This book was a very entertaining thriller on the surface, but brought so much more with it in terms of social issues, LGBTphobia, surviving, and so much more. This was a good but not perfect read, and a lot of it felt a little forced, which I excused a bit for this being a debut. Even though some things were not entirely credible to me & I ended up guessing the murderer pretty early on, I still kept turning pages and wanted to know how things would end. This was a very good read!

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

Caroline is only three months away from freedom, from leaving her prep school with its stern rules and away from her parents, who don't accept her sexuality. So she has to keep her head down, but everything is turn upside down when her best friend, Madison, disappears. Not able to trust the police, Caroline decides to conduct her own investigation, trying to understand what happened to Madison and discovering uncomfortable secrets. The investigation becomes even more complicated by her teacher, Mr McCormack and by the knowledge that other girls are missing. Girls from other social classes, whose disappearance didn't attract the same attention Madison's did.

Throwaway girls is a captivating and intense thriller, full of twists and intriguing plot, with interesting characters, able to capture the reader's attention and involving him/her/them in the story, until the very end. I really liked reading the book, the story was absolutely thrilling and I enjoyed the investigation, I was involved.

thanks for the ARC. this book surprised me, poetic, heart breaking , gritty and so real. a heroine we care about and many thruths mixed in the mystery. I believe this is her first novel, will be on the lookout for others

I have been raving to friends and strangers alike ever since I read this stunning debut. By the end of the first page, I knew I would read anything Andrea Contos wrote for the rest of time. The prose was so gorgeous, the narrator's words both haunting and captivating. This book is a super fast page-turner with nuanced, complex characters that keeps you guessing until the very end.

I've already pre-ordered two copies, one for myself and one to give as a gift, though I suspect I'll be doing that more than once!

Throwaway Girls is a must-read!

He grabs my wrist, tracing over the scar on my left hand with a wide fingertip. “What are these from?”
“Fire.”
His eyes flare wide. “They set you on fire?”
“No. I set the building on fire.”

Okay, so this was surprisingly good!
I was really tired of the best-friend disappearing trope, but Throwaway Girls makes it work. The main reason is that Madison’s disappearance isn’t due to some dark secret that Caroline has been hiding. Yes, Caroline has secrets, but Madison has much bigger ones, ones that got her in trouble. So this is a proper mystery. Yes, there are flashbacks, and a couple things that the author hides from us until the end, but this is a proper whodunnit.
I found the mystery to be very, very gripping. The pacing of this book was great. It never felt boring, and it never felt too fast. The clues wind around enough to keep you guessing, but enough to make you lose hope. However, the villain’s motivations are not well fleshed out, but it felt awfully realistic so it wasn’t a huge problem.
There is a lot of discussion about class in this book. Caroline goes to an uber-fancy prep school, where around 85% of the kids live on campus. The world outside campus, however, is not nearly as well-off. And this is where the problem starts. Caroline sets herself up as an ally, someone who has been immersing herself in the less savory parts of the nearby towns. However, she often comes off as preachy when she dips into this topic. The fact that she finds the perp who has been snatching girls from the “wrong side of town” stinks of a savior narrative. Still, the fact that the book repeatedly acknowledges this, and shows that Caroline doesn’t know it all, makes it a lot more digestible.
Caroline’s sexuality also makes up a large plot point in this book, with the “conversion” mentioned in the blurb being an obvious source of a lot of trauma and mental anguish. My only bone to pick was how late we find out that Caroline is bi (as opposed to lesbian). Would not be a big deal at all if she didn’t most of the book being sidekicked by a guy (who knows that she’s bi). Super minor, but it obviously flipped a switch in the way that I looked at him.
The way that time flows in this book is a little weird. I could not, for the life of me, keep track of how many days and nights passed. At a couple points in the book, a reminder is dropped in (ex: it’s been four days since Madison disappeared), but it was a little confusing overall. Along the same lines, the physical movements of the characters also seemed a little clunky. Like if a character is sitting behind you and then suddenly they’re … on top of you? It was a little difficult to follow at times, but it didn’t get in the way of the story.
Overall though, this book has a very solid plot. Though there were a couple small hitches in the details, the story is very gripping and keeps you on your toes the whole way through.

This was a good, well-written YA thriller. As someone who loved Karen McManus’s books and reads regular mystery/thrillers, I was able to foresee some of the book unfold. i appreciates the diversity of the book and would definitely recommend giving it some attention. Happy reading!

Throwaway Girls is fast paced Young Adult thriller that follows Caroline, a high school senior, as she tries to solve the disappearance of her best friend Madison. If you enjoy mysteries, I would recommend checking out Throwaway Girls.

Only three more months until graduation, what could go wrong? Apparently everything!

This devastating mystery takes a hard look at social status among teens, growing up, and relationships both romantic and platonic that left me both heartbroken and intrigued. A refreshing take on “high school drama” with relatable elements of anxiety, trust issues, and social hierarchies.

I really enjoyed the representation in this book of both mental health and sexual orientation. Caroline, is a very relatable heroine for these reasons and made it easy to emotionally connect with her as a character.

Overall I would rate this book a 4. As much as I liked it, I had a hard time getting into it at the beginning and was confused at the ever changing POVs throughout.

This is a great YA thriller, perfect for fans of Kara Thomas or Karen M. McManus. For seasoned thriller and mystery readers, certain parts may be a bit predictable, but overall I found it very enjoyable. I also loved the inclusion of LGBT elements in the story.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Caroline Lawson cannot wait to graduate and escape her strict prep school and the parents who won’t accept her for who she is. Once the star pupil, Caroline is weighed down by her secrets and completely heartbroken over her girlfriend moving to California and is at risk of being kicked out of school.

When her best friend Madison disappears, Caroline, driven by guilt over their dwindling friendship, and a mistrust of the police, feels she owes it to her to investigate. The investigation reveals how little Caroline knew about what Madison was up to. Madison’s secrets are so much bigger than the ones Caroline has been keeping. And why does their teacher, Mr McCormack know so much about the personal lives of his students?

And then Caroline discovers other missing girls. Girls from the wrong side of the tracks. Girls who have received very little attention. She is determined to uncover the truth about what happened to the girls, why no one has noticed, and why the police don’t seem to care. As Caroline begins to connect the dots between these girls and Madison, one unsettling fact stands out: the only thing connecting them all is Caroline herself.


This debut YA thriller by Andrea Contos, is the story for every missing person who doesn’t get media attention because they aren’t the right type of victim. An important story that reminds us that people from all walks of life go missing, and not all of them get publicity.

At first I struggled to immerse myself in this fictional world. The narration felt disjointed and it was like I had been thrown into the middle of something and had to figure out what was going on. And here were times that Caroline didn’t feel fully believable as a teenager, and other times she was such a teenager – so chaotic and dramatic and stubborn. As the book picked up, it was fast-paced, intriguing, and I found myself thinking about it even when I wasn’t reading it. And the pieces all began coming together. I also felt Caroline’s heartbreak over Willa, and her mistrust of her parents and the police. And the story behind that was really heartbreaking. I found the characters compelling and I genuinely found myself caring what happened to them; worrying what would happen to them with each twist and turn. And while I figured out the ending – I almost always do – it was a huge satisfaction to know that I was right all along. And I think there is enough mystery to keep a lot of readers guessing up until the very end.

At the word level, it was really well-written – beautifully put together despite its early disjointedness. I had to suspend my disbelief at times, but overall it was a great story. I couldn’t get it out of my head for a long time, so it certainly made an impact.

You can pre-order the book on Andrea’s website or through Kids Can Press.

A good book for young adults and adults who want a nice easy but enjoyable read. I really liked the main character and the 🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQ+ Slant which raised issues that were thought provoking. Will be looking for more by this talented author.

This is great debut YA thriller. It has a great plot and is an interesting mystery. I love that there are LGBT characters included. Overall, it does have it's issues but for a debut it's written quite well.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this E-book to review via Netgalley.

I was very impressed with this book. The characters were well developed, and worked well with the story.

Starting right away, I was sucked in from the beginning and it was that way until the very end of the book. There were times it felt like I was right there in the story because the scenes were so real.

I was constantly surprised by each turn of the page on what happened next.

The beginning of this novel was extremely confusing. I'm not sure if it was the way the formatting was set up or what, but it took me a while to realize that the numbered chapters and the ones with headings weren't both in the same POV. It didn't help that they were both in the first person POV. I think it would've helped to make one of them, probably the sections with headings, in the third person POV.

It took me a long time to become fully interested in the story, about 40% in, and I never truly connected with the characters. There were also a lot of grammatical errors that kept grabbing my attention and pulling me from the story. At one point Aubrey's name was changed to Audrey.

The book improved significantly in the second half, but that first half was so much of a struggle that I think it ruined the overall enjoyment for me. I would strongly suggest working on the formatting if that hasn't already been done, in addition to thoroughly editing for grammatical errors.

3 stars

When the novel begins, Caroline, the m.c., is surrounded by more than average difficulty: a classmate is missing, her girlfriend has left her, an investigation is brewing, her parents are homophobic idiots...who sent her to conversion therapy, and she has some interesting secrets (like hanging regularly at a local dive bar). So, when she begins to appear more involved than she should in the recovery of the missing classmate, it is - to some degree - par for the course.

While the writing is smooth and the plot flows reasonably well overall, there are a few disconnects that impacted the reading experience for me. The prep school space seems important at first, but then it disappears altogether. The mountain man character goes through a dramatic role change that felt unbelievable to say the least. Some of Caroline's secrets (to stay spoiler-free, a connection to Mabel) were also convenient. There are aspects of the Chrystal and Landon story lines that needed further development. While the conversion therapy inclusion could have been a really powerful backdrop, it also wasn't fully explored and felt more like a shocking addition than a rounded conversation about who the m.c. is and how that experience impacted her still. This is not a comprehensive list.

I did enjoy the overarching concept and some of the character development, but overall, I felt like I was reading an earlier draft of this novel and wanted to see more thorough, thoughtful, and complete evolution of the points listed, among others.

the good: queer characters, interesting setup
the bad: the ending felt unearned and a bit tacky
the ugly: please indicate POV switches more clearly in future editions !!!

I had high hopes from this book tbh. The premise was intriguing and the writing was so beautiful. It had ample amount of mystery and suspense. But alas, it did not leave up to my expectations.

I wanted to love this so much. I really did. I liked the narration and the MC's voice from the beginning. But slowly, she started to turn into one of those girls who believed they could solve everything. It shouldn't have been a big problem, though, because I've read thrillers like this A LOT. And although the author tried to make sense of why and how our MC was able to stay out of home so much while investigating a missing person case, it wasn't enough.

Caroline is a strong character, no doubt. And it reminded me of Sadie on various grounds - her determination, her love, her struggle and the way the story was told. The writing has to be the strongest part of this book, no doubt. It was fresh and strong and flowed so well. It complimented the story really well. The mystery was on point, the author knew how to keep us readers hooked and turning the pages. I liked that, really did.

What my biggest problem is was the end. The last few chapters when truth comes up to the surface were kind of rushed and I won't say that I haven't had my doubts on that certain person. It made sense and it didn't 🙅🤷 I was honestly hoping for something more concrete, you know. A reason more in depth and harrowing.

At one point, I was so annoyed with Caroline tbh. She was so hell-bound on solving the mystery on her own, all rational thinking just left her mind. Which is like partially understandable. I understand her want to find her best friend but she just ignored all the red signs and went in anyway. <Spoiler> And bought a damn house from her own father, like come on, did he never check up? Do these parents don't ever check up on their kids when they're missing for days and days? 🥺</Spoiler>

Ahh, the only great thing, apart from the writing, was Willa and Livie's relationship. I really adored those parts, the yearning and falling in love. The heartbreaks and everything. It was so well described, so well portrayed.

Apart from this, this book was another classic case of a 17 y/o trying to solve a missing person mystery on her own just because she can and because the police isn't looking enough. At least, in this it somehow made sense as to why the police might not have been looking enough.

What a wild ride! I really enjoyed this YA thriller, especially the way it alternates between Caroline’s perspective and that of a mystery narrator. I found Caroline to be a believably complex main character who tugged at my heart strings. I also found the social commentary woven throughout extremely poignant. The tone and pacing were incredible, and I couldn’t wait to find out the truth behind the disappearance of Caroline’s friend, Madison. I highly recommend this book!

This book had kind of a slow start and took me some time to get into. That being said, I absolutely loved it. The atmosphere is so strong and the writing feels almost cinematic. I'm usually skeptical of books with wealthy protagonists but this novel twisted all of my expectations in the best way possible. I was on the edge of my seat blasting through the last half, spending most of it on the verge of tears. Cannot recommend enough.

I definitely enjoyed this book a lot! A thriller set at the end of a teenage girl's senior year of high school, I was absolutely enraptured with the story the whole way through. I couldn't wait to find out more about the missing girls and what truly was happening to them. I also enjoyed the fact that this book pointed out how many people go missing each year with no resources being put into finding them, a fact that I believe we need to address more in our society.

This being said, I did find the book hard to follow at times. The book often introduced characters or switched scenes with no prior information or context, which made the book hard to follow at times. This was disappointing as it was harder to understand the mystery that was occurring, overall hindering my enjoyment of the book.

However, I enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a gritty sapphic thriller!

Thank you to Netgalley and KCP Loft for my free review copy of this book!