This book was so confusing and really jumbled to me. I never really understood the magic, or was it magic? I never really understood what was happening at the house or who was behind it, or why. It was very disorienting and perhaps just not meant for someone with my type of mind.

This was haunting. I absolutely felt immensely for these sisters and loved watching everything progress.

This book reminded me of the experience that I’ve had while reading books by Mona Awad, in the way that it felt like a fever dream and I can never recount what happened while reading the story. At the very beginning of the book, the Soler sisters attend this Alarie finishing school because of the respect that it will give them from others in society. (Essentially.) Things go south in the middle of the night for Isla Soler, so she dips—meanwhile, Renata Soler finishes out her time at the school/house. However, when Renata comes back home, something is different about her.

This description is what drew me in to the book. However, after giving it a good try, I couldn’t do it anymore. 😭 I’ve been thinking that I’m just not smart enough for this type of novel, but I’d be surprised if anyone truly understands this.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and Anna-Marie McLemore for this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

Flawless Girls by Anna-Marie McLemore, while beautifully written, ultimately fell short for me. The novel's slow pacing and somewhat predictable plot made it difficult to stay fully engaged. Additionally, the characters, though richly developed, did not resonate with my personal preferences. Despite its literary merits, this book just wasn’t for me.

3.5 stars

I enjoy the way McLemore writes so poetically, they create some beautiful and vivid images and bring me into the story fully. This was so easy to fall into and I immediately needed to know more about what was going on in the finishing school.

For a while, I wasn't sure exactly what was going on. Is this a spell or curse? Is someone controlling the girls? I wanted to know and powered through this to find out, and ended up not really loving the answer. Also, I still don't see how it fits completely and have a couple questions.

I thought the setting was kind of ambiguous as well, so I couldn't tell how far in the past everything was. I understand the author wanting this to be a bit open to interpretation, but a bit more world building might have helped.

This was intriguing for sure and I may re-read one day to really pay attention to all the metaphors and gem descriptions closer.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Feiwel & Friends and NetGalley for the copy.

- Anna Marie McLemore delivers another atmospheric, emotional, deeply queer story with FLAWLESS GIRLS.
- I loved the imagery of this book. McLemore winds together the opulence and eerie atmosphere beautifully, and I could envision it all as I was reading.
- There isn’t a whole lot to FLAWLESS GIRLS. The plot is one-track and unfolds pretty linearly among the few fully drawn characters. It’s really all about the beauty and the feelings here.

"This tradition, this awful legacy of deciding which parts of a woman should be shown and which parts should be made invisible, had been handed down like inherited furniture."

Girls who go to the prestigious Alarie House finishing and etiquette school are known to marry high power men, lead extraordinary lives and are thought of as the pinnacle of grace, style and elegance. However, when Isla and her sister Renata - raised by their brazen, carefree grandmother - start at the school, lsla has a harrowing experience that sends her running from the house and leaving her sister behind.

Months later, her sister shows back up at their family home but is not the same. When she vanishes the next morning, Isla knows she will have to return to the Alarie House once again to figure out where her sister is and what is happening at this institutional machine that turns young girls into proper, prom and quiet young women.

💥💥💥

I am always enamored with Anna-Marie McLemore's enchanting magical realism fueled YA novels but this one was particularly poignant for me. So much of being a young woman comes with the judgment and stress of societal norms. This book captures that anxiety while revealing some of the harmful consequences of living in a world that expects perfection.

FLAWLESS GIRLS is full of the horrors of girlhood, the perils of perfection culture and a mystery hidden in the bowels of this jewel-laden, spotless, glittering institution.

All the stars for this one, plus just LOOK AT THAT COVER! Beautiful! Thank you to the author, @netgalley, and the publisher @macmillanusa for the e-ARC.

This one has been out in the world since Tuesday this week!

💥💥💥

What kind/color of jewel is your favorite?

I am not much of a jewel person myself, but I do have a green sapphire on my wedding band as I LOVE the color green.

Be well!

💚SMASHBOT 💚

#booksta #bookstagram #booklover #bibliophile #bookdragon #bookworm #bookaholic #bookreview #annamariemclemore #magicalrealism #bookish #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #flawlessgirls

Intersex character representation makes this a vital inclusion into my library's collection! Add in the fact that it's an awesome horror story? Amazing! I liked that it was fast paced and that it had short chapters, made the read go very quickly. Would definitely recommend.

Isla and Renata Soler's grandmother got them into the much coveted Alarie House. The Alaire House is the prominent finishing school. It's known for turning young women into first ladies, princesses and socialites.

Isla and Renata have completely different experiences at the school. Isla leaves after one day and Renata stays behind. Isla refuses to explain her hasty departure which becomes more mysterious when Renata returns months later and then vanishes on her own accord.

Isla is determined to find her sister and the only way she can do that is to return to The Alarie house. Then things get really peculiar and I was left questioning what I read. I'm still not sure what I read. I usually DNF books like this but I pushed through because I had so much hope for this book with a gorgeous cover.

I've come to the conclusion that this book just isn't for me. I don't understand it fully but the parts that I did - I liked it,

The cover for Flawless Girls by Anna-Marie McLemore is pretty and easily caught my attention. I also liked the description, which made me excited to read it. The book had an interesting concept and there were moments in the story that I enjoyed. However, I struggled to stay interested in the story and had to come back to it several times to complete it. It could be that my assumptions about the story didn't align with the reality of the story. It was lackluster at times. I will say that the overall concept or message was a very good one that I won't spoil here. That being said, I would still recommend this book to others.

Flawless Girls was an interesting read. It had a decent message, but it fell a little flat for me. I felt like I was forcing myself to finish it.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time trying to figure out what was happening! I loved how descriptive the author was which was very refreshing as many books I read lack this!

This one I couldn't get into, unfortunately. The prose was too flowery and the descriptions over the top. It felt less like fantasy and more like literary fiction, which might be some people's thing, but sadly isn't mine.

Flawless Girls is not the mystery I thought it was going to be. It's more of a coming-of-age magical realism thriller. Which is fine. It just wasn't what I was expecting.

At the heart of Flawless Girls, it's really a story about learning to be your real self and not what society expects of you or demands of you. I have seen quite a few reviewers call it a giant metaphor, and yes, basically, it is. I would also classify it as a light Dystopian.

Thank you to Netgalley and Feiwel & Friends for providing me with a review copy.

Anna-Marie McLemore is one of the best literary voices of this generation, and Flawless Girls is further evidence of that!

Book Review of Flawless Girls by Anna-Marie McLemore

Cover Story: Shine Bright
BFF Charm: Caution
Swoonworthy Scale: 2
Talky Talk: McDreamy
Bonus Factor: LGBTQ+ Representation
Factor: Sisters
Relationship Status: Nice to Meet You?

Cover Story: Shine Bright
Although this cover is very pretty, there’s something ominous about the dripping gold. Very fitting for the story within.

The Deal:
When Isla and Renata Soler arrive at the Alarie Girls finishing school, Isla immediately senses something is off, and leaves the night they get there. Renata stays, but she’s a completely different person when she returns home after completing her courses. And then she disappears in the night.

To figure out what happened to her sister, Isla must return to the school. But will she be able to keep from means losing herself, too, in the process?

BFF Charm: Caution
Although she always tells the truth, Isla feels like an unreliable narrator because of the uncertainty of the plot. I liked her a lot, but I never felt like I could fully trust her. I commiserate with her confusion—there’s so much about the Alarie Girls and the school that confounds—but she also frightened me. Were I at the school, I likely would have wanted to be her friend. But me attending a finishing school is a hysterical notion, so I doubt we’d have ever crossed paths.

Swoonworthy Scale: 2
When Isla meets Paz, she’s taken aback by the other girls’s louche nature and masculine ways. Paz doesn’t fit in with the rest of the girls at the school, but she’s given free reign to do as she pleases, something that confounds Isla; the rest of them are forced into tight little boxes of decorum, and yet Paz can wear trousers and slouch in chairs. The two have a connection but it’s overshadowed by the larger plot. The two could be something more given time and space, but in the book their relationship takes a backseat to the mystery.

Talky Talk: McDreamy
McLemore’s books are hard to describe to anyone who’s never read them. Part fever dream, part Southern gothic horror, Flawless Girls continues that trend. I both enjoyed and was unsettled by the story and had to sit for a while after finishing to try and sort it out in my head. (Was I successful? Remains to be seen.) I do love their characters, though. They’re always such fully realized individuals with all that comes along with being a flawed human being. Paz was particularly great in this novel; she’s such a breath of fresh air amongst all of the other “proper” folks in the book.

Bonus Factor: LGBTQ+ Representation
Isla is intersex and spends much of the book trying to hide her “different” body from the rest of the “normal” girls at Alarie House. But by the end of the novel, she’s realizes that it’s her differences that make her the person she is, and just because her body doesn’t exactly fit the standard set by society, it doesn’t mean she’s lesser or strange. McLemore always has such great queer inclusion in their books, and Isla’s yet another example of this important work.

Factor: Sisters
Isla spends much of the novel trying to get out of the shadow of her older (prettier, smarter, more poised, better in every way) sister, Renata. But no one’s put her there except Isla herself. Watching her come to that realization is both difficult and fist-pump worthy.

Relationship Status: Nice to Meet You?
I can’t say I fully enjoyed our time together, Book, because you gave me anxiety in a very nebulous way. (Which, if you’ve ever experienced anxiety, can often just make it worse.) That said, I think I liked you, overall. It can be good to get out of one’s comfort zone.

Do any of your favorite authors have new books coming out this year?

I am super excited about Anna-Marie McLemore’s newest release, Flawless Girls, which will be coming out tomorrow! Today I am highlighting Flawless Girls as a part of @turnthepagetours’ bookstagram tour with @mackidsbooks!

Here’s a synopsis of Flawless Girls:
The Soler sisters are infamous in polite society—brazen, rebellious, and raised by their fashionable grandmother who couldn’t care less about which fork goes where. But their grandmother also knows the standards that two Latina young ladies will be held to, so she secures them two coveted places at the Alarie House, a prominent finishing school that turns out first ladies, princesses, and socialites.

Younger sister Isla is back home within a day. She refuses to become one of the eerily sweet Alarie girls in their prim white dresses. Older sister Renata stays. When she returns months later, she’s unfailingly pleasant, unnervingly polite, and, Isla discovers, possibly murderous. And the same night she returns home, she vanishes.

As their grandmother uses every connection she has to find Renata, Isla re-enrolls, intent on finding out what happened to her sister. But the Alarie House is as exacting as it is opulent. It won’t give up its secrets easily, and neither will a mysterious, conniving girl who’s either controlling the house, or carrying out its deadly orders.

Tautly written, tense, and evocative, this is a stunning YA novel by award-winning and critically acclaimed author Anna-Marie McLemore.

I love a book with a thrilling academic setting!!

The quick cut: A girl who has never been separated from her sister runs away the first night at a finishing school. Chaos ensues when her sister returns a completely different person and then disappears.

A real review:
Thank you to Feiwel & Friends for providing the arc for an honest review.

People change over time. Even those closest to us can become unrecognizable over time. So what would you do if that was your sibling? This is the case for Isla.

Isla and her sister Renata were sent to a prominent finishing school called the Alarie House to become prim and proper ladies of society. Night one though, Isla runs away and refuses to become one of the eerily sweet girls who finish. When her sister finishes and comes home, Isla doesn't even recognize her before she disappears overnight. What did the Alarie House do to Renata? Can Isla discover the truth going back?

I was definitely the wrong audience for this book, so consider that when it comes to my rating here. The book is like a fever dream that finishes before it feels like it's started and it uses flowery language that makes you wonder what was real. There's very little reality to really cling to in this tale and by the end, you have more questions than answers. I hate that feeling.

I couldn't connect with Isla as a character, but I've also never had the struggles she has. Someone who relates to how she feels would definitely love her journey more. That connection to her family is a good thing though, its what seems to matter most to her.

A book that leaves you wondering what just happened and what if anything was real.

My rating: 3 out of 5

I tried. I really tried. I read the entire book and I feel soooo much was left out and way too much was included. The overall concept of the story is a good one but the focus was too much on imagery and not on the actual plot. I had to read the author's note to finally know what she meant by not like a girl should be meant. I get the vagueness maybe lending to the aspect of anyone could imagine themselves as not quite like everyone else BUT she is intersexed. Don't you think saying that and maybe telling her story of accepting that about herself in real concepts and words instead of eating jewels? I think the book was trying to be more than it was and is rather pretentious.

I just finished this and I am speechless. It has sparked so many thoughts and I will absolutely be rereading it in the future. I recommend adding this to your Pride Month tbr and let me know what you think so we can discuss!

Definitely check this one out if you like:
💎 Dark academia vibes
💎 Spooky houses
💎 Gender exploration
💎 Books that leave your brain feeling broken but you just can’t stop thinking about them

Thank you so much to Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.