I reaaaaally wanted to love this. I thought the beginning was really strong, the pacing was great, and it set up a really intriguing story. However, the book started to start going downhill around the 40%. The magic of the beginning was lost, the characters and plot seemed messy, and there were many references that really took me out of the book. I know it’s YA, but I really don’t need references to TikTok. Despite its flaws this book had a lot of promise, and I am still very interested in what else this author will come out with.

ARC provided by NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Zando for a truly exciting book

I am an adult and really enjoyed this book. It is listed as a YA fantasy mystery, but I was totally engaged.

I would not recomnent for Young teens or immature youth. More toward the older age teens and college level. More mature YA level. It was disturbing at points, but not over the top. I loved the magical element.

Recommend.

This story took me quite off GUARD, I do not know what I was expecting but this was so much better then what I thought this was going to be! I loved this book!! The Plot was wonderful and the flow of said plot was 10/10

The Wilderness of Girls was not what I expected. To be honest, I feel the blurb is to blame, as it misleadingly suggests a story brimming with magic. Perhaps I missed that part of the narrative, but there is a completely different side to the story. The beginning really drew me in with its fantastic pace and a likable main character. However, after the discovery of the girls, the story seemed to decline. The storytelling slowed and became repetitive. The main plot, as suggested by the blurb, was not resolved, leaving many questions unanswered. While I understand that some ambiguity is intentional, as it is in an allegory, it still left me unsatisfied. Additionally, the book seriously lacks trigger warnings for suicide, sexual abuse, and child abuse.

What a wonderful plot! Finding a world to escape to from reality, who doesn’t want that?
This book kept me needing more from every page but also had me bawling like a baby.

This book really drew me in. Starting with the GORGEOUS cover then slapping me with an incredible character-rich story. Even though the heavy themes are dealt with well, please do read all the trigger warnings! They were well explored for a YA book.
I struggled to put this book down even when life required it of me! I found the slow reveals of both Eden & the wild girls backstories really helped connect me to the story & feel for the characters.

First and foremost, this book ripped my heart out and gave me an emotional hangover. This was a fantastic novel, full of magic, trauma, found family, healing, and love. These girls fighting not to be put in the box and fighting to get out of the box that society tries to put them in was beautifully written. Find yourself a pack, love your pack and let your pack take care of you when you need it!

Huge thank you to Net Galley for the opportunity to read this amazing ARC.

I’m going to get my gripes out of the way first…literally, it was just the formatting and we all know ARC’s are like that from time to time. It was just technical issues that interrupted my reading process but other than that, five freakin’ stars.

I LOVED this book and quite literally devoured it in two days. I thought the characters were all individually interesting but as a whole, they were so very captivating. I loved seeing their transformation and growth both as their own people and within the group.

I love this book and think it a beautiful story of exploration, challenges, and friendship.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I requested The Wilderness of Girls knowing that it was a young adult debut novel about teenage girls who were living in the woods with wolves. The premise intrigued me, but I have to say I was not expecting to be wowed by a YA novel. Ever since I have been reading YA as an adult, I find that they usually don’t explore themes as deeply as I would like, that there’s usually an unnecessary romance, a focus on plot over character building, etc. However, The Wilderness of Girls defied my expectations.

The novel is very character-focused. The narrator is third person omniscient, so the reader can understand what all the main characters of the story are feeling/thinking. We see their bonds strengthen, weaken, become tangled with frustration and confusion, all for different reasons such as abuse, what it means to be family, media, societal expectations, and toxic masculinity. There are the proclaimed “wild girls” who are found in the forest, but other characters also show characteristics of “wildness” and explore what this means within society. The characters all experience a lot of emotional turmoil that ends up changing how they set the world and the man who took them from their homes.

I would only recommend this for mature teens, and adults would enjoy this too. TRIGGER WARNINGS: RAPE, SEXUAL ASSAULT, CANNIBALISM, DOMESTIC ABUSE, EATING DISORDER, SUICIDE

Phenomenal. Extraordinary. Heart of Darkness with teenage girls. I picked this title from NetGalley because of the description. I wanted to see if the author could pull it off and boy did she. The setup for the book is that a teenage girl who has just gone to live with her uncle finds a group of feral girls in the forest and feels an intense connection to them. They have been raised by a mysterious man whom they called Mother. This was obviously a high risk/high reward concept and the author used it to explore trauma, civilization, masculinity, resilience, media and so much else. And you just wanted to wrap your arms around these girls and hold them tight. This book is a.fairy tale that ends up being brutally honest. Fantastic.

3.5 - intriguing story, but it left some questions unanswered. However, it shows the strength of friends, family, and a bond that can't be broken.

Buckle up.

Four girls are found in the wild. They are near feral, with wolves as pets, and pelts as clothing. Rhi, the rescuer, is quickly the only safe place/person. They bring her into their pack, as a 5th sister. These girls, all lived in the wild with a man called Mother. They were raised to be free, they killed their food, and they slept in a hollowed-out tree.

Rhi, formerly Eden, is also wild, but in a more quiet way. She's plagued by secrets and is adjusting to her new life and these new girls who are attached to her.

As the girls adjust to the new world, one with her birth family, the rest in foster care, they still come together to work their magic...which Rhi is resistant to believe in, until she starts seeing the power.
----

This is a survivor story. Survivors of kidnapping, of Stockholm Syndrome, of abuse, of rejection, of pain. These girls are bound by love and their shared history, but there is doubt growing as they grow more and more comfortable in the new world.

I wasn't entirely sure how to take this book at first, but the additional notes from the doctor, chapters from a memoir, transcripts and message board pages helped move the story along and bring it to a fully developed place. I ended up fully falling in love with all of the leads, and wanting the magic and the portal to bring them all to a place of peace. What next for all of the girls?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I was enjoying this book up until 36% of the way through. I'm pretty squeamish, so I put the book down at the dismembering and cannibalism part. I would have liked some warnings at the start of the book or information page - I don't check reviews before starting a new ARC to avoid having my opinions influenced.

Maybe I would have felt less confused about what was happening if I finished the book.

4 girls living in the woods are discovered by another girl doing trail work. When brought out to the 'real' world, the wild girls aren't the victims you might think, but they believe in the magic that Mother told them about. They think they are the saviors of another land, and the girl who found them is the 5th princess. As the 'wild' girls begin integrating into the world, they struggle with giving up the dream of their wild life and their destiny. They form a tight bond with the girl who found them and one of the wild girl's twin sister. The girls are empowered, and brave, and scared, and so strong. Their bond helps one address the abuse they suffered in powerful and touching ways. This book is for those who dreamed in childhood of escape, who dreamed of finding the friends who would be their fictive kin, who love stories of strong empowered women.

Reader note: This book discusses suicide, sexual abuse of a minor, and restrictive eating. It also includes foster care, though it does portray it in its most idealistic version.

Highly recommend this book for a great story, characters you want to be part of your family, and a heart-wrenching journey of recovery and finding family.

I really, really loved this. Gorgeous prose and intense, hard hitting themes make this a book I’ll be thinking about for a long time. The fairytale-true crime mix felt so unique but was done so well. I highly recommend this one!

I expected this to be fantasy, or a dark fantasy, which is not really my thing, but it isn't. It is a tragic and realistic story about pain and loss.
I loved Jimmy and his cat. I loved how free Rhi felt with him and his cat. I love how she appreciated his untidiness.
The girls are lovely and relatable characters. I love the way the media is portrayed and their journey back into the modern world.
I just loved everything about this book. It was exactly what I needed. The girls are fierce! I also love the names of all the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for an arc in return for my honest review.

This debut is beautiful. What appears to be a fantastical, even sweet fairytale exterior, is in fact a pretty dark and emotionally fraught interior in this story of the Wild girls. While, for me, the pacing was on the slow side until after the halfway mark, the payoff is soooo rewarding. The themes in this story hit real hard but they are done very well. Throughout the story you think you know whether the magic is true or not but then slowly you begin to think the other way….and then your opinion changes again. The author does a nice job of playing with what you think you know. But where I think the story excels is in the characters’, sisters, relationship. It’s sweet, beautiful, honest, and as a reader you are rooting for all of them equally. I think it can be difficult to make a reader love all the characters, but it’s possible in this one. Definitely a debut writer to watch.

This book is trying and fails to be artsy and have a flowery language and whatnot. It didn’t hit right for me and I could barely read the first chapter. Would not recommend

"No one fucking listens to teenage girls."

This is beautiful. A really wonderous story about four girls found in the wild and the girl who found them. We have found family, literal found family, and all the struggles that come with both. I really enjoyed the "true crime" element and mixed media aspect of the story, and honestly wish it hade been a bigger part of the book. I really wanted to know more about Mother. However, I do think the ending is pretty open ended regarding what actually happens which I think is nice for readers- even if in this instance I did want more answers.

The characters all felt distinct and relatable in different ways and together their stories cover many issues that teenagers are facing.

The writing is stunning and it definitely has that fairytale vibe about it. Super excited to see what Franlin does next.

The Wilderness of Girls by Madeline Claire Franklin is a book I will be thinking about for a while. It dealt with some really heavy issues, but it never felt overly preachy.