So, I kind of read this one blind. I picked it up because a) I loved the cover and b) the quote “feminist Lord of the Flies”.

This book is kind of amazing.

You’ve got a pandemic here, but it’s unlike any you’ve read before. And our girls are so very fierce and even when faced with horrors beyond belief, remain true and bold. I loved them.

The book definitely has an edge and the author doesn’t pull punches. Fair warning for those who like things soft and pretty.

Such and unusual and compelling book. I can’t wait to see what the author does next!

Ok, before I begin with this review let me go ahead and state the obvious. That freaking cover is beyond gorgeous! Definitely one of my favorite covers of 2019 so far. Ok, now to the review portion.
This book is described as a feminist “Lord of the Flies”( one of my favorites) and while I do get that sentiment, it is also had a few elements that reminded me of Michael Grant’s “ Gone” series which I absolutely loved as well. Here’s the blurb:
“It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her.
It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.
But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.”
Rory Power has a wonderful way with words. I was transported to the island almost as soon as I began reading . Great worldbuilding.This book was creepy. Definitely made my skin crawl and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I won’t say anything about the actual story itself, but I will tell you that it is told in two alternating views. Hetty and Byatt. I loved the friendship theme that was evident throughout the story. I found myself rooting for a certain pairing. There was such a strong message within the three hundred and sixty-eight pages of this story.
This would have been a five-star read however, I did have a few issues with it. The first was the ending. It kind of left me hanging in the balance. I’m curious to see if there will be a sequel but I would have loved a few more chapters to wrap things up a bit more. I also felt like the backstory of it all could have been more detailed. Lastly, I believe that we have only just begun to scratch the surface of the three main characters. There’s so much more I need to know! *hint, hint for that sequel*
Overall, I absolutely enjoyed this read and look forward to reading more from Rory Power in the future. She’s in a lane all by herself and really adds a freshness to the YA genre.
Trigger warnings include talk of suicide, suicide, animal killings, violence, gore, body mutilation, starvation and more. An extensive list of the trigger warnings can be found on the author’s website, https://itsrorypower.com/wilder-girls/.

* I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

Wilder Girls is gorgeously grotesque while also highlighting the strength and resilience of girls and women, both metaphorically and physically, considering how often the healthcare system falls short. This book is a dystopian representation of all of that, and that's precisely what makes it stand out, what makes it special. The suspense kept me glued to it, kept this story on my mind even when I had to rip myself from it. Wilder Girls is a vital, important tale.

First of all, this cover is one of my all time favorites. Absolutely stunning. I thought this book was really good and well written. I love the boarding school aspect. I wish we had gotten to know the girls a little bit more before all the action was taking place, I kind of had a hard time really feeling with the characters. Overall though, I enjoyed it. It was captivating and creepy and kept me guessing. The ending was a little underwhelming and anticlimactic in my opinion. Everything leading up to the end was really exciting and kept me on the edge of my seat and then the end end was a bit too open-ended for me and left me with a lot of questions. Which I’m sure a lot of people love that and will really love this book. I personally like a little more to be answered at the end. Along with everything being exciting and having really good descriptions, once we got to the end it felt really rushed. All of a sudden they found Byatt and got her and it was over. It took so much just to get to her that once they found her it felt anticlimactic. The atmosphere this book gave off was amazing--really creepy, and suspenseful with good descriptions, I felt I was able to picture everything really well and almost feel like I was in this story with them.

I was really looking forward to this book, unfortunately it was for me. The plot was super intriguing, but I never fully grasped how this whole illness came to be, I wish there would have been more backstory. With all that being said, I’m sure this book will be widely loved, it just didn’t work for me personally.

OMG what an intense book. This book was incredibly creepy, but yet I couldn't stop reading! The Tox is a disease that is infecting both the teachers and girls of the Raxter School, which makes Ebola look tame. This book was definitely dark, but I was utterly addicted.

Will edit for full review closer to pub date.

Ok, I kind of loved this book! There was action, adventure, and a mysterious disease that's just demolishing the girls at Raxter. I loved the imagery that Rory Power was able to get across and it really just added to the flow of the story. Also, I'd be lying if I said the gorgeous cover didn't play a part in my wanting to read this.

It's a little mature for my K-6 students in my elementary library but I would absolutely recommend to any YA lovers out there - especially if you love a good Sci-Fi with some hardcore females taking the lead.

Wilder Girls is for readers looking for a female driven Lord of the Flies. Readers will be hooked with the poetic writing and creepy setting. The story follows girls living on an island 18 months after their boarding school was put under quarantine due to a strange and mysterious disease. If you enjoy YA survival thrillers, I highly recommend you check out Wilder Girls on July 9th!

Holy shit.
I was provided this e-arc at no cost to myself via Netgalley in return for an honest review.


*spoilerish*



This would be a 5 star read if it hadn't ended on a goddamn cliffhanger for a *STAND ALONE BOOK.

*pet peeve alert*
But man it was so well written. Beautiful and super disturbing imagery. Pro-tip, don't read this while eating.
Wilder Girls takes place at an all girls school situated on it's own island. During a school year, everyone begins to get sick. Different stages of illness/mutations. The question is where did it come from, can it be cured, and is anyone going to save them? I can absolutely see the comparison to Lord of the Flies. There is also a light underlying queer girls storyline, which I absolutely LOVED.

Wilder Girls had me hooked by the grit and horror of the girls surviving with the Tox.

QUOTE: My first flare-up blinded my right eye and fused it shut, and I thought that was all, until something started to grow underneath.

The cover drew me but the story is one I’ll remember. Every day the quarantined girls of Raxter School stare down death by starvation, the animals in the forest, each other, and even scarier—themselves. We see things through the eyes, raw emotions, and actions of Hetty, Byatt and Reese, a trio of friends, who are loyal to each other despite the secrets they each keep. At first the girls have settled into a comfortable routine of dealing with their circumstances until a conspiracy is uncovered and they become desperate for answers. The last part of the book picks up as they take new risks, discover new and even more horrible information, and the ending…I loved and hated it at the same time (no spoilers). #WilderGirls #NetGalley

Thanks to Random House Children’s Delacorte Press and NetGalley for this arc.
Content Warnings (mostly referenced by the author herself) and is a bit SPOILERY:
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Graphic Violence, Body Horror, Gore, Character/Parental/Animal Death (animals are not pets), Behavior/Descriptive Language in the form of Cussing/Self-Harm/Sensuality, Chemical Gassing, Suicide, and Non-Consensual Medical Treatment.

First of all, I want to say that this was probably one of the most original stories I've read in a long time. I was struck from the beginning by how different the story was, and also now having finished it, how well it was executed.

So what's it about?

Best friends Hetty, Byatt, and Reese live at Raxter school on an island, where they've been quarantined after the entire school came down with a mysterious disease called the Tox, which has already ravaged all of the rest of the life on the island. The girls of the school are desperately trying to survive on extremely limited food and despite the mutated monsters of the island while they wait for the Navy and the CDC to find a cure.

That's only the premise, but I'm not actually going to get into the plot at all because I absolutely refuse to spoil anything. But let me just tell you, shit hits the fan.

What did I think?

The writing style is a tad unusual, but it reminded me a lot of my favorites of my own writing (which I can never really maintain for more than a few paragraphs and somehow Rory Power made happen for a whole book). I can see that it might put some readers off, but I absolutely loved it.

We're thrown into the action from the beginning, which is odd for a story about an infection. The disease has already come, it's already infected everyone at Raxter before the book even begins, which is another thing I loved. It might be more obvious to begin when the disease first arrives, but Wilder Girls takes the road less traveled and it's excellent. We have to decipher relationships between characters that have years of trauma-laden history, which is another thing that could have gone wrong, could have been too confusing, but was AMAZING. I just...I'm blown away by this book, honestly.

The main thing you should know about this book is that it's hella queer, and features many flawed but wonderful female characters and friendships.

Also, the author has posted trigger warnings on her website, they're linked in the summary of this book. But hell, i'll link them here too... https://itsrorypower.com/wilder-girls/. The main ones I remember: lots of gore, animal and human death, suicide, and self harm. Please check out her site as well, for any I forgot!

This book was so INTENSE! I feel like it's one of those books I could read 20 times and get something new out of it every time. I absolutely loved Hetty and how badass she was. Byatt was super flawed, and she knew it, and honestly I would love to know more about her past, but that's just because I'm nosy! Reese is the only other main character that we don't get a POV from and man, I really want one! She's just a very interesting character!

I don't really want to get too much into the plot because I think this is a book you should go into knowing as little as possible. But it's intense, and it's nonstop, and you will ask A LOT of questions while reading it!

My only complaint is maybe a spoiler so LOOK AWAY! [ It's left very open ended at the end and I don't think we get nearly as many answers as I would have liked. That being said, I'm also okay with how it ended. (hide spoiler)]

Anyway, I highly recommend this book for fans of mysteries, horror, and paranormal books. Interestingly enough, I'm not big on any of those genres and I still really loved it. Also, if you can read it with a friend, you should! Because you're gonna want someone to talk to about it!

Gorgeous cover. But, a cover does not make a story and I should learn to consider that when I read books. (I read this book in eleven days. ELEVEN!)

Unfortunately, I did not connect as I hoped I would, especially with the main character, Hetty. I did enjoy Bhatty's chapters, though. They moved fast and heart definitely illustrated themselves through each of them. Sadly, Hetty's chapters came off as confusing. (I read an ARC so hopefully it'll fix itself before publication). Some of hers moved incredibly slow with confusing and overwritten prose.

Along with its cover and Bhatty's chapters, I did like seeing a bisexual character, Hetty, who actually said she was bi.

However, those three things could not inspire any more than two stars. It was okay, just not great, in my opinion. Covers do fool.

Lord of the Flies meets Annihilation meets a teen boarding school drama (forgive me, the name of one doesn't immediately come to mind...). Featuring extra creepy woods, a mysterious disease, and queer young girls.

The writing was a particular favorite aspect of this book - Rory Power really knows how to write poetic and dark descriptions of nature. I'm not a local to the Northeast or any part of any country that has those creepy, foreboding woods haunting in the background, but Power makes me feel like I am. As much as I want to avoid sounding like a junior-year English teacher, the forest really is its own character in this book, as alive as any of the protagonists.

The characters were a little bit on the weak side for my taste - I just couldn't connect to any of them. The central tie of the story is really how they connect with each other - how they, especially Hetty, will fight to save the lives of those she loves. The solidarity of their friendships was admirable.

Overall, if you're into YA survival thrillers with strong female characters at the center, you'll love Wilder Girls.

I’ve been excited for this book since I heard about it. Getting the chance to read it and find out it’s so close to home to me made it even better.
This story really lived up to the hype and perfectly captured what living in Maine is like unlike many books that try to capture just how the state is, a mix of spooky and sad tourists destination that doesn’t leave much for those living here. The story follows a school of Girls who have been infected with a strange illness. A sort of setting you can only ever expect to happen in Maine.
The characters are full of depth and growth. Byatt is sort of a mystery for most of the story only to find out she’s not exactly a great person, but Hetty makes her better. Reese fell close to home for me, the outsider of the group who seems cold and uncaring but actually is big hearted and cares too much. And Hetty is the person who brings them together. She’s loyal to a fault and loves her friends. She will do anything for them. She grows a lot but still keeps the basics of the characteristics. She’s fierce and wild. They all are.
The story itself is timely. The Tox being a parasite that was locked away in glaciers and ice that’s melting due to climate change, starting on Raxter, giving to the fact the state was carved out by them. It’s exactly as haunting as it sounds and something that could occur to us in a sense. It leaves the reader chilled to the core.
All in all the story is great with only minor flaws. Is inclusive and written well with the queer characters. I read it near obsessively as soon as I was approved for it.

When I started Wilder Girls I wasn't quite sure what genre it would be, mostly because I didn't pay much attention to the synopsis. I saw the weird cover, read some weird descriptions, and knew it was going to be a book for me!

Hetty is a student at Raxter School for Girls, along with her best friends Byatt and Reese. A year and a half ago the Tox hit the school, killing off teachers and afflicting students with horrible symptoms. The agreement they have with the government is that they maintain quarantine on their island within the school's fence and they'll continue to receive supplies. Hetty is chosen as one of the girls who ventures outside the fence to pick up supplies at the dock, soon after Byatt goes missing, and things unravel from there.

I loved the characters in this book and the relationships between them! Hetty was brave and fiercely loyal and I adored her friendship with Byatt. The romance was amazing and real and I loved seeing a more realistic exploration of a romantic relationship during such a brutal situation instead of the normal "they stopped to kiss" during life or death moments in a lot of YA fantasy. It was beautiful and heart-wrenching and I loved it.

Although the characters were amazing, where Wilder Girls REALLY shines is its worldbuilding. The island and the school are creepy and created a feeling of claustrophobia even though it takes place on what feels like a large island. I loved the idea of the world outside the fence and not knowing what was out there, but the school was equally amazing. I can easily picture this whole world of weirdness and I love when an author is able to paint such a clear picture. This is absolutely my kind of book!

I don't know if I'd truly consider this horror, but I was sufficiently creeped out from the very first page. The Tox was horrifying, but what a fantastic story! I will admit that parts of this book did drag and I can understand why some readers might get bored with the descriptions of the daily lives of the girls at Raxter, but I didn't mind it. Seeing the day in and day out of the abandoned school helped to build the feeling of unease and made me feel that much more shocked when the twists started being revealed. And there were a lot of them!

While reading this I was reminded of Annihilation, which is my one of my favorite movies (no, I haven't read the book). That isn't to say that this isn't unique, because this book is definitely that! But I Wilder Girls gave me the same (amazing) feeling of weirdness and unease that Annihilation did and I loved it. If you're a fan of weird, twisty books, this is for you! I can't wait to see what this author writes next!

Well here's something I never thought I'd never say, this book should have been at least another 100 pages longer.

The premise for this book is really exciting and the cover is fabulous but the execution is sorely lacking.

The story picks up some year+ after a remote school for girls is ravaged with a devastating virus and subsequently quarantined.

Notice how I said "picks up". Very little backstory is ever given about the onset of the virus. How it all started and progressed leading up to the quarantine and beyond. For me, the most compelling part of the story was omitted.

This book features three best friends that have seemingly settled into this horrific existence as much as could be expected, even going so far as finding some appreciation for their newly found strengths and Independence. Again, some history of the events that lead the girls to this point, including a more in-depth storyline as to what brought them to the island in the first place would have been nice.

When one of the girls goes missing after a flare-up in her illness, the other two set on a course to find out what happened to her only to discover that all is not as it seems. Shocker.

The reader is never enlightened as to what the cause of or how this illness started. Why did it only occur on this island? Why does it manifest in such different ways from person to person?

Basically nothing is ever revealed, from the history to the present, making it hard to connect with this story and it's characters.

The abrupt ending is perplexing. Will there be a sequel? More importantly, can we get a prequel? It seems the author forgot to include the entire backstory from this book.

I would be interested in reading a second book because the ending leads you to believe that the next chapter could be a thrilling one. Additionally, the author has a real flair for atmospheric world building and what I did learn of the characters was fascinating.

And who knows, maybe I'll get that history after all.


2.5 Stars rounded up ⭐⭐⭐


*** I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ***

First of all, I love the cover. It's like a surrealist work of art. Otherwise, Wilder Girls was not my type of book. I like dark, but this one was a bit too dark, mostly because it's grotesque in a way that is unexpected. The yuck factor is high, so I skimmed through parts of the book. The overall picture was too overwhelming for me, unfortunately. The trigger warnings are legit, so proceed with caution if this applies to you. Although Wilder Girls didn't suit me, it's a matter of taste. Readers suited for the genre will likely enjoy the book. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Raxter School for Girls has been under quarantine for 18 months. A sickness, which the girls have named the Tox, spread quickly killing many of the girls and leaving the rest with mutations. Forced to survive on the limited rations the Navy delivers, most of the girls have become wild and deadly, just like their surroundings. The promise of a cure and their bonds to each other is the only things keeping them in check but when those things become threatened, the girls will stop at nothing to survive.

As soon as I read the premise for Wilder Girls, I knew I had to read it. This is one of those novels that just feels as if it was written specifically for me. The girls who have survived the Tox have been quarantined to their boarding school in Maine. Hetty, one of the main characters has been left with only one eye. Her bond with her roommates Byatt and Reese are the only things in her life that keep her from going crazy. When Byatt goes missing Hetty and Reese decide leave the protection of Raxter to bring her back and in doing so discover dangerous secrets. This was one of those novels I didn't want to put down and I can't wait to add this to my library when it releases. A fresh and exciting horror novel with strong female protagonists and a mysterious body mutating contagion...a must read!

Because this cover is freaking everything!!

Holy Sh*t Snacks!

I need more answers right now! Where is book two; geez I just finish this book and need another one. I mean there has to be another one because of that ending!

So, this is told through two POV's; Hetty & Byatt. But there they have another best friend Reese who is very prominent in the book.

All of these girls live at the Raxter School For Girls. The school is on an island but it seems to be a fairly big island unless I missed something while reading so fast to get to the next page! The island has every type of wild animal on it as well and yes, that's a thing in this book.

The book doesn't lead up to the Quarantine, we learn about that in bits and pieces through-out the book. As you can read from the summary, there is a disease/virus (whatever) called Tox. Teachers and some of the girls have been killed by it. But there are those that have just been changed by it. What the hell is it? I know some of what it is but I'm not telling you. It makes me squirm though.

There are certain groups of girls that are picked to be on a team to go out and get supply boxes that are dropped for the girls from some peeps. You know, clothes, food, medicine, etc. But there are some really weird things going on. Now I haven't read the book "ANNIHILATION" but I have seen the movie and it does remind me a bit of that movie.

One day something happens to Byatt and she suddenly disappears from medical. She's just gone?! So Hetty sets out on a mission to find her along with Reese and they find some really messed up stuff.

There are a lot of bad things that happen to the girls in the school, but I will leave that for you to read about. Also, I have already pre-ordered this book!

*Thank you to Netgalley for a digital copy of the book for review.*