So I dnf'ed this one. I didn't like the material that was mentioned in this book. I felt really uncomfortable when one character mentioned conversion camps, and she could see that it made the other main character uncomfortable, she kept pushing it, and kept like trying to make it okay that they existed, and that it was a good thing to go to one. I hated that. And it was so obvious that the other character was super uncomfortable, but the girl kept pushing it and pushing it. And it pissed me off. So definitely trigger warnings for conversion camp discussion, and also for sexual assault, and stabbing. I'm sure the girl who pushed the conversion camp stuff was supposed to look like she was a horrible person, (maybe) but still. Nope. nope. nope to that.

.3.5 Stars rounded up to 4

Trigger Warning: attempted sexual abuse, drug use

Trixie and Lux are on the run. What they planned as a weekend getaway becomes an across the country run from authorities after a violent encounter at a bar turns deadly.

This was a really intense story. I enjoyed the first part of the book but struggled with the ending. I seem to have a hard time with books that don't feel believable in the end. I don't feel like these two teenage girls could've gotten away with all that they did and that took me out of the story. I even stopped reading at one point and almost didn't go back.

I think the reasons for why they were scared and freaked out were valid and I do believe there is a stigma around sexual assault and people not believing it to have happened. I think the story would've been better for me if they didn't run. Maybe it's all the Law & Order: SVU I watch and the importance of speaking up for your truth that made this one hard for me in the end.

Overall I think there were some really good elements of the story that are important to portray in a young adult novel but at the same time I think there were other areas that could've been explored more.

This is a well written story of teenage angst exploding into violence. The inexorable expansion of crimes from these fugitive girls is heartbreaking yet fascinating. The idea of a pair of friends ending up on the road in flight from authorities, family, and ultimately themselves is not new, but its exploration in this book is well done.

<b>CWs:</b> domestic abuse, sexual assault, past child sexual abuse, conversation about conversation therapy

Trixie and Lux had planned a much needed weekend getaway. They were going to have fun and get a breather from their life that was starting to feel suffocating. When Lux gets assaulted by a man at a bar and Trixie kills him, their fun weekend getaway turns to time going on the run.

I was so excited for this. For the power that this book could hold and I was left bored and upset with the conversations they were having. This didn’t turn out to be the book that I thought it was going to be.

The writing I really struggled with. As I was reading, I couldn’t help but feel as if this was a published detailed outline. Everything happened so quickly and felt so glazed over, that I was wondering if the author had planned to go back and add more detail or even just transitions between scenes, but realized she could get away without having too. It just felt so disjointed and unclean that it was distracting at times.

Plot wise I… I really have to question the plot. The major turning point (Trixie killing the man) happened and it felt rather glossed over in the process? Then Trixie and Lux were on the run, but there was no tension or excitement. They were running around, driving without a care in the world, occasionally finding out about how the investigation was going and panicking, but it was right back to the ‘oh whatever’ attitude within moments.

Towards the end of the book, there were talks and conversations about rape culture and fighting misogyny, but we are getting it all through what Trixie and Lux see on the news. It just… what I feel like could have been a powerful moment fell flat. It didn’t feel like it had the depth and care to it that it deserves, or at least that I was hoping to see.

For being promoted as a sapphic book as well, that fell incredibly short for me. Trixie and Lux had no chemistry. I didn’t fell like Trixie actually liked Lux and I’m really not sure if Lux did either. They have known each other for a long time, but the way they talked it was something I forgot more often than not.

This is a book that I think could have been great with more depth to everything, but instead this fell flat.

I loved the premise of the book but sadly for me, it didn't live up to the Thelma and Louis vibe, mostly because the characters weren't that interesting. Also the fact that the book wasn't broken up into chapters or at least scene breaks, often made it jarring when you transitioned from one location to another without a proper transition.

This book wasn't the worst thing I ever read, but there was something about the writing that was so distracting I couldn't enjoy it. Although I don't usually mind when dialogue is written how the characters would pronounce the words (for example, saying "em'" instead of "them"), it's a whole other story when the whole thing is written that way. I just couldn't ignore it and it made me bump it down to a 2 star read.

This novel is quite a lot like Thelma and Louise for the YA audience. The book's main characters, Trixie and Lux are planning a trip. All is going well until, like in Thelma and Louise, a rape is prevented by stopping the perpetrator, permanently. They do not find out the perpetrator died until they are far from the scene. Once they do find out, their faces are all over the internet and television. They are running for their lives.
The book does start off slowly, but once the crime happens, the pace picks up quite a bit.
If you are a Thelma and Louise fan, this is your book! I liked it quite a bit. The ending to the book is heartbreaking, but not as much as the Thelma and Louise ending,
I would recommend.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely love that we're getting more and more f/f rep in YA, but I guess it can't all be in good books.

I feel like the concept of this book was very strong, and there were moments where this concept really rung clear, but most of the time I... was just kind of bored. For such a short book, it felt really long and repetitive, and it kind of just ambled along until the end. There wasn't a clear goal in mind, not really, because while they had a final destination (sort of?), that destination didn't actually promise any sort of hope, and only one character actually wanted to go there. It made the book feel like a string of events without a real purpose.

For two people on the run, the plot had very little tension and excitement. There were only a few moments where this became an issue, but most of the time it resolved itself fairly quickly. There were no high speed chases or immediate repercussions for any of their actions, they'd just see their latest crime on the news a few days later. At some point, everything just started to blur together because it was just them doing petty crimes because they were almost broke, complaining and suffering from being almost broke, and some 'sweet' moment between Trixie and Lux sprinkled in between.

I feel like this is a book that could have been saved by the characters or the romance, but I spent this book flip-flopping between being frustrated and feeling indifferent. I honestly don't even know if Trixia actually even liked Lux because she'd complain about her a lot, and all the compliments and positive opinions she had of Lux felt superficial or skin-deep (which is odd seeing as they grew up together?) I dunno, but neither the characters nor romance really worked for me.

All in all, this just wasn't the book for me, but maybe it's what someone else is looking for! I just would've liked something more, whether that be tension, action, excitement, whatever.

Trixie works in a diner where she calls the guys (to herself) hogs. She can’t stand them as the men try to get more from her than just food. Trixie is excited about going on a weekend camping trip with her best friend Lux. They end up not going camping as Lux has taken her father’s credit card and as much cash as she can using her fathers atm card. So they go on a longer trip than a weekend trip. They stopped at a bar where Lux ends up dancing with a stranger. Trixie keeps an eye on her. When the dance floor gets crowded she loses sight of her. She decides to check the bathroom where she finds Lux being attacked by the guy and who is going to have sex with her even though she says no. Trixie takes her knife and plunges it into his body. They run from the bar and take off. Trixie can’t believe what she did, Lux had wanted to. Go. To the police but Trixie says the police won’t believe them. Later on tv they hear that the guy died. He was a wealthy guy with wealthy parents. The guy is there only child. Others finally come out and say they have been raped by him after they read the story by Trixie on a social media on the computers a public library. While they keep traveling they become intimate with each other. They decide that they are free as long as they are together. The police have found them. Will they surrender?

The author has written a story that reminds me of the movie “Thelma and Louise.” I think the author wrote a pair of characters that anyone could relate to — as I did. I know how the film ended but not so with the end of this story. Thee conversations in the story are about the contempt for or ingrained women prejudice for women, me too and rape culture. The weight of the decisions made were well done. It is an intense novel.

***THIS REVIEW INCLUDES SPOILERS!***

I thought that I would like this book. It sounded different, unique, exciting, adventurous... something new and engaging for my teen readers. But I struggled to make it through and likely would have dropped it if not for it being an ARC and me "owing" a review. I thought at first maybe it was just me; I was not in the right headspace or something for this book. But then I read lots of other reviews and realized that, nope, it's not me - lots of people had similar feelings.

On the plus side, I liked that the action in the book started quickly. It didn't take long for the girls to get going on their mini-vacation and then immediately into serious trouble. I also liked that there was an LGBTQIA+ relationship portrayed without a subsequent "out-ing" or violence or blatant homophobia. Finally, I liked that the author openly called out rape culture/double standards/victim blaming. Regardless of the other mistakes the girls made, it was always clear that the author believed that what had happened was unacceptable and how the media treated the girls afterwards was unfair.

So, those were the good things, but, for me, there were major issues with this book. First, I did not feel connected to these characters AT. ALL. Of course I was horrified by what happened to Lux, but I really was not terribly invested in what happened to these girls. I think that is because there wasn't enough backstory and character development. We knew about what was happening to Trixie and Lux in the moment, but we didn't know enough about them, about who they are, to really care about them. And, ass others pointed out, while the character of Trixie was *more* developed, the character of Lux was left almost completely as a stereotype. There was a little development from very "ditzy" and dependent on Trixie to more capable and self-assured, but it wasn't much and it wasn't consistent.

Additionally, while the plot started off quickly, the intensity, the tension, never really amped up; the plot diagram for this book would look more like a plateau than a mountain. The plot was simply a string of the girls making bad decisions and breaking the law - shoplifting, vandalizing property, drinking, illegally renting cheap motel rooms, hotwiring a car, dining-and-dashing, and on and on. The same things, day after day, from one town to the next, with very little variation and no pressure. Throughout the whole book, the only thing "chasing" the girls seems to be television programs. Never once ([ until the very, very end]) do they see a cop in their rearview mirror, hear a siren, think they're being followed, etc. This lack of a chase leads to a lack of drive in the plot. It's just monotonous.

Finally, there's the ending. [ WHAT. THE. HECK!?! An agent appears out of nowhere. We have NO IDEA how she found these girls. They drive off, but instead of driving down a road, they LITERALLY drive off into the desert?! Like across sand?! Then, of course, the car breaks down, and they have to start walking. They eventually reach an abandoned cluster of buildings, only to have a bunch of cops and helicopters descending on them. (How did the cops know where to find them, and why are cop cars ALSO driving across sand, we don't know!) And scene. That's it. That's LITERALLY all she wrote. We don't even technically know if the girls got arrested or not. We certainly don't know if they ever made it back home, what charges they faced, if anyone ever believed them about the attempted rape. Just cops descending.] I'm not sure HOW a book with so little rising action managed such an anticlimactic ending, but this one certainly did.

Trouble Girls is a gorgeously tragic thrill ride that ultimately was beautifully written, but didn’t completely satisfy me as a reader.

The premise is a re-telling of Thelma and Louise with some “Riverdale” and grunge mixed in for the aesthetics. And while to some readers there might be a nudge of antiquity, what I really think is being referenced here is the casual and authentic West Virginian drawl that comes across sharply through the protagonist, Trixie.

The plot is rooted in a weekend getaway gone horribly wrong and the questionable decisions made by Trixie and Lux in the aftermath. While readers will absolutely root for these young women and empathize with their plight, parts of this novel just fell a little flat for me.

Ahh this book was so fun! It certainly met my expectations as far as having been blurbed a "YA Thelma & Louise" because it had all those chilling, crazy road trip vibes that I wanted!

Trixie and Lux get stuck in bad situation and make some pretty terrible decisions throughout this story, but you can't help but root for them throughout everything they endure. They are troubled, scared kids, the messiest of flawed characters, and I feel like that only made them all the more endearing. I just wish we had some more of them! It also would have been fun to get inside Lux's head as well, and feel what she was feeling throughout this gritty story of friendship on the run.

There's suspense, and love, and so much bad-assery, and a timely #metoo storyline that is refreshing but also heartbreaking. The writing is beautiful, and while ending may not be for every reader, I absolutely loved it.

This is a book that has taken me a long time to review because I am just not sure how to form my thoughts on it (and because I kinda forgot I hadn't reviewed it yet but shhh)

Overall, I did enjoy it. It was an exciting read at times, and most importantly touched on some very important conversations in regards to rape and sexual assault. I also liked the relationship between the two main characters, although I wish this had had a little more development.

The main reason I've struggled to rate this book is that while there were moments of action that had me on the edge of my seat, I felt like they died down too quickly. I would start to get worried about where something was going, my heart would start to race in worry for these girls, and then before anything really happened the threat would die down. I would have loved to see some of the things that went wrong carry through and raise the stakes of this novel.

The best teen version of Thelma and Louise that I never thought of before. Seriously, I wouldn't have thought I needed to read a book like that- but this was seriously an awesome page-turner.

This was a DNF for me. The writing style was off putting and didn’t engage me well. I was very excited for this from the premise. However, it didn’t seem executed well

WOW. This book was wonderful. There were so many twists and turns that I did not anticipate. I loved how the #MeToo movement played a role in their story. This is a great queer release that I will be recommending to so many folks!

This book was very underwhelming to me. Considering how much time we spent in Trixie's head, I still came out the other end not feeling like I had a really good grasp on what made her tick, other than her undying love for Lux. And I was extremely disappointed for how little character development Lux got. My biggest complaint was that the decisions being made didn't make a lot of sense. It didn't sit right with me that went on the run immediately after the stabbing, even though they had no idea the guy was dead or that there was any evidence of their involvement. Wouldn't disappearing be the most suspicious thing possible? And if you're on the run (now knowing the stabbing victim is dead), how on earth do you justify PICKING UP A HITCHHIKER (whose entire purpose in the book is to teach the girls how to crime better/more). And then there was the posting to the forums. I mean, I know they are teenagers, but even teenagers have seen movies about how to commit a crime and get away with it! They have the forethought to smash their phones but make all these other decisions that are way too risky. Overall, I didn't buy it. I also thought the plot felt very repetitive without a lot of growth/change happening. In terms of positives, the romance felt very genuine in that awkward teenage way, and I thought the author did a good job capturing little snapshots of the locations and atmosphere. All in all, not for me.

Billed as a queer YA reimagining of Thelma and Louise, Trouble Girls follows Trixie and Lux on the road trip from hell. What is supposed to be a weekend away quickly spirals into a nationwide search for the girls after a stop at a bar ends in violence. With no good options the girls decide there is no point going back and decide their only viable option is to run for as long as they can.

I'm probably one of the few people who's never seen Thelma and Louise so I'm going to trust it's a good reimagining. I don't really understand why it's also billed with the aesthetic of Riverdale because the girls spend 90% of the story on the road. The closest thing is the cover makes you think of the Riverdale title card.

Trixie the main protagonist is a waitress that has to constantly deal with the gross advances and looks from customers she refers to as hogs. Her cynical outlook on men comes from past trauma that influences her decisions and the overall gross treatment she receives from the men around her. Very reminiscent of Promising Young Woman and the very real #metoo movement where you can be the victim but are gaslighted by people who think you brought it on your self. As Trixie is the only narrator it's hard to know exactly how Lux was feeling and coping after everything. The relationship between the two fell kind of flat for me as well. If it hadn't been for a few scenes I wouldn't have believed Lux's feelings were the same for Trixie. Even with those scenes it felt more like a relationship of desperation and convenience after the traumatic events the girls go through. I think this story serves well as a cautionary tale about the types of people out there and how sadly you can never be too careful. It also showcases the extreme reactions victims of assault can get for coming forward and naming their abuser. It also shows the opposite spectrum of how not coming forward can have just as severe far reaching reactions. Three stars feels like a fair rating as the story concept itself is rather good I just had trouble connecting to the characters.

I had high hopes for this book but was disappointed. The writing felt juvenile and the locations didn't feel researched, rather they were just stereotypical ideas of the south and southern people. It also felt like another story where white women don't have to deal with their mistakes and leave it up to others/Black women. The story itself was fine and I wanted to know what happened, but it was hard to really enjoy it.

A reimagined Thelma & Louise with the aesthetic of Riverdale was truly all I needed to hear—this book hooked me with that and that alone. But I think I may have set my expectations too high as a result, because no one is as shocked as I am that this book didn’t work for me.

I wish I could say that the pacing and actual structure of Trouble Girls didn’t negatively impact my reading experience as much as it did, but the total lack of chapters took a toll. I’ve explained in reviews before how much I hate skimming, but I skimmed so much of this book because it just simply couldn’t hold my attention, but I wanted to reach its ending so badly. After the initial incident that kicks off the story, little to nothing actually happens. Two girls take off on the road, outrunning a violent act against a would-be rapist, and the plot subsequently becomes as aimless as Trixie and Lux’s journey itself. And despite the promise of a cops-hot-on-their-tail, propulsive thriller, it never felt like they were running away from much at all. It was missing true drive, and the prose couldn’t hold the concept’s weight.

And much of that is due in part to the romance between Trixie and Lux, unfortunately. The Manic Pixie Dream Girl problem presented itself quickly, and when it was actively addressed, I was elated and ready for something deeper between the two girls and within the two girls as individuals to establish itself. But the MPDG problem was never actually overcome. Considering that this story is based almost solely around Trixie and Lux’s developing relationship as they try to escape, I was expecting their bond to naturally anchor the text. Instead, it felt decidedly unmoored. I never got a good sense of them as individuals nor as partners in any sense of the word. While I was glad to see an overtly “Sapphic” novel like this, I wish more had been done with Trixie and Lux.

And finally, I had issues with Rubin’s exploration of rape culture. As happy as I was to see it fleshed out on the page and actively explored (major props to the use of raw, realistic, plain and oft-violent language when it came to the online abuse Trixie and Lux received/discovered), it felt somewhat empty and hollow. The prose itself bordered on trite and patronizing, and it wasn’t lost on me that activists of color were placed at the forefront of Rubin’s sociopolitical commentary, became vessels for it, yet never held significant space. It felt—to me—that they were used as props. We need to be having these conversations about rape culture in YA, we need to be having them about weaponized feminism, but for as much as I wanted to cheer on the violent and unforgiving challenge of rape culture, I also wish there had been an ending that drove home the necessity of that. The ending fell awfully flat. There was something very seriously lacking in all this that I’ve been struggling to put my finger on. It felt a lot like Promising Young Woman.

Overall, I’m just not sure what to really say, comprehensively, about this book. I feel a bit speechless. I loved the aesthetic, but it felt more committed to aesthetic at times than it did plot and character. I wanted to cheer on the rape culture commentary, but I struggled with its use. The writing hooked me quickly, but it lost me just as quickly too. I feel strange even rating this book because I’m so stunned that it didn’t work out. I think Trouble Girls was ultimately just not a book for me the way I was so certain it would be.