<b>*4.25 Stars*</b>

It took me a little bit of time to get through this one but I really enjoyed it overall. It was a good mystery story with amateur detectives. i really enjoyed the characters and the intrigue and the friendships and the relationships. Basically, I had a very good time. I wanted to read this so very fast but I had trouble focusing and this was very much on me.
This was a really good debut and I'm excited about what Victoria Wlosok might right next!

I have barely been reading lately therefore my thoughts of this book aren't quite as clear as I would like them to be. I really did love this, and it was so sad too. It really did tug on my heartstrings, and as someone with a sister, I could feel Iris' pain on quite a deep level. The mystery took me on a roller-coaster of emotions, keeping me guessing and flipping that page. I loved Iris' relationship with Lea and the Detective Agency.

I'm sorry I can't review this book any more than this. I've been in a hellish book slump for months and reading is not easy rn.

I might try to come back when I'm in more of a reading mood and write a full review, but for now this is all I can give.

I actually waited to read this as I used an audible credit as I'm obsessed with books that have podcasts in them.

I am currently waiting for my letter to join a Sapphic detective agency, it's due any day now..............

This was soooo good, I'm glad I listened as the podcast element was so well produced, highly recommended.

I read this book in one day. Partly because I had Covid and nothing else to do, partly because it is intensely gripping and addictive.

Iris' older sister, Stella, went missing last year, and after the case grew cold the police assumed she'd ran away. Unable to believe this, Iris has a hard time moving on, especially after her mother dies shortly after in a car accident. Iris takes investigating into her own hands, and is soon responsible for a main suspect disappearing before they can be interviewed, prompting strong cautions from the police. Now, Iris's ex-girlfriend and host of the local true crime podcast 'How to Find a Missing Girl' about Stella's disappearance, Heather, has also gone missing. And this time, Iris isn't going to let the case grow cold. But with only a month until she turns 18 and can face more serious consequences for her meddling in open cases, Iris enlists her best friends in the form of a detective agency to find answers the police can't.

I loved this book so much! First off, I loved Iris, and her friendships with her two best friends. The book also delves into more complication friendships, particularly female friendships, which I always love reading about so much when they're written well. There is guilt and regret in these friendships, as well as a lot of love and compassion, and they were beautiful to read. There's also a LOT of really good LGBTQ+ rep in this book, with a pansexual lesbian main character, lesbian and possibly bi side characters (unspecified), and a non binary/gender neutral side character (again, unspecified, they just use they/them pronouns.) What I loved is that there is no resistance to anyone's sexualities or genders, there is no explanation, they just are.

Now onto the plot. This was fast paced, constantly moving and always had the gears in my mind racing trying to keep up with the characters and jump one step ahead of them. I always find that with amateur teenage sleuth books, I have to take them with a pinch of salt in regards to what is actually plausible for these teens to do and the information they get their hands on. But this was one of the best I've read. The girls are gutsy and outgoing in their attempts for information, and don't always make the smartest choices, but it's all believable.

A very impressive debut novel, and I'm very interested to see what Victoria Wlosok puts out next

Full of fun twists and turns! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

How To Find A Missing Girl is a story in three different parts, and I had different reactions to each one. Part One had a good amount of set up that made me invested in the story, but Part Two felt like a slog to get through. Part Three was pretty messy, leaving me feeling disappointed in the loss of potential.

Part One introduces us to the Sapphic detective agency as they stalk Heather's boyfriend, hired by Heather to prove he cheated on her. Iris, Sammy and Imani made for an interesting, diverse group of friends and I liked the later introduction of Lea as a potential love interest for Iris. Inbetween we get snippets of Heather's podcast, searching for Iris's missing sister, before she herself goes missing.

One of the things that lost me in Part Three was a break up of the friendship group. I felt it was pretty clear that investigating a missing person on the downlow, including breaking into someone's house and putting tracking apps on people's phones was fairly obviously a big no no with the cops, and yet Imani and Sammy suddenly decide to drop Iris altogether when they find out she was warned off by the cops initially.

We end up being left with Iris, who for some reason is fully convinced that she has to solve this mystery before she turns 18, as if being a minor in the US is some sort of Get Out Of Jail Free Card and she can commit any crimes she wants like she's renacting The Purge. Adding in one utterly bizarre on page exit and I was starting to question if the ending was going to give us any satisfactory reveals.

Unfortunately, it didn't. This chooses a villain commonly picked in YA murder mystery books and I didn't feel we got any clues for them until Part Three either, where I guessed it fairly quickly at that point. But while the reveal was slightly ridiculous, I loved Iris and Lea, and the final chapter gave us a good amount of closure.

This book was a super fun YA offering that fans of Good Girls Guide to Murder will absolutely devour. When the police aren't attempting to help find Iris's sister Stella, Iris's ex-gf starts a podcast about it. (sound familiar? luckily that is where the similarities end because it would have been a bit on the nose). When the ex-girlfriend goes missing, Iris and her group of amateur sleuths decide to take matters into their own hands.
The good thing about this book was that it does get a bit dark and gory and the author doesn't shy away from that. Also there is a great spectrum of queer representation throughout.
If there is a sequel - sign me up!

This seemed to be sold as a great read for fans of ‘The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’ - however, it had little of the charm or immediacy of the original. Unfortunately I really struggled to get into the story at all and did not manage to finish the book.

A new YA book about a teenage detective agency. The main character is Iris, whose sister has disappeared. His ex-girlfriend Heather created a podcast about his disappearance. missing case of Heather, Iris's ex-girlfriend, who disappeared shortly after the release of a controversial episode of her true crime podcast, How to Find a Missing Girl. The podcast investigated the disappearance of Iris Stella's sister last year, who has yet to reappear. Between trying to avoid getting in trouble with the police and looking for a possible rekindled friendship, Iris has a lot to do and time is running out.
This book looks so chaotic and it's so brilliant. It's a fast-paced YA thriller that changed my mind about what really happened, but I never would have guessed. The story is beautifully crafted as we learn about the social structure of the town in which it takes place, which provides the perfect setting for the story and its characters. I love Sapphic Detective Agency. It was a great performance and a fun group of friends. I also loved seeing the relationship between Iris and Léa develop. There are a lot of new clues and information in each chapter, but everything ties together perfectly.

I really wanted to enjoy this as the A Good Girls guide to Murder is one of my favourite series, however i just could not get into this, I felt it was dragging and i didn't enjoy the writing format.

Didn’t finish. The formatting was a bit weird and I couldn’t get into it. I WILL try again in the future and will change feedback based on that.

A book that takes you through the trials and tribulations of being a high school girl with an unresolved life. Iris Blackthorn’s sister is missing. A funeral buried a n empty coffin and an incomplete police file with it. That is until the mayor’s daughter goes missing and things may not be as they seem. This book takes the reader on a captivating journey of solving crime in the hope of all the ends being tied up in a neat bow. That’s all Iris needs- closure. Is there more to the missing girls than we first think? Is Iris hiding something from us? A brilliant mystery that enthral from beginning to end.

A new YA book that follows a teen detective agency. The protagonist is Iris, whose sister disappeared. Her ex-girlfriend Heather is doing a podcast about when she disappears.

Initially, this gave me Good Girl’s Guide vibes with the podcast prologue. However, I didn’t connect with the characters’ voices here like I did in that one. The writing style just wasn’t as much for me. Others might enjoy it more though!

I absolutely loved this book! It follows Iris and her underground sapphic detective agency as they investigate the disappearance about Heather, Iris' ex-girlfriend who disappeared right after release of a controversial episode of her true crime podcast, How to find a Missing Girl. The podcast investigated the disappearance of Iris' older sister, Stella, the year before, and who has still not turned up. Between trying to avoid getting into trouble with the police and navigating a possible rekindled friendship, Iris has a lot on her plate and time is running out.
This book is as chaotic as it sounds and it is brilliant. It is a fast-paced YA thriller that had me changing my mind on what actually happened but I never guessed it. The story was set up really well as we learn about the societal structure of the town it's set in and this provides the perfect backdrop for the story and its characters. I loved the sapphic detective agency. It was great representation and just such a fun group of friends. I also loved watched Iris' and Lea's relationship develop. There were so many new leads and information each chapter yet it all tied together perfectly. I stayed up late to finish this because I was so desperate to find out what happened! Such a thrilling, engaging book and I highly recommend.

This novel was okay. The characters I couldn't connect with in this genre. I think I need something with more meaning as this felt very materialistic.

Cheerleader Stella Blackthorn went missing a year ago, everyone in her town assumed she had just run away. Her younger sister Iris still believes she wouldn’t have just run away. Now, a year later another girl goes missing, this time it’s Iris’ ex, so her and her friends who have set up an amateur detective agency are determine to find out what happened.

Right of the bat, this whole book gave me very AGGGTM vibes which I was here for, it has a very diverse group of characters. I did find it a bit slow at the start but once I fully got into it, I couldn’t put it down because I needed to know what was going to happen.
I am also a sucker for any book that is mixed media so I really liked the podcast aspects breaking up the chapters


Thankyou to @Hodder and @netgalley for sending me an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.
This book comes out on the 21st September

This is a slow mystery that builds in intensity. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the use of the podcast, but some of the characters were hard to connect with. Overall a decent book!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

What a stonking mystery and sapphic read! I am here for it. I did suspect early that it may be someone, but the book moved so fast and none of the suspects felt too obviously red-herring-y and felt that there was good reasoning for all the suspicion. Also the aspect of the possible link between the disappearances was so good too :)

I really liked Iris and her sapphic detective agency! She’s a lil messed up and a lot amazing and i adore her and the gang. This fits so well with my other fave fictional teen detectives in VMars and Pip <3

More please! 4.5 stars.

How to Find a Missing Girl is one of the best YA mysteries I have read this year. It is a searing and startling story, full of love, grief and trauma.

This book consumed my every waking thought. It is an incredibly well plotted and twisty thriller pulsing with anger, sadness and a complex look at grief and guilt. Wlosok sits in these emotions, allowing them to fully spill over and unfold. They are presented in a full range of complexities. Iris personifies these complexities. She is a young woman embittered by her experiences with law enforcement and their failure to care about her sister’s disappearance. Yet she is also fiercely passionate, driven and determined. Her perceptiveness and intelligence serve her well as an amateur sleuth, but I also like how realistically messy and mistaken her investigation can be. It adds a layer of authenticity that brings grit under the fingernails of the book.

This is a book that wears its heart on its sleeve. Those emotions filter through every word and page. One place that they shine brightest through is in the depiction of true crime. It weighs both the positives and the negatives of this social phenomenon. We turn violent stories of loss into neatly packaged television episodes, documentaries and podcasts. The central podcast here is edged with personal grievances, but also a dogged sense of wanting to find the truth at all costs. Wlosok again sits in the grey, showing both the murky ethics and the potential benefits. Also, this is an incredibly twisty and dark slice of life. I gasped at some of the twists, having everything I thought I knew immediately upturned. There are some truly heart-breaking sequences. I must warn you that Wlosok is not afraid to shed some blood on the page.

How to Find a Missing Girl is ridiculously brilliant. It takes the bare bones of true crime and examines them thoroughly, weaving in a nuanced depiction of the real people affected by these vicious crimes.

This book drew me in as it felt similar to the good girls guide to murder books which I love. The book starts very slow and less mature than other YA of this style I've read. It took me a fair while as I kept losing interest in the characters but I did enjoy the writing style change when the transcripts happened. I wish this style was kept for the main text as I found those sections really engaging. I took the majority of the book before I was engrossed and I ended up finishing about the last third of the book on an afternoon. Overall I would describe it as a good starting text for those young adults just getting into the crime genre and it still has a feel of high school clique type books about it so a good seqway. I hope to read more of this author and see how their writing style progresses.