My thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Kira is a feral child who was rescued and then adopted by Cady Bennett. Cady trains dogs to aid in search and rescue operations.. This YA story is the type of story I have always enjoyed: surviving out in the wilderness with little else other than your wits and stamina to get you through. As a child, I loved nature and animal themed stories, although I am an unrepentant city dweller! This is such a great story, with quite a few twists and turns along the way.

I had never heard of Jennifer Lynn Barnes, but her books are now on my TBR stack. This was a very well written, visually appealing novel: her words evoked the magic of the forest and I could almost feel Kira, Silver and Saskia's silent communication.. Kira is a very strong "badass" female character, which I always applaud and enjoy seeing in YA and Contemporary fiction.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes tends to write series novels., so I suspect that a few of the open-ended plot issues in this book will be resolved in the next few years in books to come! I look forward to them! Highly recommended!

I received a copy of The Lovely and the Lost from Disney Book Group through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, this book was fantastic. I really loved Kira and her relationships with...just about everybody!

The flashbacks were dealt with really well and I loved the family drama.

Exciting teen search and rescue team

Kira was a feral child when rescued from the wilderness eleven years ago. Cady Bennett and her search and rescue dog, Silver, are the ones that rescued the half-dead girl and then adopted her later. Kira loves Cady and her best friends are Jude, her adopted brother, Free, their free-spirited neighbor, and of course the search and rescue dogs they all have.

Cady is contacted by her estranged father, who is also an expert at search and rescue, to help look for a missing little girl in the wilderness near where he lives. And so the adventure starts. Hunting for this little girl brings up many buried memories of Kira's and secrets are waiting around every corner.

I loved the characters in this book especially Kira, Jude, and Free. Jude especially is someone I would have loved to have been friends with as a teen. Quirky, geeky and always positive.

The story is fast-paced and full of action. It takes place in a fictitious locale but is well described and easy to imagine.

I hope that the author decides to turn this into a series.

I received this book from Disney Books through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

Kira is a former feral child. She remembers almost nothing before the time she was rescued in the woods by Cady, her adoptive mother, just that she was on her own, trying to survive. Cady trains dogs for search-and-rescue, and she's the best in the business. Kira, her brother Jude, and their friend and neighbor Free are all learning to train dogs for search-and-rescue.

Cady is estranged from her father, but when she gets a call that he needs her help searching for a child who's lost in a vast national park, she agrees to go home to help, and brings the kids along. Kira gets caught up in the search for the missing child, and it triggering fragments of memories. It soon becomes obvious that the missing child didn't just wander off, she was kidnapped, so there's a mystery element to the story.

The characters all have some baggage. Kira has PTSD from her traumatic childhood experiences. Even though she's been living in a safe environment with a loving family for many years, the scars of her past are still there. She doesn't like being touched, eye contact is hard for her, and she relates better to dogs than people. Cady hasn't been back to her hometown in 18 years and has a fraught relationship with her father. Joining Kira in the search is local boy Gabriel, who has a criminal past and secrets of his own.

The book is fast-paced and very readable. I wasn't really expecting this to be a mystery, but that part of the plot was very well done and left me guessing until the end. There were a lot of twists and turns, and whenever I thought I had things figured out, I was way off base.

Kira was a fascinating character. She can be prickly and difficult. She loves her family, but the emotional interactions are really difficult for her. Her PTSD is triggered by searching for the missing child, and she's on edge for most of the book.

I found the info about search and rescue missions really interesting. The vastness of the wilderness where the child disappeared seems insurmountable, but the dogs and humans on the search team are able to do so much. It was really fascinating. I loved reading about the bonds between the searchers and their dogs.

This book reminded me a little of Barbed Wire Heart by Tess Sharpe - which since that was one of my favorite books of last year is saying something. I love a good Jennifer Lynn Barnes they always feel like a smarter, more engaging version of the TV I love (Scandal/Criminal Minds/etc), this is not quite like those books. This feels darker, and twistier in a really good way.

This book is like a laundry list of my bullet proof 'will read no matter what' tropes. Family mysteries - check. People who know how to survive in the wilderness - check. Bonds with animals - check. People being damaged, but working through it - check.

That sounds flippant, but I don't mean it that way. Jennifer Lynn Barnes has woven a compelling story about what it means to be family, in the middle of a smart and interesting mystery. And then she threw in some search and rescue dogs, and tracking, and a mountain. Look I really liked this book; it was smart, and thoughtful, and the characters were compelling and nuanced. I really want a sequel.

Kira was just a little girl when she was found living in the forest my Cady, who is now her adopted mother.

Year later, Cady estranged father Bales comes and convinces Cady and her family (Kira and Cady's son Jude) to assist in a search and rescue of a missing girl.

This book had many twist and turns that I wasn't expexting. And the writing and the story kept me wanting more. However, i feel like there was too many loose ends at the end of the book and the end felt a little too rushed.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I am in. LOVE. With this book! Thank you so much to the publisher for the egalley! This is Jennifer Lynn Barnes at her absolute best. As a big fan of her Naturals series, I thought this was a great readalike in terms of tone, characters, drama level, etc. I really hope it becomes a series because I would gladly follow this story and its characters further. Kira is such a fascinating heroine and the way she connects to the search-and-rescue dog side of the story was so unlike anything else I’ve read, even in other wilderness survival-themed YA. I also really have a soft spot for the character of Jude - he was hilarious and added the perfect dose of levity as needed. Highly recommend this read to fellow fans of JLB or titles like “Not If I Save You First” and “I Am Still Alive.”

Requested and received an ARC via NetGalley


I think this was a really good start to what should become a series. If this is left as a stand alone, it was a mistake to leave so many open ended plot points. This book focuses a lot on Kira but we are left mostly in the dark about her past and why she is the way she is for most of the book. We get hints, but I had a hard time believing that a few weeks living in the woods would turn a kid feral which cast a shadow on most of the story until we got an info dump on what her past was like, and then it made more sense, but it still wasn’t enough of her past to fully flesh out her character. Which was also a problem with Free & Jude. They were there, but almost pointless to the story. Who was Free? When did she start hanging at Cady’s? Did her parents not care that she’d just take off? These 3 had a ton of history and we saw NONE of it. Jude was occasional comic relief but most of the time it seemed like he was just trying too hard and willfully oblivious. Gabriel was interesting and at least we got a backstory for him. The hook of this story is Kira, her reactions and her connection to the dogs she works with. Her and Saskia are the reasons I’d read another book with them in it. There are so many unanswered questions about her past I hope if there is a next book it focuses on the past and how it all ties into what happened in this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Disney Book Group / Freeform for this arc.

I very much enjoyed Jennifer Lynn Barnes The Naturals series and really looked forward to reading The Lovely and the Lost. I do really like dogs!! But it was a totally different book for this author. While I can understand her writing Disneyness stories, this felt like a much "darker" book. The use of emotional / mental / physical trauma as a plot device failed miserably for me... not just once, but over and over again. Does every character have to be so damaged?? The story was compelling enough for me to finish reading, but the teenage dramatics stretched it unnecessarily (but that's the market it was written for.).

And then it was all sunshine and lollipops and dancing unicorns in a ridiculously fast ending. But it was written for the teen market, so keep them deluded as long as you can!

Very good book! I really enjoyed this story. It was definitely a page-turner. I just had to keep reading to find out what happened. I've read some others by this author and this book seemed different but still very good. I hope that there are more books that go along with it, I would love to read them. Highly recommended!

For every unconventional family, for every child who has ever been lost, for every family searching for peace...... a search and rescue mission brings everything to a head in the latest Jennifer Lynn Barnes novel, which obviously I loved. Also first time ever I have cried over a dog.

My teenaged self would have loved this book for its drama, but my adult self was inspired to a bit of eye-rolling in places. Hand to fans of Ally Carter; this is a little darker but in the same vein.

* Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

Note: I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Jennifer Lynn Barnes is one of my favorite authors, and I would happily read and re-read anything she writes.The Lovely and the Lost was no exception. This is a great mystery, with a interesting, well developed backstory and compelling characters. Fans of JLB will definitely enjoy this suspenseful page turner.

I would definitely purchase this book for my library.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes is one of my favorite writers. She’s talented and her stories keep you on the edge of your seat. But The Lovely and the Lost was an anomaly. The writing differed from her other books to the point where it seemed like she passed along this idea to someone who wrote the book for her. My review to follow has nothing to do with Barnes or her writing skills. It has everything to do with this story and the characters portrayed.

The Naturals series was intriguing and comical. The Fixer duology was amazing and suspenseful from start to finish. The Lovely and the Lost is a Lucifer fanfic with an overload of drama and nonexistent action or mystery. I’m unsure whether the correlations between the TV show and this book were intentional, but the similarities are on the same level as what Cassandra Clare did for Mortal Instruments which makes me think it wasn’t a coincidence. Kira is Chloe. Jude is Lucifer. Free is Ella. Gabriel is Cain. Cady is Mum. And her estranged father is no other than dear old Dad. I adore Lucifer and reading a fanfic is something I am open to. That is, a fanfic that is written well. And as someone who has been mercurial lately, I read this novel during a problematic time and will now bestow everything that is wrong with it.

Kira is our protagonist and an unhinged Chloe Decker. She’s 16 years old, 4 feet 11 inches in height, stoic, ordinary looking in attributes, and rarely speaks. She has an aversion to food (since she’s always skipping meals) so I doubt she weighs more than 90 pounds which puts her as underweight for a growing teen. She was found wandering in the woods for weeks back when she was toddler and doesn’t have any memory of it. At least that’s what she claims besides the random memory intrusions in each chapter. She thinks she’s a dog and needs to be institutionalized (not for thinking she’s a dog, but because she’s a danger to herself due to untreated PTSD, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies). More on her later.

Kira’s foster brother Jude is Lucifer Morningstar with a hint of Ella. The first sentence of the book compares him to Saint Jude which is the first connection to the show Lucifer. Saints, angels, and devils, oh my. I adore Lucifer for his personality, but Jude is over the top where he comes across as immature, annoying, pompous, and dramatic. I cringed every time he spoke, and he does a lot of talking. A lot of unnecessary talking. He even says some of the same words phrases as Lucifer (miscreants, for example). Lucifer’s character works because he knows when to act selfless and serious in grave situations. He can focus. Every sentence Jude says is a joke despite the tone of whatever is happening. Remember that scene in Lucifer during season 3 where Ella is rambling on and on and on to Cain about absolutely nothing and you can see him growing frustrated until he finally blows and tells her to shut up? That was me every time Jude opened his mouth.

Free is half Ella since she’s annoying in a different way from Jude (hers is dialogue plus actions), and she’s also half Rose from Two and a Half Men since she uses windows when entering and leaving houses. Free is the opposite of Kira. She’s tall, beautiful, curvy, intelligent, and has boys drooling over her. This is an overused theme in YA books that I’m sick of reading.

Gabriel is the tall, dark, and brooding Cain who is also mysterious and tough. Cady is Kira’s foster mom and Jude’s biological mom. She was the one to locate Kira in the woods when she was a toddler. She has fostered her since and welcomed her into her life with her son and dogs that she trains for SAR. Like Mum, she’s intimidating, tall, and endured a falling out with her father (God). She has many lovers and also isn’t a good mother since she should have forced Kira into counseling from day one. It’s mentioned that they attempted it, but Kira’s mindset is so screwed up that she’s a suicidal.

Remember reading the scene in Jodi Picoult’s Lone Wolf where the father acts like the wolves? This is Kira. She has classified herself as a dog since she was a toddler and hasn’t evolved from that mindset. She thinks to herself like how a dog does. Listen. Obey. Stay. Alpha. Play. Human. Girl. Danger. Freeze. Threat approaching. She has to restrain herself from growling at people, snarling, and snapping her teeth. She reminds herself to go for their throat if a fight breaks out. (Why does everyone want to fight her?) This thought process isn’t normal and should have been fixed years ago through therapy. Does Cady, Jude, and Free ignore her dog tendencies?

Besides pretending to be a dog, Kira trusts no one and is either angry or scared of new people she meets. In all scenes of meeting someone new she either tenses up, labels them as a threat and prepares for a fight, or she cowers behind Jude while he and her SAR dogs protect her by diffusing the situation. This also isn’t normal behavior and brings me to another point. If Kira is so terrified and wary of people and constantly pugnacious to them, then how does she manage school? Is she homeschooled? Cady wouldn’t have time to homeschool her since she trains SAR dogs 24/7 so does she pay a tutor to teach Kira? How does Kira cope with being near a tutor if she doesn’t like people? And why is Kira at a high school party with alcohol and blasting music in the beginning chapter if she views people as a threat?

Dogs are known for their keen abilities. Sight. Smell. Hearing. Intelligent. Kira claims her senses are improvised like a dog’s, that she can hear things normal humans tune out. That she notices things out of order. But that’s false since she regularly zones out during conversations, doesn’t put obvious clues together, debates with her irrational and erratic mindset, refuses to think things through, makes stupid choices repeatedly, and is horrible at stealth.

Everyone around Kira is nonchalant over how delusional and deranged she is. She claims to not remember anything from roaming around the woods for weeks as a toddler. Despite somehow remembering but not remembering this traumatic event (I will get to the remembering part in a second), she is plagued by nightmares, is terrified or views new people as a threat, acts like and thinks she is a dog, has PTSD and anxiety from the trauma, has suicidal tendencies, and has a fear of being trapped. When Cady first brought Kira home, Kira refused to sleep in a bed because she felt boxed in. So she slept in Silver’s (the SAR German Shepherd dog that found Kira in the woods) crate…which is boxed in and tinier than a bedroom. After all these years, she still feels trapped while in a house or car (back to the school issue, how does she manage school for 8 hours a day? Does she regularly ditch class to run around outside when feeling constricted?) and sleeps on the floor one night before relocating outside and sleeping against a tree. Okay. Where is the logic in this for someone who claims to be terrified/pugnacious with people and the unknown? She feels trapped in a house and needs fresh air and decides to sleep outside in a town where she knows no one and where anything can happen to her. With a missing girl on the loose who was kidnapped. Yes, she has her dogs by her side, but her and her dogs are vulnerable to wild animals and crazy people roaming around. They could be taken out in seconds by someone experienced. For someone who is so concerned over the unknown, Kira is hypocritical throughout the story. Her logic is all over the place, insinuating that she desperately needs therapy.

Her thought process regularly puts her in danger. For example, when searching for the missing girl, Kira debates turning off the radio so no one knows where she is. That way she can continue searching for the girl during the night with her SAR dog Saskia. Can everyone see how this is a dreadful idea? Her and the dog are 5 hours away from home and hiking through a national park that they’ve never been to or studied. They haven’t eaten anything since dawn. They haven’t rested since dawn. Kira yearns to go radio silent and find the missing girl without considering what would happen if she did. Cady would freak out, thinking something happened to Kira. The SAR team and rangers would have to split up (taking away bodies and time from searching for the missing girl) to find and locate Kira. She’s in unknown terrain at night and can easily injure herself or her dog. Kira isn’t aware of anything; she has tunnel vision and never thinks ideas through.

If you’re still reading at this point, I applaud you for your dedication to my rant. Anyway, this all brings me to the main point which is that Kira is a bipolar and demented individual that needs immediate aid. She should have been shipped to a psychologist when Cady took her in, especially since she was snarling and biting Cady when she attempted to care for her. Even now she hates being touched and tries not to wince when Cady shows affection. This girl needed therapy years ago and instead the lack of it escalated her into a walking bomb seconds from self-destructing. How does Cady, Jude, and Free not see how unstable Kira is? She is too far gone for weekly sessions. Kira needs to be institutionalized because she’s so lost in her one track and self-absorbed mind that she’s suicidal.

I’m on the fence about Kira’s memory. It’s rare for someone to remember much from their toddler years. I don’t even remember anything from that age. Some can argue that Kira has a good memory, but the examples above prove she isn’t an Einstein. I refuse to believe that based on her current mindset and irrational thoughts, that she can recall snippets of adult thoughts that her 3-year-old self was having. How does a toddler survive this long in dangerous elements? How does she know to seek shelter, food, and water? What toddler thinks like an adult? PTSD is a factor that plays into this and Barnes elaborates this by putting triggers into the story. But memory isn’t 100%, even years after an event.

Another issue is Cady’s nonchalance to minors participating in the SAR of the missing child. Kira, Jude, and Free are all 16. They aren’t certified. But then again, there is much emphasis that Cady is the best SAR trainer in the world, so I guess she has the power to certify the three teens and make her own rules. We’re expected to assume that these three have the same experience and training history as adults in SAR. I don’t know anything about SAR except for what I’ve read in this book, but I’m all for a minor who has had sufficient training to participate in a SAR. I draw the line for personal connections.

Cady should have prevented Kira from participating in the SAR. First, she’s a minor, and second, she was once a child lost in the woods so what do you think is going to happen as she’s hiking on her own in an unknown terrain? Cue the flashbacks and anxiety. She is already unstable, and her emotions tied to her past cloud her judgement for every second she spends searching for this child. She should not be working or interfering with this mission. Cady should have realized this instead of letting her unhinged foster daughter roam around the woods with her fragile mindset. On the other side of this argument, Cady doesn’t want Kira, Free, and Judge to participate after they search for the first time. Why did she bring them if she didn’t want them to participate? She tells them to stay at the house, but they never listen. Based on their track record, why is she confident they will listen to her and not sneak away and get into trouble?

The town Cady, Kira, Free, and Jude go to to search for the missing girl is where Cady grew up and ditched her estranged father. Everyone we meet in this town has drama with everyone else, and they all grit their teeth and speak tersely with each other. I’m perplexed on why the residents don’t vacate since they all hate one another. They also have a frustrating habit of tacking each other’s names to the end of a sentence while conversing with someone. For example:

Person 1: How are you today, Jane Doe?
Person 2: Upset with the world, John Deer.
Person 1: What could possibly be wrong? You have the perfect life, Jane Doe.
Person 2: That is untrue, John Deer.
Person 1: Then further explain to me. I want to help you, Jane Doe.
Person 2: If you insist. I broke my newly painted fingernail, John Deer.

Is this really necessary? Who talks like this in real life? No one I know.

Let’s move on to the dogs for a bit. Silver is a thirteen-year-old German Shepherd (Kira later says she 12 so which one is it?) and also the dog that found Kira many many years ago. Kira makes a comment at one point, saying that Silver walks stiffly for a second and hates to think about her getting old. 13 years for a German Shepherd is ancient. It’s rare for one to live that long, especially since hip dysplasia sets in around 6 or 7. I’m amazed that this miracle dog is prancing around like a puppy without any difficulties except occasional stiffness. As someone who has owned four German Shepherds to date, I have yet to see mine live past the average lifespan of 11. One passed away at 8 which is young when compared to the average lifespan.

Kira’s personal SAR dog is a Husky named Saskia. This dog is unfriendly and somewhat aggressive to people and animals that she doesn’t know. Kira doesn’t think there is anything wrong with certifying Saskia as a SAR dog. Sure the dog is trained exceptionally well, but it has behavioral issues. If the dog is aggressive towards humans and animals, then it doesn’t need to be in that kind of environment. Certifying it is a bad idea, especially when a dog that doesn’t like people is paired to a girl that also doesn’t like people and they both are set loose in the wilderness. Saskia growls and snaps at the sheriff when he tries to grab her collar. Yes, the sheriff should have let Saskia sniff his hand before making a move, but what happens when you’re in public and a screaming toddler runs up to the dog in excitement and sticks its hand in the dog’s face? A SAR dog must be accepting to unfamiliar situations and traipsing around a multitude of people.

After spending a few days away from this story, I begrudgingly grabbed my kindle with a clear mindset. And right away we’re introduced to more craziness. Remember how I mentioned that Kira needs to be in a psyche ward due to her unhealthy love for putting her life at risk? Kira and Gabriel are searching and hiking on a very step and jagged cliff. She decides to creep close to the side and look down at the thousands of feet below her. Her dog has to bite her hand to prevent her from tumbling off the cliff. And Gabriel just watches her attempt to commit suicide/unintentional suicide because I guess he’s even sick of her personality. Then Kira slips on a loose rock and Gabriel catches her arm to prevent her from falling to the ground. Kira automatically gets swept back into the past with her memories and lashes out on Gabriel, scratching him until he lets go of her. Like I mentioned, how has no one noticed after all these years that Kira has PTSD from a childhood trauma? Why has Cady not gotten her therapy to help her in life? Why is someone with a personal connection to this case involved in the SAR?

It begins storming while they are searching on the jagged mountain cliffs. Kira and Gabriel decide to continue searching instead of temporarily taking cover until the storm passes because like Kira says “it’s just rain”. Rain isn’t the issue. Lightning is the danger, especially when you’re in a forest with huge trees to one side and a cliff on the other side of the trail. They can easily be struck by lightning by being out in the open.

Gabriel also calls Kira by nicknames. Princess is one of them. Not sure why he calls her princess all of a sudden after they’ve exchanged maybe three sentences with each other. This is just an overly common theme in many young-adult books that is overused. Shortening names are fine. Calling someone “Princess” and “Broody McSmirkpants” (Lucifer, I mean Jude, calls Gabriel this) along with other random words is a fad that sailed years ago.

Kira whines the whole book about how Cady doesn’t let her search 24/7. You can’t search 24/7 while neglecting food, water, and sleep. Your body won’t allow you to go on with these three necessities. Kira and Saskia wouldn’t not have lasted in the wilderness without sleeping, eating or drinking. The common sense is nonexistent.

Apparently the SAR dogs in this story are also trained emotional support dogs, trained therapy dogs, trained service dogs, and trained attack dogs. Cady only trained them for SAR so how do they somehow know all these other things? The dogs look someone over, like Kira, when they first meet a new person to see if they need to attack them. Silver and Saskia can also communicate with Kira telepathically. They know what she is thinking and how to comfort her based on her thoughts and thoughts alone. Body language isn’t factored into this.

I’ve spent too much of my miniscule free time on this review so a summary of the remaining 55% follows: Kira, Jude, and Free play hide and seek with their SAR dogs. Kira hides then sees shady Gabriel hiking in the woods. She follows him without telling anyone and forgets that’s she’s in the middle of a game with people and animals looking for her. Despite her always bragging on her observance and stealth skills, Gabriel knows he’s being trailed. They end up in a cave and Kira stands on the edge of a waterfall. An earthquake hits and Gabriel grabs Kira’s arm to prevent her from tumbling down the waterfall. Once again, this unstable girl was doing something stupid and had to have someone save her from committing suicide. The earthquake caused a rock slide that blocked off their exit so they find an alternative way out and are gone for hours. Free, Jude, and Cady are frantic that Kira vanished into thin air. It’s not like there’s a missing child somewhere in the woods. Free is mad at Kira for not including her on her disappearing act to trail Gabriel. Cady orders the four of them to lay low and keep out of the woods and they ignore her. They battle a mountain lion, find dead bodies, and Kira has more flashbacks and becomes even more unhinged. She is enraged that Cady and Jude withheld information about her past from her. They withheld it because Kira is unstable. Kira claims she doesn’t need protection and can take care of herself and is her own savior. Sure. As if people and animals haven’t been her personal bodyguards from page one. Kira affirms she would have handled the truth without difficulties, but her delusional self seems to forget her harrowing flashbacks that leave her trembling, gasping for breath, and seething in fear.

The end was impossible since this tiny, old character managed to carry another tall and fit character through the woods for many miles. Not sure how they managed to do this. Despite the summary mentioning the missing girl, that was a minor detail with the family secrets and drama taking up most of the lack of plot. Everything was predictable and all characters were carbon copies from Lucifer or other cliché characters in many teen stories.

Despite me not agreeing with how this was written and pointing out all the inaccuracies and common sense, thank you for giving me the chance to read this, NetGalley.

This had the outdoorsy spirit, the ruggedness and respect for nature of a book like Kate Alice Marshall's I Am Still Alive but with a more robust story attached. A really intriguing YA contemporary with solidly realized characterization; the well-rounded characters and engaging relationships really drove this narrative, and did it beautifully. I thought it was an interesting choice to have Kira's backstory more roughly sketched and hinted at than spelled out, and I might have toned down the excessive villainy of the sheriff, but I appreciated the light touch of the romance and the right amount of information provided about K9 partners and search and rescue operations without overwhelming.

This book was a fun read; it was suspenseful and hard to put down! The main characters were all very well written and relatable, and I found myself wanting to learn more about Kira and her background. If the author were to write a sequel using the same set of main characters, I would definitely read it. I loved how even the search and rescue dogs had their own personalities. I took one star off because I was not a fan of how the plot played out in the end. It was a let down and seemed to come out of nowhere.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of The Lovely and the Lost. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Great book! Like nothing I've ever read before. I was blown away by the depth of characters and their well described behaviors. (I especially loved the never-ending optimism of Jude! He made me laugh.) I almost feel like there were enough stray ends to flesh out a sequel. (Maybe a prequel? Answering what happened to a couple of mysterious background characters...I would love to read more!) Though I had not read anything from this author previously, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and will gladly read this author again!

Thank you to NetGalley and Jennifer Lynn Barnes for the ARC!

Jennifer Lynn Barnes is exceptional at writing books with mystery and dark secrets, and this book did not disappoint! There were a few times where I felt like maybe there were too many storylines and backgrounds and lots of frayed edges that needed to be tied together, and I think that could get very heavy and daunting for some people. There is also a lot of serious emotional baggage being carried around by some of these characters, which can be tough to read. Overall, this was a solid story and I really enjoyed it!

Kira was adopted by Cady, the woman who trains Search and Rescue dogs, and the person who found her lost in the wild. When Cady's estranged father shows up demanding that Cady join the search for another missing girl, Kira, her brother Jude and their best friend Free are eager to find the girl and answers.

Why I started this book: I love Barnes style and characters, and I was eager to read another.

Why I finished it: Search and rescue has a very dramatic time crunch, and I did my part to help them find the girl by reading this book in two big gulps. I hope that this is a series... while the ending was solid, I just want to spend more time with these characters.

Kira has a tenuous existence with Cady and Jude, her foster mother and brother. The family trains service dogs, as does Kira's friend, Free, and Kira finds it easier to deal with the dogs than with other people. Kira was lost in the woods when she was very young, and Cady is the one who found her and took her in. When Cady's father, Bales, shows up asking for help with a lost girl, Cady reluctantly takes her family to join the search. Being in the woods, looking for the lost girl causes Kira some anxiety. She has flashbacks to her own experience and confronts some hard issues that have never before surfaced. She meets Gabriel, whose stepfather is the sheriff, but who is in the care of another searcher because the sheriff is abusive. Gabriel's brother was a woods survivalist, but has been missing for several years. The lost girl's trail keeps getting picked up, even though she falls into rivers and ends up in cave's. When Kira and her team find some clues in a hard-to-reach location, they become a bit suspect, and when Kira finally locates the girl, there are even further problems. Bales has his own reasons for wanting Cady to join the search, Kira finds out more information about her past before she was lost in the woods, and the saga of the missing girl is fraught with twists, turns, and drama from the past.
Strengths: This had a lot of good surprises, and I don't want to ruin them. I thought that Kira's story was dealt with realistically, and the search for the missing girl has lots of good details about using the dogs, following the trail, and tracking through the woods. The characters are all multifaceted and interesting, with enough bad choices to be intriguing. Barnes does a good job of writing books that have a high school level of character development and plot complexity with a middle school level of action and appropriateness. Very well done.
Weaknesses: A sad dog moment is included, but it's nicely done. I am not a fan of the cover or the title, though-- they really give us no clues as to what the book is about.
What I really think: I love Barnes' work, so will definitely purchase, but this will take a lot of hand selling because of the cover.