What She Lost And Found by M.L. Garcia – Review by Francis O’Sullivan

What She Lost And FoundWhat She Lost And Found by M.L. Garcia
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What She Lost and Found by M.L. Garcia is an emotional story about a young woman, Daniela, whose life has been torn apart by rape and murder. Trying to build a new life in a new city, she finds her past holding her back from getting close to anyone, particularly men. As the story progresses, she realises she has a lot more to go through before she will fully be safe.
I really like the characters in this. Bridget, Daniela’s former roommate and closest friend at uni, is full of energy and love for her friends. Love triangle notwithstanding, I also like Nathan and Alex and admire how they respect Daniela and her boundaries.
It’s written in a first person, fairly informal style. At times I found this a little frustrating as Daniela’s thoughts and worries kept the story from flowing but I suppose that’s a pretty accurate portrayal of how her concerns were keeping her from getting on with her life. There’s a lot of detail – we are told exactly what Daniela is wearing every time she gets changed – which for me was a bit excessive but might for others help paint a vivid picture.
With rape and murder scenes, often fairly vividly described, this is quite a dark book but it is balanced with cheerful, playful friendship and gentle romance. It might be triggering for some readers. I found it quite tense at times, but mostly in an “I can’t put this book down!” kind of way.
For me, this is a four star read. I would recommend it to new adult readers who want a book about overcoming challenges and tragedy.

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