Great premise but the execution was weak. The idea that the Tox was caused by climate change is a timely topic but the revelation was slow and there were not enough clues for the reader to figure out. I enjoyed the mystery of it and the relationships between the girls but the execution needs work.

I'm glad other people have liked this book but I just could not get into it. The premise was interesting but I just found it a little too strange for my taste. I also wasn't a fan of the writing.

This book is dark, twisted, creepy, and deeply engaging. I caught my legs shaking with eager anticipation for what would happen next and I was always on the edge of my seat. I got big Maze Runner vibes from this book but it was far more satisfying and way more intriguing. A book about an all girl school with intense friendships, alliances, queer relationships, and honest portrayals of putting one's self/needs before anyone else. This has opened me up to a completely new genre of YA, Queer Horror, and I am here for it.

honestly. i did not think even a 1/4 of what was going to happen in this book. i thought it might be post-apocalyptic or dystopian... but it's not? more like a viral outbreak? testing?

but the why and how are still a bit out there. there wasn't enough number of pages to really get in there and get it all out there so i have a feeling that this will be a series because if not ...

i will riot.

so we have an all girls school for wayward girls. the only man on the island is the yard/facility caretaker who is father to one of the girls. and all the teachers and headmistress are women. honestly i'm a bit irritated that i can't remember much about the other girls because they are behind the scenes like in the background of a movie.

but we follow three girls for the most part, reese, hatty, and byett who met when they all first came to the island 30 miles off the coast of main.

honestly, this story gave me a bit of the chills and goosebumps. like it should have this book that was made into a movie instead of [book:The Maze Runner|6186357]. because it's almost like that, but darker. darker and more mysterious.

i mean ffs there is a second spine coming out the back of one of the girls for christ sake. another with gills and one with two hearts.

and i still have the creeps.

WILDER GIRLS had a lot of promise, and I think that it has some well done and powerful aspects to it. I loved the female friendships, and the queer romances that come into play as the book goes on. I also liked the mythology of The Tox, even if we didn't know much about it and why it came about. I also really enjoyed seeing how the social structure in the school has degraded as time has gone on, and how Power lays out how desperate the situation has become, and what characters will do in hopes of saving themselves. All that said, WILDER GIRLS didn't suck me in as much as I'd hoped it would. I felt that the pacing was a bit slow, and while I was interested in The Tox and how it has changed and affected the characters, I didn't feel like enough focus was on it. I usually like wider conspiracy stories, but for whatever reason WILDER GIRLS didn't hold my interests as much as I would have liked. I also didn't care for the ending, as it felt to be very clearly a way to write a sequel, but also to shut it all down should that opportunity not arise. Because of that it felt a bit abrupt, and unsatisfactory.

WILDER GIRLS didn't give me what I wanted from it, but that doesn't mean that it should be written off. There are definitely things within it that I liked. It just wasn't consistent in its appeal.

Do you ever buy a book without knowing what it’s about?

That’s kind of what I did with Wilder Girls…I didn’t read the synopsis, but I requested it on NetGalley and started reading without the faintest idea what it’s about. I just liked the cover and heard about it a few times so figured why not?

I’m really glad I decided to read this one. A horror/mystery novel but with some slight contemporary vibes, this was everything I needed in a mystery island novel.

Our main characters are three of the girls on this island; Hetty, Byatt, and Reese. I love how different these girls are but they still found each other, and despite their various ups and downs (some of them kind of extreme downs), they’re still always there for each other. The story is told from alternating POV’s of Hetty and Byatt as they both navigate their role in this strange new world.

They are however, not the smartest group. When various events lead to part of the group breaking quarantine, things go from really really bad to the absolute worst, and now survival is the only goal. The girls make a lot of really dumb decisions, not really realizing what the consequences could be, but none of the decisions were made out of hatred or wrong-doing, they just wanted to know what was going on.

I loved the various ways the virus manifests in this story. It’s not an illness in the typical sense, almost more of a mutation with illness side-effects. It gets weird and some of the girls actually have kind of cool mutations. The flare-ups sound absolutely dreadful though so I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. Some girls have simpler mutations, such as glowing hair, an extra heartbeat, some sales. But others have things like extra bones manifesting under their skin, horrible disfigurements, and then of course the girls who died from it.

And then there’s the ROMANCE. Obviously since it’s an all-girls boarding school the romance is f/f and it’s precious. Our main romance is slow and soft and the exact opposite of instalove in every possible way. I’m in love. It’s just so simple and adorable and NEW.

I really liked the way this story was told. We’re brought in over a year after the Tox started, long after the girls have an established system, flare ups, and a way of existing in this new world. We don’t learn a lot about what life was life before the Tox, and only get glimpses of what it was like at the beginning. It was a really interesting way to tell a story. I kept finding myself wanting more and more details, but only getting some of them.

I really hope in the future there is some sort of companion novel, or novella, ANYTHING, set in this world that will give me a few more answers, but overall I really enjoyed this story. It was original and kept me wanting more. I found myself so invested in these girls lives and wishing for a happily ever after for them.

Wow, just wow

I haven’t read a YA story in a while, and a dystopian one in even more. I’ve been so caught up in all the psychological thrillers which are all starting to blend together. This was next on my to be read shelf and I figured it would cleanse the palette if nothing else...

That was something else! The writing was fantastic. I could so clearly picture the characters, the setting and the action. This story is told mainly from Hetty’s perspective though there are some chapters from Byatt’s.

There is missing information throughout the story. The story opens without parceling out the background, cause, time period... It also ends in a similar fashion, very ambiguous. That is going to be the deal breaker for some but it just makes me hopeful that the tale will continue on.

I really enjoyed this and will look forward to the next by this author. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Random House Children’s for a copy in exchange for a review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Rory Power, and Random House Children's for the opportunity to read Wilder Girls in exchange for an honest review.

This book is told from the perspectives of Hetty and Byatt, two girls attending Raxter School for Girls,  along with their friend Reese.

The school and everyone on the island are quarantined because of a phenomenon they call the "Tox." Unsure of what this strange epidemic is, the girls at Raxter all know one thing: it mutilates and kills. Each girl is affected by the Tox in a different way. Perhaps growing an extra eyelid, or a second spine, or even another heart! While the appearance of these extra body parts might be painful in themselves, it's the flare-ups that really bring the girls to worry, never knowing if they will make it through the fevers. But still, they wait for a cure.

Hetty, Byatt, and Reese are as close as friends can be when there aren't many alternatives on a quarantined island. Each girl has her part to play, including Boat Shift, where the girls bring in newly delivered food and supplies, or Gun Shift, where girls are trained to shoot and kill anything that comes through the gate, for they aren't the only ones on the island affected by the Tox. The animals have mutated in frightening ways as well.

Hetty starts as Gun Shift but is later promoted to Boat Shift, which makes her friend Reese furious; she wanted the job herself. One of the better perks, being first to see what comes in, having prime selection from supplies before anyone else.

Their worries soon dissolve when Byatt, sick from a flare-up, goes missing. Hetty refuses to have her best friend, someone she even considers a sister, taken away from her. While Reese and Hetty work together to find Byatt, they also act on their own buried feelings for each other. While the LGBTQ aspect of this book is a bit short, it is there, and it's something that can be built upon later in the series.

Meanwhile, Byatt is being experimented on. Are they actually seeking a cure, or is there more to the experimentation?

When the school is compromised for a number of reasons, it's up to Hetty and Reese to find their friend and escape the island, no matter the cost.

This was a pleasurable read with its tinge of horror. The horrific descriptions are phenomenal in their detail, and the concept of the Tox and what it does to something alive (human, plant, or animal) is rather intriguing. I would recommend for the older side of the YA age group, or any fan of strange horrors and mysterious happenings.

Overall, an enjoyable book with exciting potential in a sequel.

Wilder Girls is set on in an all girl’s school on an island in Maine. Already cut off from the mainland, they are further isolated as the Navy and the CDC remove their ability to communicate with the outside world.
The unknown illness, or “the Tox” as they call it comes in waves, killing most of the teachers and several of the girls. Those that survive are forever changed in strange and obvious way, some growing claws, extra spines, a 2nd heartbeat, blindness and more.

And then they noticed that it began to do the same to the wildlife.

The story is focused on the relationship of three best friends that have survived. When one is taken to the infirmary during one of her spells, the girls discover that things are not what they appear to be. The remaining duo decide to find out more and get their friend back, no matter the cost.

The cover artwork was amazingly done and attracted my attention on several occasions before I read the synopsis.

My only regret is that there was not enough back story. The reader is thrown into the story during a changing of the guard with little information. I feel that had the history of the Tox been explained, the book would have been a little more cohesive.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is weird, gross, intense, and horrifying... and I LOVED IT. I think this will shock and delight readers, as it did me. Fans of Annihilation should particularly love it.

Wilder Girls is set at a girls' boarding school on a remote island off the coast of Maine, that has been hit with the Tox, which ravages the girls' bodies and changes them. The mutations are fascinating/at times gross (one girl's eye is swollen shut, something moving behind it, another girl develops a second spine, a third has a silver, scaled, pointed arm/hand), and they kill some girls, leaving others to fight for limited food and resources. They're quarantined by the Navy, and everything on the island is trying to kill them--animals turned vicious and grown out of control/rotting from the inside out. Of course, whatever's changing them might kill them first--many girls don't survive their flare ups. Will the Navy finally find a cure before it's too late?

I mean, it's creepy AF. The girls are ruthless, and there's lots of blood, gore, death. There are conspiracies and secrets. It's super queer, and effortlessly so. And like, SO GROSS. Lots of body horror. I was both horrified and deeply impressed. It reminded me of Annihilation in that sense--I was fascinated by all the bonkers sci-fi body bending and melding of animal & human... if it had been a movie I probably would have closed my eyes during some of the pure body horror scenes, but reading it, I just read super fast, gasping all the way ha. If you're squeamish, there are a few passages (at least three) where it just gets REAL GROSS. Of course, horror readers (and sci-fi horror readers) will LOVE IT.

There were some fun twists, as ultimately it is a suspense thriller. Once I hit the mid-point, I had trouble putting it down! Up until that point, reading Wilder Girls was like a warm bath--I wanted to just swim in the gorgeous prose/haunting imagery as I got to know the girls. And I shouldn't give that short shrift: the prose is hauntingly beautiful. It's a stylistic choice some YA readers may not like, but I devoured. It had a literary bend without being too pretentious. I wanted to drink down some of the sentences. I can really see this sparking with adult sci-fi horror readers, and being a crossover favorite.

Also THAT COVER.

Please do not market this as a feminist Lord of the Flies. I went into this expecting a dark and gritty and much deeper tale than the suspense-action-dystopianish story I encountered. I think this is a solid story but putting this type of pressure on it is overhyping it and setting it up for disaster.

This was wonderfully creepy and atmospheric, with some real unforgettable body horror moments that I really hated in that good way, where it makes you squirm but you don't want to stop reading. The story was engaging and fast paced, and there is something unique about it. But I definitely expected a lot more, with the feminist LOTF buzz I'd been hearing.

This story was absolutely captivating. Rory did a fantastic job of creating such a horrifying story of these girls, and their teachers stuck in quarantine on their school island. No knowledge of what is eating at them. Everyone is just trying to survive, and it is barely. This mysterious toxic has infected everyone on the island, and it does horrifying things to the people it touches.
This rag tag trio of girls, Hetty, Byatt, and Reese have this different dynamic. What they go through shapes them into these harder beings. I love that they have this fierceness about them. It was also so disturbing because you could absolutely see something like this unfold in reality.
TRIGGER WARNING: It is very graphic, and gory. There is a full list of all the possible triggers on the author's website.

I honestly tired so hard to finish this book, but I could not force myself to read another chapter. The premise sounded intriguing: a girls school quarantined on an island in Maine after a deadly virus. When her best friend goes missing, Hetty must risk breaking quarantine to find her. Other readers described the transformations caused by The Tox as horrifying and compared the story to Lord of the Flies. However, I found it all just too strange. The disease didn't make any sense. The girls weren't on their own a la Lord of the Flies, but organized by adults. Add in a poorly done teenage romantic plot (albeit between two girls), and I had to give up. If you love YA horror, maybe you'll love it like all the other reviews I've read. Else I suggest skipping this one.

I was completely drawn in and held fast by this book. How do you take Annihilation and make it better? By making it YA, gay AF, and almost entirely female on both the "goodie" and "baddie" sides. It was brutal, but the writing holds you through out every dizzying, brutal, disoriented moment.

There were parts I wish were further explored, characters I wish I better understood, but overall, I loved the Wilder Girls. I'd recommend this to anyone who likes feminist horror in the veing of Sawkill Girls.

"See how a body will change, to give you the best chance it can."

I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Delacorte Press. Trigger warnings: death, body horror, bug horror, violence, severe injury, severe illness, blood, bruises, hospitals, needles, poison, starvation, animal death.

It's been nearly two years since the Tox hit Raxter School for Girls, remaking their little island into its own image. Most of the adults and some of the girls died, but the ones who lived are different. Just as the woods are wilder and overgrown, the girls, too, have been ravaged by nature. Some of them grow scales or spines down their backs; some of them bloom with constant bruises or drip blood from wounds that never close. While they wait for a promised cure, they receive food from the nearby Navy base, but it's never enough. The girls are forced to fight for everything they have, as monstrous inside as they are on the outside. When Hetty's best friend, Byatt, goes missing, Hetty will risk anything to get her back, even breaking the long-held quarantine and discovering the secrets buried deep within Raxter.

This book has a wonderful, eerie concept, and in that respect, it's an unequivocal success. Power captures the spooky, overgrown wildness of the island and its inhabitants with graceful ease. The island is practically a character of its own and, if it is, so is the Tox that's turning it feral. I loved all the descriptions of nature growing itself to destruction and monstrous girls who aren't afraid to be monstrous. She has an eye for detail and the bone-shiveringly creepy, and if anything is going to stick with me from this book, it's the haunting imagery.

Unfortunately, the rest isn't as strong. I never felt attached to the characters, and even though Hetty is the main character, we don't know her very well. Her defining feature seems to be her platonic love for Byatt, which is mixed in with her loyalty to her and her crush, Reece. Byatt is one of my favorite, unapologetic mean girl tropes, and I wish we'd gotten to see more of her. Reece is equally fierce and vulnerable. A strong girl-friendship group (with a minor wlw romance) should have been one of my favorite things about this book, but it never really came through for me. I didn't feel anything for the girls, and it seemed like the novel always held them at a distance.

Plot-wise, it's interesting but not groundbreaking past the Tox itself, which is full of fun twists. There are the usual untrustworthy authority figures and fairly typical secrets that come with most plague/outbreak narratives, and I wished the novel had spent less time on those and more on the island life and living with the Tox. The characters are hemmed in by the nonsensical quarantine, and it keeps most of the interesting stuff out for most of the book. Pacing-wise, it's slow to take off while Hetty tries to uncover secrets. It isn't until the last third of the novel that the plot really takes off and then leaves things rather open-ended. Wilder Girls doesn't quite live up to its potential, but I'd be interested to read a sequel or more of Powers's writing. First novels don't always pan out, but there's a lot of potential there.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks NetGalley!

I just have to say that i was SOO excited for this book, and was extremely happy to be picked for the arc. The girls at Raxter Academy are quartined on an island since they were infected with Tox. The book is more of a survival thriller, BUT it also touches down on the struggles of being a teenage girl, falling for your (female) friend...... the details of the emotional pain and physical pain are intense and vivid.

read this book. i promise you'll enjoy it.

Loving this book wasn't hard. Filled with government conspiracies, monster girls, a quarantine, and Queer girl romance, this was literally the book I hoped it would be. I did take a star off because it was terribly hard for me to keep up with the minor characters as they all kind of... seemed the same.

This is the literary YA feminist speculative horror book I've been waiting for!

With lyrical, vivid prose, Rory Power describes the girls of Raxter Academy, who have been quarantined on an island since infected with the mysterious Tox.

This story manages to be a page-turning survival thriller, while also digging into the complexities of being a teenage girl, and lingering on the intimacies of female friendships and romance. It describes emotional pain as vividly as the gruesome body horror of the Tox.

And perhaps most impressive of all, this book shows restraint. It explores these themes with nuance and without every being too on the nose direct. The ending is satsifying without tieing every plot element up with a neat bow. Most of all, it respects the intelligence of its readers.

My favorite debut novel of 2019.

TW- gory and bloody (at times)

I don’t know what I think of this book. Like, at all. It was compelling and I flew through it! I couldn’t put it down at times and at other times it was disgusting. The themes of feminism and survival are extremely interesting. However, the ending did leave me unsatisfied!! I wanted to know what happened. I wanted to know if the girls made it. I wanted to know about the cure (if there is one!!) I would say go into this knowing it’s a gory dystopian type read, but read it anyway?!

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger and Content Warning: Graphic Violence, gore, blood,body horror,death,reference to self harm,starvation,reference to suicide and not consenting to medical procedures. 

Wilder Girls has been everywhere lately, with its gorgeous cover to amazing synopsis. I have to say this cover is probably my favorite cover of the whole year.I'm going to need all the sapphic horror books from now on. The female-female relationship in this book was everything! I loved these girls so much and was horrified for what they were going through.

The books follows three girls,Hetty, Byatt and Resse, while there boarding school is under a quarantine. The Raxter school is located off the coast of a Naval base on an isolated island in Maine, the once popular school now sits deteriorating due to a mysterious affliction called the tox. This disease has wiped out all but two teacher and about 40 girls, with terrible affects caused by the tox. The Navy and the CDC has issued a quarantine where everyone must remain in the school grounds except for the boat girls who travel to the water and pick up supplies with one of the teachers. However they do not send nearly enough food or other supplies, many of the girls go hungry as there outbreaks continue to get worse. The CDC promises they are working on a cure but if the quarantine is breached they will stop helping.

Some days it’s fine. Others it nearly breaks me. The emptiness of the horizon, and the hunger in my body, and how will we ever survive this if we can’t survive each other? “We’re gonna make it. Tell me we’re gonna make it.”

:

The outbreaks are different for each person leaving behind a physical affliction of the tox, but what is the same is the intensity and email drain it leaves them all with. Some girls have brightly glowing hair with silver scales on there arms, and some have more grotesque disfigurations such as bones protruding from the skin or feeling of something crawling behind there eye.

“We’ve all lost things, eyes and hands and last names.” 

Rory power's writing is beautiful yet it does a fantastic job at making your skin crawl, with it's deliberate descriptive details. Power's does not hold back on the horror scenes, as a horror movie lover I found some of the horror to be tame but to others it can be quite triggering. That being said this was one of the most unique young adult novels I had the pleasure of reading.

I ended up only giving Wilder Girls a 4 star rating because I felt like the ending was a bit rushed and slightly unfinished. We were left with so many un -answered questions. Many horror films also tend to have no closure at the end, and leaves us wondering what will happen to the remaining characters. I guess that's how the mystery continues and leaves us thinking about the book long after were finished reading. I originally thought this book was the first of a series but then later on found out it was a standalone.

"We don't get to choose what hurts us."

This book had so many things i liked about it, queer girls,boarding school,creepy animals and horror. I highly recommend picking up Wilder Girls, you will not be disappointed.