{"id":2437,"date":"2022-05-24T12:10:22","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T16:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/?p=2437"},"modified":"2022-05-11T14:13:19","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T18:13:19","slug":"book-review-the-lost-girls-by-sonia-hartl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/?p=2437","title":{"rendered":"BOOK REVIEW: THE LOST GIRLS BY SONIA HARTL"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cover<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

**Cross Posted from the Circulation Desk**<\/p>\n

Page Street Publishing, 2022<\/span><\/p>\n

ISBN: 9781645673149<\/p>\n

Available: Hardcover, e-book, audiobook \u00a0(\u00a0Bookshop.org<\/a>\u00a0)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this book, a group of young women who were turned by the same gaslighting vampire team up to take him down.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since 1987, Holly has been an eternal teenager, stuck with one of the era\u2019s iconic fashion don\u2019ts\u2014 crimped hair\u2014 after falling for pretty-boy vampire, Elton.\u00a0 Hartl starts this tale after the ever-after, with Holly working at a Taco Bell to make ends meet once her sexy vampire boyfriend fails to make good on the promise of eternal love.\u00a0 When Elton\u2019s two other exes enter the scene, readers find out what they have in common, and the trio joins forces to try to break the alluring and totally predatory hold on his next victim\u2014 another teenage girl, Parker.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Parker and Holly develop a fast physical attraction as they get to know each other. Turning the teen girl victim trope on its ear,\u00a0 Hartl\u2019s\u00a0 updated vampire story takes on patriarchy with a humorous tone, lots of action, and a solid dose of queer romance. Characters\u2019 bisexuality (and sexuality, in general) is handled quite comfortably, with the long view of an immortal. Who better than vampires to go up against the centuries-old problem of patriarchy? Folks seeking grim horror may be disappointed by some of the romantic elements, but readers looking for a contemporary paranormal tale will find a lot to enjoy in this quirky, laugh-out-loud YA vampire story.\u00a0 \u00a0The plot is fast-paced and unfolds to a satisfying conclusion. With a hearty dose of gory violence, this is likely to appeal to folks who enjoyed\u00a0Lish McBride\u2019s \u00a0Hold Me Closer, Necromancer<\/span><\/i>, Adam Rex\u2019s\u00a0Fat Vampire<\/span><\/i>, and other horror-humor mashups.\u00a0 Recommended. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A cure for the common sparkle.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by E. F. Schraeder<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

**Cross Posted from the Circulation Desk** Page Street Publishing, 2022 ISBN: 9781645673149 Available: Hardcover, e-book, audiobook \u00a0(\u00a0Bookshop.org\u00a0) \u00a0 In this book, a group of young women who were turned by the same gaslighting vampire team up to take him down.\u00a0 \u00a0 Since 1987, Holly has been an eternal teenager, stuck with one of the era\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[337,8,20],"tags":[397],"class_list":["post-2437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","category-vampires","category-ya-books","tag-sonia-hartl"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Eu9f-Dj","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2437"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2438,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2437\/revisions\/2438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}