It's Stepford Wives meets Handmaid's Tale meets Westworld. Something is amiss at an all-girls private school and star student Philomena and her girlfriends are on the path to unraveling the dark secrets behind the school and it's private investors. The mystery here was pretty straightforward and kept me engaged as a reader. Though I had an idea where everything was going, the girls were well-written and engaging and you were rooting for them to discover their true selves and seek retribution against those in charge of the school. Definitely provocative and raised some interesting questions about agency and power dynamics.

I was able to read an advance copy of this book. I was particularly interested to as the author will be at TeenBookCon this year. The book is built around a troubling but fascinating premise.

As a reader, I felt like my awakening was very gradual, at times even slow, not unlike the girls at Innovation. This could only be a result of planned and purposeful writing.

Hidden deep within this books are deep issues such as gender roles, misogyny, domestic abuse and parental abandonment. Even now as I think about the book, I’m sure I could find even more.

As a librarian, I’d put a copy in my high school fiction section but based on my student population, I don’t know how many would read it.

Note: This book is categorized as a Netgalley review. I received a free e-copy of this book from Netgalley and Simon & Schuster in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

I requested a copy of this book from Netgalley for two reasons: one, that cover looked delightfully creepy and it was billed as The Handmaid’s Tale meets Westworld. I have only seen trailers for Westworld, but it looks really engaging and any book blurbed as “The Handmaid’s Tale meets something” is going to be some sort of feminist dystopia, so I was in.

I read my copy in two days, but unfortunately, the book failed to deliver on its premise.

TW: abuse, hints of sexual assault, violence, manipulation, language, sexism, graphic descriptions of blood.

Mena attends The Innovations Academy, an elite, all-girls boarding school. Housed in an old technology factory, Mena and her fellow students are taught how to be beautiful and well-behaved. They ordered to dress to certain specifications that suit their features and take classes in “interior design” and “growing a beautiful and prosperous garden.” They are always supervised by the ever-watchful Guardians.

But when one of the students starts acting weird and another suddenly vanishes from the school, Mena starts to question the all-male faculty. Maybe Mena isn’t there for the reasons she thinks she is. As the girls dig deeper into Innovations Academy, they learn that they are far more powerful than they have been taught to believe.

So, you’ve got your typical feminist dystopia requirements—naive girls oppressed/under the control of men. The teachers, doctors, and Guardians of Innovations Academy are all men. There is only one female present, and she is married to one of the faculty members and praised as a featured alumna of the school. The female students do not question this. At all. This unwavering trust in what they are told doesn’t really make sense until the last few chapters of the book, which I don’t want to spoil.

In general, I had a really hard time believing that these girls went along with everything, until the inciting event that spurred their rebellion—reading a poem. That felt a little bit far fetched. One poem (and not a great poem at that) can overturn years of essential brainwashing? I just don’t buy that.

The writing is really easy to follow, which is awesome. I read it in a couple of days, and while I had issues with the believability of the plot, I did want to finish it and see how it ended. This isn’t an innovative dystopian novel by any means and is definitely riding the wave of feminist dystopias that are being published lately. The book is left rather open-ended, so I would expect a sequel in the next few years.

If you’re looking for something chill and comfortable, check this out from your library. If you want a classic, established feminist dystopia, check out The Handmaid’s Tale again, or pre-order the sequel.

Summary
This follows a group of young woman at a prestigious boarding school designed to teach them how to be the "best of society" - beautiful, proper, and obedient. But the school has dark secrets and Mena and her friends are determined to discover them, and in turn, who they really are.

Overview
This is a little hard to describe without getting mildly spoiler-y. And I recommend going into this with as little information as possible! There aren't any blatant spoilers below, but some of my thoughts may give you ideas about the reveals.

It feels like the YA love child between Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and The Handmaids Tale by Margret Atwood. It's definitely not going to be for everyone - especially considering those are both polarizing books. But I loved the themes in here.

HUGE trigger warnings for abuse and sexism. And this gets pretty graphic so if blood makes you queasy, you may want to avoid this one.

What I Loved
1. The friendship between these girls was so well done. At no point was there any cattiness or competition. These girls supported each other through thick and thin. It was such a beautiful representation of strong, supportive friendships.
2. This did a really good job of building suspense. This book isn't a thriller by any means but the setting and lack of information give so much suspense to the story. For a lot of the book you're questioning everything.
3. The themes in here were fantastic. Not only was this a feminist story but it also brings to question what makes us human. It's one of my personal favorite themes, so I may be slightly biased, but I thought it was really well done.

What I Didn't Love
1. The reveal became pretty obvious around the half way point (and I had guessed it even earlier). So the big reveal wasn't as shocking as it could have been.
2. The ending did feel a little heaving handed. And it is extremely open ended! I have no idea if there is a sequel coming but there are a lot of loose ends left.

Overall I flew through this story. I was so captivated by the world and trying to figure out all the threads. And it covers some of my all-time favorite themes. I definitely recommend checking this out!

Thank you NetGalley for the e-ARC of Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young. What is really going on at a girls boarding school where all the girls are beautiful and well behaved? The story will keep you engrossed until the end; with many twists along the way.

Absolutely gripping. Could not put this book down. The story was fascinating and the writing *chef's kiss*. I love Suzanne Young for her Program series and was not disappointed in this new work.

Cannot wait for her next one!

I loved this book! The full review will be posted March 15, 2019 at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

I usually don’t read YA books for pleasure, but more to get ideas for my classroom and students. This one, however, was amazing! I would love to read other books by this author. I was quickly sucked into Mena’s world and didn’t want to put the book down until it ended. I will be recommending this book to my students as I know they will this story but also that catchy book cover!