This book had me engaged with its gradual suspense and an unexpected twist. The pacing kept the tension going, and the surprise at the end added a nice touch to the plot. A good choice for readers who enjoy unpredictable stories.

This was my first Ellery Kane read. And it definitely won’t be my last!
I liked how the book had both the current and before timeline for the reader to get the insight to what happened. It was not hard to follow between timelines.
This is a prime example that as a parent you truly can never know your child and what they may do but also how hard a mother will fight for their child.
I thought I had the guilty party figured out but was surprised once the story started to unfold. There’s a lot of secrets, a lot of deception and quite a few little twists along the way. Then once the ending came out I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. I will be keeping an eye out for more titles from this author!

Two girls depart on an old camping bus for their first trip away from home.

The two girls never return.

What happened to the girls?

I was intrigued by the book's compelling premise and enjoyed the book's pacing.

Unfortunately, I was not the right reader for this book.

The book unfolded from two POVs: the mother of one of the missing girls and the mother's daughter.

Although I connected with the mother's POV, the daughter's POV, and her social media posts gave this book a YA vibe and I am not a fan of YA books.

I listened to the audiobook read by Patricia Rodriguez, who did a fabulous job with the narration.

Since the book unfolded from two POVs, two narrators would have been preferred.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.6⭐️ I am thankful to have gotten the audio ALC for free from Netgalley and Bookouture Audio so I can leave my voluntary review.


I really enjoyed this book! I love the back and forth of the POV and time frames of the mother searching for her child and the friends trip a few days beforehand. It was seamlessly constructed and well written.

When I first started it with the prologue I was really nervous that I would not be able to listen to the book as the narrator Patricia Rodriguez put on this voice that was awful to listen to and it was so slow and drawn out.
But thankfully once chapter 1 came her tone changed. However, i could not listen to is on 1x speed or I would have DNFd it most likely. While I went to 1.75x and 2x (depending on the chapter) as that was what was comfortable for me, putting it at 1.25x was sufficient to correct the pacing of the narration.

I enjoyed that the book jumped right in to the problem of the story. It kept me engaged and made for a fast read in that o wanted to keep going and if a physical book I know I would have been flipping pages easily.
My
Husband is from Michigan so having spent some time there it was fun to listen to the road journey and places around Michigan. It was also something that I didn’t even try to figure things out! I got to enjoy the twists and turns and the ending was great!

The book comes out on October 8th 2024 so get it on your TBR!!

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

Having a daughter myself, I was just ready for all the heartstrings to be pulled It was just such a good book.

My Missing Daughter by Ellery A. Kane
Narrated by Patricia Rodríguez

As soon as the book starts you know something bad has/is happening although we don't know when it is happening. We get to see events in the present day, when Tracy, mother of nineteen year old Willow is fretting about her daughter being gone on a road trip with her best friend, Amelia. Tracy actually refurbished the bus Willow and Amelia are using on their trip that is going to help them put the final touches on a novel that they have cowritten.

We also get to spend time with Willow and Amelia as they upload content to various media outlets letting their followers know about what they are doing and seeing. It's very interesting since what Willow uploads to her social media sites does not reflect the reality of what is going on between the two girls. Tension between the girls that might have been building for a lot longer than either of them realized is now coming to a head in the worst of ways. Not only is it not fun to be cramped into a bus on a road trip with someone who may not be your friend anymore, it might even be a dangerous situation.

Back to Tracy, she's getting very antsy that Willow hasn't been checking in with her much and she knows she shouldn't pester Willow since she doesn't like her mother hovering. But when a young man shows up at Tracy's door and hands Tracy the keys to the bus, all of Tracy's imagined fears may be coming true. The police are alerted and an investigation begins with Tracy having to deal with a young detective that is less than comforting and often confrontational.

So much happens and I thought I knew what was going on but I was more wrong than I usually am with stories like this one. It was disturbing hanging out with the girls because they both had major secrets that were not going to go down well if/when the secrets get aired. The adults aren't much better with the secrets they are keeping and it's never good when the young detective thinks that Tracy is withholding information. Patricia Rodriguez does a very good job with the narration, actually making me want to jump out of the bus when we are with teens, I'm so past going on a road trip with teens, I'm not sure I was very good at it even when I was a teen...ha ha

Thank you to Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for this ARC