What an amazing take on Thelma and Louise! This felt like a great way to bring a great concept and movie to the next generation. The queer, YA reimagining made it all the better, and I found it to be such a great interpretation. It was really great to read through the journey.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love the premise of this book, the characters and the plot progression but unfortunately the writing was hard for me to click with. It's the worst thing, when you love a book but the writing style just wasn't right for you, it makes the rating and review stage that much harder, like yes I liked this but also no I'm not the biggest fan. I think for other people there wouldn't be a disconnect between writing and plot progression and I can definitely see why this would be the right book for someone else, it just wasn't the right book for me, sadly.

Trouble Girls is a very tough book, a real punch in the stomach. There is this intrinsic sense of tragedy that made it really difficult for me to read and there have been times when I wish I could put it down for a while. But it's so well written that I've been sucked each time into this tunnel of anger, helplessness and stupid choices that is the story of Trixie and Lux. A narration without pauses, without chapters, just a single long story.

You will probably be shocked too by how realistic and relevant the story is. What begins as a trip to the lake, a break from their messed up homes, becomes an escape from all that is wrong with a male chauvinist and patriarchal society like ours.

The book is filled with this sense of inevitability that wraps the reader like a blanket. Trixie and Lux ​​make many mistakes that don't depend on them, who are just two young girls, but on the society that surrounds them and that somehow back them into a corner, "forcing" them to make these mistakes. Yet the journey also changes them, they grow up, face their traumas, protect each other and fall in love.

But they are not interested in becoming a symbol of universal feminism, they prefer to leave it to people they recognize as braver than them. Trixie and Lux ​​are not made to start a movement like the MeToo, they don't want to be its face, they are more interested in those little moments of revenge, that sense of power that suddenly pervades them when they try to fight the male-dominant society, whether it's with a message on a forum or a flat tire. There are people who thrive only from those little moments all of their life.

The author has described "Trouble Girls" as a queer young adult re-imagining of "Thelma & Louise." This description is certainly an apt description, as both the book and the movie involve two friends going on a vacation, an ill-advised stop (a roadhouse in the movie, a college bar by two high school students in the book), the murder of an attempted rapist, fleeing the scene of the crime, a lengthy road trip as they attempt to escape the consequences of their actions, and commission of further crimes while on the run.

However, while the book takes a lot of inspiration from the movie, I think the book is more a story of self-discovery and coming of age. Trixie and Lux are best friends and Trixie has long been in love with Lux, but has never thought Lux felt the same way. There were incidents were Trixie thought something might happen between them and had glimmers of hope, but nothing materialized. However, during this road trip, their true feelings for each other are revealed, Trixie discovers that Lux loves her as more than just a best friend, and their relationship progresses to another level.

The girls find themselves in dangerous or questionable situations during their road trip, some of their own making, especially once they learn the identity of the dead college student, learn that he has been accused of sexually assaulting fellow college students, discover that a women's group on campus is using his death to pressure the university to take sexual assault allegations seriously, and discover online forums discussing the murder, some of which contain rather disgusting comments about women in general and the unidentified killers, which Trixie further inflames by adding comments under the name "TheTroubleGirls" attacking the trolls.

Lux's favorite possession is her 89 Canon camera and she is always taking pictures, finding interest in objects or sights for which Trixie cannot see the appeal. Trixie had a traumatic experience when she was younger that has made her, quite understandably, overly sensitive to male attention. Her father is dead and her mother is physically ill and has dementia, casting Trixie into a caregiver role as a teenager. Her life experiences have made her overly cautious and cause her to treat Lux, who can seem somewhat flighty and who can be overly emotional due to her own childhood trauma (her mother abandoning the family), as if she was irresponsible and needed protected from herself. During the road trip, Trixie withholds information, such as how quickly their funds are dwindling, from Lux, not wanting her to worry. However, Lux has more inner strength and wisdom than she is given credit for, and this becomes evident throughout the story. The experiences they confront force both girls to reconsider who they are and what they are capable of, revealing strengths and abilities they did not realize they had or that others had seen in them but they had not recognized in themselves.

This book deals with a lot of difficult, but timely, topics, and therefore may be a difficult read for some. However, it is a book well worth reading.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Trouble Girls is meant to be a tough read, and much of it was tricky to stomach. Trixie and Lux are lifelike, trauma-ridden teenagers whose lives are tantalizingly liminal until a road trip takes a lethal turn and they land up runaways from the law - and have to rush to reinvent themselves as their lifestyle becomes one of thievery, lies, run-down lodgings and run-ins with all manner of rowdy misfits and ruthless thugs they meet on the road.

Trouble Girls packs veracious punch as a restless portrayal of the reckless reasonings and ramifications of the power-drunkenness that possesses these girls previously so plugged into powerlessness. The guilt that gnaws at Trixie, her rankling rage, and venomously vindictive reactions to violence also ring vehemently true, and it's a real pity that for the most part, Lux is painted as a pale manifestation of a manic-pixie-dream-girl she prioritizes to protect, instead of a fleshed-out protagonist with fuller flaws and potential of her own. As far as their antics while they're footloose and adventuring with their fleeting freedom, Trixie and Lux's actions and commonly aggravating choices are attuned to their authenticity as characters. The ambiance of ferocious candidness is added to by the carefully cultivated facts of the assault-related accident that made them fugitives in the first, their credibly careful attitudes towards the authorities that chase them across America's counties and cities, and the frustrated, fragmented flow of Trixie's flashbacks of former abuse. The book is betrayed by its barely-there resolution, rushed and scrappy and stranding readers with no sense of safety or recognition that righteous blame has been served, but the story still rams home its blistering relevance and stifling rancour with hot-headed rectitude.

Thank you so much Netgalley and Wednesday books for providing an ARC of trouble girls in exchange for an honest review.

Trouble Girls is written by Julia Lynn Rubin and published through Wednesday Books. Releasing on June 1, 2021, this book has been marketed as a queer re-telling of the 1991 film Thelma and Louisa mixed with the aesthetics of the CW show Riverdale. To this, I would say it delivers.

We follow the story of two teen girls named Trixie and Lux who are best of friends. They have planned a road trip for one other and as opposed to it being a fun getaway, what ensues is a week filled with crime and passion. From the start, their characters are interesting with Trixie being someone who comes from a troubled family and Lux being an artsy, photography student. There is no time wasted in seeing these characters explore their dynamics outside of each other or their high school setting.

The pacing of this novel is fast and blurring. Considering its page length is only 272 pages, it is a breeze to get through. Rubin thrusts us straight into the action. Trixie and Lux find themselves sneaking into a dive bar in the next town over where Lux indulges herself to the attention of a local college boy. However, they both get more than they bargained for when this college student sexually assaults Lux. The scene is not graphic but is tense and real, capturing the innate fear and anxiety this particular type of violence causes. Trixie bears witness to it and stabs this college man, hurtling us on their cross-country road trip escaping their actions and the law.

There are a lot of themes being explored in Trouble Girls. Rubin showcases the horrors of sexualization and rape culture. Trixie's dialogue oftentimes feels like an info-dumb on how modern-day culture views young women as a trophy that can be collected and bragged about to others. Rubin has Trixie utilize the internet to send out cryptic messages on forum posts to detail how she does not feel sorry about what she has done to the man who sexually assaulted Lux. The forum posts felt organic in nature as I have seen, too many times, the lengths people will go to defend abusers.

While Trixie bears all the weight and guilt of the situation, Lux, unfortunately, suffers a great deal of characterization. Her status as a victim seems to exist as a reason for Trixie to be able to be a feminist heroine. Alongside that, Lux is the object of Trixie's affection and nothing more. Rubin writes Trouble Girls to have an open and honest queer relationship and it is wonderful to enjoy. However, as a reader, it is sad to see Lux be reduced as a side-kick to Trixie and not as equals. While Trixie's actions and dialogue serve to make Lux happy, Lux is (quite simply) along for the ride. The broader ideas about the consequences of power hierarchies between abusers and victims and college men and sexual assault could be stronger is Lux's characterization was written to the same caliber as Trixie's.

There is one distinct issue with the writing of Trouble Girls. Trixie frequently calls men who she would consider to be abusers, rude, or sexist "hogs". Rubin has Trixie call them hogs because all men that are these concepts are either big, sweat or gross looking. For a teenage protagonist, I can understand having your main character not understand the nuances of who can be a threat to your wellbeing. However, I do not like the idea of proposing that those who wield power and could harm others "look" a certain way. On a personal note, as a victim, sexual assault is terrifying because it can happen to anyone, at any moment, regardless of physical appearances.

Despite, these criticisms, Trouble Girls is an enjoyable debut novel that has a lot of momentum and spunk. Trixie is a likable protagonist that embodies a lot of the pent-up anger and disappointment many feel at the hands of a culture that still chooses to have sympathy for those who commit any sort of sexual violence. Trouble Girls delivers on its promise of a dark aesthetic through a cross-country road trip about finding yourself and attempting to take justice into your own hands.

Rating: 3.5/5

Trouble Girls is thought-provoking, road-trip thriller and queer love story about high schoolers turned fugitives is written great. I just wished it had epilogue but overall, it was well-written and I highly recommend it.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hard book to get into and not exactly my thing. Could appreciate the characters and the writing, but the plot was not my favorite. If you read wlw books and like books with a darker vibe, I would suggest a giving it a try, but not one of the bests Ive read.

Wow. Just wow. Trouble Girls is a shockingly heart-wrenching and unfortunately relatable book that I think every one can appreciate. The character and plot development was brilliant, and I found myself feeling both sad and happy for the main characters, Trixie and Lux. Throughout the whole story, the author expertly made me feel entirely uneasy, except for the very end. At the end, I felt relief, and I think that was the perfect way to end this story. The romance aspect of this book was definitely not lacking, and I think their relationship was really realistic. Trouble Girls was extremely well crafted and interesting, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Thelma and Louise, people who are interested in thrillers, and anyone who wants to read about the realistic effects of sexual assault and harassment.

this was something special - I really was blown away by the retelling elements, as a fan of the original. The relationship was tender and soft and intense in it's own way - I LOVED these two girls with all my heart. The author has an amazing ability to really build out settings, I felt totally sucked into the atmosphere!

This book was sapphic as hell and I am here for it. 3.5 stars.

Trouble Girls made me feel. And if you know me, you know that I'm dead inside, and potentially harboring a demon somewhere within my body that requires sustenance in the form of doughnuts every weekend. But this book made me feel.

First of all, the cover is gorgeous. That bisexual pink/blue/purple lighting, mMm. Yes. Second of all, I know that I haven't read a lot of books that are quite so brutal about murder and living on the run... following a murder.

Trouble Girls is a fun adventure of running away from consequences while discovering change, taking readers across the southern US as Trixie and Lux escape from their West Virginia origins. What starts off as a (moderately) innocent adventure to a bar on a college campus turns into a wild adventure of two teens on the run, trying to escape a fate that they're sure is going to befall them as a consequence of their actions. It's an exploration of having to grow up too fast, growing feelings, sexuality, and experimentation. It's been a while since I've read a book that felt a little gritty and dangerous, and this book was both of those things.

I enjoyed the feel of this book as a whole. The setting, the descriptions of the landscapes that they drove through, all coupled with the looming feeling of getting caught sets the stage for an intriguing novel, full of neon lights and blurred nights and set against the backdrop of sticky, sweet, sweltering heat. The constant danger encroaching on them as they race across the nation and gradually up the stakes -- set the stage with murder, then sprinkle in some other crimes as they make their way across the southern United States with a finite amount of cash and a car that could kick the bucket at any time.

I gave Trouble Girls three and a half stars because as much as I enjoyed the fast pace of the book, I found myself skimming a lot near the end. I would've loved a little bit past the actual end of the book, which I found to be abrupt and inconclusive, which is perhaps what the author was going for. But in light of this book focusing heavily around our two protagonists heading up a #MeToo movement, the conclusion of the book seemed to focus less on that and more on... well, anything else. I did love that this book took a movement and ran with it, but the ending left me a little empty. And remember, I'm already dead inside.

Cute book, though. Honestly, give me something with the bisexual lighting and murder girls and I'll read it.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a wild ride.

Our THELMA, is LUX, a girl who wants to escape from her hometown, her dad, and the heap of responsibilities he has given her in the aftermath of her mom going away.

Our LOUISE, is TRIXIE, a waitress who is trying to keep her and her mom safe. Her mom's mind has wandered and Judy, a fellow waitress, is the only one that looks out for Trixie.

The only constant in Trixie and Lux's lives are each other and survival. They decide to take a road trip weekend vacation to take a break from their lives. But they run into trouble and use violence to get out (if you've seen the movie, you know exactly what happens). As Trixie and Lux go on the run, they face running out of supplies and a host of other problems. Will they find the freedom they've been seeking? Or have they found a new prison?

This book is a nice retelling/reimagining of Thelma & Louise, at least in terms of the plot, as it follows a similar plot line, and focuses on girls trying to break free from oppressive circumstances. But, I think that this book may be a little darker than the original adventure, at least tone wise. It starts having a more Bonnie & Clyde vibe in some areas. As Lux & Tixie's relationship is frowned on in certain areas and the public sensationalized it. (Bonnie was married to another man during the Bonnie & Clyde crime spree, but she did love Clyde). A life of crime and being on the run is often romanticized, but this book doesn't. There's some good times, but mostly it's dark. However, there is light to be found in the midst of darkness. The light of finding a person that you belong with. The light of finding a place to belong. The light of making the best out of your circumstances. Then there's the darkness of men's actions and what they can get away with. This book doesn't shy away from the darkness, which makes the moments of light even more powerful.

All in all, this was an interesting read with elements of Thelma and Louise (and some Bonnie & Clyde) thrown in. It also tackles issues like rape (and how the men who force themselves on women get away), it focuses on the need for survival, and what people will do for love. Also, I loved how the title tied into this book. Overall, it was well-written and the author's writing style was great. It was a little more dark than my normal reading, but overall, this was a good read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books / St. Martin's Press for this e-ARC! I really appreciated the opportunity to read this.

TW: sexual harassment, rape, child molestation (implied), PTSD, domestic abuse

**Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Me: uuggghh I'm tired of reboots
Also me: LOVES this book

THIS IS HOW REBOOTS SHOULD BE DONE.

This book was an outstanding read. The characters were so engaging and I loved to see them interact with each other. I loved how the portrayals of Trix and Lux as young women seemed semi-realistic to me. Most everyone has had to deal with gross and disgusting men before.

I also loved the wlw rep! It has been too long since I have read a really good book with a wlw relationship front and center.

I will keep an eye out for this author!

Very well written, enjoyed the plot of the story, was so much better than what I expected. I felt I was right there with Lux and Trixie.
I enjoyed the way this story was structured and the characters were easy to like. I couldn’t help but be entranced by the way it was written. It’s a page turner.

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through NetGalley. Content warning for violence against women, including rape and sexual assault. Caution: this review contains some vague spoilers.)

"Shit like this is why I trust no man. You can’t ever tell who’s a hog or not just by looking at their face. Better to assume they all are."

It's the end of junior year, and lifelong BFFs Trixie Denton and Lux Leesburg are planning a road trip to Fever Lake for the long weekend. But their plans go sideways when they make a pit stop at a local Pinesborough State (West Virginia) University bar. Trixie walks into the bathroom, just in time to catch a "bearded frat hog" sexually assaulting Lux. Trixie stabs him in the gut - and then in the crotch, for good measure - and the pair flee into the night.

Convinced that the cops won't believe that Trixie acted in self defense, the girls hatch a half-baked plan to keep on running: leave their constricting, hardscrabble lives behind for some place better - Austin, Santa Fe, or California. Disappear into the American West, as it were (or as if this was the 1860s).

Only problem is, the authorities quickly link their disappearance to the murder of Bryce Grimaldi, "son of local Pinesborough State University president, Weston Grimaldi," one of the richest and most well-respected old money men in the area. While his frat brothers rage and mourn the senseless death of an upstanding college student, a promising young man with his whole life ahead of him, the women unlucky enough to share Bryce's orbit paint a different picture: Bryce was a well-known sexual predator (surprise! /s). As Trixie and Lux traverse their way across the United State, a #MeToo movement ignites on the Pinesborough State campus.

As much as I wanted to love the fuck out of TROUBLE GIRLS, the story just fell flat for me. For starters, the writing was ... not my bag? This feels like an unpolished first draft at best.

The story is told from Trixie's perspective, and her voice just rubs me the wrong way (I love pie as much as Dean Winchester, but she uses pie as a metaphor entirely too often). I never felt like I got to know Trixie, or at least not beyond her childhood trauma (which explains the whole "hog men" thing, btw). Trixie is more or less defined by two things: her past sexual abuse, and her love for Lux. And Lux? She has pink hair and a vintage Canon camera, and that about sums up her personality.

In an ideal rape revenge romcom, I would have been rooting for these two crazy girls to get together, but it's difficult to muster up excitement for a romance - even a queer one! - when you couldn't care less about its participants. It was meh at best.

They also make a lot of outrageously stupid decisions - and no, I don't include running among them (the justice system is anything but for sexual assault survivors, and Weston Grimaldi and his $$$$ further stack the deck against our antiheroes). Rather, they waste their small reserve of cash on crap no one needs, like costume jewelry and touristy trinkets. They zero in on California as their escape, as though it's in a different country (or parallel universe) than where they murdered a man.

And so much of the poor decision making is fueled by their dysfunctional relationship, and Trixie's almost pathological desire not to upset Lux. The whole thing is uncomfortable and even embarrassing at times. Lux comes off like a petulant child; sometimes it feels as if the pair are treating their flight as an extended road trip.

I'm a sucker for a good rape revenge story, but TROUBLE GIRLS ain't it. The marketing team compares it to THELMA & LOUISE - but TROUBLE GIRLS lacks the tragic, fuck the world denouement of THELMA & LOUISE, ending not in a bang but a whimper. Likewise, it's missing the interrogation of rape culture and compelling protagonist that make Mindy McGinnis's THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES one of my all-time favorite rape revenge stories.

I kept waiting for TROUBLE GIRLS to find its LEGEND OF BILLIE JEAN moment - especially as Rubin teases us with scenes of Trixie and Lux following the media coverage of their case, and occasionally chiming in on the message boards themselves. To wit:

"But know there are girls like us, waiting in the wings. Girls with knives on their fingers and razor blades for teeth. Girls, like me, who will gut you like a fish the minute you try and lay a hand on one of us ever again. You won’t know who it is until it happens. By then, it’ll be too late, the knife too deep in your intestines, the smile too bright on the girl’s face."

I'm not alone in thinking this is a battle cry, right? But for all her piss and vinegar, all her “Let’s go light some shit on fire" posturing, the most Trixie can manage is...stomping on some Confederate lawn flags and slashing the tires of a group of racist bikers. Like, babe, you're a hunter now! Let's go bag some hog men!

Even as she realizes that she started something BIG, Trixie doesn't even have the courtesy of engaging with the Intersectional Feminist Union directly - you know, those black and brown girls who she left to fight the Grimaldis and hog boys on their own. At least have their backs with an online confirmation that Bryce was a rapist! Seems like that would have been a little more useful than empty threats posted on Neanderthal message boards.

I don't know, there's just so much wrong with this story. Chalk it up as my first major disappointment of 2021.

If you're looking for a good rape revenge book, might I suggest:
- THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES by Mindy McGinnis
- THE SWALLOWS by Lisa Lutz
- THEY NEVER LEARN by Layne Fargo
- THE NOWHERE GIRLS by Amy Reed
- VIGILANTE by Kady Cross
- & of course, Stieg Larsson's MILLENNIUM series.

A genuine thrill from start to finish, full of teenage girl anger -- would have loved to read this when I was 16/17.

I received a copy of this book from Wednesday Books and Netgalley.

So I finished Promising Young Woman last night and was deep in my feels so I cracked this one open and pretty much finished it in one sitting.

This book is entrancing and so believable..

The novel is billed as a queer YA re-imagining of Thelma & Louise, but I don't know that I'd go that far. Trixie and Lux originally set out for a weekend camping trip, but things go horribly wrong. However, instead of the fun cross-country ride of T&L, Trixie and Lux hit problem after problem in their quest to survive. They eventually realize they love each, and it's that love that keeps them going, despite numerous bad decisions. They spark a #MeToo type of movement, and fan the flames with two internet posts signed The Trouble Girls. I liked that the novel didn't make their running look fun, but much more desperate and realistic. The posts as the Trouble Girls speak to all of us.

"When Trixie picks up her best friend Lux for their weekend getaway, she’s looking to escape for a little while, to forget the despair of being trapped in their dead-end Rust Belt town and the daunting responsibility of caring for her ailing mother. The girls are packing light: a supply of Diet Coke for Lux and her ‘89 Canon to help her frame the world in a sunnier light; half a pack of cigarettes for Trixie that she doesn’t really smoke, and a knife—one she’s just hanging on to for a friend—that she’s never used before.

But a single night of violence derails their trip and will forever change the course of the girls’ lives, as they go from ordinary high schoolers to wanted fugitives. Trying to stay ahead of the cops and a hellscape of media attention, the girls grapple with an unforgiving landscape, rapidly diminishing supplies, and disastrous decisions at every turn. As they are transformed by the media into the face of a #MeToo movement they didn’t ask to lead and the road before them begins to run out, Trixie and Lux realize that they can only rely on each other, and that the love they find together is the one thing that truly makes them free."

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
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Trouble Girls by Julia Lynn Rubin is such a great story! I loved everything about it, one of the best books of the year!

I felt this book picked up in the second half, but overall the pacing seemed all over the place. It was an enjoyable book, and I appreciated the relationship dynamics between the two main characters. The characters were real, they were gritty, and at times I felt myself feeling very empathetic towards them, and at other times I couldn't stand them. I loved the message this book had, the way it really highlighted what women and girls often go through, who the public tends to believe and why, and what little recourse many survivors often have. However, like I mentioned previously, the pacing was off for me, and I struggled with feeling fully immersed in this book for the majority of my read. Overall I recommend this book and there is certainly a lot of good material to pull out for further analyses and/or education purposes.