Lost Girls by Merrie Destefano
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just wow! I was really excited about this book after reading the blurb. I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review from Entangled Publishing. I started the first chapter and was really excited. As I moved forward I started to get worried that this plot was not for me at all. It is a story where several girls, including Rachel, have disappeared with one exception Rachel was found alive. Several of the girls have not been seen again. To make matters worse Rachel cannot remember the last year of her life. I always have a hard time reading anything where someone, especially children are the targets of criminals. There is way too much of that in real life. Most teens out there would disagree with me when I refer to them as children, however, I refer to the young ladies in this book as children because adults are still responsible for them and their behavior. I am more shocked than anyone that I could not put this book down despite having to get up to leave for work at 4:30 am I kept reading and kept reading. I was invested. I had to know that the bad guys, and there were a ton of them in this book get what was coming to them.

I have read Merrie Destefano's work in the past and I have always been a fan. It has been a few years, but, I recall that she has a way of drawing the reader in and making them uncomfortable. Lost Girls does that. It draws the reader in and makes the reader angry at those that target kids. Now, to be fair the teenagers in this story have done a fair amount of victimizing themselves, however, they needed an outlet. Despite the dangers, it seemed safe when they were in control, however, there is always someone that is stronger than we are and there is always someone watching and wondering how they can take advantage of or make money from a situation. Lost Girls epitomized that scenario and despite that I found this book one of those on the edge of your seat books where you have to keep going just so you know what happens to Rachel. I have to admit that I loved that she turned to her dad when most kids would have tried to be tough and think they could handle it on their own or worry about getting in trouble. Rachel was smart, tough and despite making some pretty crazy choices she tried to do what was right and she reached out for help. There are some sad moments in Lost Girls but, there was a great mystery and most certainly some great action scenes.