Stephanie Morrill’s The Lost Girl of Astor Street

When her best friend vanishes without so much as a good-bye, eighteen-year-old Piper Sail takes on the role of amateur sleuth in an attempt to solve the mystery of Lydia’s disappearance. Given that Piper’s tendency has always been to butt heads with high-society’s expectations of her, it’s no surprise that she doesn’t give a second thought to searching for answers to Lydia’s abduction from their privileged neighborhood.

As Piper discovers that those answers might stem from the corruption strangling 1924 Chicago—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 of privilege for the sake of the truth.

Review

I really enjoyed Stephanie Morrill’s contemporary YA (though I’m still burned about the romance in one series), so I decided to try her historical novel. So glad I did!

What I liked:

History. I loved the historical element of this novel. It’s not at all overwhelming and the addition of mobsters really adds a fun dimension to this story.

Piper. She’s described as kind of wild and out there, but she isn’t. She’s brave. She’s a hard-worker, but she never makes a decision without using some wisdom first. It made Piper a wonderful, relatable heroine.

Romance. I was worried for a second this book would be a romantic quadrangle. That’s right, quadrangle. However, it becomes clear early on which guy Piper is drawn too. I am concerned that if this is a series (and I hope it is!) that Piper will have time to date all of them. But I hope that’s not the case. I hope she sticks with her guy. Speaking of her guy, you know he’s the one for her because he works with her and not against her, though I do still wish we could have learned more about him.

Mystery. It was good. It was sad. But it was good in the sense that it was complicated and it wasn’t obvious who-done-it. It also made sense for Piper to get involved. Her presence did not feel contrived.

Family dynamics. Piper has siblings and a father who is in the process of getting remarried and it adds fascinating layers to who Piper is. I love that her siblings are siblings, they get along, but they fight too. Piper loves and respects her dad, but she’s not thrilled with her possible step-mother…and rightly so. Piper also learns so big family revelations that really forms to create a fascinating family.

Spiritually, Piper goes to church and questions God, but this book is a bit light spiritually. If this is a series (and I hope it is), I could see Piper growing in this aspect.

What I didn’t like:

I liked this book. The only thing that would have strengthened this book would have been to get to know Piper’s love interest more. He is interesting and yet so mysterious.

Romantic scale

7.9

Overall, I could not put this book down and I thought about it days later. Definitely worth reading.