Lost Girls Tour: Review + Giveaway

Lost Girls
Author: Merrie Destefano
Publication Date: January 3, 2017
Publisher: Entangled Teen

Description:

Fight Club meets Black Swan—Rachel wakes up in a ditch to find she doesn’t remember the last year of her life, and that everything—including herself—is vastly different than she remembers.

Yesterday, Rachel went to sleep listening to Taylor Swift, curled up in her grammy’s quilt, worrying about geometry. Today, she woke up in a ditch, bloodied, bruised, and missing a year of her life.

She doesn’t recognize the person she’s become: she’s popular. She wears nothing but black.

Black to cover the blood.

And she can fight.

Tell no one.

She’s not the only girl to go missing within the last year…but she’s the only girl to come back. She desperately wants to unravel what happened to her, to try and recover the rest of the Lost Girls.

But the more she discovers, the more her memories return. And as much as her new life scares her, it calls to her. Seductively. The good girl gone bad, sex, drugs, and raves, and something darker…something she still craves—the rush of the fight, the thrill of the win—something she can’t resist, that might still get her killed…

The only rule is: There are no rules.

Lost Girls is an exciting young adult thriller that will leave the reader breathless. The author did a fantastic job creating mystery upon mystery that slowly unravel throughout the book. I really loved that the main character - Rachel - has amnesia, because it allows us the feeling of learning all of her secrets right alongside her. Rachel is a wonderful main character and I enjoyed getting to know her during the story. As I mentioned, she has amnesia after being kidnapped - so she doesn't remember the last year of her life. There are two sides of Rachel that battle for dominance throughout the book - the girl she was "before" and the girl she has become in the past year. She's constantly learning things about herself - both good and bad - during the story, which is as much of a mystery and a battle as figuring out who kidnapped her and what happened while she was gone. I liked the dual conflict the author put into the plot - it made the book really stand out for me, which doesn't happen very often any more. 

Another big plus for me was the author's writing style. The book is done in the first person point of view - with Rachel as the narrator. I'm a huge advocate for this style of writing because I believe it allows a much deeper and more personal connection with the narrator than can be achieved with any other POV. The reader gets to feel what the character feels, hear every thought, know every emotion, hopes, fears, dreams, and so much more. I loved that the author went this route, because the majority of Rachel's issues are confronted and dissected inside her mind. Any other style of writing wouldn't have allowed such an intimate view inside her head, and I honestly believe this is a huge part of the novel and definitely shouldn't be missed. Everything about the book was very well done - rounded characters, fantastic plot and story line, lots of twists and turns that you don't see coming, and writing that shows the raw talent of the author. I definitely recommend this book to fans of the genre along with readers who enjoy thrillers, suspense, and contemporary fiction.

CURRENTLY A FULL-TIME NOVELIST and magazine editor, Merrie Destefano’s next novel, LOST GIRLS, releases on January 3, 2017. Her other novels include AFTERLIFE and FEAST, both published by HarperCollins, and FATHOM, which was self-published. The editor of Victorian Homes magazine, she has also been the editor of American Farmhouse Style, Vintage Gardens, and Zombies magazine, and was the founding editor of Cottages & Bungalows magazine.

With 20 years experience in publishing, she worked for a variety of publishing/broadcasting companies that include Focus on the Family, The Word For Today, and PJS Publications (now Primedia). Besides editing and writing, her background includes print buying, writing/producing radio promos, directing photo shoots, developing new products, writing jacket copy for books, creating sales media packets and organizing direct mail campaigns.

Born in the Midwest, she currently lives in Southern California with her husband, two German shepherds, a Siamese cat and the occasional wandering possum. Her favorite hobbies are reading speculative fiction and watching old Star Trek episodes, and her incurable addiction is writing. She loves to camp in the mountains, walk on the beach, watch old movies, listen to alternative music—although rarely all at the same time.

Links:
Website - http://www.merriedestefano.com/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/MerrieDestefano
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/merrie.destefano
Tumblr - http://merriedestefano.tumblr.com/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/merriedestefano/
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/merriedestefano/
Blog - http://merriedestefanoauthor.blogspot.com/

Buy Links:
Amazon.com - https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Girls-Merrie-Destefano-ebook/dp/B01GNZ9GH8?tag=entangpublis-20
B&N - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lost-girls-merrie-destefano/1123683530?ean=9781633756069
iBooks - https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/lost-girls/id1121149484?uo=8&at=11ltS7
Kobo - https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/lost-girls-27
Amazon.com.au - https://www.amazon.com.au/Lost-Girls-Merrie-Destefano-ebook/dp/B01GNZ9GH8?tag=entangpublis-20;%20onclick=
Amazon.com/uk - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Girls-Merrie-Destefano-ebook/dp/B01GNZ9GH8?tag=entangpublis-20
Amazon.ca - https://www.amazon.ca/Lost-Girls-Merrie-Destefano-ebook/dp/B01GNZ9GH8?tag=entangpublis-20

Blog Tour: All prizes listed below will be given to one prize winner. Prizes listed are for a US winner only; if an International winner is chosen, the prize will be a $50 Amazon gift card.

• 1 - Kindle Fire Tablet, black: 7" Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB, 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, with the Alexa cloud-based voice service—just press and ask.
• 1 - digital Kindle copy of LOST GIRLS
• 1 - Pack of 14 vintage-style Swan Lake postcards
• 1 - pr. Black Swan earrings, handmade by author
• 1 - "Always" temporary tattoo

a Rafflecopter giveaway