I love a book that incorporates a podcast and the premise of this book - two HS students who create a true crime podcast for their journalism class to solve a 20+ year old mystery in their town - was totally calling to me.

I enjoyed aspects of this book and think it will be engaging for YA readers. Lots of good suspects and kept me entertained.

While I enjoyed the investigation and I always love a podcast element I do wish the podcast was more of a conversation vs. just a monologue from the person they interviewed. I also found elements of Blair's story to be relatable and I also enjoy the complications of a female friendship story.

The audio was well done and the narrators kept me coming back and wanting to know what was going to happen next.

While I enjoyed the narrator I don't think that the book was for me. I felt like I could not connect with the characters or the story line.

Yo, this isn’t really usual for me. While I love thrillers, I don’t think I’ve ever read one that was funny? But it wasn’t funny because of the subject matter? It was because one of the main characters was annoying? I found myself laughing at her so I didn’t get mad. As someone who majored in Mass Communication, her whole blase’ attitude wasn’t for me.

The very best part about this was the podcast. I have such a weird relationship with podcasts lol I like them when they’re in books. Even more so when the book is a mystery or thriller. But when they’re in real life, I just don’t like them. I think it’s because the menz have ruined them for me. But anyway, when I saw there was one in this book, I needed to read it. And the podcast didn’t disappoint. I think it was the way they had no idea what they were doing. And the way people said they sounded like they recorded in a bathroom. The author just made it seem like these are everyday teens who could do this. And I love it. It lets teens know they too can start something big like this.

Buttttt I didn’t like the characters. Again, they had no idea what they were doing. They were doing all they could to figure it out. But what I didn’t like was they just went off vibes only. They just JUMPED and didn’t think about anything first. Well at least one of them. I was happy that there was two of them and they were able to bounce ideas off each other and help each other come to different realizations. They were the true definition of partners. But the one that just did the things and didn’t think about the consequences? I was glad that they showed the truth of what could really happen. And I was glad that they showed that it wasn’t them, but they were still a shitty person. Because they were shitty, but not for that. And anyone working a case like this will most definitely run into that.

As for the mystery, I think I was so into it because of the cold case aspect of it. It sounds weird and possibly morbid, but my favorite shows are Unsolved Mysteries and anything to do with like mysteries that have been unsolved for years and then something happens and they’re able to catch the person who did it. And this was basically one of those shows in book forms. I do think the way it was played out and the way the author helped them solve it was pretty bad ass tho. Definitely seemed like it was plucked off a show. But it seemed a bit advanced for some teens lol

There is a romance storyline there, but I thought it was unnecessary? Like it was just there to be sure that there was one? And I hated that because one of them was an LGBTQ relationship, and the other was a toxic relationship that gave me the ick from the first page. I just feel like they were unnecessary. Especially since they had nothing to do with the mystery. They were just there. Making them more fleshed out could have made the book longer. Or cutting them and making them just friends wouldn’t have made any difference.

The narrators for this were amazing. I don’t know, it’s just something about a full cast. No matter what the characters are, even if they annoy me like this one did, I was still enthralled because of the narrators. I know they were just the interviewee’s, but they still gave some difference to the book and it was fun to see how each of them were able to play their own individual parts.

There was some space for another book at the end tho. Hopefully since they’ve learned lessons in this one and know better, maybe things would be better. The only thing missing……… Another true crime that needs to be solved. I guess we’ll have to see what the author decides.

This was okay for a podcast thriller. I liked how the story brought up the issue that pretty white girls get the most attention when they go missing. The mystery was decent, but this being a YA thriller, I found the MCs, Cam especially, to be annoyingly immature. I think the intended audience will relate more. The audio is the way to go for this one so you can hear the podcast parts.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the gifted audiobook!

My Rating: 3.5/5

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. I was excited by the premise because I was told it was recommended for fans of a Good Girl's Guide To Murder by Holly Jackson. It definitely had the same premise/feel but this one did not work for me as that series did. I found Blair and Cam to be incredibly immature (I know they're teens - but they were reckless and disrespectful) and a lot of the things that happened felt far fetched and disconnected. I was disappointed in this story.

3.5 stars

As a part of their senior project, two high school journalist students decide to create a true crime project and investigate the infamous disappearance of Clarissa, the beautiful popular cheerleader that disappeared at a keg party in the woods twenty years earlier. Their research unearths small town secrets that have been covered up for way too long.

I don't typically read young adult thrillers (just because they aren't usually twisty enough for me) but I was really pulled in by the blurb for this one, and it was certainly worth the read. Our protagonists: Blair and Cam are bffs and they both have strong, colorful personalities. These girls are spitfires and cannot be stopped (loved them all the way through). Through a podcast style story, Ripley Jones creates a layered story that had me entranced.

- Fast paced mystery/thriller
- Who-dun-it
- Girl power
- High-school is weird dynamics
- Single mom
- Best friends forever
- PTSD
- Small town secrets
- Lies, deceit and cover ups
- True love never dies
- LGBTQ rep
- Second chance romance
- Indigenous rights
- Anti-"not-like-other-girls" trope (girly-girls are cool & smart!)
- Everyone has something to hide
- Journalism drama
- Coming-of-age
- Bada$$ momma-bear moments
- Social commentary

All in all, while I did enjoy it there were some YA moments that made me shake my head (they certainly made some very silly [stupid] choices at times).

Thank you to Macmillian Audio & Wednesday Books for the gifted copy pub date: March 7, 2023.

Summary: In August of 1999, cheerleader Clarissa Campbell disappeared from a party in the woods and is never seen again. Now, over twenty years later, the case remains unsolved. High school juniors and best friends Blair and Cameron decide to start a true crime podcast as a class project, in an effort to find out what really happened to Clarissa. Small-town secrets begin to be revealed, and their investigation unearths truths that might have been better left untouched.

Thoughts: Although I had figured out had happened pretty quickly (due to an obvious clue), I tried to approach this like a YA reader. I think plenty of my students would enjoy the fast action and short length of this book. The characters were well written, and the whodunnit elements would certain keep a young adult reader's attention. I did a combination of reading the book and listening to the audiobook. I have to say, I preferred the audiobook for this one, due to the podcast element.

Read If you Like:
-YA thrillers/mysteries
-True crime podcasts
-LGBTQ rep
-Short, fast paced reads
-A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, One of Us is Lying

Here’s a positive: The audio production of Missing Clarissa is extremely well done.

That’s the extent of my positives. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This “mystery” is light on the actual mystery and extremely heavy on teenage angst. I knew who killed Clarissa almost from the beginning. Even backwoods cops should have figured it out.

Our two main characters, Cam and Blair, were not enjoyable to hang out with. Cam’s initially quirky personality quickly became annoying beyond tolerance. Everyone, including her best friend, routinely called her annoying. She was also impetuous, rude, and self-centered. Yet people liked her! I mean, why? She was like a five-year-old tyrant.

The plot, such as it was, spent more time making a social statement than on creating an actual, you know, plot. 🙄

Our two white teenage stars consistently declared to each other and to us that white people abound. Every single description told us that over there are white boys and over here is a white girl and, hey, over there is a white woman. Good grief! We’re constantly treated to their mantra: “Everybody loves a dead girl.” Especially if she’s a dead white girl. And pretty. A dead, pretty, white girl. Get the hammer and hit me over the head because I’m not sure I got the message.

Then we had a third teenager who declared herself a social justice warrior and prison abolitionist, at which point, our two teenage stars immediately followed suit. From there, we were treated to spontaneous, condescending lectures about racism, particularly as it pertains to the media, law, and prison. Not that I disagreed with these sentiments. In fact, I agreed with them. But the way it was done was grating and unnatural and obviously a ploy for the author to make a statement.

No one reads to be preached at. Incorporate it into the plot, please. Make it go somewhere. But don’t simply toss all the hot topics in my face and say, “Here! Take that!”

All that being said, this is a YA novel and I am far from a young adult. The story might hold appeal for teenagers, though given the (im)maturity of our main characters, I’d say an age range of 12-14.

*My thanks to Macmillan Audio for the free download, and my apologies for this rant.*

I was so excited for this one, I love stories about podcasts, especially thrillers, so I expected to love this but unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations. The characters didn’t work for me - Cam was confrontational and did whatever she wants without thinking about the impact on herself or anyone else. Blair was fine, but we never really learn much about her besides that she loves her boyfriend and has low self esteem. The most exciting part of her storyline takes place off page and we don’t even get to enjoy it. Sophie exists solely to give social justice info dumps, usually out of nowhere and for no reason.

There was some repetitive wording used which frustrated me. The word “says” was used quite a bit, which was especially irritating on audio where it tends to stick out a bit more for me. It also was very hard to know which POV you were currently hearing thoughts from - it would jump between the two MCs from sentence to sentence.

The podcast aspect felt like an afterthought. I saw a full cast for the audiobook and was excited, but it really was just a monologue by some of the characters at the end of each chapter with little to no interaction and I would say over 90% of the audio is one narrator.

There were some interesting small twists but it was a fairly predictable mystery if you read many thrillers. It is written as a younger YA story, and I think I just wasn’t the right target audience for this one. Thanks to @Macmillan.Audio for the ALC and @wednesdaybooks for the ARC copy. Missing Clarissa will be out on March 7.

I really wanted to love this. The idea was great. But i just found it annoying. I didn’t love the two girls. They kind of got on my nerves. Snotty and frustrating. Too much self doubt too. I wanted more on the podcast and mystery.

I enjoyed parts of the audio. The music jazzed it up and the little bits of the different sounds. The narrator was ok but i felt like she made the characters sounds sound even more snotty. I don’t like when they try to sound like teenagers. Maybe I’m just too old (in my 30s) but do teenagers actually sound like that?