ARC Review: If You're Out There by Katy Loutzenhiser

Title: If You're Out There
Author: Katy Loutzenhiser
Genre: YA Contemporary Mystery
Source: Author
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: March 5th, 2019
Rating: 4/5 stars


Summary: 

After Zan’s best friend moves to California, she’s baffled and crushed when Priya suddenly ghosts. Worse, Priya’s social media has turned into a stream of ungrammatical posts chronicling a sunny, vapid new life that doesn’t sound like her at all. Everyone tells Zan not to be an idiot: Let Priya do her reinvention thing, and move on. But until Zan hears Priya say it, she won’t be able to admit that the friendship is finished. It’s only when she meets Logan, the compelling new guy in Spanish class, that Zan begins to open up about her sadness, her insecurity, her sense of total betrayal. And he’s just as willing to throw himself into the investigation when everyone else thinks her suspicions are crazy. Then a clue hidden in Priya’s latest selfie introduces a new, deeply disturbing possibility. Maybe Priya isn’t just not answering Zan’s emails. Maybe she can’t.

*I received an Advanced Reader's Copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.*

I'm so loving all these amazing 2019 author debuts! We've come in contact with so many great authors and we're having an awesome time being able to feature them. If You're Out there was a fun, fast read, and really something I enjoyed.

Like it says in the summary, Zan's best friend, Priya, moves to California. As time goes by, Zan stops hearing from Priya and is ultimately crushed. She's so confused as to why her best friend has suddenly ghosted her. Forced to start her senior year alone, Zan is ready to find out the truth. With the help of a new friend, Logan, they begin to uncover little details that don't seem to add up. Things like the pictures and captions she posts to social media and a mysterious email Zan receives that almost sounds like Priya's crying for help.

Every time I opened this book I couldn't put it down. With every page I read, I was anxious to find out what clue Zan would find next. I really felt for Zan's character throughout the book. Every time she would mention something about not hearing from Priya, someone would put her down, saying things like "Priya probably just needs space". Zan had that feeling though, that something wasn't right. She was able to fight for her best friend and not just forget about her even while she was struggling with the fact that maybe her best friend didn't want to be bothered by her anymore.

I won't spoil anything for you but lets just say that the ending surprised me. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting but it wasn't that. I do wish the whole situation was elaborated on a bit more. I feel like I was still kind of left in the dark surrounding the details of the whole thing.

Other than that, I have nothing bad to say about this book. It really showed one of the true meanings of friendship, that if you really love and care about someone, you're not just going to give up on them. If you love a good mystery don't hesitate to give this book a try!

Be on the lookout for a special debut author interview with Katy!

If you're interested, you can also check out Jessica's review!