First of all, thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the gifted copy.

I did not finish (DNF) this book at 11 percent. I tried several times to start it, but I couldn't get into it. It just wasn't for me.

I was interested in the topic, though.

Books that are written in dual point of view are often usually not my favorite. I usually always prefer one timeline to the other and then that makes the other chapters boring and then I’m just waiting to get to the interesting ones. This book, however, does it well. I did prefer the past timeline a bit more but they were both interesting enough to keep my attention.

I thought it was well written, I really felt for and connected with the characters and the subject of these camps for troubled girls has always fascinated me. I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more by this author.

Fascinating premise that I could tell a few chapters in wasn't going to deliver. I'm sad — the setting is amazing — but I would have preferred a different kind of story in which more is shown than told. DNF around 30%.

The story starts with the description of ranches designed to 'correct' girls who do not conform to the society's definition of Good Girls. The protagonist grows up in such a ranch and faces physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her parents.
The story alternates between her life before and after she leaves the ranch.
For a story that had so much promise, it was lukewarm from the beginning. What could have been a commentary on how society views women, the book did not commit to anything specific which led to a very disappointing read.

Loretta’s parents run the Home for Wayward Girls on a remote ranch. Due to the location and her upbringing, Loretta can’t wait to escape to a new life one day.

Loretta befriends the girls at the ranch, against the wishes of her parents. She sees the horrible abuses they suffer at the hand of her father. She knows firsthand how cruel he can be.

Loretta eventually escapes and starts a new life. She spends it helping other girls who have suffered. Finally she tells her story and that of the girls at the Home for Wayward girls.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review

I absolutely adored this book. Loretta doesn’t know the love of her parents. Instead she fears them. She has been raised on the ranch supposedly to reform bad girls. She is isolated from the world except for the brief time she gets to spend in school. The rest of the time she has to do what she is told. But she dreams of escape…
Favorite book of this year. I couldn’t put it down.

I was highly disappointed with this book.
I read about 60% and gave up.
It's just not what I expected and I was unable to finish it. To many other books to just settle.

I"m sorry but this is just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for an ARC of this book. I enjoyed the book even thought it was a little different from what I expected. The overall concept was good and I liked the alternating timelines and what it added to the book.

I was hoping for some deep friendships and complicated relationships. I never got that. The characters were rushed through their story. Everyone seemed like a standard character with no real depth. There was so much lost potential. I wanted to know what happened, but I finished it yesterday and it has already left me.

I really really wanted to like this. And the concept was appealing. However, the narrative was disjointed and confusing. Early part of book ok. But by 60%, I had given up . It was far too tedious to follow.

The Home for Wayward Girls by Marcia Bradleywas great. Rehabilitation schools like this still exist the author says, and this book is a tribute to her sister sent to a place very like this. The way she looks back on her past to understand how the horrible things that happened affected her and everyone just overlooked it was told with great insight. #highlyrecommended
#TheHomeForWaywardGirls

Could not finish this book. The plot is interesting but the book is slow to get to the plot. I didn’t like the constant jumping back and forth with zero connection. A let down.

The Home For Wayward Girls by Marcia Bradley
This story takes you on a ride and shows you that you can come out the other side scars and all, Kept me interested and involved the whole way through. I didn't want to stop reading til I knew how Loretta and the other girls survived and succeeded and how their lives turned out. Beautifully written! I will be reading more from this author in the future. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this and leave my opinion.

I feel like the premise of this book had potential, but it fell flat for me. I was intrigued by the premise...
I was interested in the past timeline, but I found I was bored when reading about the present. It was very slow-going. I
I didn't care for the writing, it didn't flow very well and the switching between timelines was executed poorly. The story felt choppy. The dialogue seemed forced and I just didn't really feel anything for the characters.
I just felt like there was something missing from the story. Overall I thought it an interesting premise with a less than stellar execution.

3.5 Stars. Loretta has grown up on a “correctional ranch” run by her cruel parents, where they claim to fix the behaviors of “wayward girls”. Her parents use abusive discipline to degrade the girls in this horrid environment. Loretta is finally able to escape, eventually making her way to New York City. Once settled, she hopes to fight for teens in the same situation.

The novel is told in a dual timeline format, highlighting the events of the past that caused Loretta to escape, and her present day life in New York City. I felt like the present day storyline was a bit slow, and would have loved more of the past storyline. The premise of the story is compelling, but I just wanted a bit more from it. I appreciated the Postscript which highlighted the real-life questionable practices of residential programs for troubled teens that exist in 21 of the US states.

Thank you to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for my gifted e-ARC!

This is a very heartfelt book based on a girl growing up in a rough home along side other girls who have been brought to her own home to be disciplined.

I had to be in a certain mood to read this story as i found it wasn’t one that I could just pick up and read whenever.

It went between the past during the home life and the present as to what the main character was going through as an adult with the past that she had

This story is divided between the present in New York and recounting the main character’s past growing up on the prairie west of the Rockies in a religious cult-like house where her parents ran a camp for troubled girls. Even though this is fiction, theses kinds of “camps” and institutions still exist today so it’s important to spread awareness.

It did take me a little bit to get into and I started off being more interested in the current NY set chapters rather than the past ones but I think that was due to me reading it while being sick. I ended up really enjoying this story and it made me feel emotional and inspired. Definitely read the author’s note at the end about the troubled teen industry and her own family’s experience. For a nonfiction book on this topic I highly recommend Elizabeth Gilpin’s STOLEN.

⚠️: physical child abuse, hints at child sexual abuse, dog death

THE HOME FOR WAYWARD GIRLS Marcia Bradley, author
Domestic Fiction

This book presents both the past and present of a young lady named Loretta. She grew up in the care of horrible guardians on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. She escaped a little before her 18th birthday but is still haunted by what happened.

This book is a great look at what goes on behind the scenes at some of the residential treatment homes where children are sent for reprogramming. There are truly evil people who run this place and it was tragic for the kids as they started to age and mature. I give this book a solid 5 out of 5 stars.

What an emotional rollercoaster this one was. In a haunting tale balanced between present day and childhood, an inside look of a ranch for “troubled” girls exposes all the dangers and horrors.

Being that this is very much a real thing that is still happening, it isn’t a light read. It is eye-opening though. The connections of the girls, the escape, the impact even as an adult. The consequences of situations like these homes was brutal and raw. The relationships that Loretta nourished with the residents was pure and full of hope. The questioning of how her parents could take such an uncaring stance was gut wrenching. While at first it took a bit to really get my footing on the time jumps, it fits wonderfully in providing a dual timeline of how everything ties together.

The Home for Wayward Girls was such a fascinating read! The dual timelines alternated between Loretta's past as an adolescent girl being raised by hateful, misogynistic father and an uncaring mother, while the second timeline focuses on an adult Loretta in NYC where she runs a nonprofit to help abused girls and women find hope and a future.

The Home for Wayward Girls, the secluded ranch where Loretta's parents run a program designed to "correct" teen girls' "bad behavior." Loretta witnesses firsthand how the adults use abusive discipline to crush these young women's spirits and break their wills. And if you think such "homes" are a thing of the past, think again. I recently read about an adolescent girl who died at a "home" like this because she was denied medical care. It's a tragic tradition that is very much alive in the U.S. Be sure to read the trigger warnings if you struggle with stories of physical or mental abuse or religious zealotry. Sexual abuse is referred to but never explicit.

Although I found the past timeline a bit more captivating, the story provides a message of hope and healing at the end. Loretta struggles as an adult to free herself from the horrors of her past, but she is able to do so thanks to the kindness and wisdom of a few caring people. The ending was perhaps a bit confusing, but overall this is an important story of survival and hope.