Whoa, what a ride. Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand was well worth the rough day I had after staying up late into the wee hours of the morning to finish this excellent book.
Goodreads Synopsis: “Beware of the woods and the dark, dank deep.
He’ll follow you home, and he won’t let you sleep.
Who are the Sawkill Girls?
Marion: the new girl. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find.
Zoey: the pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken—or maybe everyone else is.
Val: the queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives, a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.
Their stories come together on the island of Sawkill Rock, where gleaming horses graze in rolling pastures and cold waves crash against black cliffs. Where kids whisper the legend of an insidious monster at parties and around campfires.
Where girls have been disappearing for decades, stolen away by a ravenous evil no one has dared to fight… until now. “
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I don’t think that synopsis does this book justice. Sawkill Girls was so good I’m gonna swear on the Internet!
Holy hell, if you’re looking for something smart, snarky, scary, and fun this is it.
When I read anything YA, I want it complex and confident about its audience’s intelligence and this book…whew… hits the nail on the head.
There are diverse characters, LGTBQIA relationships, nontraditional/non hetero-normative gender roles, consent is presented well AND let me just drop my favorite quote:
“Girls hunger. And we’re taught, from the moment our brains can take it, that there isn’t enough food for us all.”
Somebody help me up the truth just knocked me down! Claire Legrand in two sentences explained my experience as a woman, an actress, and female identifying working professional.
This book doesn’t shy away from gore which, I’ve noticed some YA books with girls as the leading characters often do, or worse they use flowery prose to cover up blood and gore. We’re women not hothouse flowers, y’all.
Romantic relationships in the book were also well done, with a deft hand, no love triangles (thank god).
I did have a moment mid-book where I thought things were taking a derpy turn, and this great book was going downhill with the appearance of male “heroes” coming in to save the day but instead this book is fiercely fucking feminist (excuse my French and love for alliterations but truth is truth). Another gem I love:
“Screw that book,” said Val. “It was written by men.” She held out her free hand to Marion. “We are rewriting it.”
Clearly I loved reading this book.
Somewhere after 2am I knew I needed to call it, and take my ass to bed, but I couldn’t. I was so deep in this book about these special girls I couldn’t put it down. I had to finish it.
The only thing I hated but came around to was the weird man-cult (Legrand’s words not mine), yeah we needed them to represent the patriarchy/mansplainy pseudo villains, but I cared less about them and more about the Collector.
If you’re looking for a dark, atmospheric, creepy read with kick ass heroines and monsters this is it.
I give this book a solid 5/6 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Grab it, read it, and let me know what you think: https://amzn.to/2A5gPTk