I am happy to say that the circumstances under which I am reading this book is that this is a summer reading given to me by Hollins University, not only the college I am enrolled in but the college the author herself has graduated from. That said, I put off reading this book enough, I think.

I came in with rather low expectations, partially because I believed due to past experience that books assigned by schools are really suckish and partially because of the cover art - it seems rather cheesy to me, like any other book of rebellious teenagers. Thus, the first thing I would change about this book is the cover art; in my opinion, it really does not do the story justice.

The premise of the story is rather impressive. The "Wild Girls" in this book are like enchanted beings, bringing together the myths of witches and countless other legends, none of them completely accurate in describing just what they are. All the readers can know for certain is that random girls become homicidal primal women with the ability to control fire, fly, and possibly control the minds of a small group and turn them into Wild Girls as well.

It really is a wonderful story, though there are a couple things that holds it back in my mind (other than the cover, I mean): for one, in my personal taste, it's too much drama and too little macabre - but, then again, I know many people will not feel the same way. My only other complaint is that, upon revealing who was behind creating more Wild Girls than what was already running rampant, he suffered a rather quick and pathetic end, leaving the only true threat of the story to be the Wild Girls themselves. Someone that could have been seen as more or less the mastermind of the evil bubbling up in the Appalachians could have come back after said end or at least extend the scene to make the situation a tad heavier.

All of that being said, those are the only true negative points I could find. The cover, a certain death, and my personal taste. That's it. It may be the fact that I have the write an essay on this that I'm thinking more critically, but the personal growth of the main character, Kate, is remarkable. She grows in terms of the friends she keeps, her perception of her town and her family, and the so-called "minions" of her high school.

Also, I could very much relate, as I think many others can, to the idea that a person's hometown is not only where you don't want to be in the future but also a place where you feel no one should live - that it is a complete trap of a town where it seems that no one who enters will reach their full potential. It was a very powerful theme throughout and really pulled the book together.

Wild Girls is a supernatural spin on the angst and worries young women feel before starting life after high school. I especially recommend it as a YA book because as someone around the same age, myself included - having just graduated, a reader can really put themselves in the book and see the Wild Girls for what they really are, what had transformed them in the first place. ( )

Recommended by Greg Mortimer

Review TK

Quotes

"I just wonder what it feels like," Caroline whispered. "Not that I want to kill people, obviously. But, I mean, girls aren't supposed to have any power. That's the whole thing about being a girl." (31)

There was a sense of desperation, as if everyone knew but hadn't yet admitted that things were broken here. (35)

Each book was like an underwater cave, and when I rose again to the surface I was pale and grumpy, resentful of everyone who hadn't been where I'd been. (38)

"It's kind of boring - having followers instead of friends." (Willow to Kate, 86)

"Just because you're born in a place doesn't mean you have to stay there forever. You can go anywhere you want to." (Willow to Mason and Kate, 97)

Mason and I both knew that Swan River was a town written in a dark language, incomprehensible to strangers. (106)

"You're smart. Smart people always have options." (Kate to Mason, 107)

"The question is, should I do what other people expect of me or what I want to do?" (Willow to Kate, 132)

"We may think we've civilized ourselves, but human beings are surprising creatures, full of whims and passions that can't be gratified in conventional society. It's when we believe we've conquered our dark sides that they're most likely to break out and insist on fulfillment, consequences be damned." (Dr. Bell, 188)

"I've lived in a lot of places, and none of them felt right to me. You've always wanted to leave, and that's fine, but you don't have to look down on me because I want to stay." (Maggie to Kate, 204)

But if the defining characteristic [of a wild girl] was not poverty but rage at her own powerlessness, nearly every girl I knew was at risk. (231)

"If I knew someone who was becoming a wild girl, I would tell her to add up everything that matters to her - the people she loves, her hopes for the future. Put that on one side of the scale and, on the other, put the satisfaction of destroying what you hate." (Maggie to Kate, 231) ( )

There are times when the serendipity offered up by the New Books shelf at the library causes me great joy, and there are times when it causes me to curse the day I ever learned to read. Today it's the latter. I am not sure what exactly I expected (something 70s, with free love, I think), but horror was certainly not on my list for today. I stay away from horror on purpose, mostly because it's, um, horrifying. I stuck with it for the first 150 pages, but then I started to skip and skim and peek through my fingers and flinch and shudder. Things caught on fire. People died in gruesome fashions. Old men were skeevy and good men were apathetic. Girls got knocked up and knocked down.

Perhaps it's a good horror book, I don't know. I hated it. Maybe you'll like it. If you do, don't tell me. ( )

I fell in love with Sawn River and was fascinated by the Wild Girls. Mary S. Atwell did a brillant job with character development as well and the "love triangle" as this young coming-of-age novel is anything but typical. I cannot wait for my daughter to read it so we can talk about it! Bright 5 stars from me!

My rating system is as follows:

5 stars - Excellent, Worth Every Penny, Made It Into My Personal Library!
4 stars - Great book, but not a classic.
3 stars - Good overall, generally well written.
2 stars - Would not recommend based on personal criteria.
1 star - Difficult to read, hard to finish, or didn't finish. Wouldn't recommend purchasing or reading.

In accordance with the FTC Guidelines for blogging and endorsements, you should assume that every book I review was provided to me by the publisher, media group or the author for free and no financial payments were received, unless specified otherwise. ( )