Unfortunately this didn’t land for me. I DNF’d this. I had a hard time getting into the writing - the chapters were too short and the pacing just didn’t work for me.

At first, I was confused. Then I read a little more and got more into the story. Then, I was confused. I enjoyed the story and while I was never quite sure where it was going, I knew I wanted to read on. I had made the mistake of thinking the book would make sense at the end when it did not. Maybe I missed a message, but I'm still not entirely sure what happened. I feel like perhaps this is a book I might need to read a few times before fully understanding it. Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for Young Readers for this ARC.

I was so so excited for this one. I loved the Matched series, and the premise of this new book sounded so promising. The good news? It was a very quick read. The bad? It was just hard to connect with. I think maybe it just wasn't for me, but hopefully some of my readers will enjoy it!!

The Only Girl in Town offered an enjoyable read, yet the narrative's chaotic nature and the plethora of concurrent storylines left me feeling overwhelmed. The constant shifts in focus made it challenging to fully engage with the plot, and at times, I found myself lost amidst the abundance of unfolding events. Unfortunately, the book's intricate structure and myriad of storylines did not resonate with my reading preferences, ultimately making it clear that this particular novel may not be the ideal choice for me.

I had put this book off for so long because I thought I wasn’t going to get into it. I was so wrong. I loved it so much that I sat and read it all in one sitting. I loved the way it was written. The mystery of it. And how it all came together! It was beautiful. A beautiful, sad, mysterious book!

This book was quite nice to read. The storyline was a bit chaotic but the plot was entertaining and required me to read on till the end. I liked that it was a lot about forgiveness, and accepting oneself as one is.

However, it was not really my type of book. I did not like switching between stories, and found that the story dis not resonate with me. A nice book though, and well worth reading if this I'd your thing!

The Only Girl In Town—Ally Condie

What if you were the only person left and you had no idea where everyone went?

That’s the predicament July Fielding finds herself in when she wakes up completely alone. How? Why? July has to go deep inside her memories to find the answers, back to places she vowed never to go again. The only question is: will she come back after, or disappear just like everyone else?
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This was a really wild ride! Condie painted a compelling picture of what the human experience would look like in total isolation. She also kept me guessing what it was that -happened- to make July Fielding the only person left in the town. I gotta admit I was on the edge of my seat—up until the end. Kinda lost me there.

It was just a bit anticlimactic for me. I just felt the reasons behind July’s situation were a bit underwhelming. I was expecting something a bit more heavy, but as a whole I still thought it was a fitting way to conclude things. I still would recommend everyone to go on this journey though. Definitely won’t regret it!

I think the issue I had with this book is, I thought it was a mystery/thriller for some reason and turned out to be more of a ya contemporary for mental health 😅. I don’t know what gave off thriller vibes to me lol but if you like lyrical books that are pretty much one big metaphor for something important, this may be for you!

Honestly, this book left me quite sad by the end and if you struggle with mental health, maybe really look into this one before picking it up.

Overall, since I thought it was something different, I had a hard time rating it. It was good but just not my kind of story.

This was bizarre. That's an Ally Condie standard but this took a weird first place prize there.

The short chapters helped you fly through the read. Although it's really difficult to follow at times.

As a long time Stan of Condie I still loved it. Her bizarre stories are top notch!

A long time fan of Ally Condie, I had to pick this one up. It's definitely a bit different than what she usually writes. The chapters are incredibly short. Basically a novel in verse without much of the verse. The book is wholeheartedly about depression so make sure you are in the right headspace before picking the book up.

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, Dutton Books for Young Readers and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy.

The Only Girl in Town by Ally Condie is out now and is a story you won’t be able to set down once you dive in.

Thank you @penguinteen for my copy of this book.

“An eerily beautiful and lyrical story of loss, grief, and how quickly relationships can change, while also changing us.” —Robin Benway. A summation I don’t think I could describe it any better.

The way @allycondiebooks navigated the main character through this novel was so well done. Beautiful writing with heart and a fast paced journey that you will be sad when the book ends!

If this is not on your radar - I encourage you to pick it up and read it so we can chat! That said there are delicate topics that some may wish to know beforehand so please look into trigger warnings if you are sensitive to certain topics.

I also would recommend this to be read in a physical book and not on audio as you’ll miss some of the dimensions of how the author lays out the story.

Book Report for The Only Girl in Town by Ally Condie

Cover Story: Lonely Light
BFF Charm: Let Me Love You
Talky Talk: Consistently Condie
Bonus Factors: Loyal Pet, Tasty Business, Small Town
Factor: Mental Illness
Anti-Bonus Factor: Bullying
Relationship Status: Not The Only One

Cover Story: Lonely Light
That one light in July’s bedroom window on an otherwise dark and empty street sums up the mood of this story precisely.

The Deal:
July Fielding (yes, like the month – it’s a long story) has been struggling with what she calls “the cold lonely” all her life, but she thought she had it under control. She was seeing a therapist. She had parents, a brother, a group of friends on her high school track team, a boyfriend, and a cat named Yolo (short for “You only live once”). That was before everybody, people and animals, vanished overnight, leaving her the only living creature in town … or is she? Because something or someone is leaving clues for her, mementos of her last happy summer, along with three repeated words: GET TH3M BACK.

BFF Charm: Let Me Love You
July has reached a state that introverts, especially those with mental health issues, know all too well. She’s desperately lonely and still can’t deal with people. She spends her days searching the empty town for anyone she can talk to, but when she hears a noise, her instinct is to run away. Memories of her old life, as a patient foil to her ambitious co-captain Syd and protective mentor to freshman Ella, make it clear that she was once a great friend. She could still be one, if only she – and whatever force emptied the town – would only give her the chance.

Swoonworthy Scale: 3
We never find out much about July’s boyfriend Sam except that he works in an ice cream parlor, he goes to college, and she considers him a “good boy” (although his actions in the later chapters made me question that label a few times, and not just because he’s in college and she’s in high school).

Talky Talk: Consistently Condie
Condie’s style is always her own, whatever genre or age group she’s writing for: short chapters, simple words, and startling flashes of poetry (“the unbreathing night”) that will stay in your mind long after you’ve read them. Sometimes

she drops

into line breaks

during moments of deep emotion. Since July is a runner, you can almost hear her gasping out her story between racing steps.

Bonus Factor: Loyal Pet
July’s black cat Yolo is the only companion she has left. He’s too lazy to finish a meow, so he says meh instead. He hates being carried and will curl up on her lap if – and only if – he feels like it. By her own admission, she prefers him to most people.

Bonus Factor: Tasty Business
If being a novelist doesn’t work out, Condie can always write copy for restaurants. Just kidding. The menu for Verity Ice Cream does sound delicious, though: Peaches and Cream, Cinnamon Crunch, Mudslide … okay, maybe not that last one.

Bonus Factor: Small Town
July has a complex relationship with Lithia, her hometown, before and after the Vanishing. She’s both proud and embarrassed of her low-budget school, resentful and fascinated with the wealthy college students passing through. She loves the rituals that hold her group together, even if they exclude others. It’s generic enough to be any small town in North America, yet still specific enough to feel believable.

Factor: Mental Illness
There may or may not be a supernatural element to this story, but that doesn’t make it a fairy tale. July’s depression is very real. There is no happily-ever-after. Cautiously hopeful is enough for now.

Anti-Bonus Factor: Bullying
There was some nasty jealousy among July’s teammates, which she tried to mediate before getting tangled up in it herself. Her reaction might sound disproportionate to some – breakups and hazing rituals are not the end of the world – but, for a depressed teenager, that’s exactly how they feel. Condie doesn’t minimize the pain.

Relationship Status: Not The Only One
Dear Book, you understand what it’s like to be alone, and it made me feel less so. I hope you do the same for many more readers.

The Only Girl in Town by Ally Condie
⭐⭐⭐/5

**Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!**

A very short synopsis: July wakes up one moment and every single person and animal in her town has disappeared. Throughout the book she tries to figure out how to get people back, while working through her memories of the past and the mistakes that were made.

Alright, this was a strange one for me. It was almost written like poetry, with very pretty passages, and occasionally chapters like a regular book. It made it easy to read and I enjoyed the writing, it was just the story that left me very baffled. I kind of waited for some big reveal and thought I had it figured out a few times, but it turns out to be fairly basic. This book felt very YA and while I understand everything seems big in your teen years, July's problems felt trivial and blown way out of proportion. I actually liked the book, but I was definitely disappointed by the ending and the outcome.

I had the hardest time getting through this book. Love Ally Condie but this one just fell a bit flat for me. I think it’s more of a ‘me’ problem because the whole metaphysical trope isn’t a favorite. I thought this was going to have more of a dystopian feel.

On that note, I give this a 3 because the writing is unique and July is a great character. It’s my own personal disappointment and expectations that let me down, not the author or her writing.

Thank you to PenguinTeen for the earc in exchange for an honest review.

This one is hard for me to pick if I liked or disliked. Found myself confused at times of what exactly was going on like how we got to where we are. But I did enjoy the authors writing it was good and chapters were short.

July Fielding is alone. Every single person in her town has disappeared. No family, no friends, no neighbors. It’s up to her to unravel what happened and to piece together the mystery of what happened. Because being alone can be scary.

This was eerie and poetic. I mean imagine waking and literally everyone is gone and you’re alone. I think I’d go a littler stir crazy, yet preoccupy myself with solving what happened just like July does.

It’s imaginative but by the end I was left wanting something. More answers I guess. It’s emotional for sure and left me wondering. I guess some style of writing just doesn’t hit me the way it does others but that shouldn’t stop you from trying this book out. Who knows you might love it more.

This was a unique book. I think I enjoyed the way the story came full circle and how it was in short chapters

too YA for me and couldn't connect with the story. maybe i will take it out from the library one day in the future.

The Only Girl in Town follows July, a teen cross country runner, who discovers she’s completely and utterly alone in her town. Everything goes from the usual hustle and bustle to silence with the snap of a finger, and July doesn’t understand why. Over the course of the next several days, July tries to understand her new reality and how to change it.

I went into this with the impression that there was going to be a paranormal or thriller subplot, simply because of the setup. Everyone in town disappears and there are messages telling her to “get them back.” However, what I found was that the elements audiences may commonly associate with the thriller genre were utilized to tell a moving coming-of-age story that focuses on a teen girl’s journey with her emotions and what they’re ultimately rooted in.

This book is an incredibly poignant way to show someone’s experience with grief and loneliness. It is an excellent representation of how powerful emotions can be and how long they can sit with you, even if you are seemingly moving through your normal routine. I took much of this story to be reflective of July’s journey with depression over the events that happened the previous summer, and there’s a descriptive phrase Condie used that I think encompasses it well: hearing the cold lonely sound. That’s a phrase that will stick with me long after I’ve put this book on the shelf.

What stood out to me about the storytelling was the formatting of the chapters. Most are labeled with the category of “now” or “once,” though there are some that are given no label, leaving you to assume when they take place in the timeline. Further, many of the chapters felt like stanzas to a poem, rather than a traditional paragraph-based story. This really helped drive home the theming of the story and the emotional turmoil we see July experience, both in the “nows” and “onces.”

There’s also the small notion that July is an unreliable narrator, as possibly revealed by herself. It gives an important distinction that while what we are reading is July’s experience and version of events, that doesn’t mean it’s what happened for everyone in the story, and that the way July interpreted things does not mean that’s how the other characters felt. I think it could also lend itself to the destructive natures our minds can take when we fall into these emotional situations, and how our minds will tell or show us something that doesn't line up with reality.

The Only Girl in Town is a beautiful coming-of-age story that focuses on loneliness in a way that I haven’t seen expressed in a book before. I encourage anyone who is looking for a meaningful or emotionally compelling story to check this book out.

The premise of this was an immediate yes for me, having everyone disappear in the town and figuring out what happened sounds like a great story. This jumps right into the vanishings and the super short chapters made this easy to dive in.

The story goes back and forth between now, where July is trying to find everyone, and before, where we learn about July's life and her relationships with family, friends, and a boyfriend. I was hoping there would be more of a focus on where everyone went, but this was more emotional and how a person can feel lonely even if they're surrounded by others.

The ending was a let down for me, I felt sort of misled as to what kind of book this was. I did appreciate that it was a quick read though.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Dutton Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the copy.