You'll LOVE it if...you crave horror that passes the Bechdel test.

The relationships between Marion, Zoey, and Val are all breathtaking in their complexity, nuance, and relatability. As the girls grapple with the horrifying occurrences on Sawkill Rock and the emerging powers those tragedies evoke, alliances are constantly shifting in ways that feel natural, rather than contrived. Each girl serves a purpose in the slow-forming trio, yet none of them ever come across as stereotypical or predictable. Readers will find something to love (and occasionally pity) in each of these characters; rather than feeling like "chosen ones" set apart from the crowd, Marion, Zoey, and Val develop as normal young women caught in extraordinary circumstances, driven to stand tall when no one else can or will.

Romance and sisterhood both blossom in the group, emphasizing the importance of female friendships at any age, while also providing strong, positive queer and asexual representation. Some moments of girl power and social awareness are a touch on the nose, but this is still a huge step in the right direction for girls in search of heroines who look, act, and feel like they do.
The nameless creature that preys upon the girls of Sawkill Rock delivers on terror in spades. Its predatory zeal would frighten even if it was one of a kind; as the three girls slowly band together and pool their knowledge of the Rock's tragic history though, the mythology behind the creature reveals even greater horrors. This made me think of Stranger Things and it was a great mix of page turner and intrigue because you want to figure out what the girls will do and if the town will survive. I got the suggestion to read this book from a you-tuber I trust and I find myself hoping that the next book by this author is just as great. I am not a young adult book kind of reader but this one I really enjoyed.
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Wow! Finally, a recent book I've read that's actually worth the hype. This reminded me of Stranger things, which I love. I can totally see this being adapted as a show or movie. This is dark, but I wouldn't say scary, at least not to me, but then we all have different levels when it comes to scary things. It's told through the perspective of three girls: Marion, Val, and Zoey.

Marion suffered a recent loss in her family, so Marion, her mother, and sister move to Sawkill Island for a fresh start. Unfortunately, for Marion, this isn't the start she had in mind as she quickly becomes involved in the mystery of this island and its disappearing girls.

Val is the queen bee of the island. Known and loved by just about everyone (except Zoey), but Val has some deep, dark secrets of her own.

Zoey has been obsessed with finding out the truth about what happened to her friend, Thora. She doesn't know how, but she's convinced that Val and her family have something to do with Thora's disappearance, and with the disappearance of all the girls that have gone missing in Sawkill over the decades.

The way that Zoey, Val, and Marion's stories come together and intersect is really interesting. I liked each of the girls, but probably my favorite to see was Val. I just loved her character arc, I loved seeing her change and some of the internal battles she had.

This story does include paranormal/supernatural elements, so if that's not your thing, you probably won't enjoy this much. I had a lot of fun with it.

There are some downsides which is why I gave it a 4 stars instead of 5. One is, while I'm all for women empowerment, I don't like to see men being brought down or bashed on just for being men. Yes, there are a lot of terrible men out there, but there are a lot of great men out there as well; just like not every women is so innocent, there are terrible women out there that do horrible stuff as well. You can't demonize or angelize(?, you get what I'm saying) one gender over another.

The second thing, which is related to the first, is that the men in here don't seem like actual characters. It seems like they're just there to move the plot along, and when a story includes tearing down the opposite sex, it's not surprising that they would be used as just plot devices, but I wish there were more to them. Those were my downsides, but overall I still enjoyed this story. ( )

This book is, essentially, fun—an extended urban legend-type creepypasta fit into a psuedo-woke YA novel. It's easy to read, the characters are distinct (mostly) and interesting (mostly), and the writing itself is competent in the "dont notice it one way or the other" kind of way. This book would make a perfect forgettable bingeable Netflix series that either gets cancelled after two seasons or drags on indefinitely without ever really getting popular. So, you know—fun!!
Unfortunately, though! Unfortunately!
Unfortunately I just really didnt like it at all, despite all that good Netflix-y funness. A real core of the story (inciting incidents, character motivations, that sort of thing) has to do with grief—grief specifically over the death of a loved one. And this book just really, really didn't deliver on that. And that really, really bothered me.
(Admittedly, this sort of thing bothers me in many, many pieces of media. Don't give your character a dead parent if you don't know what it's like! Pick something else for them to be angsty about!!)
I don't want to act like works "in this genre" (whether that's YA, fantasy, horror, or whatever) can't deal seriously with real world issues. I don't even necessarily think that "fun" stories can't do that! But I do think it's much harder to pull off and takes a level of depth that most books like this just don't have.
And that's ok! Not everyone will be as bothered by this as I am, and for those people I'm sure this will be a quick, fun read. ( )

Okay okay WHAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT!!! Omg What a book!!!!!

Have you ever had the feeling of wanting more as you read the last chapters of a book? Yes, that was a rhetorical question. Every other book makes us feel like it. Every other book leaves us with a longing for wanting to know more.

Not this one though!

This book was COMPLETE!! I absolutely loved it. With MAAAAJORRR STRANGER THINGS vibe and a perfect combination of paranormal and suspense, Sawkill Girls is the book you need to read.

The plot, the characters, the premise, everything was perfectly aligned to my liking. Not only is it brilliant, but also has a really good LGBTQ representation.

Sawkill Rock has seen girls disappear without trace for over decades. When Thora, a friend of Zoey goes missing, she refuses to accept that it is just a runaway or suicide. She gets hellbent on discovering the actual reason behind it.

Just a little time later, Marion loses her sister to this mystery. Fate brings Marion, Zoey and highly peculiar Val on a mission to solve this decades old curse that claims the Sawkill girls.

With strong MC’s in a Bi Marion, an Ace Zoey and a Lesbian Val, the book reverberates women-power and comes full circle with a proper ending, giving us everything we need.

I personally could not find fault with this one. ( )

"Maybe it leaves us here: we're seventeen."

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! A SELF-AWARE YA! A YA THAT acknowledges that one's first relationship is more than likely not going to be their only one!!! And ugh I'm so in love with Grayson it hurts.

Another solid 3.5 stars here. I'm not normally so indecisive re books, but this is the second this week that was better than fine but just not enough that I want to sing its praises. I wasn't ever completely invested in these characters, and I never got scared. I wanted this book to scare me, I think that's my issue.

A well done asexual character. (I am loving this though. Two in one week? What? Where on earth were these books when I was a child? So glad to see it!) This one felt real, not contrived, especially with the way she reacted and her actions. I adored Zoey for her sexuality alone.

The Zoey/Marion thing was a little odd, but maybe I need to stop being such a purist.

So yeah, a lot of excellent factors here, it just didn't click for me. ( )