The synopsis grabbed me from the start and overall this was a good read. It's a quick read. There are a lot of characters which can get confusing at times. It's definitely in the young end of ya. I had a few issues with some of the choices the main character made but in the end this is a book and things can happen that wouldn't normally in real life.

I liked the story and the setting of this book, but it felt choppy and unfinished in many places. There were also too many people to keep track of for me. I think this book could be great with a bit more polishing and some condensing of the characters.

Kirsty McKay does a great job in writing this book, it had everything that I was hoping for. I always enjoy reading books from Kirsty McKay, they make a great suspenseful feel and I was glad I got a chance to read this. The characters were wonderfully written and had everything that I was hoping for. I can’t wait to read more in from the author.

Have You Seen My Sister follows Gaia and her family who go to a ski resort to celebrate Gaia going to college. Everything seems to be going well but then Gaia goes missing. Her sister Esme is determined to find her sister. 

I thought this was a good YA mystery book. It kept me guessing until the very end. It was a very faced paced and interesting read. But I didn't really think that anything stood out to me. But I am not upset I read it.

Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.

This was cute and weird. I liked the disability representation in our little sister. And the little maybe romance. That was sweet.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It kept my interest through the entire story, wanting to know what had happened to Gaia. The subplot of the romance between Esme and Bode was a nice touch as well. There were so many twists and turns in this story it was impossible to guess the ending and I loved that! Highly recommend!! Really great book! I never saw the ending coming and those are the best kinds of stories! Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read an advanced copy!

* Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. *

On the night of Gaia's going away party, she never makes it home. With a lot of people offering no help, it's up to Gaia's little sister, Esme, to figure out what happened to her sister, and bring her home.

Have You Seen My Sister is very... young. The narrator is 15-turning-16, and she has an extremely young inner voice. Compounded with a writing style that was attempting to capture the way teenagers talk (but, unfortunately, failed, I believe), the overall tone of the book was a bit immature at times, and nonsensical at others.

It was impossible to believe that so many people just... didn't care about someone being missing. Not only did they not care, they were actually making jokes, and having side conversations about unrelated topics while discussing the missing girl. I've read a lot of mystery novels, and I've never seen such a large amount of people totally not care. I'd understand a few people, but it was 10+ laughing and joking around in the middle of a conversation about a 19-year-old girl being missing.

I also could not believe that Esme had absolutely zero self-preservation skills or thought for her own safety. Her sister, who is several years older and wiser, and knows the area way better, is missing - so why does Esme or her parents or anyone else think it is safe for Esme to be walking around investigating on her own? When she comes back her parents basically admit to not even noticing she was gone, and not realizing she had been abandoned by the person she was with.... and yet, they continue to not care where she is or what she's doing.

In the end, I would not recommend this as the best mystery YA.

On vacation at a ski resort where her sister works, Esme isn’t thrilled to be going back to England. But, when Gaia goes missing after not returning from her going away party, Esme is on high alert. With little to no leads coming in, Esme decides to strike out on her own and search for Gaia. With the help of a local boy, Bode, Esme slowly starts to piece together what happened that night. Can Esme find Gaia?

When I initially read the blurb for Have You Seen My Sister, I was intrigued by the plotline. A mystery set at a ski resort with a plethora of suspects? I liked it. But I couldn’t request the book on Sourcebooks Fire NetGalley; it was a wish only. So, I took a chance, wished for it, and then forgot it. So, wasn’t I surprised when I got a notification in my email saying Sourcebooks Fire granted my wish. I immediately started reading it. While glad I read it, the book didn’t meet my expectations.

Have You Seen My Sister is a fast-paced book set in the fictional resort town of Moonville, New Hampshire. The storyline, which takes place within a week of Gaia’s disappearance, did suit the book’s pacing. But there was lag, and it did disrupt the flow. Usually, that doesn’t matter to me (and I enjoy the book anyway), but with everything else going on in the book, it was just another mark against it for me.

The main storyline is obvious: Gaia’s disappearance and Esme’s search for her. I did think that it was well-written, and there were some twists in the storyline. But I started to lose interest in the storyline when Esme started to catch feelings for Bode. I didn’t want to read about a romance; I wanted to read about Esme’s search for her sister. The author put the wannabe romance on the back burner but by then, it was almost the end of the book, and Esme had connected some crucial dots.

Esme annoyed me. Not that I didn’t like her, I did, but I felt that she took a lot of risks with Bode while investigating. She didn’t tell her parents or the police what she found until they confronted her. I didn’t particularly appreciate that she was made out to be the only one who could find Gaia.

The mystery angle of Have You Seen My Sister was interesting. I had figured out only half of what was happening (and it was a convoluted mess). I wasn’t surprised at who ultimately was behind Gaia’s disappearance or the reason why. There were apparent hints dropped throughout the book that made sense, looking back.

There was a slight romance angle between Bode and Esme. I wasn’t a fan of having them in any way romantically involved. I felt that it took away from the book. But I did like it at the end. I liked that Esme found someone who accepted her for who she was.

The end of Have You Seen My Sister was interesting. I liked how the author ended Gaia’s disappearance. While the reason seemed a little over the top, it at least made sense. I also liked how the people involved were caught. The one dude who was trussed up like a deer made me laugh. But there was one guy in particular that made me mad. It didn’t seem like he was going to get charged with anything.

I would recommend Have You Seen My Sister to anyone over 16. There are mild sexual situations, mild violence, and mild language.

Many thanks to Sourcebooks Fire, NetGalley, and Kirsty McKay for allowing me to read and review Have You Seen My Sister. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

The description sounded good for this book so I was eager to read it, but it was slower-paced than I would have liked, and at times it was hard to stay engaged. However, the mystery of Gaia's disappearance was compelling and I think it is good for a Y/A read. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

YA mysteries like this can go either way, I've found. Some are extremely violent, while others only hint at it. I wasn't sure what direction this book would go in, but I"ll admit I was grateful to find it wasn't on the violent side. I became invested in Esme life and found myself thinking "if Gaia isn't alive after all this I'll be so angry on Esme's behalf!" and sometimes, you don't feel that way about main characters. The dialogue between Es and Bode was wonderful, and fun to read. I liked Esme's inner dialogue as well. I don't know what I'd do if my sister went missing, but I'd be grateful for a family like this to help me find her.

Although the writing was excellent, I had trouble following the tale. It did not, in my opinion, flow smoothly. It seemed more like a sudden zigzag.

The way the main character handled her sister's disappearance also angered me. Certain details weren't immediately disclosed to the police or even her parents by her.

Although I understand your loyalty to your siblings, time is of the key when someone goes missing.

This was book was perfect mix of survival book and thriller to me and it checked all my boxes. It was a little cheesy but when reading YA you have to come to terms with that

Thank you NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for the copy of Have You Seen My Sister by Kirsty McKay. This was a good story, and I like the mingling of Britishisms. The book was a little too long, maybe too many red herrings that made for such a large cast of characters I had trouble remembering who was who. Making Gaia be mixed race seemed like an afterthought that was just thrown in for the sake of diversity, so yes there were issues, but this was a readable and enjoyable book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me the advance copy of Have You Seen My Sister.

Started out strong, but was pretty evident what was happening mid way through the book. I do read a lot of books like this, and figuring it out is usually my sign to switch to something else for a while. I didn’t really like the characters and found it tough to keep on going, but I did

I was really excited about the premise of this book, but I got really caught up in the incongruities of the language. Our main character is British and is here in America, visiting her sister, who has gone missing. But she doesn’t speak like she’s British, and the colloquialisms that she uses seem super dated for a teenager in 2023. Likewise, the Americans in the book also Don’t speak like Americans, and certainly not like teenage Americans. I definitely figured out what was going on pretty early on in the book but I was intrigued enough to keep reading, but I definitely didn’t enjoy this as much I thought I would.

It took me a while to really get into this story. But eventually I was immersed and dying to uncover truths and solve they mystery of missing Gaia. There were a few good twists and Same was puzzling--her thoughts and actions not adding up.