Thank you Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the eARC of The Other Lola! All opinions in this review are my own.

In the sequel to Missing Clarissa, Cam and Blair have another missing girl to find with a twist. The missing girl in question has actually come back after 5 years but her sister thinks it's someone who is just pretending to be her. In a wildly twisty book where you are not quite sure what is the truth and what is fake, Cam and Blair must help their new friend.

While I would love another book featuring Cam and Blair, the very end of The Other Lola is satisfying and sweet so I would be okay if that's where it ends. However, I can't wait to read more from Ripley Jones and I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

Admittedly it was hard to read this one, as I had no idea that it was a sequel to an already published book. In addition to that, it was a mystery novel, so a lot of key elements are missing obviously. I found it hard to keep up with everything, piecing information together on my own, Asides from that, I didn't really care much for the characters. They were all bratty and just high school cliches.

The Other Lola is the follow-up to Jones’ previous release, Missing Clarissa. Readers find themselves back with our main characters, Cam and Blair, who are doing everything they can to avoid the drama of their podcast and solving mysteries.

Or are they?

When the opportunity to work with Mattie on finding their sister comes about, our duo is hesitant, but ultimately can’t say no. What ensues is a delightfully tense investigation filled with humor and an amazing found family storyline.

Jones has a way with words and I’m 100% onboard to buy whatever comes next even if it’s not another Cam and Blair story (but also, I would totally love one of those!).

I read Missing Clarissa a couple of months ago, and despite thinking it was terribly written I thought it was a really fun and engaging read. So despite me probably knowing better I decided I would check out the sequel. I thought it might be a bit better, but honestly I liked this less. However, it was still a pretty engaging read.
The writing in this book truly isn't good. I do think it improved a little bit from book one, but overall I thought the dialogues were written like this author has never met another human before. There was also a lot of telling, not showing. Relationships between characters are also not developed at all. It was nuts. It also got a bit repetetive at times.
One improvement in the mystery departement is that the absolutely terrible questioning skills these two girls have actually led to nothing. I hated how characters revealed it all last book. At least this time around people peaced out because the main characters were borderline harassing them. However, considering the main characters don't get any better at this stuff this also means that we get absolutely nothing for most of this book. There are no movements in the mystery investigation. All we got is more and more unhinged theories from our characters. I just didn't like how they made connections out of nowhere, and started acting like their thoughts were probably correct. The big reveals also felt a bit lackluster. I don't know. I don't think it was terrible, but it was very predictable. To be fair, one of the two reveals was also heavily spoiled in the first chapter. So, you know ... That just didn't work.
This was probably the last book I read by this author, because overall I did think the entertainement value went down in this book. I wasn't as incredibly invested in this one like book one. I actually got bored a little bit while reading this. The plot is still kind of nuts though, and even though I can appreciate its political messaging, it did feel a bit shoehorned. So overall, I do think this was just a worse reading experience for me than book one, and therefore I don't think I will read anything else by this author anymore (but never say never).

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest reviews. All opinions are my own.

There are books 50% through where I debate and wonder why/if I should "not finish." The Other Lola was one of those books for me.

Cam and Blair, two teenage sleuths, have sworn off solving another true crime case. That is, until Mattie approaches them with a mystery they cannot look away from. Mattie believes her sister Lola is not truly her sister. She looks the same and acts the same yet something is off. Looks like Blair and Cam are back on the case.

I cared too much regarding Lola's disappearance and was hoping for some sort of secret society. I felt like a lot was crammed into the story and while I appreciated the take on loving/welcoming all at the end of the novel, I was ready to quickly move on. I just wasn't hooked and am unsure if I would continue towards a third novel.

3.5*

The Other Lola is an engaging and endearing read. I enjoyed Missing Clarissa, the first book where we're introduced to Cam and Blair, but I liked this book just a little more. And that's due to Mattie's character. I wanted to wrap them up in a great big hug and make all their stress and worries disappear, and give them back their sister.

3.5 ⭐️ rounded

I’ll be honest, I don’t remember much about Missing Clarissa, except that I enjoyed the book which is why I requested for the ARC. For those of you wondering if you need to read or even remember the first book to read this one, I found no issues basically going in blind. The first book is referenced, but it’s pretty basic information so you'll be fine.

At first premise, this book seems to have a similar premise to The Reappearance of Rachel Price, but I loved that book and I enjoy reading similar plots so I don’t have an issue with that if this book is unique enough.

The mystery kind of felt like the B-plot, but I didn’t mind since it was progressing slowly but we got more development of Cam and Blair and little nuances in their lives. I feel like the actual mystery wasn’t as climatic, but I’m not that mad about it.

Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC!

This was a good book but there was just something that seemed like it was missing. I can't quite figure out what it is, but it kept me from being fully into the story.

So almost immediately I realized that the author most likely got the idea for this book from a real life case. It’s one that lives rent free in my head. And if I’m being honest my true crime junkie self thinks the real life case, was more like this book than what we’ve been told. If you haven’t heard of I recommend watching The Imposter. Great documentary.

Because of my knowledge on that story I was even more invested in this one. I know some reviewers think this story is too far fetched but it’s clearly not! This is probably why I loved this.

Missing Clarissa was a 5 ⭐️ read for me so this had big shoes to fill. The author did a great job at picking up where we left off in book 1.
I still adore Cam and Blair. I think they are such fantastic characters. Don’t get me started on Mattie, they fit in so well with those two. I hope we get more books with them in it.

I couldn’t put this down, I was curious where the author would take us. I pretty much guessed the mystery right away but I still needed to know how it went down.

Overall I think this was a great sequel that can be read as a standalone.

I don’t really know what to think of this book. I expected a lot more mystery and suspense than there was. I feel like the Lola portion took a backseat to the character development of Cam. Blair felt more like a supporting character than the second part of their duo. I didn’t like or dislike Mattie, but think a 14 year old character is more middle school read than YA. I was able to read the book quickly, but it just went that way. There wasn’t really much happening. I liked Cam’s family. I didn’t like the preaching as it felt like the book was way more about that than the mystery. I read Missing Clarissa but cannot remember much about it, despite reading this book. Since there’s so much that ties back to it, a succinct (full) summary would have been more helpful than the frequent vague connections. I hated the end. How ridiculously unbelievable but predictable.

Altogether, I read the whole thing. I didn’t like everything but found some parts enjoyable. 2.5 stars rounded to 3.

Short synopsis: Cam and Blair are back this time helping their friend Mattie, whose sister Lola disappeared 5 years ago. Now she’s back, but Mattie is convinced it’s not really Lola.

My thoughts: This is a follow up to Missing Clarissa, which I enjoyed a bit more than this one.

The premise was fun, but predictable and I’ve seen it multiple times before. I tried going in with YA eyes, but I think it just didn’t really work for me.

It was a bit too slow of a burn, but the final pages were really fun.

I loved the first book but this would didn't really capture my attention. I'm not sure why. I tried but unfortunately this book was not for me. That does not mean that I wouldn't talk about it to customers though. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Let me start this by saying I totally missed that this was part of a series until after I finished it, so oops. Reading the first (Missing Clarissa) in the series would likely provide more insight into the podcast that is referenced several times throughout but other than that it was fine being read as a standalone.

Mattie’s sister returns home after disappearing from a party 5 years ago; Mattie suspects this “new” Lola is not their sister and plans to prove it. To do so they seek help from Cam and Blair who recently solved a cold case. While they don’t exactly believe Mattie’s theory, they agree to help them figure out what happened to Lola 5 years ago and why she decided to return.

I’m not really sure how I feel about this one. I didn’t exactly hate it but also didn’t love it. The writing wasn’t horrible and I loved the representation though out. I did guess the twist pretty early on, and much preferred to read Blair’s POV. Overall, this was alright and I’m sure those who enjoyed the first book will enjoy this one!

Let me start by saying I loved Missing Clarissa, it was one of my favorite books last year and I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one.
I hate to say it but this one missed the mark for me, the story just didn't grab me as much as Missing Clarissa did, and while I try to not compare books it's hard in thiis case.

I wish I could put my finger on what it was that bothered me with this one, maybe it was the use of full names, or maybe it was the supporting characters in this one, or maybe it was just that the other Lola never seemed believeable to me, I don't know but it was just missing the magic for me.

Now that's not to say it's bad, it wasn't I'd happily read more by this author this one was just a bit of a miss for me when I went into it looking forward to it so much.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing a copy of this E-Book, I have voluntarily read and reviewed it and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

This book was fine. I don't really feel like this sequel was needed as I don't feel as though it added anything to the first book. It works fine as a standalone. I found Cam to be just as irritating as she was in the first book. I can't say that it was a fun read but it did keep me involved until the end, so there's that.

Missing Clarissa was a very pleasant surprise when I picked it up. It was engaging and made me want to keep turning pages to figure out the clues to solve the mystery(s). The Other Lola never seemed to catch my attention the same way and I have yet to completely finish the book. I may return to it in the future. Though, I will definitely still recommend it to our Teen patrons who are constantly on the lookout for YA murder mysteries.

I wish I would have been able to enjoy this more, unfortunately the writing reads more as a middle grade rather than a YA.

I am happily surprised that I enjoyed this one more than the first! Blair and Cam are such amazing friends, and even though their relationship gets tested here, they really pull through. This new mystery had me intrigued, and I enjoyed the edition of the new character Maddie. Yes, the book is a little "woke" and heavy handed with the progressive agenda, but I really did have fun figuring out this mystery with Cam and Blair. I don't think I need a third book, but I hope Jones comes out with a new series!

Blair and Cameron have found themselves thrust into the spotlight after their podcast about Clarissa became widely listened to and extremely popular, but they both have sworn that they will never get caught up in something like that ever again. This is a difficult promise to keep however when Mattie, a freshman at theory school, comes to them begging for help. Five years ago her sister, Lola, disappeared and hasn’t been heard from since, but it seems that, against all odds, Lola has returned. Many in the family are welcoming Lola back with open arms, but Mattie is convinced that this girl is not her sister and she wants Blair and Cameron’s help to prove that this girl is an impostor.

I found this novel to be full of suspense, suspense that kept me at the edge of my seat throughout. I really liked the characters of Blair and Cameron. They are well developed and all, but the thing that I think I liked the most about them is that they are so very different, which not only adds some variety, but it also shows young adult readers that people who are very different can still have strong, positive relationships with each other.