Victoria Wlosok's *How to Find a Missing Girl* is a gripping and emotionally charged mystery that delves into the darkness of loss and the quest for truth. Wlosok’s sharp, evocative writing and well-crafted plot keep readers engaged and guessing until the very end. The novel’s exploration of grief and resilience adds depth to its compelling narrative.

This was a YA thriller about a group of friends who are investigating a murder. There is a podcast involved. There was nothing really unique about it. There are quite a few similar books. But I did enjoy it while I was reading it.

This was a fun mystery. It was a bit predictable, but there were a few twists to keep me reading. I would definitely read something else by the author.

When I read that a book is for fans of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder and Veronica Mars, I expect it to be a new and original story with echoes of a familiar story, not a series I already love condensed into one book with gay packaging...

HOW TO FIND A MISSING GIRL was a disappointing read that follows Iris Blackthorn, an amateur detective who got her start when her sister Stella went missing a year ago. Unfortunately, her meddling ended up scaring off the only lead, and the police declared a sister a runaway before telling Iris to either back off or face jail time. Now she and her two friends run an under-the-table detective agency doing odd jobs like finding proof that Iris' ex-girlfriend Heather is being cheated on by school golden boy Nathan Devareaux, whose family has their small town in Louisiana in a choke hold; if you're not working for them, the only other viable career option is dealing drugs.

But right after they hand the proof off, Heather disappears just like Stella did, right after dropping a new episode of her true crime podcast about Stella. But Iris is up against a ticking clock to find her; after she turns 18, any interference will land her in prison, and she only has a month to uncover the truth about what happened to Heather.

This book was... not good. My praise for it centers almost solely around Sammy and Imani, who were pretty much the only characters that made the story bearable. I did like the queer rep (the funky earrings were so fun and accurate) and it's strangely nice to be getting old enough to read a book that feels like it's truly set in my time. I also did like the attention paid to Iris' grief about her sister disappearing and there were some moments that genuinely tugged at my heartstrings, especially with her dynamic with her aunt. However, the writing and pacing fell flat and had a lot of unnecessary repetition that Iris' random moments of quotable clarity could not save. The first half was a death crawl and the second half was hospital-worthy whiplash (said negatively), and to be entirely honest: Iris was a very irritating main character to be in the headspace of, and it made a very unenjoyable read.

To detail my complaints about her: she is far better at lying to and using the people around her than any detective work, which is pretty much the only explanation for her running an agency instead of going solo despite having zero talent for leadership or teamwork. So much of this book relied on coincidences and foolishness rather than actual detecting, to the point where the reveals were either too predictable or just out of nowhere. I found it truly hard to believe that Iris would have failed to draw the connections between Stella and Heather, and furthermore, the USB drives being the lynchpin pieces of evidence for the case got so infuriating. Their fixation on the recovery keys instead of stopping to think for two seconds about the password being something Iris would have had to know made everything that went into finding them mind-numbing to read. Which, of course, ended up being most of the book. While I get that teen detectives obviously aren't going to be Holmes or Poirot, I expect at least a slightly higher level of deduction if they're going to spend that much time waxing poetic about how it's what they're meant to do. The idea of her running out of time at 18 was also a bit laughable considering that it felt like the head detective made it really obvious she would be being tried as an adult if she got caught regardless, but that's just another thing on the list.

Beyond that, the book was also just a mash-up of every conceivable high school amateur detective story out there that did not put a unique enough twist on them to have something I could enjoy. And listen, as a very gay reader, I do love the draw of something I already love with queerness thrown in the mix! There's just a difference between adding tropes you already like to a new story you've crafted and being so close to one of your comp titles that my eyes start narrowing. Between the cold case missing sibling, and the podcast, and the room trashing, and the police interference, and the rich kid protected by their family, and the "my calling is hurting the people I love" breakdown, and the unsupportive parental figure, and the teachers... it just made me want to put this down and reread AGGGTM, but I had the audiobook accompanying me on a terrifying late-night drive in rural Missouri backroads and I wasn't about to risk my life turning it off, and that's what really got me through.

I personally would not recommend this to fans of AGGGTM, as I think it would be a letdown.

thank you to netgalley (@netgalley) and the publisher (@littlebrown) for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review

i love mystery books that have podcasts in them, but unfortunately it was not enough to keep me interested.

i had a hard time connecting with the main character, she felt very flat to me

however, i did like the lgbt rep


1★star

This was the Veronica Mars descendant of my dreams—a queer detective agency, plenty of small-town drama, secrets haunting the MC from her own past and family.... juicy, page-turning, funny, and it does NOT pull punches with the body count. A delight!

I forgot to leave a review for this, but I really enjoyed it! It's been out for ages, so I won't say much more than I need to for my star rating. <3

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

#HowtoFindaMissingGirl #NetGalley If you like teen novels and suspense then check out this novel! A missing girl, mystery, family, drama...it's all here!

How To Find A Missing Girl is a suspenseful thriller focused on a small town where two girls have gone missing. Our main character, Iris is the pansexual leader of a sapphic detective agency she started after her older sister, Stella went missing a year ago. The police say that Stella ran away, but Iris knows that’s not true. And now, her ex girlfriend has gone missing and she knows that they must be connected.
What a roller coaster this book was! Sometimes I find with books like these it’s obvious who the villain is, but not this time! I was left guessing till the very end, and what a twist that was! Iris is a great main character: brave, smart and maybe just a teensy bit foolhardy. I really loved watching her relationship with Lea, they’re perfect for each other. I loved the side characters of Sammy and Imani as well, although I felt that towards the end of the book they were kind of forgotten about. I enjoyed the interpolation of the story with the podcast, and I felt like the author did a good job of showing how ‘true crime’ stuff can affect a victim’s family and invade their privacy. Also please check trigger ear songs before reading, this book has alcoholism, on page death and more. Overall, 4 stars.

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 could not put this book down!

Iris Blackthorn's sister went missing a year ago. While the police have written off her disappearance as a run-away case, Iris is not convinced. When her ex-girlfriend Heather goes missing, Iris and her sapphic detective agency are determined to find out what happened to her. The problem is that as soon as Iris turns eighteen, she's liable to be criminally charged for meddling in a criminal investigation - again. Her attempts at finding her sister last year scared off the only key witness, a fact that lead detective de Rosa will not let her forget. As the clues begin to mount and Iris contends with working alongside her former best-friend (who now may be turning into something more) she is more determined than ever to find out why Heather disappeared.

Wlosok creates an intriguing mystery full of twists that keep you guessing, and memorable characters. Perfect for fans of Holly Jackson's A Good Girl's Guide to Murder.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for letting me read an early copy of this novel, sadly it wasn't the book for me.

When I started reading the arc, I had trouble getting adjusted to the writing style and had let my copy expire on the app. I ended up borrowing the audiobook after it was published and listened to it in one day which was more out of stubbornness and needing a distraction for the day.

This is my fourth book that involves a podcast after a girls disappearance, but the audiobook made the plot feel clunky at times. I was not aware of the countdown to her 18th birthday until halfway through, there was nothing really backing up Iris's claim to knowing when people are telling the truth, her agency was only brought up when convenient, the reveal at the end of the mystery was fine but a lot could have been condensed if any character knew how to communicate.

I'm still figuring out what I like in mystery and while this had all the key features I would normally enjoy, the combination was at a disadvantage in comparison to what I've read before which sucks because this is it's own work and I am so impressed by this author's work towards this getting published.

This was an okay mystery, but felt a lot like the storyline for AGGGTM. It did have good representation of the LGBTQ community, but the main character just didn't draw me in for a connection. She did have some growth, which was good to see.

I kind of liked the murder mystery podcast, but I kind of wish it gave a little more information. Some parts felt a little duplicated.

It felt like she had more enemies than friends, but I do understand the need to run a detective agency after what happened to her sister. So many parts were quite frustrating.

This gripping YA Thriller is to die for! It was very good and I loved every minute of this! It was so good for a YA book this was more on the level of an adult Thriller. Loved this!!
I just reviewed How to Find a Missing Girl by Victoria Wlosok. #HowtoFindaMissingGirl #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

In small town Louisiana, a popular cheerleader goes missing and is quickly labeled a runaway. A year later, another girl goes missing after releasing a true crime podcast episode about the disappearance. Iris Blackthorn, sister to the original victim and ex-girlfriend of the second, takes it upon herself to look into this disappearances, even though the police keep threatening her with prison once she turns eighteen. Can Iris beat both the police and the clock to solve the disappearances of those around her?

This is Victoria Wlosok's debut, and while not perfect, it's a good first book. She did an excellent job at giving her characters distinct voices and personalities, especially our main lead Iris. I enjoyed how the podcast was woven through the story as well. That was a clever narrative piece. However, the mystery itself of some of the character's decisions were at points both predictable and cliche, which is not what you want in a mystery. I can't say it necessarily kept me guessing, but I still enjoyed the journey.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Books from Hachette Book Group for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all views expressed are my own.

Thank you to @thenovl @littlebrown @novelsuspects for my advanced copy (and @netgalley for my advanced electronic copy). My opinions are my own.

MY REVIEW:
A year ago, Iris Blackthorn's sister, Stella, disappeared from their small Louisiana town. The police determined that she had run away, and when Iris didn't believe it and launched her own investigation, she not only scared away the star witness but she also got in legal trouble. And now that she's approaching 18, she could face adult-level punishment if she doesn't stop meddling. The only problem is, now Iris's ex-girlfriend--who had started a podcast on Stella's disappearance--has also disappeared. Now, Iris and her amateur detective agency (her two best friends) are working against the clock, and this time it's life-or-death.

This one was full of amazing social and relationship dynamics. Adolescence is fraught, and adding disappearing beautiful, high-achieving teenagers to the mix makes it all the more intense. I was in the unique position of having a mix of formats to read this one in (the electronic version, the print book, and the audio version), and in this case I felt it added to my experience. When I found the audio performance too overwhelmingly tense (the narrators really, really did their job well! I was impressed!), I was able to switch to electronic and print to give my emotions some space to calm so that I could enjoy it better. I felt that the mixed-media approach of the narrative (traditional first-person limited perspective, podcast transcript, SMS transcripts, print sources, diary entries, etc.) very engaging, and a mystery investigation and the gathering of evidence lends itself well to this approach. Also, I really loved the diverse cast of characters, in ethnicity, appearance, sexual orientation and gender identity. I think Victoria Wlosok's new voice will add greatly to the genre, making a mash-up reminiscent of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Veronica Mars, and other strong adolescent sleuths.

Good mystery, good representation, the podcast element was fun and interesting. YA audiences should really enjoy these characters and this plot.

I don’t even know how to review this one. Some parts were so good I couldn’t read fast enough and then others had me cringing and wanting to skip ahead. I really liked the added layer of the podcast. All in all this was a good read.

Victoria Wlosok must have went to the Holly Jackson school of mastercraft writing because everything about this book was so gripping and kept you so invested from the opening line to the last sentence. I closed the book with a small sigh, sad there was no mkre stiry to be had with these girls. The sapphic relationship was done so well and the friendships throughout the book even more so