My GIRLS

4.5 stars

This book was gripping, disturbing, and painful in such an emotional way. It's going to take me a while to process it. It's heartbreaking and stunning and completely took me by surprise. My heart is still racing from the plot twists and chaos of this book. If you enjoyed the backstory of The Queen's Gambit (the orphanage and drug part) then you NEED to read this. 

PG-13+ for language, violence, gore, and abuse. Trigger warning for emotional, physical, and slight sexual abuse

This review can also be found on my blog!

CW: physical abuse, extreme sexism, assault, body shaming, and rape culture


I have to say, this was a great book with a very interesting story that it had to tell. And, at times, it was very hard to read, although that only spurred me on to keep going because I had to find out what might happen next.

Something is wrong at Innovations Academy… but no one else really recognizes it. It’s like a finishing school for young girls, shaping them into model women who will be a man’s dream. They’re taught manners, gardening, interior design, how to make small talk. They’re beautiful. They’re well-behaved.

But, something is very wrong.

And slowly, the book unfolds to show exactly what this fucked up mess is.

I absolutely adored the whole crew of women and how it was a female-led story. Mena was absolutely fascinating. She was a great MC to follow as she woke up, seeing the mess that was her life and she was in. And her friends were so much fun, too. Everyone had a great personality of their own and I could distinguish them.

Also, this is a very refreshing story. It’s YA dystopian/sci-fi at its finest. I have never read anything like this because it’s a brutal commentary on how the world is and how women need to stick together to figure things out. I know I’m not exactly the target audience, but I absolutely adored this whole story because it wasn’t a romance. It was honestly sci-fi and friends and that was gorgeous. I desperately need more stories like this.

And, I have to say, Look What You Made Me Do is the anthem for this story.

But, only four stars?

Yes. I wasn’t a fan of the ending and the fact that this is going to have a second book. I thought that doing a little bit of editing — cutting something out completely, basically — and this would have been a fantastic stand-alone.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m definitely going to read the second book. But, I still think it would have been stronger as a stand-alone because I don’t want to see this dragged out into a huge series because I feel like the premise could run thin very quickly.