3.5 stars! I don't think I was the target audience for this book and I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I feel as though if I had read this as a teenager I would have loved it. I saw the twist coming, but again, I think I wasn't the target audience. The female main character was extremely frustrating in giving up a career for a boy from her hometown - something that would have resonated hard with me at 18. I read this book in one sitting and was never bored, I recommend it for an easy, quick read!

The cover is lovely and suits this slowburn novel very much. I loved the writing and the slow pace. The characters are developed nicely. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a chance to read this book.

Then, Danielle was fresh out of Georgia, a teenage model in New York. Not a star, but successful enough to have money in her pocket and an apartment of her own. Never mind that her family doesn't think she's made for a life outside of Georgia; never mind that she's fallen for a boy back home who never wants to leave the South; never mind that modeling has put a hold on the things she always thought she'd do, like go to college.

"A girl should never be told she's pretty—so pretty it's going to pay the bills." (loc. 2678*)

Now, Danielle is back in Georgia, living in the decaying old house that her parents passed down to her. Her marriage works because her ideal is to stay home with her four daughters and her husband's ideal is to be gone for work for days at a time.

She keeps Then separate from Now—until the girls find skeletal remains in the woods behind the house, and Then comes crashing in. Because Danielle knows whose bones they must be.

Something about Southern fiction calls to me sometimes—that smell of hot humid air, I think, and in this case the combination of rural poverty and deeply entrenched pride. Danielle's mother in particular is an intriguing character; she reminds me of certain women I know (from various backgrounds) for whom life as not been easy and who were (for various reasons) dissuaded from pursuing their dreams.

The balance between Then and Now doesn't always align for me. Most of the story takes place in Danielle's modeling days, when she is young and bratty and determined to feel superior to her family and friends in Georgia. I actually love how low-key unlikeable Danielle is at that point—she's full of it, but she's written to be full of it, and she doesn't have the sophistication or finesse to, well, brag in a way that achieves the desired effect. It's way more interesting than Danielle being sweet and naive and perpetually hard-working.

I would have liked to see more of the Now, though, more of what's going on with the bones and how Danielle is processing it. We really don't see much of her world as an adult: not the ways the town has changed, not her husband and daughters, not the few other people she interacts with, not even her house. We also see very little from the police (or really anyone else) regarding the body—this isn't a mystery, and possibly the author wanted to steer clear of any whiff of mystery or police procedural, but I guess I expected more questions in the Now. The earlier timeline ends up feeling far more fleshed out than the later timeline, to the extent that I might have preferred the story to just...stay in the Then.

In the end this satisfied my occasional thirst for a certain stripe of Southern literature but didn't quite have the depth of plot and character development I was hoping for. Not a standout, but an interesting read.

*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

Lo Patrick's Fast Girls and Pretty Boys is about a young girl and her journey through a first love, family and a modeling career, all while flipping to her adult self, and her dealing with herself now and how the past has never really left her.
This slow burn made me feel like I was 16 again! The book jumps from a young Dani, to an older Danielle (Dani) and her struggles to navigate a world she dosnt feel she belongs in. I found the writing to be really good in some places, but also a little drawn out in others.
I absolutely devoured the chapters of Dani being a young model and her romance with Benji. I could feel how she felt and understood where her mind was. On the other hand I felt almost a little bit of a disconnect with her adult self, or even the whole 2019 (present) time period. Although I was genuinely surprised by the twist, I wish it was more of a wow factor in the way it was presented.
I would highly recommend this young adult book to someone who likes a good story, and a slow burn for the truth. I think if you like fast pasted who done it books, it may not be for you, or it's exactly what you need!
Thanks to Netgalley for the early read!

big thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy

I loved how the story jumped between different timelines. Do I wish I had a little more character development on the main characters? Yes. Done wish it had been a little longer? Also yes. But I still loved the over all story. It kept me hooked and the twist I honestly didn’t see coming.

"From my mother I learned how to be whoever I wanted to be without explanation and that it was perfectly okay to switch between my selves any time I pleased." A young woman, Danielle, is discovered in small-town Georgia and becomes a semi-successful model in New York. She misuses her newfound social power to hit on a high-school dropout, Benji, and fixates on him. This fixation leads to an unfortunate outcome. I don't really find this sort of behaviour any better when women do it to young men, than I do when men do it to young women. Relative power matters.

That Danielle had a fraught relationship with her mother doesn't really excuse her behaviour: "mother had a tendency to brag about my life in a backhanded way, like she was both thrilled for and dismayed by me all at the same time." The slow-burn book jumps between the past when Dani was modelling, and the present day, where her children have found bones in the woods behind her family home. In her present day voice, Danielle sums up her behaviour thus: "When I look back, I see myself like a bulldozer just tearing through life without regards, churning dirt while I press on, trying to be special, trying to matter." It doesn't seem like a good enough excuse, and it makes her hard to like.

big thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy!

hmm, this was somehow not what i expected it to be! i liked the way that the narrative jumped between the two timelines. it really succeeded in creating tension, and made me want to find out what happened. but now that i've finished, i think the reveals at the end were just a bit of a letdown. i don't know, there's something about danielle's narrative voice that creates too much distance, at least for me: nothing seemed to truly have an impact. that being said, i'm not sure if im the target audience for this one, and i'm sure it's going to be really effective for some!

I really enjoyed the writing of this book. I think that the author is a fantastic writer and especially as far as young adult books go, this is so well written. I didn’t care as much for the story, but I feel that’s personal preference. I wish the story was longer and more developed in places as I was keen to know more about the characters, the back story, the intentions behind why some characters acted the way they did. I wanted more insight into the motive of Danielle’s mum in doing what she did. I wanted to know more about why Danielle was so obsessed with Benji, their age gap weirded me out so I needed to know more about why it happened in the first place. Everything just moved a bit too fast, but also a bit too slow at the same time.

I did ultimately enjoy the writing though and I would look to read more by this writer in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I didn't love this book. The writing style wasn't something I enjoyed and the pages felt like they went on and on. I prefer less of a slow burn and something more fast paced. Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.

This book was slightly enjoyable though I am not enticed to read anything else from this author or reccommend this to others, I personally did not enjoy the authors writing style and felt the book was too dragged out. The character development was promisng but I wasn't the biggest fan of Danielle the main character. Overall I was invested enough in the bookm to finish it but it wouldnt be classified in my 'favorite book' category.

This story was definitely a slow burn. I didn’t really like the main character, Danielle, but by the end I was invested in what happened to her and her story. I feel like her character was developed well. I thought that the mother was quirky and a little bit funny at times. Pressville reminded me of other small towns in Georgia and I feel like the reactions of the people were pretty much on point. This is my first book by this author and I enjoyed the writing style. I would check out other books by this author in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I discovered Lo Patrick not long ago and she has become one of my favorites. Her writing is impeccable and her stories are just about perfect. Highly recommend

Review may contain spoilers.
My actual rating is 2.75
Book was okay but not necessarily my cup of tea or something I'd read again.


Fast Boys and Pretty girls is a story about a girl, Danielle; from a small town in Georgia that becomes a semi popular model in NYC. Upon returning home for a visit she falls hard and fast for Benji a bad boy from her hone town. In my opinion she becomes quite obsessed with keeping him at all cost to the point where you almost want to shake some sense into her but hey we've all been teens in love. Danielle lies to her parents and keeps Benji a secret which is cringy because he's under age. She talks him into coming up to NYC where he starts hanging out with another model from her agency, he goes back home, she follows, typical teenage "love" but with a missing person and a loss of a 1st love with an unexpected twist.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve read a book this lovely! The author has a way with words and a turn of phrase that is missing in most novels today. I found myself thinking about the book when I wasn’t reading it and was eager to get back to it. The relationship between the mother and daughter was relayed precisely and even poetically through dialog between them. Also, the family dynamic between the dad and his daughters and between the sisters was very on point, direct and true. The time shift between then and now had me a bit confused in the beginning and I had to go back and reread a little to clarify some things but once I figured out who was who and what was what it made sense to me and was easy to follow. The confession near the end of the book appeared abruptly and caught me off guard but the very end was both satisfying and complete. Well done and highly recommended! I want to thank the author and NetGalley for my ARC and in return I’ve given my honest review.

This book gave me goosebumps, The writing is evocative and deeply atmospheric, pulling you into Danielle’s messy, guilt-ridden world with stunning precision. Themes of first love, loss, and the inescapable pull of the past are woven into every twist, making the story as emotionally devastating as it is gripping. This is a beautifully written tale of memory and morality that leaves a lasting impression.