Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand | Mini ARC Review

Title: Sawkill Girls
Author: Claire Legrand
Publication Date: May 29, 2018
Genre(s): Young Adult, Horror, Thriller
Source: Bookcon (ARC), Library
Pages: 368
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Synopsis

Beware of the woods and the dark, dank deep.

He’ll follow you home, and he won’t let you sleep.

Who are the Sawkill Girls?

Marion: the new girl. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find.

Zoey: the pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken—or maybe everyone else is.

Val: the queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives, a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.

Their stories come together on the island of Sawkill Rock, where gleaming horses graze in rolling pastures and cold waves crash against black cliffs. Where kids whisper the legend of an insidious monster at parties and around campfires.

Where girls have been disappearing for decades, stolen away by a ravenous evil no one has dared to fight… until now.

Review

Three girls are thrown into a situation against their will and later learn just how over their heads they really were.

“Decades of dead girls. Poor girls and rich girls. Black and brown and white girls. All of them Sawkill girls.”

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and boy it did not disappoint! I loved the eerie atmosphere and the important message this book had.

This book verges on horror in some scenes, especially with Val, was perfect for my Halloween hangover.

I loved how Claire Legrand created so many interesting characters, even though I wasn’t sure who I was supposed to root for most of the time. I also enjoyed that we got POV chapters from each of our main characters. Their point of views added so much to the mystery and watching them piece it together was so interesting.

There was a paranormal element in this book and I’m not sure if I would have loved the story more with or without, that being said, I did enjoy how this element was used! The paranormal element could have easily been a cop out, but the way Legrand integrated it into her world added so much.

There was also a wonderful f/f romance in here. I’ve seen several reviews commend this portrayal, and I definitely wanted to commend it as well. It’s not often that you get an on page sex scene with queer characters, let along one that is portrayed so well. We also had an asexual character, who discusses her asexuality on page.

This is a horror fantasy book rooted in feminism and I think it was done pretty well. While the message was a bit heavy handed at times, I still think it’s something that many people will enjoy reading! I know I definitely did.

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