This first novel by Amy Green should in no way be her last. I received an ARC of this psychological novel from Netgalley and Publisher Penguin group. The comments and review are my honest opinion. This is a book about an older stepsister, Virginia, that has never found her way in life and the rape and murder of her younger sister, Jenny, a thirteen year old beauty, the pageant winner, the perfect daughter until she wasn’t.
There is no champion or winner in this book, except perhaps the destructive relationships that led to murder. I hope the author’s next book lives up to this excellent debut.

The Prized Girl by Amy Green is a 2020 must read. I had plans to read for an hour or so, and didn't put this book down until it was done. If you are a fan of tension, well developed characters, and having no idea what comes next; this is the book for you!

Just wasn’t for me. I was disappointed in the ending. Wanted more for the lead character.
I did find the dual storyline interesting and there were a lot of nicely written twists and turns.

Not for me. I’ve had this on my kindle for several months and I’ve started and abandoned it 5 or 6 times.

I love this genre, and I’m always excited to read debut authors. I enjoyed the various twists and turns, as well as the dual POV (alternating from the weeks prior to the murder, as told by Jenny – the victim, to current day by her sister Virginia). That format helps the reader have a full picture, allowing them to figure out the killer along with the characters. The pacing was a bit slower than I prefer in this type of book, and the dialogue occasionally felt stilted. The ending of this dark tale paves the way for a possible sequel.

This book was a hard one for me to read, a lot of really terrible things happen to the two sisters who share chapters. A lot of the story wasn’t for me, only because of how upsetting it was, not because the author didn’t do well writing about it. I always love a book about sisters!

My thoughts are back and forth, but overall I think there are a lot of honest emotions that both sisters feel in this book and it isn’t all smoothed over, they’re both allowed to feel that without the book trying to explain why. I liked that part!

Thank you so much for a copy of this book!

The Prized Girl is a strong psychological thriller with an addictive mystery throughout. Green's writing is addictive and fast-paced. Filled with twists and turns, the suspense will have readers on the edge of their seats. Highly recommended to readers looking for the next hit mystery/thriller. Be sure to check out The Prized Girl today.

My Review:
Debut author Amy K Green has a winner in The Prized Girl.

The story is a psychological suspense novel about: a 14 year old pageant queen found murdered in a small New England town, and her sister's search for answers.. There is enough twists and turns to keep you at the edge of your seat until the very end.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. It is definitely an intense mystery, but one you must read. Highly recommend this novel for anyone that enjoys a great psychological thriller.

The Prized Girl
by
Amy K. Green
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Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this ARC ebook.
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This story is told in a back and forth story line between Virginia now; and Jenny before her untimely demise.
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Jenny was a beautiful 14 year old girl. Her mother started her in beauty pageants at a young age and she was always top of the pack. Through her pageant career she came across Benjy, whom I believe was a bit touched. He was her biggest fan, until one day she gave him a note saying she was done with the pageant world. This is when Jenny's life started to take a nose dive. Her mother lost get grip on reality and her daughter.
One day Jenny is found brutally murdered and raped. The only suspect any one cares to point the finger at is Benjy. That is until Jenny's 1/2 sister, Virginia, starts to stick her nose in the case. You see Virginia has her own set of problems. She's a drunk who also likes to mix her drinking with a couple ambien to really forget her troubles. Virginia has her own set of demons she tries to keep at bay during her investigation... you see when she was Jenny's age, 14 years old at the same high school she started sleeping and having a relationship with her math teacher Mark Renkin.
As the story unraveled my mind was seriously doing a ping-pong when I thought I finally figured out who killed Jenny. Seriously at one point my mind was spinning with WTF could it be.
Amy Green did a great job keeping my on my toes; as once again the murdered in this was not anticipated in the slightest.

4-5 stars, overall. This book was amazing in some spots, while not my favorite in other parts, but overall I felt it was a good, suspenseful read. This is the authors first book, which with that in mind really made me want to give the full 5 stars, because I think it was pretty chilling, thrilling, and well written. There was some lacking in character development and the ending was not my favorite, but overall, well written and a quick suspenseful read.
Will make sure I buzz it up!

The Prized Girl definitely lived up to my expectations! I remember seeing the cover and reading the description months ago and knew right away I had to read it.

Jenny, teenager and ex-beauty queen, is found murdered in the woods. The cops have a prime suspect and think the case is easily solved. Jenny’s older sisters, Virginia, has other ideas.

As Virginia begins to look more into Jenny’s life and murder, she uncovers much more about the people in her town.

I loved the format of this book! It alternated between Jenny in the time leading up to her death, and Virginia investigating after.

I also enjoyed how The Prized Girl kept me guessing. I wasn’t able to figure out the murderer before it was revealed and I definitely didn’t see the ending coming.

The ending was my only hang up and the reason I’m giving this book 4.5 stars instead of 5. I do think the last bit was setup for a possible sequel so I look forward to hearing it that happens!

I enjoyed this book but found it to be a little to slow paced for my liking. I'm glad I finished it but you can't always expect a great ending to make up for a not so great book.

Wow. So that happened...

This was one of the strangest books I've read in a while, full of intensely unlikable characters, nearly every one of which is villainous at some point (if not many points). It's dark and rambling and meanders - but it works, and I was hooked from the opening pages and read the whole thing in a day (in fact, in practically one sitting).

Green has written an overlapping, complex nightmare of broken people in destructive relationships. It's depressing as hell if you think too closely about it all - but it's a great read. The pacing is uneven. Everyone is unreliable and self-interested. The secrets are thicker than pageant girl's makeup. It's a gloriously dark tale, well written and well, if obliquely, crafted. And Amy K Green is now firmly ensconced on my to be watched list...

This novel pulls at the heart strings a bit. A teenage girl found dead in a field, raped and murdered. As a former pageant girl turned rebel, there are no short list of suspects, but the police have focused on just ONE. The only problem with that is, her sister doesn't believe the guy is guilty and starts her own investigation into her sisters murder.

The novel starts off and we know right away: Jenny is dead. Virginia is Jenny's older half sister, but they are not close. Apart from Sunday dinner at her parents house, Virginia avoids her family like the plague. She's unemployed, gets blackout drunk on Saturday nights and spends most of her day hoping to get back to bed. Overall, she is not the most likable character and since this book is told in two view points (Jenny's and Virginia's) that brings the novel down a bit.

As we start reading Jenny's point of view we discover she has quit pageants prior to the events in this book taking place. Her life at home isn't great, her mother drinks too much and her dad is gone 5 days out of the week for work. She doesn't really relate to her friends anymore and isn't looking forward to the same extra curricular activities she used to, like cheer leading. Jenny's is a much more likable character than Virginia in terms of reading her point of view and I enjoyed those parts more.

Overall the story was eye opening but I don't want to spoil any of the "twists." Admittedly, I did not have the right suspect but looking back I should have figured it out as it didn't come out of nowhere. I was disappointed in the ending though.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The story was told alternating chapters between 2 sisters, whose relationship was not close at all. This book is full of suspense and surprises.. I thought that I had things figured out, But I was very wrong. I would recommend this book to anyone and I hope to be able to read more from this author

This is the author's debut and I am anxiously awaiting her next release. That is how excited I was about her writing and her ability to tell a suspenseful tale. It was fast moving, which is one of my favorite kind of books, and I was not able to guess the ending by a mile. This follows the story of a murdered teenage pageant queen and all the stunning revelations and secrets that led up to her murder.

The Prized Girl is a fantastic thriller that has a couple twists to keep you flipping the pages. One dead sister and a half sister trying to figure out the killer. Good writing and interesting characters.

This is a very hard read because of the subject matter but I did enjoy it nevertheless.
It’s told in two perspectives by two sisters, one is dead and one is trying to find out what happened to her dead sister. It’s hauntingly sad and a thriller that will keep you on the edge until the very very end.
Thank you very much to Netgalley and the publisher for this copy of my ARC.

As someone who loves mysteries and a good unreliable narrator, this one just didn't do it for me. While I did not mind Jenny as a character...I really found myself disliking Virginia and by the end of the novel, she really hadn't done much to win me over. The writing of this book was good, but the story just wasn't for me. I'd be interested to see what Amy K. Green does in the future, however.

So I read about 15% of this, but then the story just didn't hold my attention and I set it aside. The writing style was acceptable, but the characters just didn't hold my interest; perhaps they were too stereotyped.