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srlynch's review
3.0
Lost girls
3.5 stars. Quick easy read with short chapters. Liked the concept but it was too far-reaching for me. I think would've been more believable if the characters were college age rather than high school.
3.5 stars. Quick easy read with short chapters. Liked the concept but it was too far-reaching for me. I think would've been more believable if the characters were college age rather than high school.
lenoreo's review
3.0
https://celebrityreaders.com/2020/10/22/lost-girls-by-merrie-destefano/
I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.
3.5 stars — This book had a lot of ups and downs, but it mostly pulled it in in the end.
I will admit that I was initially intrigued by the mystery…but then I started not really liking or connecting with Rachel and for a good chunk of the beginning-middle I kinda just wanted to skim ahead and find out all the answers to the mysteries. I suspected pretty much everyone of shenanigans at one point or another in this story. I mean, some characters really did not behave or react how they should have — especially her parents! I mean, she just got back from being kidnapped! I don’t know… And then there were her “friends” at school. It was just a big ball of conflicting emotions for me.
Luckily, it was a pretty quick read, so I just powered through. And somewhere along the way I found myself wanting the answers, despite still being kind of meh about Rachel. She did have some glimmers of better-ness though, so that helped.
And the big reveal?? Well, I can’t say I guessed it from the beginning — I was going down an entirely different path for awhile. But I did wonder about some parts. Then other parts I didn’t guess AT ALL. But I’m not a big mystery reader, so I honestly don’t know how it holds up in the genre.
I think part of my problem is that I just finished reading another young adult mystery, and I ADORED the heroine, and connected with her, and felt for her — even though she made bad choices as well. So it was a pretty stark contrast to Rachel’s basically mean girl thing, and aggression, and all that. I’m not sure I entirely get her whole transformation, but some of it did make sense and I felt a bit better about her by the end.
So yeah…how do people review mystery books? I mean, I don’t want to give away anything by saying which characters I liked and which I didn’t. I think I was only mostly sold on Molly and Kyle, though the others did have some redeeming qualities in the end.
It was strange. It was outside my wheelhouse. I’m glad I stuck it out for the ending, because it was different but interesting. But I might be more choosy in my mysteries in the future.
I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.
3.5 stars — This book had a lot of ups and downs, but it mostly pulled it in in the end.
I will admit that I was initially intrigued by the mystery…but then I started not really liking or connecting with Rachel and for a good chunk of the beginning-middle I kinda just wanted to skim ahead and find out all the answers to the mysteries. I suspected pretty much everyone of shenanigans at one point or another in this story. I mean, some characters really did not behave or react how they should have — especially her parents! I mean, she just got back from being kidnapped! I don’t know… And then there were her “friends” at school. It was just a big ball of conflicting emotions for me.
Luckily, it was a pretty quick read, so I just powered through. And somewhere along the way I found myself wanting the answers, despite still being kind of meh about Rachel. She did have some glimmers of better-ness though, so that helped.
And the big reveal?? Well, I can’t say I guessed it from the beginning — I was going down an entirely different path for awhile. But I did wonder about some parts. Then other parts I didn’t guess AT ALL. But I’m not a big mystery reader, so I honestly don’t know how it holds up in the genre.
I think part of my problem is that I just finished reading another young adult mystery, and I ADORED the heroine, and connected with her, and felt for her — even though she made bad choices as well. So it was a pretty stark contrast to Rachel’s basically mean girl thing, and aggression, and all that. I’m not sure I entirely get her whole transformation, but some of it did make sense and I felt a bit better about her by the end.
So yeah…how do people review mystery books? I mean, I don’t want to give away anything by saying which characters I liked and which I didn’t. I think I was only mostly sold on Molly and Kyle, though the others did have some redeeming qualities in the end.
It was strange. It was outside my wheelhouse. I’m glad I stuck it out for the ending, because it was different but interesting. But I might be more choosy in my mysteries in the future.
lpcoolgirl's review
5.0
A fantastic book about family and relationships, and a fight club and dangers and lost memories! Fantastic to read!
psychichobbes's review
5.0
This book was surprising in the best way possible, and the characters, especially the female characters were so good. I loved how tough and scary Rachel could be, I loved seeing her slowly piece everything together.
lairofbooks's review
5.0
5 EPIC STARS TO LOST GIRLS!!!! the synopsis truly captures what this book is about at it's foundation...Its totally Black Swan meets Fight Club in the BEST way possible! I'm going to need more from this author. Full gush review to come on my blog (Link is in the bio)...
UPDATE: FULL REVIEW
https://lairofbooksblog.wordpress.com/2016/12/08/review-lost-girls-by-merrie-destefano/
*I’d like to thank Entangled Teen for approving me to receive an eGalley of Lost Girls by Merrie Destefano via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
PLOT
The 1st sentence in the synopsis for this book immediately had me clicking Request This Book over at Netgalley because my mind sees Black Swan & Fight Club as the ultimate mashup & i’m all for it.. I can happily confirm that the description doesn’t lie & if you’re looking for your next adrenaline infused read then Lost Girls is the book for you! The book opens up with Rachel in a ditch in the middle of no where with no recollection of how she got there. Rachel makes her way on to an open road and is able to flag down some help & call her parents. It turns out that she’s been missing for the past 2 weeks however, her last clear memory is being in her room studying for a class she took 1 year go. See, Rachel has lost all recollection of the past year and can’t provide any insight as to what led to her disappearance. Once she is back home and begins to settle in, she sees that her room looks completely different than it did 1 year ago. Everything went from light colors to black. Digging around in her closet she finds a box with articles of clothing and items that indicate she was quite possibly living a double life–one that isn’t so much Girl Next Door but more Good Girl Gone Bad. In school she realizes she is now popular, a part of the cool kids, and dating the hottest guy in the school. Yet last she can recall, her best friends name is Molly & they enjoy dressing up in Lord Of The Rings Cosplay. Everything had changed in Rachel’s life and she was intent on getting answers. She went along with her new friends and quickly realized they knew more than they were letting on. She finds it easy to establish herself as the leader of their crew of friends, something that she is almost positive would NOT have been the norm 1 year ago. Rachel is the Alpha whether she has her memories or not, she also has a new found love for danger & fighting but no clue as to how long those feelings have lived with her. Rachel returns to ballet practice to try & bring some normalcy back into her life, not realizing that this too is a clue to her missing year of memory. Little by Little she begins to piece together the mystery of her disappearance & her personality change, in doing so she finds that she was involved in a very dangerous lifestyle…
CHARACTERS
Rachel is our protagonist and she is not your typical run of the mill YA protog in the sense that I wasn’t able to fit her into any of the YA roles. She is not a hero, anti-hero, or what some would call a “good character”. Rachel is flawed in a lot of ways & this made her all the more relatable. I understood that she had made a ton of mistakes and that she has this calling towards fighting. She struggles reconciling the person she was a year ago with the person she changed into. Was it really a gradual change? or was it something embedded in her personality all along? is this just her nature? I loved this character so much because she understood that there is no good or bad but there’s plenty of gray. Seeing how she handled her returning memories was also interesting and played into her need for control. She internalizes a ton and that brings me to another character I loved who plays a major role in building her trust, her dad. Rachel’s dad was formerly a Navy Seal and is the more quiet and observant type of parent, her mom is a nurse who handles crisis in the hospital well but not so well when it comes to her kids (I can totally relate lol). It was her dad who kept a close eye on her even when she wasn’t aware he was doing so. One of my favorite scenes in this book is between Rachel & her Dad…a few tears were shed *no shame*
There’s also the crew of Girls & Guys that run with Rachel (don’t want to giveaway too much) that each add personality to the group. Loved the loyalty they all had for each eachother & how protective Rachel was over each of her girls. We get to learn a bit of back story on each of the girls who ALL can fight & crossing paths with Rachel may have just saved their lives. There is a love interest in the story & he also is a part of the underworld Rachel thrives off of, a fighter and a poet. No instalove here though since when we meet him, they would have been dating for more than the past year. Rachel’s reconnection with him feels fated & I enjoyed learning how exactly they fell down the rabbit hole they are in when the story begins. I also can’t go without mentioning Molly who was/is Rachel’s nerdy best-friend. I absolutely ADORED Molly and seeing how fiercely loyal she is to Rachel even when she didn’t exactly deserve it. Molly is that one friend you have that you know is ride or die HAHA!
WRITING
The world Merrie Destefano has created in Lost Girls is so DARK & ADRENALINE FUELED…I couldn’t put this book down. I’m talking full on phone slapping me in the face awake at 2am because I thought I could break night just to find out what was going on. There are both female and male groups that fight in this underworld for the most part they are all high school students. This isn’t some luxury club in good neighborhood either, she took us into the worse of the worse. The part of town you don’t want your car to break down in & she accurately describes what it would look like & the characters that you would come across. Of course, you can’t realistacally fashion an underworld with illegal fighting without the appearance of drugs. There are different types of drugs with names like Pink Lightning or Blue Thunder that the fighters are given so as to get them addicted. The writing (specifically fighting scenes) is descriptive enough to make you imagine how much pain was being inflicted. The plot & pacing were on point and maintained my attention to the very end. I look forward to reading more from this author and hope we do get another book soon *crosses fingers*
UPDATE: FULL REVIEW
https://lairofbooksblog.wordpress.com/2016/12/08/review-lost-girls-by-merrie-destefano/
*I’d like to thank Entangled Teen for approving me to receive an eGalley of Lost Girls by Merrie Destefano via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
PLOT
The 1st sentence in the synopsis for this book immediately had me clicking Request This Book over at Netgalley because my mind sees Black Swan & Fight Club as the ultimate mashup & i’m all for it.. I can happily confirm that the description doesn’t lie & if you’re looking for your next adrenaline infused read then Lost Girls is the book for you! The book opens up with Rachel in a ditch in the middle of no where with no recollection of how she got there. Rachel makes her way on to an open road and is able to flag down some help & call her parents. It turns out that she’s been missing for the past 2 weeks however, her last clear memory is being in her room studying for a class she took 1 year go. See, Rachel has lost all recollection of the past year and can’t provide any insight as to what led to her disappearance. Once she is back home and begins to settle in, she sees that her room looks completely different than it did 1 year ago. Everything went from light colors to black. Digging around in her closet she finds a box with articles of clothing and items that indicate she was quite possibly living a double life–one that isn’t so much Girl Next Door but more Good Girl Gone Bad. In school she realizes she is now popular, a part of the cool kids, and dating the hottest guy in the school. Yet last she can recall, her best friends name is Molly & they enjoy dressing up in Lord Of The Rings Cosplay. Everything had changed in Rachel’s life and she was intent on getting answers. She went along with her new friends and quickly realized they knew more than they were letting on. She finds it easy to establish herself as the leader of their crew of friends, something that she is almost positive would NOT have been the norm 1 year ago. Rachel is the Alpha whether she has her memories or not, she also has a new found love for danger & fighting but no clue as to how long those feelings have lived with her. Rachel returns to ballet practice to try & bring some normalcy back into her life, not realizing that this too is a clue to her missing year of memory. Little by Little she begins to piece together the mystery of her disappearance & her personality change, in doing so she finds that she was involved in a very dangerous lifestyle…
CHARACTERS
Rachel is our protagonist and she is not your typical run of the mill YA protog in the sense that I wasn’t able to fit her into any of the YA roles. She is not a hero, anti-hero, or what some would call a “good character”. Rachel is flawed in a lot of ways & this made her all the more relatable. I understood that she had made a ton of mistakes and that she has this calling towards fighting. She struggles reconciling the person she was a year ago with the person she changed into. Was it really a gradual change? or was it something embedded in her personality all along? is this just her nature? I loved this character so much because she understood that there is no good or bad but there’s plenty of gray. Seeing how she handled her returning memories was also interesting and played into her need for control. She internalizes a ton and that brings me to another character I loved who plays a major role in building her trust, her dad. Rachel’s dad was formerly a Navy Seal and is the more quiet and observant type of parent, her mom is a nurse who handles crisis in the hospital well but not so well when it comes to her kids (I can totally relate lol). It was her dad who kept a close eye on her even when she wasn’t aware he was doing so. One of my favorite scenes in this book is between Rachel & her Dad…a few tears were shed *no shame*
There’s also the crew of Girls & Guys that run with Rachel (don’t want to giveaway too much) that each add personality to the group. Loved the loyalty they all had for each eachother & how protective Rachel was over each of her girls. We get to learn a bit of back story on each of the girls who ALL can fight & crossing paths with Rachel may have just saved their lives. There is a love interest in the story & he also is a part of the underworld Rachel thrives off of, a fighter and a poet. No instalove here though since when we meet him, they would have been dating for more than the past year. Rachel’s reconnection with him feels fated & I enjoyed learning how exactly they fell down the rabbit hole they are in when the story begins. I also can’t go without mentioning Molly who was/is Rachel’s nerdy best-friend. I absolutely ADORED Molly and seeing how fiercely loyal she is to Rachel even when she didn’t exactly deserve it. Molly is that one friend you have that you know is ride or die HAHA!
WRITING
The world Merrie Destefano has created in Lost Girls is so DARK & ADRENALINE FUELED…I couldn’t put this book down. I’m talking full on phone slapping me in the face awake at 2am because I thought I could break night just to find out what was going on. There are both female and male groups that fight in this underworld for the most part they are all high school students. This isn’t some luxury club in good neighborhood either, she took us into the worse of the worse. The part of town you don’t want your car to break down in & she accurately describes what it would look like & the characters that you would come across. Of course, you can’t realistacally fashion an underworld with illegal fighting without the appearance of drugs. There are different types of drugs with names like Pink Lightning or Blue Thunder that the fighters are given so as to get them addicted. The writing (specifically fighting scenes) is descriptive enough to make you imagine how much pain was being inflicted. The plot & pacing were on point and maintained my attention to the very end. I look forward to reading more from this author and hope we do get another book soon *crosses fingers*
book_grinch's review
2.0
Arc Provided by Entangled Teen
Release Date: January, 3rd
An ambitious concept... but I've read dystopias that are way more believable -_-
I requested this at a time in which I was so fed up with what I was reading, that I decided to take a risk on a new author, and on an ambitious concept for a story. Basically I wanted a strong female character leading the story... and in a way I got it.
Thing is, and I've said this over and over, I may be reading a fantasy book, but I want it to have strong foundations. This one?
Sandy foundations -_-
We have to believe that a once quiet girl, decides to go all Chuck Norris, just because she once was physically attacked by a bunch of girls in a bathroom.
Okay, sure, nothing wrong with that, but I wanted to see it. I wanted to see that transformation.
Also, I'm betting it takes way more than a year to become the killing machine that Rachel becomes.
The rest of the story is Rachel basically acting too stupid to live... but since she's this special snowflake who can get great grades at school without doing things like actually studying, or sleeping, she manages to have this adventurous life. Also the drugs she takes are "wolferine" type of amazing, so who cares?
She's more amazing than FBI agents and her own father, an ex-marine...
In the meanwhile there's this new adult romance who is supposed to be angsty and deep as all first romances are meant to be.
Note to self: stick with boring. At least it's more credible.
melissayabookshelf's review
5.0
Once I started Lost Girls, I read two-thirds of it in a single sitting. (And I read the remainder in another single sitting.) I just couldn't turn away from the characters, the gorgeous writing, and dark, insidious mystery at the heart of the novel.
If you like the ballet, especially Swan Lake, then you'll love this retelling, which has been pitched as Black Swan meets Fight Club. Can't wait for everyone else to have a chance to read this incredible book!
If you like the ballet, especially Swan Lake, then you'll love this retelling, which has been pitched as Black Swan meets Fight Club. Can't wait for everyone else to have a chance to read this incredible book!
dylanisreviewing's review
3.0
My first book of the year is done!!
While I did have some problems with it, I'd definitely reccomend that you pick it up when it comes out in stores tomorrow! My review will be up soon!
3.5/5 stars
While I did have some problems with it, I'd definitely reccomend that you pick it up when it comes out in stores tomorrow! My review will be up soon!
3.5/5 stars
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