3.5

I love Jennifer Mathieu's books. from The Truth about Alice to Moxie...Mathieu's strong storylines, unapologetic characters, and ability to connect with the ya age group are an appealing triaid that hooks me everytime.

Bad Girls Never Say Die is a feminst twist on S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. Told from a 15 year "bad girl's" point of view, readers are told the same story only from a female prospective. Getting beat up wasn't the worse that could happen to a female in the 60s or even now. Pregnancy, forced marriage, rape, and rumors are what destroy women. Star crossed lovers, disappointing lives, unlikely friendships, and the usual social issues are the building blocks of this story.

While I did enjoy the story, it was fun to match the original characters with their female counterparts and mathieu does an excellent job of feminizing the story without destroying the main theme, I did find myself inadvertanantly judging Mathieu for not meeting my own expectations. I wanted a little more drama and indiviualism in the storyline and character. I think that is a main issue when tackling a classic. If it's too familiar, you risk predictablilty but if you veer off too far, you risk alienating your readers .

Either way, fans of The Outsiders are sure to enjoy Mathieu's version if only for the trip back into that world.

What a great young adult book to read! It was so good that I couldn’t put it down! The main character deals with so many social issues at the same time and I can imagine many who are dealing with the same issues today. Something happens to Evie one night, and someone she would never have been friends with before this, happens to be the one who is there for her when needed.

I think this book would be great for a high school class novel because it deals with so many social issues and would lead to rich discussions. I can see the story also being used for writing prompts and encouraging students to share their views and feeling. Topics could include social-economic pressures on teens, dysfunctional families, true love, teenage pregnancy, domestic abuse, friendships, sexual assault, underage drinking, loyalty, and grief.

Even if this wasn’t used as a class novel, I think this would be a great book for a high school library. I highly recommend this book for high school and older readers.

I didn’t completely love this one.  It definitely felt like it was meant for the younger side of YA.  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but it just wasn’t for me.  The story itself was pretty solid, but the writing had a tendency to be a bit redundant.  We could have cut out a lot of the unnecessary reiteration of character’s histories and the story would have moved much faster.  I do think the story dealt with some important issues and did a great job of giving the feel of taking place in the sixties. It’s also important to note that this entire series of events takes place in the span of about a week (maybe just a little over).  I think the age of the characters lends to the tendency to over dramatize everything a bit, leading to rash and foolish decisions.  
I am sure there is an audience who will love this, but this is one of those instances where a book just isn’t for me.  There is nothing inherently wrong with it, we just didn’t vibe.  Love the cover though!

The book advertises itself as a genderswapped The Outsiders, and as someone who didn't super love the Outsiders, I felt this did a good job covering the same themes. Fans of Mathieu will enjoy the writing and how she continues to use her words, but Outsiders fans maybe a little disappointed.

Looking for The Outsiders but with a gender swap? This is the book for you! Looking for a book about friendship? This is the one for you! Or, how about reading about a "bad" girl and her group of friends? This is also the book for you. Or, even just a good historical fiction? Still, this is the one for you.

Follow teenage Evie and her "bad girl" group of friends during the 1960s in this great tale of friendship that is hard to put down.

So pleased to read this courtesy of NetGalley.

Bad Girls Never Say Die was billed as a female retelling of the Outsiders. I don't know if I agree with that statement. The story gave us strong female characters and compelling back stories - but I don't feel it matched up to the classic of the original.

That being said, Evie is a girl a large population can relate to, even in 2021. The problems of sexual assault have not lessoned since the 50s and 60s, but girls have become braver in taking out their assailants. Diane is the good girl, and while adults who have read this story in other forms before can guess what will happen, I think it is a good wake up call for the younger generation.

As an adult I'd give it 2 stars, but for the teens I'll give it a 3 to 3.5. Recommended for grades 8 and up.

True to the blurb, Bad Girls Never Say Die, has that feel of The Outsiders. While the story really centers on Evie and Diane, the other girls in the friend group aren't just flat secondary characters. They all have hidden stories and interesting lives that make the entire novel feel more realistic than fiction.

As a girl from the south (Louisiana) and a teacher of high school students, I really appreciated the attention to detail and the realistic way in which the girls and their surroundings were portrayed. Nothing felt overly dramatized or far off from what it may have felt like to grow up in an oppressive south.

I also appreciated that while Evie wasn't really sure what she wanted or where she would end up, she knew what she didn't want. She may not have always gone about seeking her independence from what was expected in the most enlightened and proper way, but she was acting exactly like I'd expect a young teen girl to act in that time and place. I liked the strong female voices and that none of our main characters felt like caricatures of the how girls of that time are often portrayed.

I didn't know what to expect with Bad Girls Never Say Die, but I knew that with Jennifer Mathieu behind it, I'd enjoy it and I most certainly did.

This was just ok for me which was disappointing because I love Jennifer! I didn't like that the girls were considered "bad." And the pace was a little slow in my opinion. I did like the relationships between the girls and the overarching idea that relationships can span social classes. I would be very interested to get student feedback, especially feedback from students who have recently read and loved The Outsiders. I would hand this to kiddos needing a hi-lo reading.

<i>Thank you to the NetGalley for kindly provided me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

A feminist young adult novel laced with anger and hope, <i>Bad Girls Never Say Die</i> depicts the gritty reality of being in a world where autonomy is not a given for women. Although our “bad” girl protagonist Evie Barnes is fighting back in the 1960s, the themes of this novel will remain familiar today.

Evie and her friends defy the rules as they wear makeup, skip class, and smoke cigarettes, branding them as a group of “bad” girls. However, when Evie is saved from a violent attempt at sexual assault by a “good”
girl, her life spins into a new direction. As lies, secrets, and a murder plot unfold, the lack of choices a woman has and the tendency to not be believed becomes more obvious.

This is a great novel to read if you’re looking for strong female friendships, violence and drama, social commentary, and a healthy dose of hope! Although the plot and dialogue did feel a bit too mechanical at times, this book is face-paced and easy to read in a sitting or two. I found the first chapter or so a bit difficult to get into, but things immediately pick up as the novel is plunged into a series of heart-racing events. This book does feel like it would be best suited for a younger teen audience, but overall it was engaging and inspiring!

TWs: attempted rape/sexual assault, murder, teen pregnancy

Here is how you know that Jennifer Mathieu is an incredible writer: I started the first chapter of this book thinking "wow I hate every single person here", and by the end of it? I was in love. The titular "bad" girls have so much heart, and are just trying to come of age in a world that doesn't want them to live outside of some ridiculous patriarchal and arbitrary rules.

It's 1964 Texas, which is comparable to... well, 2021 Texas as it turns out. Racism, sexism, and homophobia are rampant. Schools are still segregated, and pretty much everyone who isn't a straight white guy is treated as "less than". Evie sees this early in the book, when she is attacked by an acquaintance on the way to the bathroom. She realizes that it doesn't matter how forcefully she yells for him to stop, and he taunts her with that realization.

Throughout the book, the girls face these aggressions from every direction: In school, in their families, among their peers. It's beyond disheartening, and it could easily wear the girls down. But in this story, Evie and her group decide to fight back and stick together in the face of oppression. Many people tell them they can't/won't succeed without tying themselves to some man, that they must behave a certain way. Evie even has arguments with her own mother, who insists that the only way for Evie to be successful is to be saddled to some guy. But again, Evie and her friends aren't taking these messages lying down.

Without giving away too much (because the synopsis is fairly vague), there is a story about teen pregnancy. It's powerful, because so many of the societal responses to a young woman's pregnancy are exactly the same today as they were fifty-plus years ago. The girl "had gotten herself pregnant", say the masses. When in reality, that is positively absurd and not at all how biology works, I have heard that very phrase in this actual century. And now, here we are, dealing with women's rights being stripped in Texas. The timing for this release is perfect; for it illustrates how positively vile these laws are, how harmful to so, so many people. How losing control of your reproductive rights means losing control of your agency, of your entire body.

Bottom Line: Read this book, fall in love with it, then donate to the organization of your choice (see below).

(Links included in actual post.)

“This work wants girls to be good all the time, whatever that means, but I don’t care about that. I don’t care if they call us bad, because bad girls never say die.”

This book was so good. It was fast paced, kept me on the edge of my seat and an emotional roller coaster. It is a gender-bent reimagining of The Outsiders and it did not disappoint!

I loved the close knit group of girls on the “wrong side of the tracks” with their loyalty and guts to stick up for each other. What happens when someone outside their circle who isn’t anything like them ends up at their school? Maybe everyone has the potential to be a “bad girl.”

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for the #gifted #arc.

Bad Girls Never Say Die is a fast-paced tale about friendship, loyalty, and what it all mean in the end. I loved Evie, and her friends... Even characters with less time on the page are well-developed; I can picture their facial expressions as they deal with life for girls in the 60s. They gave everything to each other when the world wanted them to have nothing. It also inspects the way that society’s “should” and “ought” impact girls — not just then, but even now, honestly. I haven’t read The Outsiders in over a decade, so that might be why I was able to enjoy this book so much more than Outsiders diehard fans. I actually think it's excellent that we have a novel with similar themes, but from a girls' perspective. All too often these coming of age novels assigned in school are male-centered. We need books like this one.

BAD GIRLS NEVER SAY DIE isn't my typical read, but I really enjoyed it! Without giving away too much of the story, I think what I loved best was the friendship between 'bad girl' Evie and 'good girl' Diane and the way Mathieu used this to unpack the gritty realities present on 'both sides of the tracks'. I felt like I got such a deep-dive into the lives of these characters, and yet, there were always new questions popping up and things I wanted to know that kept me turning the pages.

I really enjoyed this thriller. The book illustrates how far we are willing to go for our friends. I really enjoyed the overall vibe of this book.

I was intrigued by the cover of this book. And what I found on the inside was just as intriguing.
Evie is a self proclaimed bad girl. She and her friends aren’t from the best part of town and they have embraced the bad girl lifestyle. They smoke, drink, and skip school. When a “tea sipper” aka rich girl unexpectedly comes in for their lives, they push the boundaries of true friendship and find out what it really means.

This is a beautiful story of friendship and how far some people will go to be there to support their friends. It’s also a story about how there is sometimes more to a person than what is perceived on the outside! I really enjoyed this book! Thank you to #netgalley and the author for the chance to read and provide my review!

I was THRILLED to receive this book as an ARC. Moxie is one of my all time favorites. I was so excited to read a flipped Outsiders with female main characters. The Outsiders is a classic and Girls Never Say Die has found its place next to it. Jennifer’s book is a powerful portrayal of a group of female friends fighting through their daily lives and then again fighting for each other when a girl from the fancy side of town protects one of their own. This band of girls who have chosen each other as family are “tuff” and resilient but also need the things that all young girls need; love.

You won’t be disappointed. Bad Girls Never Say Die is one all girls should read.

Evie and her friends are bad girls in 1960s Houston, Texas. They wear bold makeup, smoke cigarettes, skip school, and run with the greaser boys.
Evie’s life is changed forever when she’s saved from a sexual assault at the drive-in by a good girl from the wealthy part of town. The traumatic night sets off a chain of events that will uncover secrets, test loyalties, and put lives in the balance.

Just writing that makes it sound far more interesting than it really was. I am a huge fan of Mathieu’s novel Moxie so I was thrilled to have an ARC of her latest, Bad Girls Never Say Die. Advertised as a gender-flipped The Outsiders, it also reminded me in several ways of That Night (book by Alice McDermott, made into a movie starring C. Thomas Howell and Juliette Lewis) as the young MC Evie finds herself in the middle of a tragic romance between two characters.

The entire story felt too contrived, following predictable plots common to this era and lacking heart as well as originality. So much of this felt cheesy as the characters themselves even acknowledge the fact that all of the events unfold over about 10 days. While that makes it sound like a story you can breeze through, it’s weighed down by repetitive conversations between characters and lacks development in several important ways. I never made a connection with the characters or the story.

Thanks to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group/Roaring Book Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Bad Girls Never Say Die was released on October 19, 2021.

Evie Barnes, along with her friends Connie, Sunny, and Juanita, is considered the bad girls of Eastside. They are the girls the whole town talks about and expect bad things from. As the group hangs out at the movies, Evie goes off on her own and is almost assaulted by one of the rich boys who are there. Evie's life is saved by the new girl in town who does more than she set out to do. The girls must band together to explain what happened and free an innocent man.

This book has been billed as a female version of The Outsiders and I can see why. There were a few places throughout the story where I felt it lagged a bit but altogether it was a well-told story of female loyalty and the strength of their friendship. I have never read anything by this author but I am very interested in reading more and becoming acquainted with her writing.

Bad Girls Never Say Die by Jennifer Mathieu is a fantastic thriller! I loved every twist and turn and Evie was a fascinating protagonist.

This book!!! What do I say about it?! Okay… first things first. Bad Girls Never Say Die is a Young Adult, historical fiction, coming of age story. Evie is a 15 year old high schooler, growing up on the wrong side of town in the 1960s. Her best friends are "bad girls" that her mother and grandmother do not approve of. They hang out, skip school, smoke and do all things rebellious, especially for the times. One night, while hanging out at the drive in theater, Evie sees a classmate being ridiculed by other girls. She defends her, despite not knowing her name and knowing that the other girls is a "good girl" from the rich part of town. Later, when Evie is attacked by a boy later that same evening, Diane comes to Evie's rescue. This incident bonds them together, and Evie brings Diane into her circle of friends. This is a coming of age story, brilliantly told to the backdrop of 1960s Houston.

I can not say this enough…. READ THIS BOOK!!! I dabble in Young Adult books, but am in NO WAY an avid reader of them. I find they're usually too dystopian, too paranormal, too… unbelievable. This book was the opposite of all of this. It was brilliantly written, and even as an adult I could see myself in some of the characters and/or knew girls JUST like that in my high school. It held my attention, and I devoured this book in about two days! 

Usually, I have SOME negative thing, or something I didn't love. I really did love this book and can't actually think of a true negative thing to say about it. It was entertaining, relatable, and you were rooting for the characters, both to do the right thing and to have the story go the way that they wanted it to. It was just a great book, that I would highly recommend to anyone, young adults or grown ups.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion!