Decently engaging YA mystery.

Esme's older sister Gaia has been working at a ski resort and is headed for college soon. Esme and her parents are visiting the US from England and Gaia is supposed to be flying home with them. Yet the day after the farewell party, Gaia is nowhere to be found. Everyone who knows Gaia seems to be brushing it off, but as time passes and she doesn't return, Esme knows she needs to do some of her own investigation to find her sister.

The book starts off strongly and it did keep my interest throughout, but the narrative was a bit uneven with a lot of armchair detecting by Esme and too much happening all at the end. In the end there were just too many threads of things the author tried to tie together and it just became a huge mess. If things would have just stayed focused on Gaia, it would have been a much stronger story but there were too many extra storylines thrown in.

I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator really helped keep me engaged with the story. I did like Esme and the YA audience will probably warm to her more than I did.

I first started this book months ago and just could not get into it. Instead of judging it based oon that, I sat it down and decided to come back to it and I am so glad I did. This book was so good and had so many twists that I almost had book whiplash.

The story follows Esme as she and her family try to help look for her sister Gaia who did not return from a party. Esme was such a fun character to read from as she was spunky, daring, and did not take crap from anyone. Her emotions were what I would imagine many in that situation would be reacting like which added to the believability of this story. McKay did such a great job writing this story and the details that kept it realistic and exciting. The supporting characters were everything in this story. Brody was the best sidekick and I think the story would not have been as exciting without him. I also love the lightness of his and Esme's relationship that kind of lightened the load of this story a bit.

Kirsty McKay deserves a round of applause for this story. The only issue I had was that it took a few chapters to hook me and I wish it could have right from the beginning because maybe I wouldn't have had to come back to it. Absolutely get yourself a copy if you love a mystery with lots of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the very end.

I was really looking forward to this since it sounded like a fun thriller set in a location (a ski resort) that I love. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed in the execution of this story (though it was an easy read at least).

The pacing was up and down. It's a pretty short book, but I did struggle to get through it in places, and the ending was fairly abrupt. One of my major complaints is actually about the ending of this story. While I don't want to spoil what it is, this actively made me angry. I've seen successful versions of this type of ending in other books, but the mystery and characters weren't enough to make the ending work for this particular book.

I was really bummed that the setting of the ski resort didn't come into play more. Going in, I was hopefully for some wintery scenes and actual skiing, but that wasn't really the case. Honestly, I feel like this same story could have taken place anywhere else. Sadly, I also didn't particularly care for any of the characters and found them to be immature and frankly, somewhat irritating.

There were some good moments in this book to bump it up to a 2 star rating, but this is not a book I'll remember or recommend unfortunately.

I really enjoyed the many twists and turns in this novel that leaves you guessing and then second guessing everything. I loved the mystery and trying to uncover what happened. Definitely would recommend this one.

I love young adult mystery thrillers. This one had a lot of twists and turns I didn’t see coming, and I loved the mysterious aspect.

i"ve really enjoyed this one! packed with mistery ever since the begginig. the characters needed a little bit of development,tough. even still,i recommend this one for everyone who enjoyed karen mcmanus books.

There are particular "formulas" to stories like these in most cases, but I like how this one seemed to deviate from the most obvious route it could have taken. While it wasn't coming completely out of nowhere, I do like that for a YA thriller, there was some originality in the genre and storytelling!

This is a quick and easy read about a sister who is looking for her missing sister. She teams up with a nice guy to help her look and realizes her sister's life isn't quite what she thought it was. A good read. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Gaia Gill has been accepted to a prestigious college in the United States and spends her summer working at ski resort to help pay for it. Her family flies from England to visit her, but the night they are supposed to fly back, Gaia comes up missing. This is unlike Gaia, so the family begins searching immediately. Esme, Gaia’s younger sister, begins investigating on her own, and she realizes she didn’t know Gaia as well as she thought.

This is a very young version of a YA novel. The narrator Es seems very immature, and that’s probably due to her dyspraxia. Her disorder is frequently referenced, but there isn’t much time spent exploring it and how it actually impacts Esme (considering it’s a rare disorder that many people are likely not familiar with). Also for this being a mystery/who-dun-it, not much happens. There aren’t any real twist or turns, and most of the books seems less focused on finding Gaia and more focused on Esme’s budding friendship/romance with Bode. I could not get into this book at all because there was nothing that kept me engaged. Thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Fire, and Kirsty McKay for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Interesting “whodunit” that takes place at a ski resort. 15 year old Esme finds herself tasked with solving her older sister Gaia’s disappearance after she fails to return home from a resort party.

I enjoyed the setting of the story, a swanky ski resort is assumed to be a safe or sheltered place and community and in this story, the close knit town works against them in that everyone is a suspect. It’s eerie to think that a heinous crime could take place within a popular resort.

While Esme is a young, and the author tries to voice her as a teenager, I felt that her thoughts and mannerisms were a bit too juvenile or immature, even with the story being YA.

This started out strong, but fell a bit flat for me. I had a hard time differentiating between the Brit speakers and American accents, because it seemed like the author is British and was guessing at American ways of speaking. There was also a character who was British but raised in the US, so when imagining their dialogue, sometimes it took me out of the moment when things didn't ring true. I felt like the author put a lot of emphasis on accents so this made a difference too.

I liked that the main character was neuro divergent, as it made her appear to be an unreliable narrator. There were several red herrings, and I think overall it was an interesting read. It was just not the book for me.

Gaia disappears the night of her going away to college party. Her sister Esme goes above and beyond to try and find her. Great detective work and many suspects. Esme proves her worth and attempts to find her sister at all costs. Recommended read for ages 11 and up

Sadly, I think this author is a miss for me!

I gave THE ASSASSIN GAME a shot and couldn't love it, but wanted to give the author another chance since sometimes it's a weird fluke on my part. But it looks like I have a hard time connecting with the writing and characters across the board.

I think readers of younger YA might enjoy this one, though!

Still, super grateful to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc--the summary sounded fabulous!

I liked the idea and premise of the book but unfortunately I couldn't get into it and it didn't hook me from the start like I want from thriller books. This book wasn't bad but for some reason it just wasn't for me.

It was just fine. I couldn’t bring myself to care about or feel invested in any of the characters or the setting.

Gaia Gill is missing after disappearing from her going-away party at a luxe ski resort and it looks like her little sister Esme is the one who has to find her.

At first glance, this looks like a book that would be right up my alley. Beautiful people, a disappearance, and a bunch of teenagers doing a job for adults. But unfortunately it fell a little flat. The pacing was too slow for me, I didn't connect with any of the characters and it seemed like just another book in the genre, nothing special.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Have You Seen My Sister was an okay read and a fine mystery. I wasn’t all that drawn in by the story - the main characters disability seemed a little forced and made her awkward and uncomfortable rather than endearing. I also found the “sister kidnaps herself” plot to be a little predictable and lackluster. The end wrapped up rather quickly as well. Not my favorite read, but I did find some of it enjoyable.

This book was both very boring and incredibly unrealistic, which is a combination that is almost impressive.
I loved this author's duology about zombies, and was excited for something else from her. However, this book was a total disappointment.
It felt like nothing happened for most of it, with the main character just running around doing whatever. But then we got to the end and it was like eight different things happening at once and they were all kind of ridiculous.
Honestly, if the rest of the book was interesting, the unbelievable ending wouldn't have been a problem.
I thought the setting was cool though, and it really gave off "isolated and scary" vibes.

Overall, this was an okay YA mystery.

Prior to reading this book, I’d never heard of dyspraxia. Learning about this condition helped to see Esme through the lens of her condition vs. as a spazzy teen who is so clumsy it’s comical. It was a nice way to bring awareness to a condition that is likely unfamiliar to most readers.

Esme was a fun character. She’s feisty, devoted, and willing to do anything to find her sister. She’s a very young heroine navigating the world of romance while bulldozing through crime scenes and interrogating persons of interest. She gets embarrassed, makes mistakes, and fumbles through flirting. She’s oddly relatable and someone you want to root for.

The pacing was so-so. I kept reading because I needed to know what happened-if Gaia was alive or dead, and who was behind the whole disappearance.

But, if I’m honest, my main motivation was the blossoming romance between Esme and Bode. Their adventures together as they chased down clues and got in trouble had me speeding through pages. Every interaction was cute-sometimes shy, sometimes flirty. I loved it.

The ending was anticlimactic. It was over quickly and everything was resolved in a handful of pages. It felt abrupt and less calculated than the rest of the book. Almost rushing to an ending. There was a twist, but somehow it felt less exciting than the culprit everyone suspected all along (and who the clues pointed to).

What’s strange and partially why this book felt off the mark is because the book is centered on the disappearance of Gaia but we really barely learn anything about her. Even when Esme, her family, and the cops are asking around to get a feel for what might have happened, there’s not much to go on. I feel like had there been flashbacks to build a connection with Gaia or to establish the relationship between Gaia and Esme, the reader would have been more invested in whether Gaia was found alive or dead. There would have been more of an emotional impact and sense of urgency. Instead, Gaia is almost like a stranger. Esme is hopeful that Gaia is okay and so focused on finding her sister that the emotions don’t really hit like they should. The reader is just pushed along without the ability to take a breath or to witness Esme truly deal with the possibility that Gaia might be dead.

I was kind of disappointed with the story because it felt less thriller than the cover suggested and more Nancy Drew.

The main character’s sister goes missing, so. Esme decides that she needs to find her sister. Sure, I've read a lot of books that sound like that before. But this one is set at a ski resort in the mountains of a very small American town. Esme and her family are from England, Gaia, the missing sister, has been working at the resort for the season and was scheduled to return to England with her family following the holiday break.

So here we have Esme, a teenager from another country, tromping around a small town she's never been in before. Trying to find her sister, even though she is the most forgetful kid ever (and can't even manage to keep a hold on her phone, which she has lost when this book begins).

Too many characters to keep track of and Esme is a huge problem, always setting off on her own. She really needed her own babysitter to keep her out of trouble.