Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for a copy of THE GIRLS WHO GREW BIG to read and review!

When Adela finds herself pregnant and shipped off to a small Florida town to give birth, she thinks her life is over. And in some ways it is. But meeting Emory, another teenage mom, will change her life forever.

Leila Mottley has beautiful prose. It’s no wonder her debut won so many awards. Unfortunately, this story felt disjointed and had too many moving pieces for me to get fully invested. I will, however, continue to keep an eye on this author and will give her next novel a try!

There are books that ask for empathy. Then there are books that demand it. "The Girls Who Grew Big" doesn’t care if you feel comfortable. It’s not here to present neat narratives about redemption or resilience. This novel is sweaty, swollen, sleepless. It’s sisterhood born of hardship. It’s the ache of being too young to parent and too old to be anyone’s child. It’s girlhood peeled back to the nerve.

Simone, Emory, and Adela aren’t cautionary tales. They’re not metaphors. They’re real, raw, breath-stealing portraits of what it means to mother while still being a child yourself. Or in Simone’s case, to keep mothering even after you’ve aged out of sympathy. Simone is nearly twenty-one, raising her young twins in the back of a truck, pregnant again, and somehow still the gravitational center of this entire story. She’s not a tragic figure. She’s a force. She’s a blueprint for survival without safety nets.

Emory is all sharp edges and stubborn hope. A valedictorian with a baby on her hip, she breastfeeds during class, refuses to be quiet, and wants more. For herself, for her child, for all the girls like her who were written off before they had a chance to speak. And Adela? Adela’s the new girl, the outsider, sent to Padua Beach like a problem to be solved. A one-time Olympic hopeful, now just another swollen belly in a town that doesn’t ask questions, only passes judgment.

There’s no romanticism here. No soft-focus lighting on the so-called miracle of motherhood. These girls are exhausted. They’re hurt. They lash out, fall apart, abandon each other, come crawling back. They make bad choices and worse ones. They lie, they flinch, they betray. They try again. The brilliance of this book is that it lets them be messy. Not as a flaw, but as a birthright.

Leila Mottley writes like she’s breaking something open. Her language is poetic, sure, but there’s nothing delicate about it. These stories are built out of sweat and spit and slammed doors. Padua Beach isn’t just a setting. It’s a crucible. And the red truck Simone lives in isn’t just a backdrop. It’s a battered kind of sanctuary. The only space where these girls get to exist without apology.

The most brutal part? It’s not the mistakes they make. It’s how the world lines up to punish them for trying. Parents abandon them. Schools dismiss them. "Doctors" who refuse them care. The people who should be protecting them are the ones who pushed them to the edge. And yet, they protect each other. With food. With jokes. With help breastfeeding and lullabies hummed under their breath. It’s not perfect. It’s not enough. But it’s what they’ve got.

And somehow, under the wreckage of everything they’ve lost or never had, these girls still dream. That’s what gutted me the most. Simone wondering if she can be more than just a mother. Emory still trying to get into college. Adela still craving something like love, even if she doesn’t trust herself to recognize it. They dare to want more in a world that keeps telling them they don’t deserve even this.

The most heartbreaking thing they can do is let go of their dreams. And watching their dreams evolve, into something bruised, still beating, but utterly their own, feels like hearing a heartbeat through the noise.

For the ones who made homes out of truck beds and lullabies out of broken promises. For the girls who weren’t handed a future or were promised one only to see it ripped away, and decided to make one anyway. For every time they chose each other or themselves in a world that chose to forget them. 4.5 stars.

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for the advance review copy in exchange for an honest review. Stories like this don’t just deserve to be read. They demand to be heard.

The Girls of Padua Beach, Florida, are known for one thing - being pregnant. Padua Beach isn't even on any major maps. However, for Simone and her group of Girls, Padua Beach is their home. The Girls are outcasts in town, raising their children in the back of Simone's truck. The town doesn't look kindly on the Girls, but they have found their own community - and family - to support their children. When Adela Woods is banished to Padua Beach to live with her grandmother, she stumbles upon this group of misfit Girls. As Adela becomes "Big," she finally feels like she's found her true family. Their lives are not without drama, however. From stolen lovers, to a visit from DCF, these girls are there for each other through thick and thin.

I was beyond pleasantly surprised by this book! I knew I was going to enjoy it, but I did not think I was going to become absolutely absorbed so quickly. I love a good found family book, and this checked all of my boxes. It's also convenient that I am listening to a book on pregnancy complications and the impact legislation has on young girls like this group. I think the outside audiobook really enhanced my appreciation for this book! If you're a fan of found family novels, I think you'll really enjoy this! It is a relatively fast-paced read with a lot of heart clenching moments. I will have to check out Leila Mottley's first novel if it's as good as this one! Please give this one a read!!

4.5 ⭐️ Incredible sophomore novel from such a young writer! Told from the perspective of three young teenage mothers in rural southern Florida who are ostracized from their families, this is an emotional and difficult read. As they struggle to make ends meet and raise their babies, they also forge deep female friendships and discover their inner strength. I underlined so many passages; the writing was exceptional. While the life choices and decisions the male and female characters make in this story were sometimes frustrating and difficult to understand, I loved the raw grit and the authenticity of these characters. This is a great read for those who love stories about motherhood, female friendships, and confronting challenging situations. She is such a talented young voice and I am looking forward to reading more from her in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf books for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

The story is told from three alternating points of view: in addition to that of Idela, there is Emory, a young mother determined to graduate high school and attend a good college, and Simone, a bit older and the mother of twins, the de facto leader of the group. Being able to get into the mindset of each of these characters greatly enhances the overall enjoyment of the book and helps you feel for each of these main characters.

The way the characters support and encourage each other is inspiring. They are there for each other when they need one another, but that doesn't mean there aren't hardships along the way, including lies and betrayal. Friendships start, friendships end, and sometimes friendships are renewed. Everything the characters go through only serves to make the story feel more real and relatable. Ultimately, it is full of heart and hope and a reminder that if you are not lucky enough to be born into a family that will support you no matter what, sometimes you need to find your family.

This was a great follow up to Nightcrawling! The girls were easy to follow as i read. I felt so much empathy towards them as they were almost seen as these “throw aways” from their family for getting pregnant. It’s crazy how it really shined a light on the inequities of how life changes for women vs men post having a child.

This story is emotional, it’s messy but also hopeful!

I enjoyed Nightcrawling, so I was excited to read this. I appreciate the way Leila centers girls who are so often overlooked or dismissed as "too much" or "too far gone." She gives them depth, voice, and agency in a world that rarely offers any of that.

Adela, Simone, and Emory POVs were distinct and their friendship and when it truly mattered, they showed up for one another. Even when they were frustrating, I found myself rooting for every single one of them

The Girls have always been there. They've been pushed aside, told that they are nothing, told that they are less than nothing. But these Girls—in a forgotten corner of Florida—are determined that if nobody will help lift them up, they will do it themselves. They will carry each other through the waves of pregnancy and early motherhood, will keep each other from drowning.

"There wasn't no way to satisfy the rest of the world, but the Girls didn't care whether I used cloth diapers or graduated or stayed with Kai's daddy. They lived on whims of want and need, nomadic and ravenous and naked in their hurt. We weren't nothing like what was expected of us, and, for the first time since my baby was born, I didn't feel like the sky was about to collapse on top of me." (loc. 496*)

"The Girls Who Grew Big" follows an informal cluster of Girls, but it focuses on three: Simone, parenting twins and facing a future with yet another child on her hip but determined to do right by both her kids and her Girls; Emory, who is torn between doing the expected thing—marrying the father of her child—and following the dream she's worked toward for years; and Adela, who has been sent to Florida to ride out her pregnancy and finds herself toying with an alternative to her college-and-competitive-swimming expectations. Adela is probably the character I understand best, and yet she is also the wild card in this group. She's still, I think, learning the rules; she's still learning which of the rules that apply to the other Girls don't really apply to her—and which do.

"It was a lonely world, Florida, and I was on the outskirts of it, catapulted onto a shore that radiated disdain, full of people who were supposed to be family but felt more like relics of a life my dad had died in and then sent me to as a punishment, to live among his ghosts." (loc. 705)

This ends up being messy in the best of ways. The Girls are trying to be good parents and to do right by their kids, and they are also still kids themselves; they have strong senses of right and wrong, but they also have, by and large, such limited resources and limited options. And again: they're still kids themselves. I've never been to Florida and have no particular plans to change that, but there's a part of me that is always drawn to stories set in the deep and reckless South, in landscapes overrun by kudzu and, in this case, characters with one eye open for alligators. This is gritty and sometimes chaotic and by the end of it I just mostly wanted to hug each of the three main characters.

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

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

I really enjoyed diving into this one and learning about all the characters. The author did a fabulous job of making me feel that I was right there with the girls going thru all their struggles and adventures. I read this one in about two days and had trouble putting it down to return to real life chores. It drew me in from the first chapter and I had to know what happened and how it ended. I would recommend this one to anyone wanting a good women's fiction book!

This was my first book by this author. It’s about three teenage moms, Simone, Emory, and Adela. They’re all at different stages of motherhood and figuring it out on their own. Their parents have totally abandoned them, so the girls decide to make their own family and support each other through thick and thin.

The book was written so beautifully. It talks about young motherhood, girlhood, and strength. Sometimes it was a bit hard to keep up with the girls because their stories were a bit similar, but overall I really enjoyed it. The author is incredibly talented. I would definitely recommend it!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advanced copy. My opinion is my own.

Wow what a talented young writer, and what an amazing book - hands down, all the stars. The Girls Who Grew Big is a remarkably atmospheric tale set in Padua Beach in the Florida panhandle where we meet Simone, Adela and Emory. The Girls are coming-of-age teen mothers who form a special bond of sisterhood to survive. Considered to be social outcasts, the Girls have been judged by their families and society, yet they couldn’t care less what the world thinks of them. They have their friendships, found family, and dreams to pursue, things that will not be stopped by anyone’s preconceived notions of how they should live their lives or raise their children. I applaud Mottley, not only for being the youngest writer nominated for the Booker Prize, but for having the ability to put us in other peoples shoes and (hopefully) expand our empathy of others. This touching story will have your heart bursting with goodness. Absolutely loved it. Can’t recommend enough. ❥ Pub. 6/24/25

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

“Sometimes a dream isn’t worth the life you lose on the journey there. Sometimes a dream is not meant for waking hours.”
Leila Mottley’s sophomore novel, “The Girls Who Grew Big,” follows her acclaimed debut, “Nightcrawling,” a 2022 Oprah Book Club selection. This latest novel centers on a collective of teen mothers in the fictional coastal town of Padua Beach, Florida, girls united by their shared experiences of teenage pregnancy and familial abandonment.

Structured across three semesters of pregnancy, the novel alternates among three narrators. It begins with Simone, a sixteen-year-old pregnant with twins and living without health insurance. She gives birth in the back of her twenty-two-year-old boyfriend Tooth’s red pickup truck, ultimately chewing through the umbilical cord herself to avoid using his fishing knife. She names the twins Lion (male) and Luck (female). After being kicked out of her parents’ trailer upon revealing her pregnancy, Simone finds herself homeless, living out of Tooth’s truck bed.

Following the birth, Simone becomes a maternal figure not only to her twins but to other young, unwed mothers in Padua Beach. She lives for them, shelters them, and together they form a community, the Girls, raising their children as a makeshift family. Now, at nearly twenty-one and pregnant again by Tooth, Simone must decide whether to keep the baby and move forward with Tooth, or prioritize her own and her twins' future by making a different choice.

Another narrator, Emory Reid, is the only white girl in the group. She intentionally seeks pregnancy and targets Simone’s brother, Jayden, to do so. A high school valedictorian, Emory is determined to balance motherhood and education. She breastfeeds her newborn, Kai, in class, openly challenging institutional rules. Though Jayden is a devoted father and loves Emory deeply, she does not return his affection.

The third voice, sixteen-year-old Adela Woods, had a promising future as an Olympic swimming hopeful before becoming pregnant the night she lost her virginity. Her affluent, religious parents swiftly send her from Indianapolis to live with her grandmother, Noni, in Padua Beach. Their plan is simple and clinical: Adela will carry the baby to term, give it up for adoption, and return home as if nothing happened.

Mottley’s novel confronts stereotypes about teenage pregnancy and explores themes of resilience, autonomy, and the redefinition of family. The novel critiques how schools, families, and social systems often fail young mothers, treating them with shame and institutional contempt. Her characters are rendered with raw, unflinching honesty, and her lyrical prose, while occasionally purple, matches the perspective and voice of her young narrators.

However, the novel falters in its depiction of setting. Though Padua Beach is fictional, Mottley places it among real locations like Pensacola, Destin, and Tallahassee. As someone who grew up in Florida’s Panhandle, I found her portrayal of the region inaccurate and stereotypical. Mottley paints Padua Beach as a backwoods, marshy town populated by rednecks and uneducated people, which is far from the reality of many coastal Panhandle communities. Contrary to her depiction, the area features clear Gulf waters, not brackish marshes, and is home to many educated, articulate, and successful individuals. There are no alligators in our waters, and it certainly wouldn’t take three hours to find an OB-GYN in this part of Florida. These inaccuracies suggest that Mottley may not have visited the region she wrote about, leading to harmful misrepresentations.

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Now available.

Leila Mottley's second novel, The Girls Who Grew Big, is a sympathetic look at young mothers in the Florida Panhandle. Just like the movie The Florida Project, Mottley romanticizes the deep poverty and abuse the Girls face. The writing is deeply poignant and often takes several flashbacks before we meet with the present moment and the secondary characters are hazy at best. Yet the stakes are so high for T
the Girls that it is impossible to look away. And maybe that's what the Girls need, just someone to look at all their glory and pain.

I loved this book! This story is about teenage mothers living in Padua Florida. These girls have been cast out by their families and looked down upon by the people in their small town. The writing is powerful, messy, raw, but also beautiful and challenging. There is strong character development throughout the novel. I loved the themes of learning to take up space, be BIG, of found family, and not judging a book by its cover.

Sophomore novel by Leila Mottley, The Girls Who Grew Big had some pretty large shoes to fill after my love for NIghtcrawling. I mean, the bar was set HIGH in my opinion. And she, nor the book did not disappoint. Mottley has a unique talent of writing a character driven novel that keeps you on the edge of your seat, holding your breath in anticipation of what will come next. Not only a commentary on motherhood and pregnancy but specifically what that looks like when the person is a teen mom. The book is gritty and real You can feel the emotion flowing into the story from Mottley, her writing is powerful. She writes with a purpose, every word, every sentence is intentional. Spectacular cast of characters, each with their own unique and distinct voice. At the time I am writing this review the book hasn't even been released yet and I am already anticipating Mottley's next novel.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced digital copy.

After reading Leila Mottley’s debut, I had super high expectations for her sophomore novel.

The writing in this novel is just as good as Nightcrawling. Each character has a very strong voice and this helps the reader get invested in each girl’s story. I would have liked more character development for some of the side characters though, I think this really could have made the book stronger.

This is a hard book to read. There is a lot of frantic experiments that the main characters have gone through and it can be difficult top read at times. I think for me it was challenging to get through the book because of how sad it was and currently with the state of the world, I am gravitating towards lighter reads.

Overall, I would recommend this book! I think the author is so talented and I’m just in awe that at such a young age she can write such amazing books. I am also impressed how well she captured a lot of aspects of motherhood.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for arc.

I have been waiting for this author’s second book since her debut crushed and amazed me. I haven’t forgotten that book since I read it on an airplane a few years ago. While this one is a vast departure from her previous type of book, I fear I won’t forget this one any time soon. Teen pregnancy is not something I’m familiar with myself, but my mom was a teen mom. She always reminded me of just how much she loved my brother but in all the ways society looked at her different once she was pregnant. How life became so much harder but how lucky she was to have a supportive community around her and my dad. How their family and friends stepped in to help them, support them, feed them when they didn’t have much. So many times reading this book my heart shattered. These girl were failed too many times by their families, friends, communities, and more. But they were also resilient, compassionate, kind, empathtic mothers. This book is so much about womanhood and motherhood. But also about generational trauma, poverty, friendship, and so much more. This is not easy or light read but I will be thinking about this book for a while. 4.5⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

A fierce group of teenage moms in the small town of Pauda Beach, Florida panhandle are the center of new novel, The Girls Who Grew Big. Simone is the mother of young twins and finds herself weighing options when she becomes pregnant again. Adela's parents send her to live with grandmother as they cannot handle her pregnancy. She meets Emory upon arrival, who is struggling to balance new motherhood and higher education. The whole town has written the girls off as lost outcasts but their bond grows big as their bellies, as the artistic book cover displays.

It took a good third of the book for me to get into the story. It is told from the point of view of three girls; eventually, their stories intersect in unexpected ways. This is where the storytelling of Leila Mottley shines through the pages. Her writing is raw yet engaging. If you previously read the bestselling author's novel, Nightcrawling, then you know!

The personal growth of characters Simone, Adela and Emory as they navigate pregnancy, motherhood, relationships and friendships will interest readers. It will make you think twice before judging teenage moms. Readers will admire their resilience and desire to just win. By the time I reached the last page, I cared about each girl and their unique journey. I'm confident you will too, Bookhearts.

Happy Early Pub Day, Leila Mottley! The Girls Who Grew Big will be available Tuesday, June 24.

Disclaimer: An advance copy was received directly from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own and would be the same if I spent my hard-earned coins. ~LiteraryMarie

A group of teenage mothers come together to support one another through pregnancy and the challenges of life after childbirth. As they face the realities of young motherhood, each girl embarks on a personal journey to discover who she is and what she truly wants from life.

Interesting read. I couldn't relate to any of the characters but I could understand their problems. It held my interest for the most part but definitely not a book I couldn't put down.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC