The Lost Girls audiobook

This is one of those books where you think, "I need to sleep, but I'm going to read just one more chapter," and the next thing you know, the book is done but you're still awake because you can't stop thinking about it.This story alternates between Justine's story (taking place in 1999) and her great-aunt Lucy's story (taking place in 1935). In 1935, Lucy's younger sister Emily disappears. Lucy's family is practically frozen in time, as Lucy's mother waits for Emily to return. In 1999, Justine has just inherited her great-aunt's lake house, where she goes for a fresh start with her daughters. The way the stories intertwine and slowly draw out the details is beautiful. The language is melodic and Young has an amazing way of weaving a sentence. As the secrets of the book unwound, I got chills. The story is downright haunting and I was never sure where it was going until the very end. The secondary characters are quite intriguing and well-drawn as you try to figure out who is worthy of Justine's trust. The ending is perfect. I really loved this book.

I'm always on the lookout for a good historical mystery and The Lost Girls about a little girl that went missing in 1935 sounded just perfect for me. And, it was a very good book where the answer to the mystery was not given straight away. Instead, we get to follow Lucy's memories from the notebook where she has written down what really happened to her little sister 60 years previous. In the present time has Lucy's grandniece Justine moved into Lucy's house after her death and there she tries to build a new life for her and her daughters. But, the past has a tendency to catch up. And, not just her own, but her family's past.The book's story is interesting and deeply tragic and it kept me guessing right up until the end what really happened to Emily. The Lost Girls is a good title for the book because, in a way, the girls in the family are really lost as Emily's disappearance started a vicious cycle. Not that Lucy, Justine and the rest of the characters get lost in real life like Emily did. More like there is something in them that are lost. Something they are yearning for. They all have personal demons to deal with, even Justine eldest daughter who is not that old yet.It's a very good book, well-written and thoughtful and sometimes deeply moving. And, so sad.I want to thank William Morrow for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review!

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life.I really enjoyed this book quite a bit. I am not always a fan of books that feature dual timelines but this one worked really well for me. I ended up liking both of the timelines equally and thought that Lucy and Justine both had an interesting story to tell. This story was really focused on the characters with the plot building slowly. I found myself really invested in this group of characters by the close of the book.This book focuses on Justine and Lucy. When Lucy died, she left everything to her grandniece, Justine. Justine has two little girls and lives with her boyfriend in California but feels something missing in her life. When Justine inherits Lucy's lake house in Minnesota, she takes her girls and moves there in order to get a fresh start. The transition isn't as easy as Justine expects it to be.Lucy has her own story to tell and decides to write everything down before her death. When Lucy was a child, her younger sister, Emily, disappeared from the lake house and has never been found. Lucy's story tells everything that happened during the summer leading up to Emily's disappearance. Emily's disappearance was heartbreaking and shaped the lives of Lucy and her family.This book really showed how one event can impact a family for generations. Emily's sisters never really moved on with thier life after she disappeared. I liked watching Justine learn to take care of herself and really decide on what she wanted for herself and her girls. It takes a lot for her to learn to stand up for herself but I have a lot of hope for her by the end of the book.I would recommend this book to others. It was a book that gave me hope and broke my heart all at the same time. The slower pace was a nice change and I thought it really gave me a chance to connect with the characters. I enjoyed Heather Young's debut novel and look forward to reading more from this author in the future.I won a copy of this book from William Morrow via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.Initial ThoughtsI liked this one quite a bit. I really enjoyed both of the timelines equally and thought that both Lucy and Justine had an interesting story to tell. The story ended up being very different than I had thought that it would be and I liked the slower pace of the story.

I loved this book so much! I can't believe it's a debut by the author, I will definitely read anything she writes! Definitely and highly recommended!

Inheriting a house she had only lived in for one summer of her childhood seemed to be a way out of her current situation​ for Justine and her daughters.Arriving at the house that Aunt Lucy left her was not what Justine had expected. The house was run down and no where close to anything but some odd neighbors.Aunt Lucy​​'s​ sister ​who ​had disappeared at the age of six and was never found was the main focus of the book​ along with the emotional lives of each character.THE LOST GIRLS was a family saga that had chapters about the lives of the three sisters, Lilith, Lucy, Emily, and Justine both past and present. The Evans women lived unhappy lives which carried on from one generation to the next.The father of Lilith, Lucy, and Emily was a bit disturbing. He was odd and strict. The girls were different but interesting. Justine and her daughters followed suit.I enjoyed THE LOST GIRLS despite the gloomy feeling that seemed to overshadow everyone. Ms. Young has a marvelous, descriptive writing style that helped you understand and connect with each character and each situation.​ Her writing just pulled you into the story. If you enjoy a bit of family drama as well as secrets and mysteries, you will enjoy THE LOST GIRLS. 4/5This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation in return for an honest review.​

The book is a story of 3 sisters, where on one summer holiday in their lake house, the youngest sister disappears and is never found till date. The story goes on with flashbacks, glimpses of present, the irony being that only one girl was lost but the remaining even being there, were lost with the little girl.The disappearance of just one little girl, affected the lives surrounding her and effected almost 5 generations of that family. This is a slow burn thriller, showing how lives are intertwined, and how one situation of the past affects the future.“Please remember her,Remember all of us.We are the ghosts of lives stolen,And lives never lived.Once we were heavy,But now we are light.I promise we will never burden you.”Coming to my rating : out of 5 Title : Apt and Perfect ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Cover : Beautiful⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Character development : there is gradual and proper development in the characters of the story, being it main or the supporting ones.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Writing quality : the writing was beautiful and descriptive. Each emotion perfectly reached.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Depth of the plot : the story had a very deep meaning and intellectual depth in the way the characters nurtured to their present selves in the story.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Originality : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Overall : 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars (the story could be even more better and at some parts there was no proper justification. I was not that happy with the treatment of some characters in the story. Mainly I would be very happy if Justine would have spoken back to Maurine, and show her how much she and her ways hurtled people around her.)Thank you NetGalley for this book!!!

When the Evans family leave Williamsburg for their annual trip to their lake house for the summer, all seems normal. The three Evans sisters, Lilith, Lucy and Emily look forward to this trip for it gives them a relaxed summer of swimming in the lake and exploring the woods. But this year is not as carefree. Six-year-old Emily goes missing. The family is not the same afterwards. Some years later Justine receives notice that she has inherited the lake house from her grandaunt Lucy. Needing a new start, she takes her two daughters and moves into the house. But its not the idylic place she remembers and it forces her to confront her problems straight on.So this is yet another book that lived on my TBR list for a bit and I am glad to finally have read it. The Evans family appears to be a typical family heading out to spend their summer in their lake house. Its a tradition that many of their friends have as well and they all look forward to spending a few carefree months away from the city. Expecting an idylic summer, the Evans receive quite the opposite when the youngest of their daughters goes missing and has not been seen since. Justine has only ever been in the lake house once but recalls a warm atmosphere. Experiencing her own troubles, receiving the house is great news. But this house harbors secrets that lead to that mysterious disappearance of Emily. Though its hard to tell at first glance, this book has a darker tone. The tensions that gradually build up foreshadow a grim secret hidden for years behind a facade. Part family saga and coming-of-age story, this was a well paced narrative that was well crafted. Not a happy read per se but one that held my interest throughout. I enjoyed the way in which Young intertwined the story of all the Evans women and characterization was on point. A worthy read overall.

In the summer of 1935, six year old Emily Evans vanishes from her family's vacation home on a remote Minnesota lake. Her disappearance destroys her mother, who spends the rest of her life at the lake house, hoping in vain that her favourite daughter will walk out of the woods. Emily's two sisters stay too. Sixty years later, Lucy, the quiet watchful middle sister, lives alone in the lake house. Before she dies, she writes the story of the devastating summer in a notebook that she leaves along with the house to her grandniece, Justine. Soon Justine's eldest daughter becomes obsessed with Emily's disappearance.The story spans five generations of one family and each new generation adding more layers to the complex plotline. It's told in the past and present day with the addition of a journal which reminisces about the past. This is a creepy, haunting and atmospheric mystery. I did feel that the story dragged in places. It's also quite a hard book to review as I don't want to spoil it for potential readers. This is a bit of a slow burner but it's quite a good debut novel.I would like to thank #NetGalley #VerveBooks and the author #HeatherYoung for my ARC of #THeLostGirls in exchange for an honest review.

A great book for a debut author. Impressive writing, and I really was invested in the story, and wanted to know what was happening. BUT it's a very depressing book. In my opinion. No feel good here. That dimmed my overall enjoyment. Others might not feel that way though! It's a dual timeline set in present day with a mom and her 2 daughters trying to get by (and get away), and the past setting where a family with 3 daughters ends up with one missing at the end of summer vacation. Family secrets abound here! The mysteries twine around themselves and intersect nicely. Historical fiction fans who don't mind a little sadness will enjoy it for sure :)

I'm impressed that this is the authors first novel. Looking forward to reading more from her.

I read this for a book club, and I think the Minnesota setting for most of the story was part of the draw. There is a past timeline in 1935, and a "current" timeline which isn't dated, but I think is probably 1990s given on the ages of the characters still alive and recently dead from the 1935 timeline, as well as the technology. I was confused in the beginning as to this timeline, though, as there was a break-in and a VHS went missing. Did they rob the museum of outdated technology? Oh wait, no-one has a cell phone, and the teenagers aren't complaining about that. It definitely must be a different era.I recently read The Child by Fiona Barton, and that too featured a past and current timeline and twisty family relations. This was better. Many generations of Evans women, all damaged by what happened to Emily in 1935 and how it changed the family's future. Lucy is the middle daughter in 1935, spending the summer at her family's lake house while her dad commutes back and forth on the weekends from his family business in the city. Their neighbors were resort owners, a family with both Native American and white parentage that makes them outsiders. And then there are the rest of the summering community, privileged folks with social hierarchies. Lilith, the older sister, used to be Lucy's BFF, but now that she's a teen, she's not as happy to hang out with Lucy. Emily is 6 and absolutely smothered by their mother, who sleeps in Emily's bed every night. Lucy hangs out with Matthew, the neighbor boy who isn't connected to the local white kids or to his deceased mother's tribe. Things happen. Emily goes missing. We get the background on this summer of 1935, and the decades that followed, all told through Lucy's journal that she writes to great-niece Justine, wanting to tell all of the secrets to someone to read after her death.Then we have Justine, who is a mess. She's living with a super controlling guy. Think "Sleeping with the Enemy" creepy, yet she keeps making excuses for him. Her two daughters (from a prior relationship, not Patrick) are not huge fans. But it isn't until Justine finds out that Lucy left her the house on the lake in Minnesota that she takes the leap and moves from California to Minnesota in the middle of the winter. They were not prepared. They didn't have enough clothes. Or any real survival skills, or basic home maintenance skills. How has Justine survived this long? Oh, that's right, she glommed onto Patrick, and then the guy before, and her flighty mother. I admire that she had the initiative to leave. But then she has doubts. I guess that's natural, but I would have liked for her to be a little more resourceful. Like, get a job, Justine, so you can get the stove fixed, and the LP tank filled, and you know, not just mope around being a victim of life, waiting for some man to come rescue you.The current story has it's own twists and angles, but the 1935 one is a train on the tracks, coming at you, slowly at first, and then it runs you over. And then, people just lived it with. For decades. Without the truth ever coming out. Contemplating that was probably the most compelling to think about later.