After a teenage girl, Jenny, is found brutally murdered, the police are convinced that the culprit is a man who was an obsessive fan of her work in beauty pageants. Something doesn’t sit right with her older half-sister, Virginia, however, and she undertakes on an investigation of her own. It soon becomes apparent that in a town where everyone seems to know everyone else, there are many people with secrets to hide, Jenny and Virginia included, and soon the suspect list rises. With numerous potential motives coming to light, just exactly who did kill Jenny?

Told from the perspectives of both Jenny and Virginia, we get an insight into the weeks and days leading up to the death of the teenager and also Virginia’s uncovering of what actually happened. I really enjoyed this writing technique, as it helped to create a slow burner of a story which had me constantly asking questions about what had occurred.

This is one of those books where the more you read, the more suspects you encounter, each one with their own motives for wanting Jenny out of the way. My opinions of Jenny changed throughout the book, as initially I felt a great deal of sympathy towards her as she found herself desperate to leave the beauty pageant world. This is a phenomenon that has never sat right with me and I found it interesting that the author addresses my concerns as part of the plot. Jenny undergoes a great transformation as the book progresses and, whilst I was horrified by some of her actions, I could see her need to rebel.

Virginia was a fascinating character, and I found her backstory a very tragic one. Despite the strained relationship she had with her family, the love for her half-sister was evident as she worked tirelessly to find who had killed Jenny. Like the murdered girl, she too had secrets she would prepare to remain hidden, these secrets surfacing and playing a major role in the killing. I enjoyed reading how something that happened a long time ago could create a ripple effect, creating a chain of events that ultimately led to the murder.

The Prized Girl is a very strong debut from Amy K Green, full of twists and turns that had me gripped right until the end.

This is a very clever and intricate story from this debut author.

A murder that rocks a community.

A family that is built on secrets and lies.

And a series of events that have ultimately led to this awful crime.

Twists and turns galore and a cast of very seemingly guilty characters make for a very unique crime thriller.

More to come on my blog next month ..

I would firstly like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am honestly in two minds about this book. While the plotline intrigued me right from the very beginning, delivering a story that had plenty of suspense and secrets lurking in every page, I did feel that, at times, the story was far-fetched and missing something vital for it to wow me. I can't quite put my finger on what it was missing, but it wasn't as tightly plotted as other murder/thrillers that I have read. Don't get me wrong, the book, as a whole, was very enjoyable.
The author's writing, in regards to writing back and forth from the pov's of the two sisters, was excellent. Creating two flawed characters that were brilliantly-written. So I will definitely read more from this author because of this, but this read only gets 3 stars, as I was left unsatisfied with the certain aspects of the story.

This is not the usual psychological thriller and might not please everyone. Jenny is nearly 14 years old and until recently taking part in beauty pageants. She lives with her mother and father and has a step sister who is 13 years older called Virginia.

But one morning Jenny is found murdered, a guy with learning disabilities is soon arrested for her murder. But Virginia is not convinced and starts to investigate. The reason why I said earlier that this book might not be liked by some is that none of the characters is likable. It is a parade of people with problems, in denial, with alcohol problems, a history of abuse and with big secrets. Most of the worst aspects found in humans are possibly in this book. Having said that the characters are quite complex and even if not exactly likable, they are well described and fairly believable, although quite damaged psychologically.

The story is told by Jenny and those chapters are obviously set in the past and by Virginia/Ginny in the present. Overall it is a dark book but it stands out for the quality of its writing, it is hard to believe this is a debut. I would recommend it as it is not the usual too simplistic thriller book that can be read in three hours. But some people might be put off by that.

#ThePrizedGirl #NetGalley
Outstanding concept.
Jenny Kennedy appears to have it all. She’s the perfect daughter, the popular girl at school and a successful beauty queen. But then Jenny is found dead in a murder that rocks the small town she grew up in to the core. Her estranged half-sister Virginia finds herself thrust into the spotlight as the case dominates the news and is desperate to uncover who killed Jenny. But she soon realises that maybe Jenny’s life wasn’t so perfect after all. Them she's found dead. Who killed her?
I love the character of Virginia. It was so deeply created.
Narration of the story is outstanding.
Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for giving me an advance copy of this book.

What a great thriller! I spent the whole book wondering how the plot was going to unravel!
#theprizedgirl is about Jenny and follows both her account during the previous weeks until the day she is found murdered and her sister’s weeks following her death trying to investigate what happened.
Well written and with several twists, it approaches difficult themes as rape and paedophilia and even emotional dependency whilst exploring the teenage mind and world.
I consider it a young adult thriller but it was an amazing read!
Amy K Green explores well the thoughts and perceptions of teenagers whilst also dipping in the perception of adults, the drama that can exist on small towns and the complexity of emotions and adult life.
Although I did not particularly like the ending and I thought that some characters should have been more explored, I think this is a great read and would recommend it!
I would like to thank #netgalley #amykgreen #hqstories and #harpercollinsuk for the opportunity to read this book prior to its publishing date in exchange for an honest review

The Prized Girl is a tense tale of small town murder, it was a huge page turner to be sure but if I'm honest it didn't quite do it for me.

On the plus side the writing was excellent, the story fairly rocked along and there were emotional thought provoking layers to it that were compelling. A young girl, a pageant queen, killed before her life really began, a sister who was absent, parents who were hiding secrets, this was a truly twisted tale.

My problem was I didn't really engage with the characters the way I felt I should. The young Jenny felt way older, sister Virginia was a bit spotty and then the whole thing became extraordinarily convoluted in the middle there. Twists coming at breakneck speed, all subtlety lost, too many suspects all with the same motive. Boy for one place it was rife with the perverted.

Overall though it pulled things together well in the end, leaving a melancholy sense behind it.

If you like psych thrillers you'll enjoy this. I just feel it could have been a bit more layered throughout rather than going for shock value moments.

A decent thriller, though a little too YA I. My opinion. It kept me intrigued the whole way and great writing

I found this mystery to be well written but I found none of the characters likable. It was a well paced story with lots of red herrings but the ending left me a little underwhelmed.

I really couldn't connect with this book,I found it odd.I had 2 goes at reading it but it wasn't for me.

Sadly this one wasn’t for me. Was a bit here there and everywhere and to be honest I didn’t finish it I tried but to no avail!!

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. I felt this book was too all over the place. I couldn't keep up with where things were going and frankly it lost my interest pretty quickly.

The Prized Girl is full of suspense and dark which is pretty much everything I ask for in a mystery / thriller!

It has a duel narrative following Jenny and Virginia her sister. I loved Jenny I think Amy managed to perfect the struggles of being a teenager. Virginia was horrible in every sense but her characters contrasts brilliantly with Jenny and I really enjoyed going back and forth between them. There’s a couple of areas where I lost interest, I wanted to know more about Jenny and her pageant life I think it was glossed over.

Overall this is a fantastic book and I recommend picking up! 3.5 stars rounded up to four.