Title: The Lost Girls
Author: Sonia Hartl
Type: Fiction
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, LGBTQ+
Publisher: Page Street Kids
Date published: September 14, 2021
A complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by Canadian Manda Group in exchange for an honest review.
When Elton Irving turned Holly Liddell into a vampire in 1987, he promised her eternal love. But thirty-four years later, Elton has left her, her hair will be crimped for the rest of immortality, and the only job she can get as a forever-sixteen-year-old is the midnight shift at Taco Bell.
Holly’s afterlife takes an interesting turn when she meets Rose McKay and Ida Ripley. Having also been turned and discarded by Elton—Rose in 1954, and Ida, his ex-fiancée, in 1921—they want to help her, and ask for her help in return.
Rose and Ida are going to kill Elton before he turns another girl. Though Holly is hurt and angry with Elton for tossing her aside, she’s reluctant to kill her ex, until Holly meets Parker Kerr—the new girl Elton has set his sights on—and feels a quick, and nerve-wracking attraction to her.
⤖ My Review ⬻
This was such a fun read! But before I go more into The Lost Girls, I wanted to admit (assuming that my presumption about this book’s title being based on the film The Lost Boys is correct) I’ve never watched The Lost Boys…I know, I know. It has a cult following, and I’ve come across mentions of it all over the place. I’ll have to watch it soon even if just to get the references to it in pop culture.
Now that’s out of the way, back to The Lost Girls! I found the main character, Holly, to be super likable from the get-go, and I really felt for her! I also liked that she’d been turned into a vampire in the 80s, leading to a number of 80s references (which always makes me happy)!
I find that those little blurbs created for books aren’t always the most accurate, but with The Lost Girls they were 100% on point with “dark humor and queer love; it’s John Tucker Must Die with a feminist girl gang of vampires”! So fun.
The Lost Girls was a little on the shorter side, and while I (of course) would have loved to spend more time with the characters, found that the story didn’t feel rushed or that the pacing was made to fit a set book length. It all flowed very naturally for me. All in all, I really enjoyed The Lost Girls and definitely recommend it! I hope to read more fiction like this from the author!
⤖ About the Author ⬻
Sonia Hartl is the author of YA and adult romance. Her books have been featured in PopSugar, BuzzFeed, Vulture, Book Riot, and Life Savvy, among other publications, received a starred review from BookPage, and earned nominations for the Georgia Peach Book Award, YALSA’s Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books of the Year, and ALA’s Rise: A Feminist Book Project List, and was named an Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best Young Adult. When she’s not writing she enjoys board games with her family, attempting to keep her garden alive, or looking up craft projects she’ll never get around to completing on Pinterest. She lives in Michigan with her spouse and two daughters.
⤖ Places to Purchase the Book ⬻
⤖ Let's Chat ⬻
Thank you for reading my review! Have you read this book? What did you think? And if you haven’t read it yet, do you plan to? Let me know in the comments!
