Lost Girl
Holly Kammier
(A Shelby Day Novel)
Published by: Acorn Publishing
Publication date: January 5th 2020
Genres: Romance, Suspense, Young Adult

AN APPALLING ACT OF VIOLENCE AND AN UNSOLVED DOUBLE MURDER.
SMALL-TOWN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, SHELBY DAY, IS DETERMINED TO HUNT A KILLER.
As her search draws closer to uncovering the twisted truth, she begins receiving ominous warnings to stay quiet and drop the story. The young journalist is in danger. Her cameraman and best friend, a person with his own secret past, says he wants to protect her. But Shelby is headstrong and dodging anything that could lead to love. She can’t allow anyone to distract her as she fights for the two women who deserve justice.
She never expects along the way she’ll have to stop and save herself.
Ticktock… If Shelby doesn’t solve the crime soon, she’ll become the killer’s next victim.
“Lost Girl is a compulsive thrill-ride that reads as if it’s been pulled straight from the headlines. Kammier’s journalism background brings undeniable authenticity to a novel that has it all– a love story, a murder mystery, and a real-life introduction into the distinctive world of television news.”
-CAROLINE MITCHELL, New York Times best-selling author
This book is for anyone who loves:
Young Adult love stories
Murder Mystery
Redemption
Books with journalism elements
Intended for a mature YA audience
Fans of Veronica Mars, In The Woods, and One Of Us Is Lying, will love this novel.

 
As always, a copy of this book was provided by the publisher or author in exchange for my honest review. This does not effect my opinion in any way.

This was definitely an intriguing read! Holly Kammier had me instantly with the Veronica Mars tone that Lost Girl is able to echo, which is exactly my kind of a story. You truly can't go wrong with a good suspense, a good mystery. You certainly can't go wrong with a story about all the right and wrong turns. And a biting investigator who strives for success at the center of it all. 

First, before we dive into my thoughts, I want to talk about Holly Kammier's writing. It is engaging, pulsing with intrigue and suspense. Much of Lost Girl relies on the darker flaws of its characters--an easy and flexible tie to the darkness of the story itself. I didn't necessarily like any of the Lost Girl characters. Though, I didn't dislike them to any extremes either. And, strangely enough, I wasn't indifferent to them.

Which, frankly, is the sign of a good storyteller to me. If you can confuse me and make me question whether or not this character is good, bad, morally gray, or anything at all, you've created something true to life. Unlikable. Lovable. It doesn't matter. What matters is that Kammier made me feel, think and repeat. I cringed. I laughed. I rolled my eyes. Lost Girl stirs up something inside a reader.

Lost Girl strikes me as a small town mystery with a sharpened edge: atmospheric, bleak, thoughtful, yet undeniably compelling and vivid. The central mystery is solid, the characters flawed and lively in ways that will either rub you the wrong way or delight you--depending on personal preference. I fairly easily guessed the big bad of Lost Girl, but that doesn't mean the ride along to the truth was unworthy of my time.

Something about it dipped under my skin. I had to know what would happen. Kammier weaves the story together in a way that flies by and you can easily lose time to. 

Of course, this isn't to say that Lost Girl is without flaws. Nothing is. Not really. I could have done with a little more development and likability in the characters, I could have done without the main romance. Such is life and literature--sometimes, you can't always connect with every fragment of a story or characters.

Luckily, it didn't define my experience with Holly Kammier's writing.

At the end of the  Lost Girl suffers very little due to its flaws and instead creates an engrossing story. In-fact, a lot of its flaws create a stronger base for the story to stand on. Readers follow the trail side by side with Shelby Day, our highly intelligent and imperfect leading lady, which leads to several twists and turns. In short? Lost Girl is a highly engaging and entertaining novel.

Author Bio:
Co-owner of Acorn Publishing, the UCLA honors graduate is an accomplished content editor/writing coach (her authors have gone on to become USA Today best-sellers and a New York Times best-seller). With a background in journalism, Holly Kammier has worked everywhere from CNN in Washington, D.C. and KCOP-TV in Los Angeles, to the NBC affiliate in small-town Medford, Oregon.
She is the best-selling author of the novel, Kingston Court (Acorn Publishing 2015), and Could Have Been Hollywood, a memoir. Holly recently published her third book, Choosing Hope, a harrowing story of passion and deceit, and the things we do for love. Her next novel, the YA Romantic Suspense, Lost Girl, is scheduled for release in early 2020.
Holly resides in her hometown of San Diego, California, close to family and friends. An avid reader with a passion for timeless books and beautiful writing, she also enjoys long walks, romantic movies, and pink peonies.

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