Serial killer at large. Friend goes missing. Not necessarily connected. Several sub threads- moms that used to be friends, not caring about a missing girl, corrupt police, sex workers, a spicy sex scene.
A bit predictable with a nicely wrapped up ending.

Thank you to NetGalley, ECW Press Audio, Arsenal Pulp Press, Emily Pohl-Weary, and Megan MacPherson (audio narrator) for the opportunity to read and listen to the audiobook of How to be Found in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. Shoutout to the narrator, Megan MacPherson, for being such an engaging voice actress!

How to be Found follows chosen sisters Michie and Trissa, friends since childhood as they live in the same duplex, both with single moms. They are just as close as any blood family.

As they get older, Michie realizes they are starting to grow into different interests. Michie loves detective novels while Trissa likes to dance at clubs. One night, Michie and Trissa have an argument. The next day, Trissa goes missing. At first, Michie thinks maybe her friend just ran away, but with a local serial killer on the loose and Trissa's bag found near one of his frequent capture spots, Michie isn't so sure.

It doesn't help when the police (a very rude set) come to Michie's door looking for answers, as if Michie would ever do anything to her friend. With the police seeming lackadaisical and finding Trissa to just be a runaway, Michie requests aid from her crush, Anwar, in solving Trissa's disappearance.

A really fun who-done-it for a young adult audience, I enjoyed following Michie throughout as she sought and followed clues. The characters are enjoyable and relatively relatable, and the side characters all have their own little quirks that make them interesting, fun, and memorable. While the ending is rather predictable, I still wasn't expecting it and this book is everything it needs to be in a young adult mystery/triller.

Thank you to ECW Press Audio and netgalley for allowing me to listen to this book. I felt this book tended to be a little undeveloped and immature.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this book when I first started listening to it because the beginning was a bit jarring for me for some reason. I don't think I expected the novel to open with a party scene. After listening to it longer though and hearing the mysterious circumstances of Trissa's disaperance, then I was more interested in the plot. I liked Michie's stubborn determination to find her best friend, her chosen sister. Her search for her sister was concise and she followed the clues people gave her without getting sidetracked (which is how I feel some detective novels are). Although the final clue, where Michie talks to Trissa's mom about the cabin was a bit on the nose, I was glad that Michie was able to find her alive and well. The romance in the book was pretty cute too. I'm always a sucker for pining/friends to lovers tropes.

Thank you to Netgalley, Emily Pohl-Weary and ECW Press Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook ahead of publish date.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the one for me and I didn't finish the audiobook. The number of characters introduced early on was too many for me and I struggled to recall who said what, looked like this and had which background.

I did enjoy the narrator, and the feeling of found family throughout what I listened to.

*Deep sigh*

This was not a good read for me.

How To Be Found follows Michie trying to find her best friend and chosen sister Trissa. Michie uncovers secrets her best friend has been keeping from her. Trissa is gone, with a small trace left in her shadows. Michie is convinced Trissa is still alive, but has a hard time proving such.

Thank you to #NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book before it was published.

This book had a lot happening in it. I felt like the story of Trissa’s disappearance was clouded over by trying to tell the story of too many side characters.

Michie, a fierce and loyal friend, is caught off guard one morning by two shady police detectives that reveal to her Trissa, Michie’s best friend, is missing. What this story should feel like is Michie uncovering a secret life Trissa has kept from her. But there’s so many other things happening in this book, I feel like the main plot points weren’t explored to their depth.

There’s a random murderer on the loose (this was only mentioned a few times, but wasn’t ever truly worked into Michie and Trissa’s story)

The entire police force is corrupt and shady

The community’s lives and stories were explained but also not truly worked into Trissa’s disappearance

I feel like these side plots would’ve been better done if Trissa was actually dead and Michie had to find out who murdered her. But Trissa wasn’t dead. She ran away to go tryout for a reality dance show in LA…..

That’s probably the most underwhelming ending to a book I’ve seen in a long time.

These characters were in high school and Trissa was 16. But she was alleged to sleep with people for money. Her job was a stripper. A 16 year old stripper.

There were also open door sex scenes for Michie who is 16 or 17. I understand teenagers are sexually active, but it seems inappropriate to speak about teenagers having sex or performing sexual acts in a graphic way.

Overall, this How To Be Found did not do it for me. There were things I wasn’t comfortable with reading and plot points I felt were left out to dry.

This one read like yound adult fiction which unfortunate is not a target age range I enjoy reading. I found the characters very annoying and did not want to keep reading about them.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

I listened to an audiobook of this, however if I read it as a book (not audiobook) I might've liked it more. The main character made some silly decisions which annoyed me, and I didn't really like the characters. The mystery element was good, but there were a few irrelevant plot lines which I didn't get, and it dragged out a bit at times. Overall it was okay-ish (only because of the ending, which hooked me in the last 3 chapters) 3 Stars.
(NetGalley ACR)

I enjoyed this book. In part.

What I didn’t enjoy. I hate that some kids feel like these are their only options. I love the bond between Michie and Trissa but my heart breaks for Trissa. I hate that her mom and “aunt” know what style of life she is leading and do nothing. And then act like their lives are destroyed and they are devastated when the cops become involved.

At 16 this is not the way life should be BUT for so many kids this is life.

I also hated that everyone seemed more worried about Michie’s mom’s stash than the missing girl. Um. Hello, she could be dead. This makes them look extremely guilty.

What I enjoyed was the mystery/sleuth side to this book. I love that Michie and Anwar don’t give up looking for her. I hope the ending was a wake up call and not something that has changed their lives for a few days but has caused (the moms mainly) to wake up and be an active part of the girls lives. And everyone goes back to whatever life.

Side note. The moms talk about they feel like they have lost a friendship/broken bond with Anwar’s mom after Nina died BUT I think she separated herself from these moms because they can turn a blind eye to what their kids are doing when and not be active in their lives when she would give ANYTHING to be an overbearing/overprotective parent to Nina.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

Really enjoyed this quick listen. The narrator was perfect, I thought it could have been expanded a bit but otherwise loved it

A good book but immature and YA at times. I felt the premise was a bit childish and really couldn’t get into this one a ton.

A well paced young adult novel in the recent teenage Slueth style. Very American so somethings were innaccurate to this Brit but an enjoyable easy read romp.

I almost gave up on this audiobook several times, and I think the key reason was I didn’t get the characters. I understand that one character had been dragged, against her will, into a very adult world but couldn’t figure out why the others acted like they were in their 40s. There were a number of subplots that either weren’t fully developed and felt unsatisfactory, or didn’t really fit with the rest of the novel. And why on earth would anyone think they could identify a drug (illegal or otherwise) that they’d never taken before by… just swallowing it?! In that way lies way more than madness! The ending fell a bit flat for me as well. I probably wouldn’t bother again.

I felt like this book was ok. I liked the story line and the twists were pretty good. I will admit I was a bit uncomfortable with the sexualization of these characters that are teenagers. One of them is a dancer at a night club and there is a relatively graphic sex scene for this being a YA and the scene is between 2 teenagers. I am by no means a prude but when reading (or in this case listening) to YA these scenes make me uncomfortable because the characters are children.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting mystery novel. I didn’t anticipate it ending happily, but it did which is a nice change from most mysteries I have read recently that do not end happily. I loved the Nancy Drew feel this book had overall.

I enjoyed this at times but it also dragged out at time. I enjoyed the narrator. She was a smoothing voice to listen to.

I really enjoyed this book and the insight it gave into teen sex workers. This book shows exactly how easy it is for a vulnerable teen to be sucked up into something like that. It is worth checking the trigger warnings.

*Thanks to ECW Press Audio, Emily Pohl-Weary, and NetGalley for the audio ARC, in exchange for my honest review.*

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This was interesting and definitely dealt with a lot of deep topics. I didn't feel like the right audience for it but still enjoyed it nonetheless. The narrator was good.

This one missed the mark for me. The storyline felt frustrating, with Michie's constant distraction while worrying about her chosen "sister," making it difficult to get anything done. The focus on her romantic desires seemed to overshadow the situation's urgency.
While the premise held promise—a narrative about a chosen family and the lengths one would go to protect them—the execution felt lacking. The storyline appeared overwhelmed by distractions and romantic inclinations, diluting the urgency and gravity of the search for Trissa. The plot's potential was hindered by a focus that seemed misplaced.

Thank you to ECW Press and NetGalley for the arc of How to be Found.

This novel attempted to take on deep/dark topics such as the treatment of sex workers, police brutality and the laws regarding drug use however a lot of this felt shoehorned in, never fully fleshed out and included purely for the representation check box.

The constant inclusion of the strangler and the book Michie is reading seem completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, and add little to the actual story and, unfortunately, this is a common theme. The author uses social justice and inclusion as an excuse for no one caring that a child works in a strip club, and passes a lot of bad parenting off as 'The Moms' being 'cool moms'.

Overall,, largely disappointing.