While I really flew through Missing Clarissa, this one just sort of missed the mark for me a bit. I liked how we pretty much picked right up from the last book and got into a new "case" if you will. I found the mystery to not be really that truly mysterious, however, and then it just turned sad. The story was truly a very slowwww burn. I thought that the inclusion of characters we met in the first book to be fun, and appreciated the new characters, it was just a bit much to keep track of everybody at time. I also found this edition to be a bit more slow than Missing Clarissa. Truly, Brad is the underrated star for me. I love his relationship with Cam and Irene. While I did enjoy it, I just think it had much more potential and fell a bit flat for me. I do think that if there are book in this series in the future I will still read them, though.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

Student written review

Blair and Cam work on another case after promising they would never return. Mattie's older sister Lola goes missing, and when she returns, Mattie doesn't believe it's her. The Other Lola, despite being a realistic book about two best friends and their lives was underwhelming.

Blair and Cameron are back! They are one year older and one year ... wiser?

Cam is still traumatised from last years adventure. She is having nightmares that wake her up screaming, and panic attacks seem to happen out of the blue, but the humiliation of talking about her feelings is still something she is trying to figure out how to deal with. Sophie is across the country at college and Cam can't help but feel like things are changing.

Blair has realised that she wants to be in the spotlight again, that she did a good job last year and when the offer to write a book comes along, it almost feels too good to be true. But does finding her next story mean she will do whatever it takes, even if that means ignoring the human aspect?

I really enjoyed being back with our ladies. They are still the funny quirky girls we love and this year they have almost swapped roles. Blair is the one leading the charge and Cam is holding back and afraid of repeating her previous mistakes. We are introduced to a new character, Mattie, and they help the girls learn more about good stories to tell and stories that aren't ours to tell. Mattie is such a cool person who will not take no for an answer and might even manipulate people to get what they want.

I love Ripley Jones' writing style and hope I get to read more in the future!

I loved Missing Clarissa so I jumped on this. And then I didn’t like it :(

It felt like it was a continuation of Missing Clarissa and I didn’t remember all of the details or who people were. I felt like this dragged on and just didn’t have much of a payoff.

I wanted to like this one as much as I adored Missing Clarissa but it wasn’t it for me! I think I was confused for a while maybe because it’s been a year since Missing Clarissa but I also just thought the plot was a bit weird. I love clues and suspects and high school small town murders and true crime podcasts and everything so I loved Missing Clarissa but I just don’t buy someone coming back to their family and people not knowing whether it was their daughter who went missing or not.

This one was great! We're back with Cam and Blair. They are not a bit older and have a bit of PTSD after their last case. Both of them are still sorting through what happened in book 1 and how it's changed their lives.

Cam is still herself, just a bit more reserved. She is learning to look at big-picture a bit, instead of just rushing in. She's thinking through consequences and what she wants from her life. No more Podcasts for her! And Blair is looking at everyone else planning for expensive colleges trying to figure out what her next step is, since she doesn't have the money for college. Neither one of them see it coming what another girl in this small town comes to them with an accusation - my missing sister just came back. But this person who came back, she's not really my sister.

It's explosive. Cam and Blair start out with secrets and the beginning is a bit of a slow burn. It does speed up, as the mystery unfolds. Even though I guessed this one right from the start, I really liked exploring the aftermath of a true crime podcast getting a huge following and what that did to their lives. I also liked that they still had to juggle real life in between, as well as their personal relationships. Cam and Blair also had some unresolved issues and I loved seeing them grow as they sorted it all out.

All in all, this was a good mystery but, really, it was another visit with 2 characters I love, doing the thing that I loved for them the most - helping someone else sort a mystery in their life. I don't know if we'll get another one, this one felt like a bit of a goodbye, but if we do get another book, I'd absolutely be first in line to read it. I love this set of characters and this world the author has created. I highly recommend starting with Book 1 if you haven't (Missing Clarissa) and then moving right on to this one!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I just finished The Other Lola by Ripley Jones and here is my review.

When Mattie shows up asking Cam and Blair for their help… They don’t want a repeat of what happened after their podcast of Clarissa. Cam can’t believe it when Blair hears them out. Mattie explains that her sister went missing 5 years ago without a trace but then shows up out of nowhere 2 weeks ago but Mattie is certain it isn’t really her.

After meeting Lola, Blair and Cam both think Mattie is mistaken but Blair can’t help wondering where Lola was all this time and why she’s come back now. Cam wants nothing to do with this, putting the two girls at odds with each other for the first time and the list of secrets between them growing.

I loved Missing Clarissa. I was so excited to get this book and catch up with Blair and Cam. The two girls were still dealing with the fall out from their podcast about Clarissa and the PTSD that Cam is hiding from Blair.

The idea that Mattie didn’t believe Lola was her missing sister was amazing. Everyone else was convinced but Mattie wasn’t having it. The more Blair found out about Lola, the more she found a young girl who was desperately unhappy. She was on hard drugs before she went missing so Mattie not feeling connected with this sober Lola seemed logical but Blair needed to find out why Lola was missing for so long, where she was and why she had come back. I needed to know all these things too.

I loved all the characters but Cam’s mom Irene is my favorite. The plot was exactly what I needed and I loved how it all wrapped up! You really don’t need to have read the first book to read this book but it is so worth reading them both back to back. This is my kind of YA book.

5 stars! I cannot recommend this book more!! Thank you @wednesdaybooks and @netgalley for my gifted copy!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was absolutely sucked in to Ripley Jones' Missing Clarissa last year and highly recommend it. The Other Lola is a follow-up to that book, focusing again on Cam and Blair, who get involved in solving a mystery.

Sadly, I did not enjoy this book nearly as much as I enjoyed Missing Clarissa. First off, it's a slow read; it took me a week to get through this book, when normally YA books or thrillers tend to have me breezing through them. The story is slow to unfold and slow to progress; I really didn't feel like Cam and Blair were doing any investigating until halfway through the book. Second, you really need to read Missing Clarissa to get the backstory on Cam and Blair because their characters are not fully fleshed out in this volume. Third, the resolution and solution to the mystery was a bit predictable. Maybe it's because I've read a lot of mysteries, maybe because the book is geared towards a younger crowd, but you'd have to be pretty clueless to not guess how this book ends.

One shining spot in the book is Mattie, the non-binary teen who asks Cam and Blair for help. They reminded me so much of my youngest child, sure of themselves, yet trying to fly under the radar in a small town until they can get the heck out of there. I did find it a bit unrealistic that everyone who encounters Mattie uses the correct pronouns, because that has not been our child's experience, but yay for representation!

I was excited to revisit the characters from the first book. The mystery of Lola and whether or not she was who she said she was interesting. In the end I was kind of let down, the ending felt in a way similar to the first so that wasn’t fun

“𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬, 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬.”

Ripley Jones' debut novel, Missing Clarissa, was such a fun suspense that I was glad to rejoin Cam and Blair as they use their investigative skills again.

I loved how Jones didn’t have Blair and Cam dive back into podcasting and investigating, becoming the newest crime solving duo, rather having them push away due to the scrutiny and backlash they faced from solving the case of Clarissa. I, at first, found the new mystery to be very intriguing - is the Lola that returned to her family after being missing for five years the same person, or is she an imposter, as her sister Mattie thinks? Mattie’s devotion to Lola’s memory was touching, and Jones did a great job at having you question whether Mattie was correct or not (especially in acknowledging that they were 9 when Lola disappeared, and that she may not be as they remembered). Once again, the chapters are uniquely titled (no numbers used), and are often quite humorous. I also loved the return of previous characters, especially Brad (previous suspect turned caring boyfriend/mentor) and Mr. Parks (journalism teacher). Overall, the story wasn’t quite as strong as the first book in the end, due to the focus more on Cam and Blair’s drama; I found there was a lack of suspects and things became a bit melodramatic, but I did love the idea of a found family, emphasized in the final chapters.

The Other Lola is a story of guilt, trauma, despair, and decisions. Although not as solid as Missing Clarissa, I still loved reuniting with some of these characters and would be happy to do so again. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books & NetGalley for the ARC!

The Other Lola picks up after Missing Clarissa ended, featuring my favorite two teenage sleuths, Cam and Blair.

The mystery kept me guessing; I never knew what to expect. And once again, the characters stole my heart. I love that Cam and Blair are flawed and make mistakes. They still remind me so much of what it felt like to be that age.

The ending felt a bit anticlimactic, but also more realistic…in a way. A lot of life isn’t satisfying, all the bad guys don’t get caught, good guys don’t always win. And I think that’s what I loved about this one. It felt real.

Another engaging and enjoyable read from Ripley Jones.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for the review copy.

The Other Lola, by Ripley Jones
2.5/5⭐️⭐️

TRIGGER WARNINGS-
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Murder, death, drugs, drinking

The second book to Missing Clarissa

I don’t remember Cam being so insufferable and so self righteous…For someone so smart she was kind of dumb and air heady, which was annoying. I don’t recall the writing being as bad in the first book; too overly descriptive and a bunch of unnecessary things that didn’t add much to the story. It made it seem like this was their first book and not their second. The concept/plot was good but just poorly executed. I loved that the characters were inclusive regarding race and sexuality.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press/ Wednesday Books for giving me an E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Other Lola is the follow-up novel to Missing Clarissa. It occurs several months after Cam and Blair solve Clarissa’s cold case. Blair and Cam had been put through the wringer by the press, the people in town, and people worldwide. Dealing with the repercussions of solving her case, they swore they would never do another podcast or look into another mystery. So, when Cam agrees to listen to Mattie’s tale about a sister disappearing and reappearing after five years and how they suspect the person who claims to be their sister is an imposter, she is inclined to laugh it off. But something about Mattie strikes a chord in Cam, and she has Blair listen to their story. The deeper Cam and Blair dig into Mattie’s story, the more they realize that something isn’t right with the family.

The Other Lola was such a great book to read. Right from the beginning, the storyline caught my attention. As the story went on and Cam and Blair dug into Lola’s disappearance and the events surrounding it, I couldn’t put my Kindle down. This was a well-written story with so many layers.

The mystery angle of the book was terrific. The author does reveal something major about Lola in the first chapter. Even with that reveal, this storyline had so many twists and turns that I almost had difficulty keeping up.

The author also focused on Blair and Cam’s relationship and their separate ones. It was a little heartbreaking to read about Cam’s anxiety and her flashbacks. It was also sad to read about Blair and how she felt her friendship with Cam was suffering. I also liked how the author portrayed Cam’s relationship with her girlfriend. Now, Blair and her relationship with Lola’s twin was creepy, considering why she had started dating him. I never felt she was really into him, but that ending scene on the boat made me wonder.

The end of The Other Lola was sad. I was not expecting the book to go in the direction it did, but in hindsight, it did make sense.

Many thanks to Saint Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, NetGalley, and Ripley Jones for allowing me to read and review this ARC of The Other Lola. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

Their true crime podcast solved a mystery, but also threw their lives into chaos. Blair and Cam have no intentions of ever getting involved in a mystery again, but then Mattie shows up. Mattie’s sister, Lola, disappeared years ago, and seems to have now reappeared. But Mattie swears that the new Lola isn’t truly her sister, and is desperate for help as no one else believes her.

I really loved the author’s book Missing Clarissa, and the sequel was very good too. Jones makes readers care so much about the characters, and the mystery is so unique and compelling. I was disappointed there was no podcast aspect, but that made total sense within the context of the story. I would recommend this book.

I didn't love Ripley Jones' debut for a variety of reasons (the number one is that I fully predicted the mystery/whodunnit and thought it was absurdly predictable). For some reason, I told myself I'd give their second book a shot. I ended up liking THE OTHER LOLA more, so I'm glad I did.

This story centers around another missing girl from the same town as the first book. I didn't fully realize this was a companion novel but it follows Cam and Blair, the podcasters from MISSING CLARISSA. They are approached by a younger girl at their school whose sister went missing five years ago and suddenly returned. The catch? She thinks this Lola is an impostor. Her family doesn't believe her so she enlists the help of Cam and Blair to figure out what's actually going on. 

I thought the mystery here was quite interesting but took a little while to get going. Cam and Blair are going through their own stuff, which takes up a lot of the plot. If I really think about the progression of the mystery and investigation, it honestly didn't get as much page time. I liked the found family vibes of this one with Cam's mom's new boyfriend and Mattie joining in their little crew a bit. Those were wholesome chapters.

This book has a ton of political references and discussions. I don't want to get into it in depth here but I am a very liberal person, so I agree with many of the things that Cam regularly brings up due to her mom and girlfriend's influence. That's not my issue. There were a ton of places where she would go on a rant (again, which I generally agreed with the content of) that didn't fit in with the plot or progression of the story. It often felt more like the author was just inserting some of their political beliefs in here. I wouldn't say that it took me out of the story but just reads very heavy-handed. This was true of the first book as well but I feel like I really noticed it here more.

I predicted a good portion of the ending but not as much as MISSING CLARISSA, so I would consider that a win and general improvement in their sophomore novel. I'm on the fence on if I would read any upcoming novels at this point but we'll see.

I enjoyed Missing Clarissa and was looking forward to this one.

The mains are the same, with a new "mystery" to solve. This one seemed to progress much slower than Clarissa, and seemed a bit more YA.

I liked that they included some more diverse characters.

This was a good read, but I really just liked the first more. I did enjoy the narration on the audio.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press for an ARC and MacMillan Audio for an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

In The Other Lola, the sequel to Missing Clarissa, Blair and Cam are tired of the publicity from last year and trying to move on.

But noooo, Mattie a freshmen at their high school hunts them down and wants help proving her missing sister Lola, that just came back, is an imposter and not her sister at all.

This was fun and a really good continuation to Blair and Cam’s story with some closure for both. Add in the mystery of Lola, and you get yet another great smooth YA sleuthing thriller book.

Is it a bit unbelievable? Yeah it is but it’s also a blast. So glad I got to read this one.

Give me more Blair and Cam please.

This series is so fun. Although it's technically YA, I really enjoyed Cam and Blair as they work their second case in The Other Lola. Although The Other Lola technically can be read as a stand-alone, I think I would have missed a lot if I hadn't started with Missing Clarissa. Maddie is a great addition to the Cam and Blair duo, and I'm hoping that, not only will there be a third book in the series, but that Maddie will be featured again. I have to say that, after reading both books, Cam is my favorite character. I love her spunk and wit, and her relationship with her mother, Irene, is everything a parent-child relationship should be.

Ripley Jones provided us with yet another fantastically written story, involving those beloved characters from Missing Clarissa. I went into this book unsure if there would be any similarities to the first book, and was beyond ecstatic to realize that we have many of the characters returning for this fun, intense, and mystery-filled read!

Ripley Jones has skyrocketed into a spot high on my list, and I cannot wait for whatever comes next!!

Easily, easily a 5+ star read for me, and I highly recommend it!

Thank you so much to NetGalley for sharing this arc with me in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with a digital copy for review.

This book was okay. Not great, not terrible. I think I liked the first book in this series better because I was more compelled by the mystery. This mystery was okay, and I liked the twist of the missing girl coming back but her sister believes she's literally a different person. But I was never super compelled to pick the book back up and the characters weren't super interesting. Hard core fans of young adult, and young adult mysteries will probably like this, and again, there's nothing inherently wrong with it. It just felt okay. If there is a third offering in the series, I might check it out.