Review: Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Title: Wilder Girls

Author: Rory Power 

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Publishing Date: July 9th, 2019

Pages: 353
Audio Length: 8 Hours and 49 Minutes

Genre: YA LGBT Thriller
TW: Self harm, suicide

Series: Standalone

Source: Audio

 

It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her.
It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.
But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.

What made me pick this book up: 

That cover! Seriously the cover is absolutely stunning. That combined with the title. Insta love!

What did I like about the cover: 

Everything. The colors, the girl, how creepy it is. It's gorgeous.

What made me read this book: 

It sounds like a good apocalyptic thriller mystery action type of book.

What did I like the most: 

Okay well there wasn't much I liked in general about this book. 

The idea of it is really interesting. That there's a "tox" that physically changes them. It mutates them. I feel like there's so much potential and creep factor that could have happened here. 

I thought it was pretty interesting hearing about the different ways they were changed. 

I did like the idea of them being stuck on an island and starving. As weird as that sounds. It adds to the scary part of it. 

But that's really all that I liked.

No wait, I liked what Hetty was willing to do to get Byatt back. It really shows their friendship. 

I also like the names in the book, they're very unique. 

What didn't I like: 

Yeah...

The romance fell flat. It felt awkward and forced. 

The characters weren't written well and I honestly didn't give two craps what happened to them.

There wasn't anything particularly "scary" about the book except what I mentioned. 

I couldn't picture the characters, the place they were, or anything about it. I just couldn't place myself there and therefore couldn't picture anything that was happening in my mind.

There was a big "twist" and it wasn't at all surprising.

I just honestly feel like this one fell so flat it hurt. It had SO MUCH POTENTIAL. There was SO MUCH THAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED. I'm not trying to knock the author, because I feel like she really tried. But man I'm just 10000% disappointed in this book! I was so excited and it just... Meh. Just meh. 

Would I read the rest of the series/more from this author?
I would definitely give this author another shot! Just because this one fell flat for me doesn't mean another book would. 

I am so disappointed. This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2019 and blah.

“I think I’d been looking for it all my life
a storm in my body to match the one in my head.”
― Rory Power, Wilder Girls

Rory Power grew up in New England, where she lives and works as a crime fiction editor and story consultant for TV adaptation. She received a Masters in Prose Fiction from the University of East Anglia, and thinks fondly of her time there, partially because she learned a lot but mostly because there were a ton of bunnies on campus.


She is represented by Daisy Parente at Lutyens & Rubinstein and Kim Witherspoon at InkWell Management.