An interesting slow burn about a girl that is destined to be possessed by a demon. Her parents know, don’t explicitly tell her, but still treat her as such. This book tells a story of how the girl grows up in this environment up until the moment of truth; will she be as evil as they say she is?

This book could potentially be very triggering as there is a lot of child abuse; physical as well as mental abuse.

I wasn’t too fond of the jumping back between the past and the present. I kind of wish it would’ve been more of a linear timeline of events. I kind of also didn’t care much for the high school drama aspect. I was kind of bored during those parts of the story, and really just wanted to read more about the demon part. That was what was most interesting to me.

I liked the use of “the girl”. I felt for the main character, but then it also kept this air of detachment. I think this added to the story even more because even the reader can’t truly connect with the girl. Overall I thought it was an interesting concept.

Thank you to Cinnabar Moth Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

A wonderfully disturbing and dark read soaked in Filipino mythology. I found this to be an immersive read and also very informative.

This one was just not for me. It's one of those books that I would have dearly loved when I was still in high-school but my taste has really changed since then so this one didn't make the cut. Sorry to say cause the premise was really interesting but the payout wasn't enough.

I ended up not being able to finish this book. The constant abuse that the girl dealt with was too triggering for me. I did think the writing was good. I was curious about where the storyline would ultimately end up. I just couldn’t stay invested in the relentless mental and physical abuse.

“The girl” is an extremely immersive read that I found myself unable to put down.

This book took the classic “deal with the devil” and twisted it in such a unique way, it was unlike anything I’ve read before.
The girl (who is never named) is the ancestral product of such a deal and finds herself being shunned and abused by her family and facing unfair prejudice growing up for something that is simply out of her control.

The choice to leave out the names of the main character and her family is an inventive way to place readers in her position, I felt like I could really feel myself within this character and experience all the pain she experienced growing up.

There definitely needs to be a content warning for sexual harassment and child abuse but ultimately the writing is spectacular and the storyline is a perfectly creepy coming of age story, teaching young girls to not doubt their emotions.

This was the most interested read I’ve had all year. The characters only be addressed as “the mom” “the dad” “the girl” definitely added to it. I would add a trigger warning for all the the people who’ve experienced any childhood abuse because this was HIGHLY triggering if so.
I thought that Initally her parents were mean to her because of her being the anti christ and all but i realized quickly that they pretty much MADE SURE that’s who she was by being completely terrible people period. This was VERY well written descriptive as well. It made for an easy read, because I didn’t have to fill in holes myself. This is definitely a book that I’ll recommend my bookstore carries I feel like for a YA book this is going to be a hit! It’s refreshingly different!

A powerful coming of age story that chronicles the sort of female rage that comes from parental abuse and neglect, the perceived assumptions of a girl’s place in the world, and the desire to take control of one’s own destiny. Weaving the story together is Filipina folklore of gods and demons. A very good read and, I’d think, an empowering one for teen girls.

With the growing number of books inspired by mythology, it’s always wonderful to see other cultures, such as Filipino, come into the scene. This book was incredible. Asking the reader to contemplate how life would play out when being forced into being someone you didn’t chose to be. Plus, the cover alone will make readers do a double take and pick up a copy.

What a great story! I loved it. However it was a little hard to follow along in some spots. I know they were flashbacks of her childhood but in the beginning it jumped around to different ages so it was hard to put together what age she was when certain events happened. Since it wasn't in chronological order. It was a great story though I absolutely loved it.

The girl was a very interesting book. I had the privilege to read an advanced copy. The girl is written in third person and the main character doesn't actually have a name giving it some intriguing ambiguity. She is the first born of a well to do family. The girl is resented and abused by her family, who believe she is a bringer of doom. She struggles to try to be good during all this and with some supernatural oddities happening as well.
This was a really interesting and different read. It kept me guessing. The third person point of view was a bit odd at times since I'm not used to reading third person but the story was great and the girl was an interesting character.

I had a hard time with this one. It wasn't that it wasn't well written because it was. It was thrilling and terrifying, but I just couldn't connect. The way it is written without names but 'the girl', 'the mother', 'the father' while made for an interesting concept, I think contributed to the lack of connection I felt. I think someone who loves female leads and YA thrillers would like this one...or not. It definitely is a hard book to review and I honestly am still unsure how I feel about this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cinnabar Moth Publishing for the ARC eBook in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Cinnabar Publishing for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

The premise of this novel seemed like it would be interesting but it fell short. It was hard to get into. I try to never DNF a book so I kept on with it hoping it would get better, unfortunately it didn’t.

This book was bursting with potential—explorations of good and evil, Filipino mythology, subverting stereotypes and an anti-heroic narrative drew me in; I was excited to see where this would go. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this as much as I wanted to—the blurb made this book seem really epic and even groundbreaking, but I felt like the book was a lot more mundane than expected. It’s important to note that a lot of this book centres around the physical and psychological abuse that our main character suffered growing up at the hands of her parents, leading to her feeling unloved and unwanted.

The story also focuses a lot on the relationships that the main character develops with friends and boyfriends in school, but I thought too much airtime was given to all the teenage relationship drama. There were just too many people (especially awful boys) to keep track of that I lost interest in all of them, with my only takeaway being that unfortunately she managed to form healthy and wholesome connections with just about no one throughout her school life and even faced sexual assault from some of the boys.

The supernatural parts were written really intensely, so I thought they were building up to some kind of huge revelation/ climax, but when I finished the book I was left feeling unsatisfied. One thing I did find interesting was leaving the main character nameless throughout the book, referring to her exclusively as “the girl”—this had the effect of dehumanising her, stripping away her personhood and humanity the same way her parents and friends did throughout her life. I thought it was a really clever and impactful choice. However, overall I think this book isn’t for me.

Thank you NetGalley for a chance to read The Girl.

I loved the premise of this book but couldn’t connect with the writing style or the characters unfortunately.

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review

i had a really hard time getting into this book, and really had to push to finish it

I don't know many things about Filippino mythology. All I know is that this book was a mess. It's described as a coming of age ya novel but all we see is the girl's childhood. Since she was referring as The girl I couldn't connect with her. Also just for future references it has trigger warnings such as mental abuse of a child and sexual assault.

TW: physical and mental child abuse, violence, suicide ideation, sexual assault/harassment

"She closed her eyes, twisting her hands around the hem of her shirt, imagining the sounds of muscle and joint tissue ripping away in her hands."

To begin; there are many things I enjoyed about this novel! The girl's experiences growing up as a young girl were incredibly poignant, realistic, and relatable. The portrayal of the abuse felt viscerally real. Switching between timelines earlier in the novel had me hooked on figuring out how the girl got to where she was. Overall it was an easy read; only about 4 hours, personally, and fairly enjoyable!

I will say; the prose was not really for me, although I'm certain there's an audience for it out there, and some of the dialogue didn't really click with me.

Most notably; you need to go into this novel knowing that it is 80% about the girl's childhood and teenage-years coming-of-age struggles and 20% about the Demon and other supernatural/fantasy elements.