Thank you net galley for providing me this copy! Giving this one a 3..5 Star rating. I havent read this author before so I was def looking forward to this one. The story was well written and you get a lot in this book when it comes to emotions. Some parts were hard to read and very sad. So yes this book was definitely a dark read. I do think it could of been shorter in length but overall the story was really good and would read more by this author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the tagged publishers for this copy of Tiffany McDaniel's latest novel, On the Savage Side. This was my first time reading her work and while I have seen great things about Betty, I don't think I was prepared for how heavy this book was. Don't get me wrong, I love sad books but this was bleak.

On the Savage Side follows Arc and her twin sister Daffy through life. Coming from a home affected by opiate addiction, resulting in the death of their father, it appears they never really had a chance. It jumps between the past and present, where we see the girls have fallen into a life of addiction and prostitution. All the while, girls are turning up dead in the river.  As I said, this book is heavy so please look up trigger warnings!

I did enjoy this book but it took me a while to get through. I had to put it down after every few chapters for a breather. There's addiction, abuse, death, violence, grief, just so much harrowing content. However, the writing is stunning! Some parts were writing so beautifully it hurt! It was eye opening too and I think McDaniel really captures what it's like for women in this world.

* Please look up trigger warnings before reading *

Everywhere I look I see rave reviews for this one, but honestly this one was not for me, but it might be for you!
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Thank you Knopf and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I like dark but this was not one for me. I also didn’t like the writing style. It felt too poetic for my taste. Thank you for giving me a chance to read it.

Once in a blue moon, a book comes along that just knocks the wind right out of you. This was my experience with this book. The writing is exceptioinal, the plot is captivating, and the characters burrow so deeply in your consciousness that they haunt you long after you’ve turned the final page. On the Savage Side is an absolutely brutal story about addiction and the destruction it causes across many lives. This novel was beautified written but hard to read and makes you hope for a happy ending. This is not a light read for the faint of heart, and there are many triggers, but if you can overcome those, it is well worth it. My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.

I loved Betty - could not wait to grab this new release from McDaniel.
First - thank you for writing a story that must be heard. We must have more women's stories; we must change the narrative - inspire our cultures to protect their women, their future.
Inspired by the Chillicothe Six, McDaniel gives them a voice - we MUST LISTEN.
Arc has carried the women in her life always - her mother and Aunt Clo, her group of sisters on the street. Dual timeline - showcasing Arc's beginning and end.
Addiction has a start - childhood most often the catalyst, abuse in the dark. Violet's began with the birth of her daughter - a prescription from her trusted dr.
Harsh. Brutal. A MUST READ. Poetic. Gentle as the river.

I don't think I've ever read a book where the writing was excellent, and yet I resented the story so much. Forgive me, I'm still not sure how to explain this one. Tiffany McDaniel is an outstanding writer, but this novel is so dark, depressing and full of tragedy that I wanted it to end as soon as I started to read it. It took quite a while to finish this, and I had to also read other books in between to break up the agonizing onslaught of trauma. I kept anticipating some levity, but it never arrived; rather, things simply became worse and worse for the main characters with each chapter.

The plot follows sisters Arc and Daffodil as they grow up under some of the most dreadful circumstances imaginable. Their parents are drug addicts, and the majority of the women in their lives are prostitutes who allow the children to be sexually abused over and over again. The two girls never stood a chance from the moment they were born.

I can see why readers give this book a high rating, but because I despised the plot so much, I'll give it three out of five stars for the excellent writing alone. I'm not sure exactly what I expected when I chose the book, but I didn't expect to walk away with a strong disdain for people and humanity. If you enjoy a deeply gloomy and distressing read, this is the book for you. Otherwise, skip it, no matter how good the writing is.

i haven’t been able to stop thinking about this one since reading. it was heavy. it was powerful. it was disturbing. it was heart breaking. tiffany mcdaniel is something else. the way she writes is so lyrical; so beautiful even when describing the most gruesome circumstances. this woman could write anything on any topic and i will be first in line to read it.

this book tells the story of twin sisters, Arcade and Daffodil, who it seems have the entire world against them. they have grown up stuck in a generational cycle of abuse, drugs, and poverty, and they want to break it. more than anything, they want to escape it all. as they grow older and fall further into the chaos they were trying to avoid, their friends begin to go missing. one by one, women are found floating in the river. inspired by the unsolved murders of chillicothe six, we see the untold stories behind each of these women. their friends, lives, families, & their dreams. as death circles closer, is Arcade able to drag herself and her sister out of the depths? or will they be pulled into the current that has been rushing toward them their whole lives?

i mean, that description enough should be enough reason to read! i fell in love with the characters. they give you hope and then immediately let them down. the imagery and metaphor threaded throughout by mcdaniel, very much tied into folklore, is so haunting and stunning. the imagination of the twins is so vast that you begin to forget what is their reality, just as they are attempting to do. at the end of the day, this is a beautiful story about the strength and resilience of women, and a powerful elegy to those that are missing.

thank you so much to tiffany mcdaniel and knopf publishing for reaching out & sending me a digital arc of this work! it was an honor.

Tiffany McDaniel is the bees knees, rhinoceroses elbows and elephants trunks. I am absolutely in love with her writing. Last year, her novel BETTY tore my heart apart, made my eyes leak and stuck with me… well, still. I was blessed enough for the author to reach out to me with a copy of ON THE SAVAGE SIDE (Ty @aaknopf #giftedbook). I may or may not have snoopy danced afterwards.

Once again, I’m feeling every one of my feelings and I love and hate it (in the best ways) all at the same time. While work has gotten in the way of me finishing this yet, I’m mostly through it and I can’t imagine not giving it all the stars.

“Inspired by the true story of the Chillicothe murders, a harrowing novel about six women who have gone missing and two sisters who could be the next victims.”

I can’t emphasize enough that if you haven’t picked up McDaniels’s work, please do so. But make sure to prepare yourself for one hell of a story.

McDaniel certainly knows how to pack a punch. Having previously read Betty, I was expecting a mix of beauty and brutality and wasn’t disappointed. This is a story of how hard life can be and how hard it can be to break the cycles that some people are born into. Lyrical, descriptive, beautiful and heartbreaking. Brilliant writing

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. I really struggled to get through this book. The story of addiction is never pretty but this one left me feeling overwhelmed. I felt almost compelled to finish, to know what happened to these people. I will be looking for more from this author as I did enjoy the writing. Hopefully won't be such a sad subject next time

I had read a huge mix of reviews about this before i went in and also not having read any of her work before I really didn't know what to expect.

I'm still trying to work out what I actually think , I didn't not like it but also I didn't feel overly gripped by it. It's a hard hitting story dealing with very deep topics , abuse, addiction, violence , and it wasn't so much the content that put me off but more the fact that it took so long to get going , 40% in and i felt a bit bored . It flips between childhood and adulthood and although I thought the writing was good it just seemed very padded out and way too long, chapters could easily be skipped and not noticed.

I wanted to feel intrigued and hooked but it was a bit of a chore towards the end . I do think it could have been more me though than the book and wrong timing , probably not the best to pick up when the sun is out and you're thinking of summer happiness!

It hasn't put me off reading other work by McDaniel as she is clearly a talented writer

On The Savage Side....I don't even know what to say. This is the story of twin sisters, Daffy and Arc, who live in Chillicothe, Ohio. It's the story of life in Chillocothe and so many towns in the US. Addiction claimed their family and they try to figure out how to live. They do what it takes to get by along with their friends. They are saved, for while, by their maternal grandmother, Mamaw Milkweed. Tiffany McDaniel is a writer of beautiful words and she puts them together so well. My usual adjectives don't apply this time....compelling, pleasant, enjoyable....not. It's hard to read and I didn't like it until it was over. Painful and hard to read..yes. But, it is powerful. I sense a movie in the future. So worth the read, but don't expect to enjoy it.

On the Savage Side is the type of book that grabs you in a chokehold and refuses to let go, even after you’ve turned the final page. I fell in love with Tiffany McDaniel’s writing back when I first read Betty, and she continues to amaze me.‘On the Savage Side’ is a book that is hard to read at times, and also difficult to put down. There’s no way that I could give this book a proper review, it’s one that you need to read for yourself and just absorb every word. This is a story that is based and inspired on the unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six in Ohio, between 2014-2015. We are shown the unfavorable treatment and conditions for the women of this town. Twin sisters Daffodil (Daffy) and Arcade (Arc) grow up in Chillicothe, Ohio, raised by their grandmother who makes do with very little and loves them both very much. When she dies, the twins are left to the fates of too many young indigenous girls-- to be raised by addicted guardians and abused by the people they associate with. This is such a heavy, dark read, but the writing is light and lyrical and just amazing. My favorite things about this author are her writing style and her character development and this book was no different!

This book grabbed me from the first page and didn’t let go. Read it if you want a deep story with dark themes including addiction, trauma, and abuse.

On the Savage Side: by Tiffany McDaniel

Arcade and Daffodil are twins born one minute apart. With their fiery red hair and thirst for escape, they form an unbreakable bond nurtured by their grandmother’s stories. Together, they disappear into their imaginations and forge a world all their own.

But what the two sisters can’t escape are the generational ghosts that haunt their family. Growing up in the shadow of their rural Ohio town, the sisters cling tightly to one another. Years later, Arcade wrestles with the memories of her early life, just as a local woman is discovered drowned in the river. Soon, more bodies are found. As her friends disappear around her, Arcade is forced to reckon with the past while the killer circles closer. Arcade’s promise to keep herself and her sister safe becomes increasingly desperate and the powerful riptide of the savage side becomes more difficult to survive.

Out now!

This one wasn't for me. I love a beautifully written book, don't get me wrong, but this one veered into unnecessarily complicated purple prose so often that it distracted from the forward trajectory of the plot. A middle of the road read.

I really wanted to love this book and the subject matter is right up my alley. However I get lost in the flowery writing and find myself rereading paragraphs to make sense of the story. I ended up DNFing at 30% but I definitely think it's a me problem. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review an early copy and I am truly enjoying the reviews from people who have loved this book.

I loved this novel in its craft of a compelling and heartbreaking sibling dynamic, consideration of true crime, and its ingenuity of form in telling the stories of the murdered women at the heart of the story. I interviewed Tiffany for my literary fiction podcast Reading the Room. https://youtu.be/UkNEATx0y7M

Thank you Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Knopf and Netgalleyfor this arc. I was really afraid to start but then I got an reccomandation and I started. And I could not put it down. How much is hidden and how much revealed. I needed a book to laern something else. It hurts but on the other hand it is something you must know

What a journey Tiffany McDaniel takes you on. Her writing is beautiful, but the trauma the characters endure is horrific and gut-wrenching,

We are with Arcade and Daffodil, or Arc and Daffy, twin sisters. They anchor the story of the unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six in Ohio. As it jumps between the present and the sister's past, we hear from the "river" as another character where these women are dumped.

Again, it was difficult to be with these characters, but the skill McDaniel uses to tell these stories is tenderness and care.