The Lost Girls: A Vampire Revenge Story

by Sonia Hartl

Holly Liddell has been stuck with crimped hair since 1987 when she agreed to let her boyfriend, Elton, turn her into a vampire. But when he ditches her at a gas station a few decades into their eternity together, she realises that being young forever actually means working graveyard shifts at Taco Bell, sleeping in seedy motels, and being supernaturally compelled to follow your ex from town to town - at least until Holly meets Elton’s other exes.

It seems that Holly isn’t the only girl Elton seduced into this wretched existence. He turned Ida in 1921, then Rose in 1954, and he abandoned them both before Holly was even born. Now Rose and Ida want to kill him before he can trick another girl into eternal adolescence, and they’ll need Holly’s help to do it. And once Holly starts falling for Elton’s vulnerable new conquest, Parker, she’ll do anything to save her.

To kill Elton for good, Holly and her friends will have to dig up their pasts, rob a bank, and reconcile with the people they’ve hurt in their search for eternal love. And to win the girl, Holly will have to convince Parker that she’s more than just Elton’s crazy ex - even though she is trying to kill him.

• ISBN10: 1645677907
• ISBN13: 9781645677901
• Publish Date: 16 October 2023 (first published 14 September 2021)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Page Street Kids
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 256
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

Proceed With Caution:

This book contains blood, death, violence, gore, and kidnapping.

The Basics:

The Lost Girls is narrated by Holly. Holly has been a vampire since 1987, and it sucks. Pun intended. She's sixteen in mind and body for the rest of her undead life, which leaves her options quite limited. Especially when she's eternally bound to the ex-boyfriend who changed her in the first place. At least until Rose and Ida find her with a plan to kill their maker and take back their afterlives. But first they must stop him from turning his latest teen fling.

My Thoughts:

You can't describe a book as John Tucker Must Die with vampires and not expect me to read it! I absolutely love this premise of teen girl vampires going after their terrible maker. While The Lost Girls isn't a masterpiece, it was a ton of fun and satisfied my craving for a silly vampire novel. And isn't that all we really want anyway?

The vampires in The Lost Girls aren't pale creatures of the night. In fact, most vampire myths don't apply to them. Which makes perfect sense, or how else would Elton be able to hang out in high schools to lure young girls to the dark side. There's a lot of new vampire lore introduced as the girls come up with their plan to eliminate Elton. It's interesting, but I think needlessly complicated for this simple story.

However, some things about the vampires in The Lost Girls don't make sense at all. Apparently, Holly was turned at sixteen over thirty years ago, which means her hair is forever crimped. I get this was done for the laughs, but why would becoming undead make her hairstyle permanent? She also mentions a spot on her knee she missed while shaving that is also forever stuck. Um, it's hair, just shave it off? Again, it was suppose to be funny, but it's also just bad world-building.

Another thing that nagged at me from the first chapter was Holly complaining about having to work at Taco Bell and not being able to afford anything because she's forever-sixteen. It's not like she has an ID that says "Age: 16 Forever" on it. She can lie; she just might look young for her age. Or she can get a fake ID that says she's 18 or 20 or something. Or...wait, she does mention that she steals IDs from people at the bar in order to get jobs. Umm..those people aren't 16...Holly's time on the night shift at Taco Bell was probably also for comedic purposes, but it doesn't hold up.

Other than those issues, I really enjoyed The Lost Girls. I loved these very different girls coming together for a common purpose. There are several touching, emotional moments scattered throughout as well. Such as Holly and Parker's homelives, Ida and Rose's human lives, and even Holly's old teacher. Yes, the story is predictable, but I didn't pick it up to be astonished. I just love vampires. I especially love queer vampires, because of course Holly and Elton's latest girl, Parker, have to fall in love with each other after having fallen in love with the same jerk. The ending is bittersweet, but I know these girls eventually get their happily forever after.