Throwaway Girls - Andrea Contos

Caroline Lawson is three months away from freedom, otherwise known as graduation day. That's when she'll finally escape her rigid prep school and the parents who thought they could convert her to being straight.

Until then, Caroline is keeping her head down, pretending to be the perfect student even though she is crushed by her family and heartbroken over the girlfriend who left for California.

But when her best friend Madison disappears, Caroline feels compelled to get involved in the investigation. She has her own reasons not to trust the police, and she owes Madison — big time.

Suddenly Caroline realizes how little she knew of what her friend was up to. Caroline has some uncomfortable secrets about the hours before Madison disappeared, but they're nothing compared to the secrets Madison has been hiding. And why does Mr. McCormack, their teacher, seem to know so much about them?

It's only when Caroline discovers other missing girls that she begins to close in on the truth. Unlike Madison, the other girls are from the wrong side of the tracks. Unlike Madison's, their disappearances haven't received much attention. Caroline is determined to find out what happened to them and why no one seems to notice. But as every new discovery leads Caroline closer to the connection between these girls and Madison, she faces an unsettling truth.

There's only one common denominator between the disappearances: Caroline herself.

Blurb taken from Goodreads.

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Rating: ✫✫✫✫

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

The last few ARCs I've received, I haven't been a fan of, and so I was a little reluctant to get started on this one. However, I thought the plot sounded really intriguing, and I haven't read any thrillers for a while, so I decided to keep an open mind.

It's a really good job I did, because this story really gripped me. As soon as I started reading, I connected with the characters and the story, and I was really keen to keep reading. It felt fast-paced and easy to read, but it had depth and detail too; a definite success.

I think the reason I connected so quickly with this story was because, although it was a thriller, it also had that kind of YA vibe to it. The characters are younger than we see in most books of this kind, and it felt refreshing. It did feel like a lot of other books of this kind, but I really enjoyed this new take on it.

It also brushed upon a lot of quite important messages; love, sexuality, loneliness and identity, among others. I was really glad to see Caroline's character openly deal with a lot of different challenges, as it made the story feel more real.

I did find the ending a little predictable, but I don't think everybody would say the same. From start to finish, I really enjoyed this story, and would happily recommend it to friends.