The blurb caught my eye but the book couldn’t hold my attention.

The writing style was an easy read, told from two time periods of Danielle Greer’s life. Her life as a 17 year old that goes to NY to be a model, and her adult life with four young daughters living in her family home where remains of a girl have been found on the property.

I didn’t understand her obsessive relationship with the home town boy other than where it leads in the end. And I found her character odd as an adult. It is like the emotional story didn’t match with the rest of the book. Some of the characters just plain lacked emotions, or were unfeeling towards others entirely.

The remains and the accident was a decent twist but again the discovery and investigation could have been portrayed with more reactions and emotional depth to match to scenes.

Fast Boys and Pretty Girls - Review

3 Stars

A a perfectly fast paced and surreal book.

Reading this book - I felt like nothing exists and nothing matters. Time has stopped and it’s just me, in this moment. It was such a bizarre and wholly surreal reading experience and I mean this in the best way possible. I found something so oddly comforting about this book, whether it be the comfort of the south (I personally have family there), or just the way it was written - whatever it was, it pulled me in and I wasn’t able to put the book down.

I really enjoyed the writing style and the literary chaos that was the plot line sprinkled through. The nuances and juxtaposition between Danielle and her “rough around the edges, tell you how it is” parents. Absolutely comical showing her modelling career and how receptive (in part or lack thereof) her parents and home town was of the career choice.

I found the dynamic between Danielle and her family a bit odd and I would have liked to see more of a relationship explored between her and her sister. The ending felt a bit incomplete for me regarding her mother. I did feel like the story was sort of.. stuck at one point towards the end and I was intrigued how it would all wrap up.

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed this book as it was definitely fast paced and an easy read. Absolutely will be recommending to friends.

Thankyou to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!

Told over dual timelines, 'Fast Boys and Pretty Girls' focuses on Dani, in one life an aspiring model moving from her small town to New York, another as a mother of four back in her childhood home. When one of her daughters discovers a body in the woods behind the house, she is forced to relive the tragic accident of her past.

Throughout this book I often found myself disliking the main character of Dani but this didn't make it an unenjoyable read for me. She is obsessive, often unkind and primarily focused only on herself. I think it makes an interesting read when you don't particularly like or agree with the choices and opinions of the main character.

The relationship aspect of this book was also a little odd to me. I did find it hard to understand why Dani was putting herself through that constantly and basically destroying her career for a boy that was obviously not interested lol.

A really enjoyed this story and felt it read really well. The plot was interesting and kept me hooked throughout. I'd suggest reading it blind and you'll really enjoy x

I wanted to like it but this wasn't like I though it would be.

Not captivating enough to keep my attention.

I found this book disappointing due to its lack of character development. It was well written, I liked the author’s prose. But most of the characters remained stagnant, showing little to no personal or professional growth throughout the story. The protagonist, supposedly a model student from New York, falls deeply for a high school dropout who clearly isn’t serious about her, which felt unrealistic and frustrating. Their relationship lacked depth, making it difficult to root for them. The novel had potential, but the underdeveloped characters and implausible romance made it an unsatisfying read for me.

Thank you to Net Galley for the advanced copy of this book!

I wanted to like it, I thought the summary sounded interesting, but this book fell short for me. It was a lot of obsessing about a bad boy and making terrible decisions. I found Danielle lazy and annoying and a very distant and difficult character.

It wasn’t terribly written, but it was a book that I struggled to finish as it was boring and inconclusive.

Fast Boys and Pretty Girls, by Lo Patrick definitely kept me engaged with its use of different timelines. It was effective in creating tension and pulling me in, making me want to know what would happen next. The shifting perspectives really kept things interesting and added layers to the story.

That being said, I did feel like the main characters could’ve used a bit more development. I was hoping for more depth, especially given how much of the story was built around their experiences.

By the time I got to the big reveals at the end, I was left feeling a little underwhelmed. The build-up had me expecting more of a twist, so the conclusion didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

The story is definitely a slow burn, which isn’t a bad thing, but I was hoping for more of an explosive payoff. This was my first book by Lo Patrick, and while it wasn’t exactly what I expected, I’d be open to reading more of their work to see how they evolve.

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