Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara’s beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged.
When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it’s too late.
My Review
I read VANISHING GIRLS in the middle of a suspense binge. I like that it blended suspense elements with psychological elements. Nick is a complex character. She wants to be close to her sister, but has a lot of feelings of guilt and resentment toward her.
Weirdly, VANISHING GIRLS is the second suspense book I read this summer where the main character works at a theme park. (The other is TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET in which Ellery works at a horror-themed park.) I had some parts of the plot related to the theme park figured out pretty quickly. Other things took me completely by surprise.
One big twist didn’t make sense to me. It’s one of those moments that turns your whole perception of the story on its head. I love those kinds of moments. I love looking back through the big moments earlier in the book to see how the new information changes what was really happening there. But one moment didn’t seem to fit with the new reality. So I got kind of caught up on that.
On the whole, I think VANISHING GIRLS is an interesting book, and some of the issues it deals with are big issues. I definitely appreciate that and think it’s awesome that this novel addresses an issue that most people don’t want to talk about. I think I like PANIC by Lauren Oliver better, but it ‘s a different kind of story– more community-oriented whereas so much of VANISHING GIRLS is about what’s happening in Nick’s head.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 16 up.
Representation Characters are white and straight.
Profanity/Crude Language Content Extreme profanity used pretty frequently.
Romance/Sexual Content A girl and boy kiss. References to sex. A girl and her boyfriend kiss while both are topless. He asks her to have sex with him, but she refuses.
References to child pornography. Someone finds an image of a teenage girl posing topless.
Spiritual Content Dara and Nick’s aunt believes in energy and crystals and seances. The girls don’t buy into her beliefs.
Violent Content Some brief descriptions of a violent car accident. A man threatens a teenage girl.
Drug Content Several scenes show teens drinking. Dara has a history of smoking pot and experimenting with other drugs like mushrooms and cocaine.
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Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery’s never been there, but she’s heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.
The town is picture-perfect, but it’s hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone’s declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.
Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too. And the longer she’s in Echo Ridge, the clearer it becomes that everyone there is hiding something. The thing is, secrets are dangerous–and most people aren’t good at keeping them. Which is why in Echo Ridge, it’s safest to keep your secrets to yourself.
My Review
After reading ONE OF US IS LYING, I was really eager to read TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET. They’re not related stories, even though the titles have a cool thing going on. They’re both murder mysteries.
I liked the characters, both Ellery and Malcolm, right away. Malcolm gives his point-of-view as someone whose family has been tangled up with a murdered girl, since his older brother was accused, but not convicted, of killing her. Ellery sees her time in Echo Ridge as a chance to learn more about her missing aunt, the twin sister her mom never talks about.
The only really confusing element to the story, for me, was the timeline. I had a hard time piecing together the way all the characters related since they were varying ages and there were two girls whose lives ended tragically. Sadie’s sister is one generation back from Ellery and Malcolm. A family friend’s daughter is the homecoming queen who was murdered. For some reason I just had a hard time keeping track of all the timelines: the sister who disappeared and events surrounding her disappearance, the murdered homecoming queen and all the events surrounding her disappearance, and the present unfolding of the story. Could have just been me, though.
I did not guess who the murderer ended up being. I had some ideas along the way, but none of them turned out to be the right ones, which is always fun in a book like this. I think one of the best unexpected surprises was the way Ellery began to bond with her grandmother. She clearly didn’t expect it, and maybe her grandma didn’t either, but it was this sweet surprise, and I loved it.
If you like books about small towns packed with secrets, this is definitely the book for you.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 15 up.
Representation Ellery’s twin brother is gay. Two minor characters are Korean.
Profanity/Crude Language Content Extreme profanity used regularly but not super frequently.
Romance/Sexual Content Kissing between girl and boy.
Spiritual Content None.
Violent Content A mysterious person leaves threatening messages involving mangled dolls. Someone holds two people at gunpoint.
Drug Content Scenes include teens drinking alcohol. In one scene, a girl drinks so much she vomits.
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Flynn’s girlfriend has disappeared. How can he uncover her secrets without revealing his own?
Flynn’s girlfriend, January, is missing. The cops are asking questions he can’t answer, and her friends are telling stories that don’t add up. All eyes are on Flynn—as January’s boyfriend, he must know something.
But Flynn has a secret of his own. And as he struggles to uncover the truth about January’s disappearance, he must also face the truth about himself.
My Review
LAST SEEN LEAVING is the first of three murder mystery/suspense type books that I’ve read lately, which is a little odd for me only in that I read them almost in a row. Most years I maybe read one or two, tops. I actually really enjoyed all three books, though.
Earlier this year I read WHITE RABBIT by Caleb Roehrig, and loved it. I love the unusual choice of character names he uses in both books. I thought WHITE RABBIT was a more polished book, which makes sense since it’s Roehrig’s second novel. In both books the main character totally drew me in so I felt connected to his emotional journey.
In LAST SEEN LEAVING, part of Flynn’s journey is recognizing something he’s not ready to admit to himself. While it may clear him of involvement in January’s disappearance, admitting it undoubtedly changes his life.
But Flynn’s not the only one who has secrets. As he looks more deeply into January’s disappearance, he discovers she may have played a role with him and perhaps he was too busy protecting his secret to notice hers.
I liked that element to the book. Again, it made Flynn reevaluate whether keeping his secret was the right choice. Was it causing him to hurt other people in ways he hadn’t considered?
Another thing that comes up in the book is unreported sexual assault. While nothing happens on scene in the story, some of the characters have really strong, evocative responses when (briefly) describing their experiences. Sensitive readers should be aware. Check my content notes section for more information.
Overall, I liked LAST SEEN LEAVING a lot, and I’m very much looking forward to reading DEATH PREFERS BLONDES because it totally looks as though it will have the same serious murder mystery packed with quirky, fabulous characters.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 15 up.
Representation The main character is gay. One of his friends is also gay and from a conservative Muslim family.
Profanity/Crude Language Content So there’s a LOT of really strong profanity in this book. More than 70 instances of f*** and many instances of other words.
Romance/Sexual Content – Trigger Warning A boy and girl kiss. She pressures him for sex. He refuses. Two boys kiss. Rumors spread about a girl making a sexual advance at an older man. A man faces accusations about sexually abusing teenage girls.
Some of the accusations come from victims who only relate brief stories of their experiences, but they’re pretty shocking. It’s not the detail but the way you can tell the girls are still in the midst of dealing with the trauma. This might be triggering for some readers.
Spiritual Content None.
Violent Content – Trigger Warning In a pretty intense scene, two characters battle for a gun.
In one scene, Flynn witnesses a man fatally shoot himself.
Drug Content Flynn comments in one scene that he hopes to be able to sneak beer at a family celebration. He references a tradition where kids all go for a hay ride and then sit around a bonfire where they drink alcohol and eat s’mores.
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About Snow Witch
A GRANDFATHER CLOCK. A GLASS LOCKET. A POWERFUL CURSE UNLEASHED ON CHRISTMAS EVE.
Twelve-year-old Kitty Wigeon can’t wait for Christmas at St Flurries, a grand old manor house in the countryside, until one chilly night she vanishes without a trace.
One hundred years later… Still grieving over the death of their mother, Kes Bunting and his younger sister Star, are sent to live at St Flurries. They find a house steeped in mystery and brimming with secrets.
Who, or what, is making footprints in the snow?
And what evil force is taking a cold grip on Star?
Wrap up warm as you join Kes, and a cast of eccentric snow creatures, in a race against time to solve a hundred-year-old curse. Will he succeed? Or will the fate of his sister be decided by a shivery kiss from… the Snow Witch?
My Review
I enjoyed a lot of things about this story: the brother/sister relationship, the family history and how it tied in with the current mystery, the fun English setting. Snow Witch has a lot of good things going for it. I want to call it a really cute story, but I’m worried that will backfire! Haha. I really just mean that it’s a sweet, fun winter tale with some mystery and magic.
I liked Kes a lot. He has such a big heart and has clearly been through so much already. His relationship with his sister is really sweet. I wasn’t as deeply moved by the section of the story from Kitty’s point-of-view. It’s kind of a long flashback, and I totally get why the story follows her memories. I think I just liked Kes so much better and wanted the story to get back where he has a chance to piece everything together and save the day. I liked both of the older ladies in the story, too. Honestly, I should just say it had great characters! Some, like the older ladies, were quirky and surprising. Others, like Kes and his sister, had so much courage.
If you’re looking for a book to read on a winter night with a cup of cocoa, check out Snow Witch. I think it would also appeal to fans of The Griffin of Darkwood by Becky Citra. For more about this book, check out my interview with author Rosie Boyes.
Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.
Cultural Elements
Major characters are white or not physically described. The story is set in England.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content
None.
Spiritual Content
A traveling fortune teller casts a curse on a young girl she believes stole something from her.
Violent Content
None.
Drug Content
Some references to a man drinking too much alcohol. At one point, a child nearly drowns while the man is supposed to be watching him.
Rufus Holt is having the worst night of his life. It begins with the reappearance of his ex-boyfriend, Sebastian—the guy who stomped his heart out like a spent cigarette. Just as Rufus is getting ready to move on, Sebastian turns up out of the blue, saying they need to “talk.” Things couldn’t get much worse, right?
But then Rufus gets a call from his sister April, begging for help. And then he and Sebastian find her, drenched in blood and holding a knife, beside the dead body of her boyfriend, Fox Whitney.
April swears she didn’t kill Fox—but Rufus knows her too well to believe she’s telling him the whole truth. April has something he needs, though, and her price is his help. Now, with no one to trust but the boy he wants to hate yet can’t stop loving, Rufus has one night to prove his sister’s innocence…or die trying.
My Review
It’s been a while since I read a book purely for the fun of it, but I think I needed this book. It was so much fun to read. I got carried away by mystery elements and the complex relationships between characters.
As the story progressed and Rufus drew closer and closer to the murderer, things got more and more dangerous. I was totally biting my nails and practically jumping at every noise while I read. Add to that the fact that Rufus has this really fabulous voice, which again made it great fun to read. I loved the side comments and the way the dialogue gave these light moments away from the tension without disrupting the storytelling.
I loved that Rufus (okay, first, I loved that he’s called Rufus. There aren’t enough Rufus characters in literature. Love it!) battles this deep anger, part of which seems perhaps hereditary and part of which might be environmental. But he doesn’t just make excuses about Hulking out. He recognizes how damaging it can be and really wrestles with his angry impulses. That made him so easy to understand and so admirable to me.
Also, I loved his relationship with his mom. It felt very real, and I felt like there was this great balance in the story where she was there, and obviously a big force in Rufus’s life, but the relationship with her didn’t dominate the story. I also loved the moment where one character has to confront a family member about a secret he’s been keeping. He’s worried the family member will reject him over it to the point that he’s expecting to lose the relationship. And instead, the family member talks about how they love him no matter what. We need those kinds of stories and moments, and the reminders that there are good parents out there, and that sometimes we expect to be rejected but are instead surprised by love and acceptance.
Anyway, I read this book in less than a day, I think. I had so much fun reading it, and I absolutely want to read Roehrig’s other book, LAST SEEN LEAVING.
Recommended for Ages 12 up.
Cultural Elements
Rufus and Sebastian are both gay. Sebastian is black.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Regular use of extreme profanity.
Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two boys. References to sex. Some details leading up to the event. Some sexual comments.
Spiritual Content
None.
Violent Content
Rufus has some pretty serious anger management issues which he speaks pretty candidly about. He’s trying his best to manage via medication and other healthy strategies, but he’s still bearing some consequences from fights in his past. In several scenes he’s very tempted to fight again. At one point a man threatens him and handles him pretty roughly. A couple characters are downright physically threatening. Someone fires a gun at another person in two scenes. A character threatens others with a gun in another scene. More than one character gets drugged.
Drug Content
Teen alcohol use is pretty normalized. Some references to smoking pot. References to a dangerous psychedelic drug that causes some violent outbursts.
Love, mystery, and danger collide in this new literary thriller with the dark heart of a Gillian Flynn novel and the lyrical prose of Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You the Sun.
A triumph of authenticity, grace, and nail-biting suspense, Lucia DiStefano’s ingenious debut is an unflinching, genre-bending page-turner.
As seventeen-year-old Linnea celebrates the first anniversary of her heart transplant, she can’t escape the feeling that the wires have been crossed. After a series of unsettling dreams, inked messages mysteriously appear on her body, and she starts to wonder if this new heart belongs to her at all.
In another Austin neighborhood, Maxine braces for a heartbreaking anniversary: her sister Harper’s death. Between raising her brothers and parenting her grief-stricken mother, Max is unable to ignore her guilty crush on Harper’s old flame or shake her lingering suspicion that her sister’s drowning wasn’t really an accident. With Harper as the sole connection, Linnea and Maxine are soon brought together in fantastic and terrifying ways as the shocking truth behind Harper’s death comes to light.
My Review
I would describe Borrowed as Return to Me (as in the movie starring Minnie Driver and David Duchovny) meets The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.
The premise totally fascinated me. What if this girl who received a heart transplant started getting messages from the new heart inside her? I loved this idea. And I loved Max and Linnea. Both are pretty unusual teens—Linnea because she’s a transplant recipient, so for much of her life, she’d been sick and waiting for the transplant. She doesn’t go to school (though she’s supposed to get her GED), and she works full time as a pastry chef. So not an entry level thing. This makes her seem a lot more like an adult than a teen.
Max manages the care of the rest of her family and clearly wrestles with survivor’s guilt after her sister’s death. So she, too, feels more adult than teen.
But both situations seemed understandable and worked in the story. Max’s care for her siblings and the hard calls she has to make with her mom definitely won me over. Linnea had me with her spirit and her creativity.
Somewhere around the three-quarter point, the story takes kind of a dark turn. I’m not good with stories like this—ones that show sexual trauma, even if the details aren’t outright explicit, so I struggled with this part of the book. I definitely think it could trigger sensitive readers.
I liked that each girl handled the situation very differently, fighting in their own ways. But it was too intense for me. I finished reading it—didn’t want to stop in the dark part. For readers who like this kind of intense, dark story, Borrowed really hits those notes and packs some interesting characters as well. I’d say it’s a good fit for fans of The Lovely Bones.
Recommended for Ages 17 up.
Cultural Elements
Major characters are white or not physically described. One of Linnea’s best friends is Latina.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used fairly frequently.
Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing, references to sex. For instance, Max uses sex with her boyfriend as a way to escape the pressures in her life for a while. The last part of the story contains some scenes with some intense content including rape and assault. There’s not a play-by-play description of the event, but we’re in the mind of the victim and see a great deal of the emotional trauma and some of the physical trauma she endures. Definitely not for sensitive readers. Honestly, this was probably a bit too much even for me to read.
Spiritual Content
Some references to God and a brief “Thank you, Jesus”… more cultural references than spiritual ones, if that makes sense? At one point Chris gives Max a cross he carved from wood as a sort of good luck charm or symbol. It’s clear neither of them mean it as a spiritual symbol.
One character believes fervently that he is called by God to do some horrible things and uses scripture references to defend some awful treatment of others.
Violent Content
See notes in sexual content. Some brief memories and descriptions of someone attacking a girl.
Drug Content
Harper smoked weed and drank with a boy before she died. Teens smoke cigarettes. Max and her boyfriend get drunk together.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
A former high school English teacher, Lucia DiStefano currently works as an editor, ghostwriter, and writing coach. First-generation Sicilian-American and daughter of an olive farmer, she admits to having recurring pasta dreams. Hailing from central Connecticut, Lucia lives near Austin, Texas with her husband and an old bloodhound named Waffle.
