This was really impressive for a debut novel! I'm a HUGE fan of AGGGTM and this definitely had similar vibes with the HS sleuthers and true crime podcast aspects. I will say I definitely got lost amongst all of the characters at times, but overall the pacing was great and I definitely enjoyed reading it!

I found this book a very suspenseful read. I enjoy the characters and the shocking twists. Even I did love the cover so much. Thanks a lot for letting me read it

I enjoyed How to Find a Missing Girl by Victoria Wlosok. I think it was a good young adult mystery, but I think it would be best suited for a high school library.

This book was too similar to a good girls guide to murder for my taste but a cute concept! I would read more by this author if they got older.

I tried to really enjoy this book but I just couldn’t get into it which I’m really bummed about. I LOVE seeing the author on TikTok and I’ve been following them since there journey writing the book. I love the concept and I’ll probably give it another try soon!

The thing I enjoyed the most about this one was the queer representation. This book reminded me a lot of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder and I Killed Zoe Spanos, but with an almost entirely queer cast of characters. The overall mystery was nothing new and even the plot twists and reveal felt overdone. Unfortunately, that means this book just fell in the middle of the road for me. I would likely recommend this to fans of YA mysteries who are looking for more diverse options, but I wouldn't say that it particularly stands out in terms of being a great mystery.

Have you been missing A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder? How about Veronica Mars? Well, How to Find a Missing Girl is here to fill that void.

Our story begins in a small town in Louisiana where Iris’ sister, Stella, disappeared the year before. Unsatisfied with the police investigation, Iris launched her own investigation into her sister’s disappearance. This, unfortunately, only gets her in trouble with the local police force and she’s been warned not to impede any more investigations with her own sleuthing. Meanwhile, Iris’ ex-girlfriend Heather—host How to Find a Missing Girl, a podcast centered on Stella’s disappearance—also disappears. Iris and her team of amateur sleuths ignore the police’s warnings and set out to find Heather.

This young adult novel is fast-paced. It has a fantastic set of characters at its core—I loved the members of the “be gay solve crime” group chat. I also really liked the message that this book has about female friendships. I think my biggest qualm were some of the writing choices. For example, I do not understand why it was so important to tell me multiple times that one of our characters has six-fingers. Additionally, continually referencing a character as “my ex-best friend” or “my ex-girlfriend” throughout the novel is really annoying. It’s almost as if the author didn’t think I was smart enough to remember this detail after telling me seven times. All in all, though, I do recommend this one.

This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book was published September 19.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an arch of this book. I loved this book and all the twist and turns it had. I was guessing until the end.

I dove into "How to Find a Missing Girl" with high hopes, but unfortunately, it didn't quite hit the mark for me. The plot felt a bit too familiar, and the first half of the book was a bit of a slog. I was hoping for more twists and turns, but it ended up following a well-trodden path. There were some bright spots, especially in the LGBT representation, but I was left wanting more in terms of originality.

I had trouble really connecting with the characters. They seemed to be defined mostly by their sexual orientations, which, while important, left little room for deeper, more relatable personalities. The attempts at humor, although appreciated, sometimes felt out of place given the seriousness of the subject matter.

The mystery element, which is usually my favorite part of books like these, didn't quite live up to expectations. The podcast and interviews, while an interesting concept, didn't add as much depth as I had hoped. The romance subplot took up a lot of space, leaving the mystery feeling a bit overshadowed. The tone of the book felt a bit off at times. The mix of humor and serious themes didn't always blend seamlessly, making it a bit challenging to fully immerse myself in the story. Some of the pop culture references also felt a bit forced.

"How to Find a Missing Girl" has its moments, especially in its representation, but it struggles to stand out in the crowded mystery genre. While it's not a bad read by any means, it might appeal more to readers who are new to mysteries and don't mind a more straightforward storyline. There's potential here, but it needed a bit more polish to truly shine.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was so good. I didn't expect it to pull me in right from the start the way that it did but WOW. I wish I could read it again for the first time. I will definitely be reading more from Victoria because her writing style is so gripping!!

This was a fun, fast read. I love this cover and it’s what initially got my attention. It is very comparable to other stories within this same sub-genre. So if you loved other popular teenage-detective type stories, you’ll probably love this one too. This has become a really popular genre recently and I can definitely see why. It hooked me in from the start and I was invested in the outcome. I liked the characters enough and I think YA readers of today will find them very relatable. I did find it dragging and being slightly repetitive at times. But I think it’s a very solid debut for a YA thriller. The twists were well-done and I enjoyed finding things out along the way. I don’t think I’m exactly the intended audience for this, so while my personal reading experience was a three-star, I can easily see it being four or five stars for others. It hit all the marks and expectations for this genre.

A fun true crime thriller that will have you trying to guess who the real bad guy is throughout. I love how the author said they modeled this angsty novel after their own teenage angst, it came off as genuine on the page.

How to Find a Missing Girl takes place in a small Louisiana town, where 2 teenage girls have gone missing within a year. Iris and her friends are determined to figure out what happened to Stella and Heather, even if it means interfering with the police investigation. I really enjoyed this book! I loved the LGBTQIA rep in the book, and the way Iris and her friends worked together. The characters had depth and feeling, which made it easy to root for them. There were definitely some twists in this book, most of which I did not see coming. I feel like this book had a lot of what I look for in a book. It was engaging, page-turning, and I needed to know how it ended.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the e-ARC of this book. It is out now!

This was so good it gave me a good girls guide to. murder and pretty little liars all wrapped up into a young adult thriller book. It kept me on my edge and I did not want to put this book down at all. It was a fast paced read for me since I finished it in two days. Super good book!

This was a really fun and addictive story! I loved all the mysery, drama and suspense and found myself rooting for Iris the entire time. A great book for anyone who loves mysteries and true crime!

How to Find a Missing Girl is an addictive thriller, that had me on the edge of my seat for the entire 11 hour listen. Every twist and turn felt so intricately intertwined that I could never expect what would happen next, and every time I thought I might knew who had done it, amateur detective Iris Blackthorn was twelve steps ahead of me. The mixed media aspect of the podcast was a wonderful audiobook element, with a separate voice actor for Heather’s recordings and introduction music, the experience was all the more immersive.
Victoria Wlosok’s debut sparked a new interest in me for mystery-thrillers, and is surely surely not one to miss.

The definition of Be Gay, Do Crime
I loved all the queer representation throughout the book. I was really invested in the plot, and it was your classic murder mystery case with missing people that has loopholes galore and a shock twist, all in all a really fantastic book!

This book is, without a doubt, the next great YA murder mystery. Following in the lineage of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson, Wlosok perfectly balances coming-of-age with the thrilling investigation. Iris is a compelling protagonist and the ultimate reveal is wonderfully plotted and layered with social commentary.

I loved this book! the ambiance was just right to keep me up reading all night. As a lesbian, I loved reading about a sapphic detective agency. I loved all the characters and the relationships they had with each other, especially the three/four characters in the agency. Our protagonist was very human and I found that really endearing.
I was able to figure out who it was pretty early in the story, but there were so many big pieces that I did not see coming that made the story still very interesting for me.

I really wanted to like this book but I just could not connect to the characters. It was kind of hard to really care about the case when it was very procedural and not really driven by the people.