While I enjoyed The Outsiders when I read it in high school, this book made me remember why I don't read books that I had to back then. I hate when books are blatantly shoving a lesson down my throat. If you've read the outsiders, you can probably skip this one.

Writing was good, just the story that was the issue. DNF at 18%.

*Thank you to the publisher for this eARC.

I thought this book was ok for me as a reader, but I definitely think there is a YA audience who will love this title. I did not realize this is a retelling of "The Outsiders" and I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read that book first. I haven't loved Mathieu's writing in the past and I hoped this book would be different, but I just don't enjoy her style. Maybe it is the in-depth backgrounds of the characters that feels slow. There is definitely a group of YA readers who will love this book and I plan to suggest it to those readers for sure. Students who liked Moxie will definitely enjoy this one.

Loved this reimagining of "The Outsiders."
I will be recommending this for the 2024 Evergreen cycle HS List.

I really enjoyed this book! It was really nice to read a historical fiction where the main plot point is that it's historical. The characters all felt like real people and seeing their relationships grow and change really hit me. I had such a hard time putting this down, that I ended up reading the entire thing in one day! Super interested in anything this author writes in the future.

This book lives up to the comparison to a gender-swapped Outsiders. The relationship between the characters was well done and I liked the friendships that formed from a bad event.

Unbelievable 5 unbelievable stars This book had me trying to pace myself. The story follows a great character and her search for acceptance. The character Evie Barnes is not, no matter what the title says a Bad Girl. She hangs out with them, but she is not like the others. Evie meets her next door neighbor Juana/Juanita and they become friends. It is Juana who introduces her to the others. The leader is Connie Treadway. Connie is the "voice" of these girls. She is the leader who makes decisions. One thing I liked was how they were very loyal to each other. They all kept secrets, but none as well as Evie. She is the youngest of the group and at times, the author brings this up, to show how eager she is at trying to fit in. The "crime" happens pretty early on, forming the bond between Diane-the "tea sipper" and the bad girl Evie.

Evie and Diane become true best friends. The book mostly explores how they happen to become so close. There is part of the book that references the timeframe of the early 1960's, but it reads like a current day novel.

I found this a thoroughly enjoyable read. The last few chapters will have you literally in a drama filled haze. Excellent ending. I will look for other books by this author.

Good story!

Description
From the acclaimed author of Moxie comes a gripping gender-flipped reimagining of The Outsiders that explores the deep bonds of female friendship and what it takes to be a "bad girl."

1964. Houston, Texas.

Evie Barnes is a bad girl. So are all her friends. They’re the sort who wear bold makeup, laugh too loud, and run around with boys. Most of all, they protect their own against the world. So when Evie is saved from a sinister encounter by a good girl from the "right" side of the tracks, every rule she's always lived by is called into question. Now she must redefine what it means to be a bad girl and rethink everything she knew about loyalty.

In this riveting story of murder, secrets, and tragedy, Jennifer Mathieu puts a female twist on S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders. Bad Girls Never Say Die has all the drama and heartache of that teen classic, but with a feminist take just right for our times.

When I read that Bad Girls Never Say Die was a female twist on The Outsiders, I was super excited and I am not disappointed. The characterization was excellent. I loved Evie and really appreciated how Mathieu established her character and her friendships. The female friendship represented in this book, from start to finish, was outstanding and I absolutely love to see it. I found it very thoughtful how Mathieu connected the "bad girl" moments to aspects of teenage life that often affect girls more than boys, like sexual assault, teen pregnancy, and violence due to self-defense, all of which involve others but create much more shame and judgment for girls, especially in 1954. There were some really intriguing premises here about how we decide who is "bad" and how those decisions are seriously loaded by social norms and expectations, probably even more so for women and compounded even more for women of color. I will definitely recommend this book to my students and I expect that it will be quite popular.

If you liked the vibe of The Outsiders, this book is for you! Such a good story, gender flipped to be about girls in the 60’s and the pressures of all that. I really enjoyed these characters and how they bonded over some similar life circumstances, and allowed themselves to stand up for one another despite differences. A little mystery thrown in and a lot of intrigue.

The story is advertised as one similar to The Outsiders with a gender twist. Students who are not familiar with the 'bad' vs. 'good' girl mentality of the 60's would understand after reading this book. I feel like students would have a hard time making connections - drive-in movie theaters, switchblades, and more.

This was a solid 3 star read.

I think it was genius to advertise this as a gender bent The Outsiders as it's what made me request it, however, that also did a disservice to the book as I was then itching to compare the two.

Bad Girls Never Say Die had a good premise and overall the characters were what I expected. The dialogue was cheesy but very believable for the age range of the characters (and time period), however, the writing grew very tiresome. It was overly basic with a 'this happened, then this, and I said this, and they said that' theme. The protagonist repeats herself multiple times for no reason. It felt like the author was trying to reach a word count. I do think this novel could've been a huge hit for me if the author chose a different character as her protagonist.

The plot itself hooked me, and I read the entire novel in 2 sittings. It was easy to want to read and the multiple plot twists kept the story engaging.

Again, this wasn't a bad read. It was just okay. I would recommend it to a younger audience, though the sexual assault trigger warning should be made abundantly clear before any teen reads this.

I absolutely loved this book! I thought it was such an original premise and truly recommend it to teens who like re-imaginations of classic works of literature.

Worth reading if you are a fan of "The Outsiders." The storyline drug for me at several points & I kept waiting for something to happen. I felt like there were parts that were building up to something huge, but the story ended up being slightly more deflated than my imagination.

Did not finish. I got the galley shortly after rereading The Outsiders. That book stands the test of time, this book will be a dust collector on the shelf.

I really loved Moxie - it is such a wonderful book and I can't wait to have my daughter read it when she's old enough. And I grew up with an English teach for a mom, who taught The Outsiders in her class each year. So when I saw there was a gender-flipped reimagining of The Outsiders written by the author of Moxie, I was all in. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me, and I couldn't get past the 25% mark.

This was just not the book for me, overall it sounded good. I just could not get into it. It was a DNF for me.

This Outsiders retelling falls a bit flat in comparison to such an established classic. The pacing is a bit off and did not quite hold its own as a story.

This book reminded me a lot of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder in the best way. I love books that follow strong female leads that are bad asses in their own way. I am looking forward to reading other books by this author.

I'll admit that I was a little nervous about a gender-swapped version of The Outsiders. It felt unnecessary and a weird choice. I shouldn't have worried; Jennifer Mathieu was just as amazing as she always is.

This is such an amazing book. I fell for the characters immediately and couldn't stop reading until I was done. (Screw sleep, work and seeing clearly because I was crying too hard).

I can't wait to read whatever she writes next and shame on me for doubting. Highly recommended.

I definitely felt the Outsiders vibe throughout, but I liked this so much more. Flipping the genders made this about women supporting and protecting one another, which feels way too necessary and relevant.