Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Review: The Lost and the Found by Cat Clarke

Release date: September 13th 2016
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:
THE LOST
When six-year-old Laurel Logan was abducted, the only witness was her younger sister, Faith. Since then, Faith’s childhood has revolved around her sister’s disappearance—from her parents’ broken marriage and the constant media attention, to dealing with so-called friends who only ever want to talk about her missing sister.

THE FOUND
Now, thirteen years later, a young woman is found in the front yard of the Logans’ old house, disoriented and clutching the teddy bear Laurel was last seen with. Can her sister finally be back? Faith always dreamed of her sister coming home; she just never believed it would happen. But soon a disturbing series of events leaves Faith increasingly isolated from her family and paranoid about her sister’s motives. Before long, Faith begins to wonder if it’s the abduction that’s changed her sister, or if it’s something else. . . .

*Received a physical copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.



From the opening chapter I was intrigued and wanted to understand the family and Faith. It was easy to say she was being bratty and not very considerate of the situation, but at the same time I could understand her feelings. It was obvious that Faith was somewhat neglected by her mother and in some ways by her father as well. Her parents had spent all their time and efforts in finding Laurel, that they seemed to have not paid much attention to their other daughter. And when they were informed that Laurel had reappeared, Faith's mixed reaction wasn't surprising. I sensed jealousy a tad in her, because all the attention was given to her sister and not much was left for her. Over the years, she basically took care of herself. And honestly, I was happy that her parents weren't together. The mother seemed like such a trip, and I found nothing likable about the woman, and I wish there were more scenes with Faith's stepfather because he was the only one really there for her. 

Now, on to Laurel. It was great that one parents misery was coming to an end, and  their kidnapped daughter had finally come home. But I had my reservations. Something didn't seem right, especially with how Laurel didn't mind being in the spotlight and the way she acted with Faith's boyfriend. He was another story. With the way Faith questioned her feelings for him daily, I knew she had no business being in a relationship with him, and sadly it took too long for her to realize that. Even after what happened towards the end. 

The truth became pretty obvious to me from early. So for the rest of the story, I diverted my focus to the relationship between the girls; how they acted with each other, if Faith would finally break and unveil how she truly felt, and how the story would wrap up. It was terribly unfortunate what Laurel had experienced and I was happy that she was free from that. But with the state of the family, I didn't think it was healthy for her to be with them because she needed to know what it was like to have a normal, loving and supportive family. The father was barely around and the mother was pretentious and acted as if the world owed her. She got too caught up in the press and money and lost sight of what was important. She also pressured Faith a lot and treated her like crap, often dismissing her feelings or putting the guilt trip on her. The whole situation made me cringe and I yearned for the moment each of them would have an epiphany.

The ending wasn't much of a surprise, but it was emotional when Laurel spoke about her ordeal at last. Her pain felt so real and I could picture every single detail in my head as she revealed them. I'm not so sure I'm contented with the way things ended, but a part of me understands why they did that. 

To conclude, The Lost and the Found is an interesting story with a realistic tragedy no one should ever go through, but I did have some issues and that's why I rated it three stars. The writing's good, but at times I felt like there could have been less of some things mentioned, and more given at other parts. Also, I wasn't as emotionally invested as I was expecting to be, and I didn't really connect with the characters. Like I mentioned before, I already knew the truth from early so it was more about how it would end, and that was my main drive to keep reading. 

   

Cat ClarkeAbout the Author
Cat was born in Zambia and brought up in Edinburgh and Yorkshire, which has given her an accent that tends to confuse people. 

Cat has written non-fiction books about exciting things like cowboys, sharks and pirates, and now writes YA novels. She lives in Edinburgh with a couple of cats, Jem and Scout, who spend their days plotting to spit up furballs at the most inconvenient times. She likes cheese A LOT, especially baked camembert.





7 comments:

  1. I really want to read this but I feel I may not like it much. I can see myself getting upset about the mother. I hate those types.

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    1. Yeah she pissed me off a lot, but the overall story was interesting enough to look beyond that.

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  2. The premise sounds really interesting but the family drama in this one may be a bit too much for me. I may have to check out though because I am really curious about the ending. Great review!

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    1. Thanks, Carole. I hope you do give it a shot. Not a bad story.

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  3. Sorry there were some issues and you didn't really connect with the characters. Still sounds like an interesting one. Great review!!

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    1. It was interesting enough to keep me going. Thanks. Hope you read it too :)

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  4. This one is on my TBR, too. I'm glad you found it interesting. Great review.

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