This one missed the mark for me. The storyline felt frustrating, with Michie's constant distraction while worrying about her chosen "sister," making it difficult to get anything done. The focus on her romantic desires seemed to overshadow the situation's urgency.
While the premise held promise—a narrative about a chosen family and the lengths one would go to protect them—the execution felt lacking. The storyline appeared overwhelmed by distractions and romantic inclinations, diluting the urgency and gravity of the search for Trissa. The plot's potential was hindered by a focus that seemed misplaced.

Thank you to ECW Press and NetGalley for the arc of How to be Found.

This novel attempted to take on deep/dark topics such as the treatment of sex workers, police brutality and the laws regarding drug use however a lot of this felt shoehorned in, never fully fleshed out and included purely for the representation check box.

The constant inclusion of the strangler and the book Michie is reading seem completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, and add little to the actual story and, unfortunately, this is a common theme. The author uses social justice and inclusion as an excuse for no one caring that a child works in a strip club, and passes a lot of bad parenting off as 'The Moms' being 'cool moms'.

Overall,, largely disappointing.

I listened to the audiobook which will be available January 03, 2024. Before reading or listening to this book I suggest checking trigger warnings.

This book was extremely raw. It gave insight into what minorities and sex workers have to go through daily which I loved. It didn’t hide that theirs bad things that happen in this world and that the people who are meant to protect us usually don’t and get away with not doing their jobs properly.

I did not connect with the characters in this book, I didn’t feel a real connection with any of them and I think their could have been a lot added to their character development, but I loved the plot of this book and even though the mystery part of the plot wasn’t the best I did enjoy it and it had me on the edge of my seat. I do think there was a lot that could have been added to make the mystery more intriguing.

As for the little romance sub-plot that was added in, I wasn’t really a fan of it. I didn’t see the connection between the two characters and there was a small spicy seen that I didn’t approve of because the main characters in this book are sixteen. It’s marked as a young adult book and that may just be due to the content in the book, but I believe that if the author wanted to add in her characters having sex she should have made them over the age of 18.

I do recommend giving this book a chance, just remember to check content and trigger warnings before reading or listening to it!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the audio ARC.

I loved this YA! I am not the biggest fan of YA books but this was actually a really good book. My first by this author and will not be my last. I loved the storyline and the characters.

There were a lot of great issues and topics at play in this novel, however, it became overwhleming and detracted from the beauty of the novel. There is also a very wide chasm between American and Candian culture in terms of much of what happened in this novel would be unfamilar and confusing for American students. However ideas of social justice, police brutality, drugs, sex, sexuality, etc. would be. Ultimately, this is not a read I would consider able to transcend the YA title as I can't see adults really enjoying this novel.

3.5 rounded up to a 4. For sure tugged at my heart strings. It was not what I was expecting, but that is okay. I fell in love with almost all of the characters and wanted to give the neighborhood kids a big hug for everything they had been through. I did like the ending. Thank you Netgalley and ECW Press Audio for a chance to listen to this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Thank you so much to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for giving me the opportunity to read How to be Found. This no way influences my own opinions and thoughts on the book itself.

Also I read this as an audiobook so I may get the spelling of characters’ names wrong.

This book starts off with the main character Michelle (Michie?) playing truth or dare with her friends when her best friend Trissa dares her to make out with the boy she’s been crushing on in front of his girlfriend. Trying to deal with the aftermath of her actions, she soon finds out that Trisha is missing, which is really alarming because of the serial killer that’s been killing a lot of girls their age.

While I understand the circumstances of the whole childhood friends that love each other, I think it was shitty of the love interest to actually make out with the girl that he keeps trying to convince is “just a friend” to his girlfriend. Like. Hello? You’re trying to “move on” but don’t dismiss the dare to actually kiss Michie ? Idk shitty guy if you ask me. The author kept trying to villainize Kelly D., but I can see why she got upset. Your boyfriend kisses the girl that’s “just a friend” “because of a dare” basically in front of his girlfriend. I’m not saying Kelly D is a saint though. She has her own problems and issues that can be dealt with, but don’t matter because she’s not really relevant in the book.

The whole issue with Trissa going missing is how the police choose to handle it with Michie, and their mothers. For some reason they try to find some reason to pin whatever is going on to the mothers or something ? I don’t know. It’s a little confusing with their reasoning, but I guess the author is trying to say that police don’t always handle cases properly.

It’s not a bad story, and I enjoyed it! The fact that the setting is in Canada is nice (from a Canadian). And the narrator wasn’t too cringey if you ask me. It was a little weird at first the way she chose to act out the characters’ words, but I got used to it.

***SPOILER START***

I thought it was kinda weird the irrelevancy of the serial killer. We get a few horrifying details of what he does to his victims, but for the most part, they aren’t really mentioned except for the possibility of them taking Trissa and idk if they wanted the possibility of the serial killer taking her to be more plausible, it would’ve been nice to see the serial killer more fleshed out. I guess though I don’t hate how irrelevant the serial killer is. There are way too many books out there that focus on the serial killer and idk I guess it was kinda nice that the mystery wasn’t as gory as it could’ve been.

***SPOILER END***

All in all, I did enjoy the book, Anwar is kinda shitty for doing what he did to Kelly, and Michie is low key another angsty “pick me girl” that I actually didn’t hate. Just kind of annoying. Thought it was stupid that she thought taking a random pill will let her know what pill it was like ????? Bro you’re 16 with basically no hard drug experience. That was so stupid.

How to be Found is Emily Pohl-Weary’s new young adult mystery novel, publishing 03/01/2024. It is the coming of age story of sixteen-year-old Michie and Trissa, two best friends who have grown up together like sisters. Extroverted Trissa has always pushed Michie to live outside of her comfort zone, and in turn Michie made sure Trissa never went too far. So, when Trissa goes missing, Michie is forced to step up and work out what has happened. The more digging Michie does into Trissa’s life, the more she realises that perhaps she didn’t know Trissa at all.

I really enjoyed reading this, and was able to race through it quite quickly. The plot is fast-paced and I was left guessing how it was all going to end right up until the last chapter. It touches on some really important themes, and emphasises the importance of keeping yourself safe as a young woman. I think that Pohl-Weary has brilliantly captured the all-encompassing emotion that comes with being a sixteen-year-old girl, which is perhaps best evidenced in Michie’s relationship with Anwar. Despite protestations that they’ve known each other forever, their relationship moves very quickly (given that the entire story takes place in a matter of a few days). My first impression was that their relationship felt very random and unconvincing, however given the age of the protagonist I concede that it is probably quite accurate. The book also uses their relationship to touch briefly on the theme of trauma bonds.

The entire book is set in a particularly impoverished area of Toronto. It uses location as a vehicle in which to discuss marginalised people in society placing extra significance on their community and harbouring negative relationships with the police force. The theme of Michie’s illnesses is constantly brought up, but not in any real depth, aside from sporadic mentions of ‘heart pills’ and one reference to her dissociative disorder. I think that this could have been elaborated on as it does very little for the plot in its current state.

I hope that this book finds its way into the right hands, as it’s an enjoyable read with some really pertinent social messages. I think that there are definitely themes to be wary of in this book, such as: language, sex, sex work, alcohol, drugs, violence, homophobia. In some instances these themes are glamorised and I would be wary of recommending it to certain impressionable young adult audiences.

I received this from NetGalley.
I don’t read YA very often, but I really did enjoy this book! Sometimes I could predict what was about to happen, but most times I did not. It definitely touched on a lot of problems we have going on in our world and made me feel like I was right there with them.

I was unable to listen to All of This Book due to content but the part I listen to was well written and if we're a book that someone was interested in it is a good book but the content was something that I couldn't listen to I'm sorry thank you for the opportunity

I think unfortunately this book, while not poorly written, was not written for me. There is an audience for this, probably older teens. I like YA, but this felt like a strange mix of younger YA writing but upper YA themes and sometime about that felt off to me. The idea and themes were interesting and I liked that it touched on important topics. Audiobook is great as well.

I enjoyed the mystery element to.the book overall. I would reasonably more by Emily in the future too.

I tried, really hard, to get in the young adult mindset for this book, but even with that perspective I could not stand this book. It was both boring but had too much going on, all at once. The constant reminiscing, crazy lust, obsession with the murder book, the serial killer, the dancing, the drugs, the beatings... It was a lot, but I wasn't super invested in any of it. All of the parents in this book were terrible, and the repetition of "chosen family" and "she's my chosen sister but she's not actually my sister" like okay we get it. Things don't need to be repeated, the actions taken by the characters can show the reader how important the relationships are without saying it 100 times. I would recommend this book for younger young adults based on how it was written except for the drugs, sex, and... okay yeah, not sure who the intended audience for this book really should be, but it was not for me. I didn't hate the ending but it was highly unrealistic and kind of ... anticlimactic.

I think this is a good book that touches on some very important topics, I liked the mystery element to it. I also didn’t dislike how the book wrapped up. However the book did just feel slightly lacking in something. It was a bit slow at times and i found myself getting distracted halfway through and the ending wasn’t anything ground-breaking.
Thank you to Net Galley for the audiobook by ECW Press Audio.

Thanks to ECW Press Audio, NetGalley, author Emily Pohl-Weary and narrator Megan MacPherson for the opportunity to listen to an amazing advance audiobook for a honest review. This was an incredible story that kept me guessing when the heroine Michie and her friends are brought together to try to find her closest friend Trissa who has vanished one night under mysterious circumstances. Michie has to work to keep both her mom and Trissa’s from either ending up in jail or dying of a broken heart. When she finds that all of her money has been taken from the bank she knows only Trissa could have taken it but where would she go to escape and why did she think she had to run? The answers will surprise you. Definitely recommend this to fans of Holly Jackson.

I didn't really know what to expect with this audiobook. On paper it's my kinda thing but I just wasn't really engaged with the mystery and I found myself checking if I was nearly done more than just enjoying the story.

I did appreciate that for a YA this book didn't shy away from sex and do a "fade to black", but still kept it "tame" and not like erotica.

Audiobook review - How to Be Found is a fantastic story of chosen families and being there for each other. The ending seemed rather anti-climactic, but overall I recommend this title for teens who enjoy realistic fiction.

How to Be Found follows Michie who is trying to find her best friend Trissa after her disappearance. There were some sinister elements at play in the area. There is a serial killer murdering girls that are around Trissa's age and from the same location. Michie wanted to find out what happened to Trissa and she was frustrated by the lack of motivation from the local police. She takes matters into her own hands and solves the mystery.

I get the message and I feel for these communities and people just like Michie and Trissa but I felt as a mystery this book just did not keep me interested. I wanted to know what happened but I never felt fully invested.

In today's world, so many kids go through events they should never have to at such a young age. They lack the support they deserve and then they have no one to turn to. This was displayed well in this story. If the overall mystery had kept me more intrigued this book would have easily been one to recommend to everyone.

Thank you Netgalley and Emily Pohl Weary for the ARC of How to be Found.

I really enjoyed this coming of age Mystery/Thriller. It had a nice subplot of romance which didn't overtake the story.
Megan MacPherson, the narrator was perfect for this narrative. Megan has a young sounding voice which really bought out the voices of these young people.

Good book. Kept me interested. I do think it was kind of an underwhelming outcome. I enjoyed the romance subplot but also didn’t think it was necessary.