This book feels so personal and is an incredible examination of grieving at a young age. I haven't seen many books that deal with the topic of friendship loss. And it was heart wrenching in all the right ways.

This was a high 3 star read! I thought the first half was stronger than the second - the ending felt a bit rushed, and I wasn't a huge fan of the relationship between the main character and her dead best friend's boyfriend. I also felt like I really had to suspend my disbelief for the AI/tech aspect of the story, and I wish it had been just a bit more believable. I would still definitely recommend this book though!

I was really anticipating this book because I absolutely loved Dante’s debut novel “The Truth Project.” For me this was a disappointing follow-up. While this was an incredibly realistic depiction of grief and the different ways people react to it, I don’t know that the “mystery” aspect was needed. The writing of course was beautiful and poetic and made you feel each characters grief, confusion, and then their coming to terms with the truth. I also feel like the chat-bot part of the story was almost like a red herring. It didn’t really add much to the story that couldn’t have been just uncovered with some sleuthing of her looking into the devices that she
stole from friends. Overall it’s a poignant story about friendship, grief, and love…just not the mystery/thriller
that it’s being listed as.

This was a great mystery. Bailey and Vanessa are as close as any two friends can be until Vanessa tragically dies in a car accident. When Vanessa left Bailey's house that night, she said she was on her way home. But the car accident occurred on cliffs that were not on the way to her house. As she tries to navigate her grief, Bailey can't stop wondering what Vanessa was doing that night. So she creates a chat bot that allows her to simulate chatting with Vanessa, using first her communications with Vanessa to populate the bot and then communications Vanessa had with others that Bailey is able to access, often by dubious means. Through her chats with the bot, Bailey begins to suspect Vanessa was hiding something from her that explains what happened the night she got in the accident -- and she can't step investigating until she figures out Vanessa's secret.

I enjoyed this novel. It is both a great mystery and an interesting examination of navigating the various pressures that come at this stage of life. Highly recommended!

2.5 stars rounded up

When Bailey's best friend, Vanessa, dies in a car accident, the circumstances surrounding her death just don't make sense to Bailey. In an attempt to find a cure for her intense grief, Bailey creates a chat bot of Vanessa using their years worth of messages. At times it feels like she really is talking to Vanessa. But then, the AI bot begins to hint that there were secrets Vanessa was keeping from Bailey; secrets that may have contributed to her death.

From glancing at the reviews, it looks like I'm in the minority for feeling underwhelmed by this. I did not dislike this, per se, but rather thought it was just okay. Keeping it vague, the premise of this intrigued me so much, and I was really looking forward to seeing it play out, particularly the AI aspect.

I was very interested in the mystery of the story, so I was pretty bummed that the answers turned out to be so simplistic and anticlimactic. In the same vein, the AI chat bot played less of a significant role than I expected, specifically in the unraveling of the plot's mystery.

I don't know, maybe this is a me issue because I think I expected something different from this. I think this is better suited for those who like realistic or contemporary fiction, which is not what I typically gravitate towards. It is a good representation of loss and grief for the target age group as well!

TLDR; expected a mystery/thriller, got a contemporary

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As a mystery, this worked, but the sci-fi that the author tried to weave in just fell pretty short. The twist wasn't so twisty, and the solutions to the circumstances behind Vanessa's death ended up a bit simplistic. Then again, it could be that I found this book at the wrong time in my life and can't appreciate it right now.

Some readers will adore it, but I don't think I'm one of them. I walked away more "meh" than anything.

This book is an emotional rollercoaster. How far would you go to find your best friend?
If she couldn’t be found, would you let AI replace her?

I got this eARC from NetGalley and these opinions are my own. I really enjoyed this book! Bailey’s. best friend died in a car accident and she’s struggling to move on… it’s not helped by the fact that she was on a road that she had no reason to be on. With some technology her mom created she finds away to talk to her best friend again and maybe she can figure out what happened. But what if her friend had secrets? I was intrigued and thrilled throughout this story and couldn’t put it down! Dante Medema told this story in a way that was entirely unique and I loved Bailey, though my heart broke for her! I love that the author discussed something as deep as death and for me focused a lot on the concept of moving on and what that looks like! I like that it was acknowledged that it can take time and that the process is different for everyone! Then there’s the stuff about how people aren’t always who we think they are and the heartbreak and confusion surrounding that! I am very excited to read this again when it comes out and highly recommended it!

I would recommend this one to fans of You've Reached Sam. This is an equally heartwrenching exploration of grief that would appeal to teens.

Her world knocked off its axis by the death of her best friend, Bailey embarked on a search for the truth of what happened to Vanessa.

Message Not Found was a fantastic exploration of grief and loss, love and friendship. It was touching and painful, and even a bit shocking at times. Bailey’s emotions ran high as she tried to process Vanessa’s death while also searching for answers as to where Vanessa was going that night and why. It was incredible the way Medema seamlessly wove all the different story elements together and produced something that was equal parts touching, heartbreaking, and thought provoking.

How far would you go to learn the truth? Bailey crossed some serious lines as she “fed” her bot. I felt like her actions were wrong, but I found myself forgiving her, understanding that she was driven by grief and guilt.

Vanessa’s death didn’t only cause Bailey to spiral into her sadness, it also set her on a path of self-discovery. At one point in the story, Bailey referred to Vanessa as the sun around which she orbited. Though she loved Vanessa as a sister, she had unknowingly limited her world. Without Vanessa to lean on, Bailey was forced to branch out. She built new friendships, nurtured new interests, and examined her future more closely.

I experienced a whirlwind of emotions as I accompanied Bailey on her healing journey. There were quite a few painful discoveries and some heartbreak too, but there was also happiness and glee. The story had so many layers, and I loved working my way through them. At its heart, this was a tale of loss, while also being an examination of friendship. Engrossing and emotional.

This was wonderful. A very realistic portrayal of grief that is almost read like poetry in some parts. A quick read, but a meaningful one- characters were wonderfully well-developed and realistic, and unlike a lot of YA these days, the situations were realistic and engaging. The big mystery in the book was done beautifully, and major, major props to Medema for having a fully fleshed out ending instead of copping out with a 'the end'. Great for teen readers and has crossover appeal for an adult audience as well.

3 stars

This is a solid YA novel focusing on grief and processing, and I expect that readers who are having (or perhaps recently have had) similar experiences will find this a helpful read.

Bailey, the m.c., lives in Alaska, is a high school senior, and has a best friend, Vanessa, who dies in a shocking and tragic incident right at the start of the book. Throughout the rest of the book, Bailey attempts to address a series of unanswered questions and find a way to come to terms with this incredible loss. A particularly interesting aspect of this novel is how Bailey uses technology to cope. There are also many changing relationships with romantic and platonic options. With her best friend gone, Bailey's life has opened up for many more people to enter it (or at least to do so) in new ways.

I did have some challenges while reading, the most obvious of which is the pacing. For me, this was very slow. Processing grief takes a long time but having recently (by total happenstance) read several other books centering on this subject, it doesn't have to dominate the entire novel. I'd have loved to see more character and relationship growth and less rehashing. The small but irritating factor of Bailey's moms' names - Jacky-mom and Kat-mom - was too much for me. I've yet to encounter a naming convention like this in life or in a novel, and it made me feel like there was an insinuation that Bailey's parents were somehow not REAL parents: did not enjoy this. While the tech piece had promise, I found myself getting bored by that feature somewhat quickly and then very frustrated by the communication that occurs at the end of the novel. The end was just too easily resolved, even keeping the genre in mind.

While this one didn't work as well for me as I hoped it would, I do think there's a certain kind of reader who will get a lot out of this. Teens with mirrored experiences might benefit from the read. I'll be back for more from this author.

I can't imagine losing my best friend in high school and was prepared to cry my eyes out even reading about it in this book. But it's so much more than that, as Bailey can't just let it go and ends up finding a way to look into what happened the night Vanessa died.

Extraordinary and unique, Medema writes such an emotional book that depicts how grief can be dealt with in a variety of ways, and how every moment in our lives adds up to the bigger picture. So many of the scenes written in this book were memorable to me, but what I appreciated most as a reader were the LITTLE moments - there's a scene where she uses John Mayer lyrics to relay the feeling of being comfortable, another about the beauty of an action by a character means something else; how big actions may help us hide how we really feel.

"... being devastated that his future was already written and I was just a bookmark between the pages I wanted so desperately to be written in."

I don't want to ruin or spoil anything at all, because this is a book that needs to be FELT. I knew when I was given a copy to read that it would have me all in the feels and break my heart all at once but knew the author would put it back together again, leaving a lasting impact on me well past the pages.

"Meeting" Dante and getting to know her as a friend and not just an author whose work I adore, I am SO thankful for bookstagram (& Clubhouse!) for giving me the opportunities I have been given to connect, and I am SO honored that I was given an ARC to read and review of this book. Being a part of her street team, and cheering this book on is so special to me and I hope I encourage ALL of you to give it a chance!

THANK YOU Dante + Harper Collins Children's Book / Quill Tree Books for the eARC!

Bailey and Vanessa are best friends and are looking forward to senior year together. They tell each other everything and almost feel like sisters. One night, while sleeping over Bailey's, Vanessa leaves early to meet up with her boyfriend at her house. Hours later, Vanessa dies in a car accident in the opposite direction of her house.

Bailey is devastated and doesn't know how to deal with her grief. There's her ex boyfriend Cade who is suddenly being nice to her and Vanessa's boyfriend Mason who, like Bailey, is trying to move on. One night, after talking to her mom, Bailey discovers a prototype of a machine learning AI chatbot. Through this, she uploads as much info about Vanessa that she has, hoping that it will feel like talking to her best friend again. The more she talks to the chatbot though, the more she is mad at how incomplete it is and how it can't give her answers as to why Vanessa died. Bailey then begins to spiral, doing whatever it takes to find information to help her uncover the secrets her best friend hid from her.

This was a great portrait of grief. Through Bailey and other characters, it shows how each person processes grief in their own way, and how hard it really is to truly know a person. The writing is very poetic and had a lot of good memorable lines about loss, grief, love, and moving on. The short chapters, texts and emails made for a quick reading experience. My major hang up with this book is the use of pop culture references that I feel will date the book. Other than that, I really like Bailey as a character and all the world the author created for her. I will definitely recommend this for older teens.

I absolutely love this book. It's my first book by Dante Medema and now I need to pick up her debut novel The Truth Project. This handles grief, intense friendships, betrayal, and loss so well and realistically. I loved the mixed media with the text conversations and Google searches along with the beautiful prose. The mystery of why Vanessa was driving on that pass held my interest until the very end but it was Bailey's journey that really tugged at the heart strings and kept me reading. A standout book that I would recommend to everyone, not just teens.

MESSAGE NOT FOUND is a all-too-real study in how grief can twist our remembrance of lost ones, and the lengths we could go to regain them. It was a decent enough read - a bit too CW for my taste.

This book destroyed my heart. It was so good I tore through it. The mystery aspect kept the pages turning and the emotional upheaval broke me. I highly recommend this completely engaging story of a young woman dealing with her grief in an almost obsessive kind of way to solve the mystery of her best friends tragic death.

I haven't read a lot of books that deal with grief, because it tends to be a very sensitive topic for me, having lost friends and family in recent years. But I was blown away by how Medema wrote grieving, it felt honest and true to how I grieved the loss of a friend.

My only real issue was the pacing, it felt a bit slow and I never felt the desire to pick up the book when I wasn't reading. I think at least 50 pages could've been cut out.

I think everyone who reads this will feel different about the ending, I think some will love it and others will hate it. I find myself in the middle, I think the ending was surprising, but also felt like an anti-climax, it left a lot to desire but was yet somewhat satisfying.

Overall a good book. I cried but more because of my personal experiences than the emotions of the book itself, I think if this interests someone they should absolutely read it.

Wow. A stunning take on grief, losing a friend, girlfriend, secret lover, daughter. Vanessa was truly the center of this plot/singular character combo. While Bailey, her “comedic relief best friend” (her words!), has grown through her grief, Vanessa is the focus of this novel. The way the author gives the reader snippets of her personality, and how each time we find a new piece to the puzzle the image has changed. This is more than a story about death and grieving, I saw this as a story busting up the single story narrative. Can one person every truly, wholly know another person?

This ARC was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review, thanks publisher!!

Bailey and Vanessa were the closest of friends, they considered themselves sisters. Bailey the STEM student who will take after her mom in the coding industry, and Vanessa, bookish girl who dreamed of writing her own book one day. Until Vanessa's car gets into a terrible accident and she dies. But she was not where she was supposed to be. Now Bailey, dealing with her grief, codes a program to talk and text to her like Vanessa would have in the hopes of figuring out what she was doing on that road when she should have been heading home. An incredible book about grief, loss, love, and moving on.

I absolutely loved this book! I did call the twist at the end, and it made me hate those particular characters for about 5 minutes, but this book was just so beautiful. Bailey was a wonderful character who I just adored, along with Mason. I loved how the author described grief and longing, loneliness and love. I especially loved the ending when Bailey is finally coming to terms with things and she is able to move on a little. One of my favorite reads of this year.