Reviews with content warning for Child death - The Lost Girls

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl

15 reviews

nella_allen's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Content Warnings

mx_virg's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I loved the premise and really wanted to like this book. And the base elements are there. I liked the characters, the way they come together, how the plot progresses. I like that a big part of the book focuses on female friendships. I enjoyed reading it, but I don't think much will stick with me for long.

The world building is really lacking here. How can vampires just carelessly go through the world, killing people left and right, in this day and age? The number of people they kill to feed on isn't small, and yet it's never really a concern. Nothing really is, aside from the main villain. We're given just enough to understand why things have to happen the way they do, nothing more. The vampire thing feels more like a b-plot, we're not given enough info and I wasn't that invested or interested when vampiry stuff happened as a result.

The romance started out cute, but became bland from the half-way point. And even though I liked the ending, the twists felt unnecessary and created if not plot holes, at least more questions that we won't get answers to (because we're given so little info to begin with). The writing didn't help. It wasn't bad, but didn't pull me in either.

So yeah, it's a "meh" read for me, but one I still enjoyed. I'd love to read a book on how our heroines carve a life for themselves, together, from here on out.

Content Warnings

longlost's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

mmm. i really wanted to like this book. like many other reviewers i was sold on the Sapphic Vampire Revenge Story premise and while there were parts of the book that really spoke to me and made me feel like it was worth reading, the parts that bothered me were.... a bit too Much to gloss over in favour of what i did like about it.

the good: hartl's brand of dark humour used to tell this story made it feel very engaging to me, but that's very much personal taste. i liked the characters - the core vampire trio (later quartet) were easy to love for their quirks and i found what we did learn about their backstories and histories to be genuinely interesting and at times heartbreaking. holly's issues w/ her mother also really spoke to me when they did become front and centre, and i liked

the resolution with her mother in their final scene together.

ive never really been that invested in vampire stories so im going into this world with the basics of vampire knowledge, but i really enjoyed the work hartl put into worldbuilding regarding the vampire lore. when i picked up the book to continue reading i was as much interested in seeing where the characters would go next as in how the world and the rules behind vampirism would be unraveled. which sucks because the stuff im going to talk about next really ruined whatever good aspects those parts had.

the bad (and the Ugly): so. the entire premise of the book is the three girls who were coerced by the main villain - a vampire creep who preys on vulnerable, isolated teenagers - teaming up to kill him so he can't ensnare anymore victims. and then we spend the entire book developing a romance between holly and parker of which the inherent weirdness of it is never really acknowledged ? like yea, we know that holly genuinely cares because we're reading things from her point of view and there's a lot of emphasis on how being Turned pauses you at that point in time meaning that holly is Technically still 16 but. it is just, not that simple ? she's been existing for like 30 years and parker is. a teenager. maybe there could have been ways to approach it well but here it just felt.... extremely brushed over despite a major plot point of the story being how the villain did similar things to the main character & her friends. the romance felt kinda bland too but tbf i was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt until the out of nowhere underage sex scene which very nearly made the book a DNF for me but there wasnt much of the story left at that point and i wanted to keep to my rule about having read a book in full before writing an in-depth review like this and i felt like these issues were glaring enough that they needed to be discussed in context of the story which is. as explained, never really addressed by the author other than holly being like "oh no if we date parker will eventually grow old and die" which. doesn't even begin to address the juxtaposition between the entire revenge plot and holly and parker's relationship. the overall ending seems to be contentious from reading other reviews here but tbh at that point id disengaged emotionally so i dont have any real thoughts on that.

Content Warnings

kt2e56's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

This felt like it was the author’s first time ever writing a book: so many repeated phrases, no proper sense of pacing, a romance with absolutely no chemistry or believability, the blandest dialogue, every cliché imaginable, and the most egregious crime an author could commit: ZERO depth and personality for the characters.

Each character spoke exactly the same despite their age/time period differences. Like the entire book felt like one person arguing with themself.

The book was told from Holly’s point of view but she had no real personality to her.

Rose’s personality was just the author describing her outfits (and she was the only character who ever got such devoted details when it came to clothing. Everyone else might have been naked based on the lack of description they received).

Ida’s personality was that she was supposed to be the dark, edgy one who makes “quirky” art projects using the bodies of her victims but like that’s literally it. Just that one note played over and over and over again.

Parker was beautiful. That’s it. Beautiful (no other character had the same level of description when it came to physical appearance) and unbelievably foolish because

her little plan to help save the day in the end truly made no sense. Her being turned into a vampire made all of the hard work of the other characters feel pointless. Her romance with Holly wasn’t believable in any way. They barely knew each other. There was no genuine buildup there. None. The author couldn’t be subtle if she tried so the romance between Parker and Holly was not even remotely a surprise but it felt like it came out of nowhere because there was no actual spark or connection between the two characters, just lots of cliches and bland dialogue.

Side characters were also given just one personality trait per person.

It’s a shame this book was as bad as it was because the premise sounded great and I

love me a sapphic romance! But c’mon. Us queer women need to stop settling for mediocre books like this because we want representation so badly.

Content Warnings

elisammansur's review

Go to review page

dnf at 47%. the whole background story for the main character is explained within the first three chapters, the plot is extremely rushed and the writing is meh. the concept had a lot of potential but it was not well executed

Content Warnings

love_bookswillbetheendofme's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I loved how Holly immediately had feelings for Parker, but it took her awhile to realize them!

Content Warnings

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Content Warnings

mals_library's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No

3.5

Content Warnings

atlas_shruggs's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"She's a lost girl."... "She's not afraid of death because she doesn't think her life matters. Her world is black and gray. We're something other, so she looks at us and sees color."
As someone who would've probably been considered a lost girl at a point in my life, this book touched a little place in my heart that I didn't know needed the hug this book provided. It was a really nice, refreshing type of vampire book that I've only read once before in Heather Brewer's Fang Girl. It was funny, it didn't always take itself too seriously, but it still managed to be real and emotional, showing a side of immortality that I feel vampire media doesn't cover very often. I also found Parker and Holly's relationship very cute, if a bit instalove-y. It did definitely feel like a teenage romance, which it is.
Rose is definitely my favourite of the group, followed closely by Stacey and then Parker. I just felt like they weren't really characters I've seen often, especially Rose, with her plants and pretty dresses and keeping dying men in her room as she feeds on them.
Overall I would give it 5 stars simply because of how much I related to it, and how seen it made me feel. It felt like a healing hug, and I love it for that. I can't really see any glaring faults in it either. The found family is amazing, Ida's art projects are hilarious, and Elton can go die in a ditch.

Content Warnings

stormywolf's review

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Another YA pick for Maven's Vampire Book Club, and a shorter one at that. Mainly this was due to scheduling issues that cropped up in January, pushing back the official discussion of that month's book a couple weeks, so she figured a shorter option would be easier to slot in and get things back on track. Besides the length, and the GoodReads blurb citing "dark humor and queer love," I really didn't know anything going in. Would this vampire story edge more cutsie, or have some real bite?

Read my full review at The Wolf's Den

Overall, I don't know how to recommend this one. On the one hand, I think it has fun characters, it does some interesting things with vampire mythology, and does a good job examining regret and how it influences us. But on the other hand, I had issues with its shallow characterizations, its unsatisfying ending, and its handling of toxic relationships. I think there are some good messages and important things addressed, but I also think it missed the mark with a lot of things. I suppose if you're interested in a bittersweet, queer, quirky, YA vampire romance story and not wanting anything too complex or detailed, this might be what you're looking for. As for myself, I'll be hoping for some lighter fare with a lower body count.

Content Warnings

More...