start a podcast to try and solve a missing student who was never seen again. This happened years ago. The more they research, the more they cone up empty. This book kept me interested.

This is going to be this coming springs hottest book! It was so crazy good! I want to read more by this author as soon as I can! Highly recommend it!

I was hoping for more podcast in this story. It was almost a young adult book. While I liked the premise and storyline and the book did hold my attention, it was predictable and I feel like I had unanswered questions at the end. I would have liked the ending wrapped up a little nicer, but all in all not a bad read.

First I will say thanks to the publisher for allowing me to receive the ARC for my honest review.
Took me 4 days to read this book which is lengthy for me. I had a lot of issues with this book. I don’t think the synopsis really was accurate for the book. There were several “unlikable” characters as well as some great ones. I think this book touched on some topics that are very important for our society to really pay attention to and think about but gave no warning in the synopsis…that being said, many may not have read it. I see where the author was going but to continue to describe basically every Individual by there skin color/ethnicity seemed racist when they may not have had that intention but we will never know will we? I didn’t need to know the elderly women was white, the man was white, etc. The political views were strong and may not be the same as the reader which could turn a reader off and there was no mention of any of these views prior to starting the book. In my opinion the author portrayed Cam as an unlikable genius who was rude, loud and obnoxious without caring for others feelings the majority of the time yet she clearly showed many signs of being on the Autism spectrum and that would have been something to clearly explain and teach readers more about Autism vs thinking she’s just an unlikable person vs just not a nice/good person…which she really was. It also had LGBTQ throughout the book without mentioning this as though it is a “normal” day to day lifestyle. Again, readers should have been forewarned and this is a very important aspect of all of our day to day lives and many people shun this lifestyle as much if not more than color or ethnicity and should be openly discussed and hopefully accepted. Those who are not accepting of it would have been turned off by the book and remain ignorant to the LBTQ community unfortunately. We also need to take in the fact of adult (especially teachers) abusing students and getting away with it. In real life, this would not have been acceptable in 1999. Overall, the book had potential but didn’t live up to the hype and was disappointing and I wouldn’t recommend it. Would also be hesitant to read another book by this author again.

Clarissa went missing 20 years ago from the same town where Blair and Cameron live. I don’t wanna seem natural then for their final assignment in their journalism class they create a podcast looking into this event that people in their town of been talking about for 20 years. Unfortunately some of the people that were involved still live in the town they might not take too kindly to having old rooms reopened. Besides just being a murder mystery there’s also conversation around the types of relationships Avenue and what a healthy relationship looks like, as well as our main character Cameron who is Neuro divergent and while a scholar in school she definitely lacks some social graces. The relationship between Cameron and Blair is an important one and they navigate high school and their investigative process. This book was totally engaging I didn’t know what was going to happen next and I look forward to more from this author.

Missing Clarissa is a great young adult thriller book. It was an easy book to read and follow. It has a great mixture of diversity with characters. I did guess the “person” before getting to the end, but it had a great twist to keep you interested. I starred the book four stars due to a few misspelled words and grammatical errors. For a book with so much going on, the transitions were excellent. I love how they added each person’s view at the end of the chapter. It gives it personality and knows what that character feels and thinks about the mystery. The two main characters can easily be related to by other teenagers and young adults.

3.5 stars for this cold case drama.

Blair & Cam decide to investigate the twenty year old disappearance of Clarissa, a popular cheerleader who vanished after a party in the woods in their small town. They do so by starting a podcast & interviewing townspeople who were close to Clarissa when she vanished.

This book felt a lot like “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” but with less intrigue and suspense. It bounced back and forth between POVs in an unclear way and Cam was wildly immature & reckless in a lot of her actions.

Honestly, I guessed who was responsible long before the “clue” Cam used to piece it all together so the ending felt lackluster. I had high hopes for this based on the description and in the end it was just okay. Quick read, entertaining at times, but nothing overly memorable.

Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Bokk jumped all around and it was a bit hard to follow; it didn't flow well. The story was predictable and I didn't really care about and of the characters. Almost a DNF but kept hoping for a wow ending!

Having graduated high school, around 10 years ago; I have been jealous that I didn’t have these high quality YA mystery/thriller books available to read when I was high school. Missing Clarissa is a great example of a YA mystery book. Missing Clarissa follows 2 high school best friends Blair and Cam host a podcast that investigates the disappearance of their towns golden girl, Clarissa that occurred 20 years ago. This is a quick read but it did have me continuously guessing If they will discover the truth behind what happened to Clarissa . Also has a true crime podcast fan, this gets bonus points for having the investigation happen for a podcast. Thanks for NetGalley and Ripley Jones for giving me an opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion

The first half of this book was great! I was completely engrossed in the story, the idea of the podcast and the mystery of the missing girl, Clarissa. I was equally enjoying the second half, even though I didn't agree with some of the ideas in the story and how some of the phrases that were put in. The ending though, lacked substance. It was a great story and build up only to leave you completely deflated by the outcome. Judging by some of the conversations between the characters, I just might not be the target audience for this book. I do think this will find a place in the YA community and be a popular read.

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this eARC, these opinions are my own! I enjoyed this mystery a lot! Cam talks her best friend Blair into doing a podcast on the 20 year old disappearance of teenager Clarissa. Nobody knows if she’s alive or dead and even though there has been plenty of meeting coverage her disappearance remains unsolved. Can Cam and Blair be the first to solve it? Are they putting themselves in danger in the process? I think what really sold me on this one is that Cam and Blair are complete novices when it comes to crime! They haven’t spent a lot of time studying it and as a result have no clue what they are doing! That felt realistic to me considering they’re two high school students hoping for an A on their Journalism project. I found the dynamic between the two to be delightful! Cam’s quirkiness and her being unaware made for some great moments! She was also balanced out by Blair’s grounding in reality and sincerity! I think the subplots in the story really helped to provide depth to Cam and Blair as well as Clarissa! Cam makes some questionable choices in the book but to me they just added to the concept that she’s a teenager and doesn’t know what she is doing, that to me made her a little less inhibited! Absolutely recommend this to mystery lovers, especially if you like your mystery with a side of LGBTQ+ like I do! Great book by Ridley Jones!