Book Review | Not Like Other Girls by Meredith Adamo

Title: Not Like Other Girls
Author: Meredith Adamo
Genre: YA Mystery / Thriller
Publication Date: April 30th, 2024
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to the publisher for a complimentary earc to review!

“A girl risks everything to find her former best friend in this powerful debut mystery about trauma, girlhood, and what we deserve.

When Jo-Lynn Kirby’s former best friend—pretty, nice Maddie Price—comes to her claiming to be in trouble, Jo assumes it’s some kind of joke. After all, Jo has been an outcast ever since her nude photos were leaked—and since everyone decided she deserved it. There’s no way Maddie would actually come to her for help.

But then Maddie is gone.

Everyone is quick to write off Maddie as a runaway, but Jo can’t shake the feeling there’s more to the story. To find out the truth, Jo needs to get back in with the people who left her behind—and the only way back in is through Hudson Harper-Moore. An old fling of Jo’s with his own reasons for wanting to find Maddie, Hudson hatches a fake dating scheme to get Jo back into their clique. But being back on the inside means Jo must confront everything she’d rather forget: the boys who betrayed her, the whispers that she had it coming, and the secrets that tore her and Maddie apart. As Jo digs deeper into Maddie’s disappearance, she’s left to wonder who she’s really searching for: Maddie, or the girl she used to be.

Not Like Other Girls is a stunning debut that takes a hard look at how we treat young women and their trauma, through the lens of a missing girl and a girl trying to find herself again.” (Goodreads)

I was intrigued by this one from the beginning!

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Jo-Lynn. Before starting this one I didn’t realize that the main character had the same name as my daughter, only difference is that there is no hyphen. It was kind of hard to disassociate from the name, haha. Jo is in the middle of dealing with the fallout of her nude photos being shared throughout her school. I couldn’t imagine having to deal with this, but it is something that feels more common as almost every kid has a phone where as when I was in high school it wasn’t like that. I felt bad for her from the beginning and it was a shame that her friends basically left her to the way side.

There are a lot more plot points besides that one. Another big one is the missing school mate named Maddie. I love a good mystery and this one was no exception! It was hard to put down as I had to know what was going to happen. As a reader we only get glimpses and understanding at a slower rate, but it feeds on Jo understanding for herself what actually happened and really dealing with the emotions that have been left to be bottled up. It was really well done.

Overall, this was an enjoyable mystery with a really great message for teens. Those who like books by Courtney Summers will like this one.