The Lost Girl of Astor Street by Stephanie Morrill Review

Hello Everyone :)

I hope you're all doing well, and I want to thank you all for joining me for another book review here on The Preppy Book Princess.

Can you believe today is March 1st? It feels like Christmas was just a couple of weeks ago, and now we're well on our way to spring. I also can't believe it's already been almost a year since all this lockdown stuff started, and I've been struggling a bit more lately as it just seems like there's no end in sight to it all.

However, I've been trying to spend more time with Jesus, which definitely helps, and I've also had the opportunity to read a lot of really great books.

The review I'm going to share with you all today is for a book that I actually read and wrote this review back in July, but never had the chance to post it.

Hopefully you're all having a great Monday so far, and hopefully you'll all enjoy reading this review. 

I love young adult mystery novels, and I when I heard about a fantastic sounding book by an author I'd really enjoyed a previous book from, I knew I had to go ahead and give it a shot.

The Lost Girl of Astor Street by Stephanie Morrill:

Source: Bought for Myself

Publisher: Blink

Publication Date: February 7th, 2017

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Historical Fiction/Mystery

Synopsis:

Lydia has vanished. Lydia, who’s never broken any rules, except falling in love with the wrong boy. Lydia, who’s been Piper’s best friend since they were children. Lydia, who never even said good-bye. Convinced the police are looking in all the wrong places, eighteen-year-old Piper Sail begins her own investigation to solve the mystery of Lydia’s disappearance. With the reluctant help of a handsome young detective, Piper goes searching for answers in the dark underbelly of 1924 Chicago, determined to find Lydia at any cost. When Piper discovers those answers might stem from the corruption strangling the city—and quite possibly lead back to the doors of her affluent neighborhood—she must decide how deep she’s willing to dig, how much she should reveal, and if she’s willing to risk her life for the truth.

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

I picked this one up after really enjoying another novel I'd read by this author, and being intrigued by the fact that it's a young adult historical fiction mystery. The setting of 1920's Chicago also had me intrigued, and when I saw some other reviewers compare it to both Veronica Mars and Nancy Drew, I knew that I needed to go ahead and give it a read. I was honestly expecting to enjoy this one, but I think I was ill prepared for just how amazing this story was going to end up being. Once I started it, I could barely bring myself to put it down, and I almost ended up reading the entire thing in one sitting. 

I adored Piper as a main character, and I think she's a fantastic role model for young girls picking this one up. She may not always make the safest choices, but she's determined to do whatever it takes to find her friend and bring whoever is responsible to justice. The romance had me major swooning, and I truly adored Piper and Mariano together. I appreciated the way that he wants to keep her safe, but at the same time refuses to shelter her from everything going on the way her father, brothers and best friend insist on doing.

The setting and mystery were spot on, and I actually had quite a few guesses as to which way I thought things were going to end up going. I don't think I've ever read a book before that was set in 1920's Chicago, and I ended up really enjoying all the historical details that are woven into the plot. One of my all time favorite YA historical mysteries is These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly, and this one ended up reminding me quite a bit of it for all the right reasons.

If you grew up reading Nancy Drew or the like, then you need to go ahead and pick up The Lost Girl of Astor Street. It's a really well written historical novel with the perfect amounts of mystery, intrigue and romance to keep the reader glued to the page and unable to put it down. I loved the characters, especially Piper and Mariano, and I appreciated that Piper is a strong, female heroine who cares more about her friend's well being than she does about abiding by societal norms of the time.  My only complaint with the entire story is that I thought the conclusion seemed a little abrupt, and since it doesn't seem like this is going to end up having a sequel, I wish there had been a little bit more to the ending of the book.

Overall though, I absolutely loved this one, and I give it five out of five stars.

Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)