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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
dark
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Tʜᴇ Gɪʀʟs Aʀᴇ Iᴄᴏɴɪᴄ
This story starts off about a girl who has insecurities like any normal fifteen-year-old. How can she fit in? How can she be friends with the bad girls? What does she have to; do, act, speak, look like, and be like to achieve that? Nothing a little chole eyeliner won't fix. Meet Evie. A sort of girl that mothers warn their daughters about. My sort of girl.
Right off the bat Evie let's you know that she isn't the most outspoken person. She also isn't one to trust her womanly intuition. Women's intuition is something that is really important to me, so the fact that it was mentioned in the book is great and I really like the way that it was portrayed in this book. Like many girls and women all over the world when we are told to ignore the one thing that protects us, but benefits others, it is something amazing to pay attention to.
I love the cover of the book. It really matches the mood and the girls.
Loved it!!
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Bad Girls Never Say Die was an interesting reading experience for me because it's now what I would call my typical kind of book. I do enjoy reading thrillers but this one was dated and set in the past and had almost a teen coming of age (something along the lines of Jennifer's Body) vibe mixed in with the thriller elements and aspect.
The story takes place in 1964 in Houston, Texas and follows Evie Barnes "bad girl" and protagonist of the story. The idea of what a good girl and what a bad girl is in that time is explored so it's interesting seeing a historical perspective on that but there was something missing, maybe an x factor or something lacking in the thriller murder mystery plot that left me a little dissatisfied. Nevertheless, it was still an interesting combination of coming of age x feminism in the 60's x thriller murder mystery and I enjoyed reading it.
The story takes place in 1964 in Houston, Texas and follows Evie Barnes "bad girl" and protagonist of the story. The idea of what a good girl and what a bad girl is in that time is explored so it's interesting seeing a historical perspective on that but there was something missing, maybe an x factor or something lacking in the thriller murder mystery plot that left me a little dissatisfied. Nevertheless, it was still an interesting combination of coming of age x feminism in the 60's x thriller murder mystery and I enjoyed reading it.
Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Bad Girls Never Say Die is a genderbent retelling of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and I am here for it! Evie is a bad girl, her friends are bad girls and the last thing those girls would ever do is be caught hanging around a tea-sipper good girl. Until one night when Evie is saved by one of the good girls and their whole lives get thrown upside down. With big secrets and new friendships forming on every page, Bad Girls Never Say Die will have your heart pounding and your eyes full until it's done.
I adored this book. I loved the storyline, I love how everything played out. The ending shook me but I feel like it fit and the book wouldn't have been the same without it. The writing is emotionally charged and powerful. Jennifer Mathieu has this way of sparking emotion that just gets me fired up. I wanna start a riot! I wanna start a revolution!
Bad Girls Never Say Die is a story of friendship and sisterhood. It's the story of five girls who stuck by each other no matter how ugly things got. And it's a story about love and family and how sometimes the strongest love you have is from the family you create.
Bad Girls Never Say Die is a genderbent retelling of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and I am here for it! Evie is a bad girl, her friends are bad girls and the last thing those girls would ever do is be caught hanging around a tea-sipper good girl. Until one night when Evie is saved by one of the good girls and their whole lives get thrown upside down. With big secrets and new friendships forming on every page, Bad Girls Never Say Die will have your heart pounding and your eyes full until it's done.
I adored this book. I loved the storyline, I love how everything played out. The ending shook me but I feel like it fit and the book wouldn't have been the same without it. The writing is emotionally charged and powerful. Jennifer Mathieu has this way of sparking emotion that just gets me fired up. I wanna start a riot! I wanna start a revolution!
Bad Girls Never Say Die is a story of friendship and sisterhood. It's the story of five girls who stuck by each other no matter how ugly things got. And it's a story about love and family and how sometimes the strongest love you have is from the family you create.
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really wanted this book to be better than it was, but ultimately the story as a whole was pretty disappointing. The last 30 pages were probably the most interesting, and the most well written. But otherwise the book and main character just fell flat. For Evie, it honestly felt like she was a side character for this entire story. I think a multi perspective book could’ve helped this book a lot. To really show what each of these girls from the “wrong side of the tracks” was going through. (Also the random lines about segregation felt incredibly out of place? Either further develop on that, or maybe don’t include it? As it was random and did not further or add to the story in anyway.) The mentor teacher and the “Bad Girls Never Say Die” lines were also underdeveloped and half baked. If you want (particularly the line) to really hit hard with your reader, it needs to be more important and weaved throughout the story. The weird and blatant foreshadowing was odd and not very well written or subtle at all. Overall this book moved way too slow for me, and took me way to long to get through. The writing was okay, and I understand what the author was trying to do. But overall I wanted this book to hit a lot harder than it did. Side Note- don’t market this book as an adventurous feminist read, if it’s not going to be adventurous. You are setting the reader up for disappointment.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Violence, Murder
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Thank you BookishFirst and Roaring Brook Press for my copy of BAD GIRLS NEVER SAY DIE!
I thought this was a fantastic YA book--one that I would have absolutely loved had it come out when I was in high school. The story is an all-female take on The Outsiders, following the story of "bad girl" Evie who takes in "good girl" Diane after after a tense encounter at their town's local teen hangout spot. I enjoyed the main themes of the book: friendship among young women and the lengths they will go to in order to protect their friends, as well as socioeconomic class. This book does take place in high school so the characters are dealing with the typical struggles that many high schoolers go through. While I did enjoy reading this book as an adult, I think I would have loved it even more had I read it when I was the same age as the characters. Coming from someone who typically reads fiction set in the present day, I enjoyed the historical aspects of the book taking place in the 1960s.
I thought this was a fantastic YA book--one that I would have absolutely loved had it come out when I was in high school. The story is an all-female take on The Outsiders, following the story of "bad girl" Evie who takes in "good girl" Diane after after a tense encounter at their town's local teen hangout spot. I enjoyed the main themes of the book: friendship among young women and the lengths they will go to in order to protect their friends, as well as socioeconomic class. This book does take place in high school so the characters are dealing with the typical struggles that many high schoolers go through. While I did enjoy reading this book as an adult, I think I would have loved it even more had I read it when I was the same age as the characters. Coming from someone who typically reads fiction set in the present day, I enjoyed the historical aspects of the book taking place in the 1960s.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I’m a sucker for the Outiders so I should obviously love this retelling. Shocking to no one: I love it! I will say this book is slow paced. We come out guns blazing, then there’s a long lull til the end. As someone who loves character building in stories, this was much appreciated. You truly get a sense of who the girls are and their sordid past. It truly is a Feminist Outsiders story. The marketing is perfection. The gang of girls? Amazing. The stories of their lives? Heartbreaking. The ability to band together and show your loyalty to those you love? Inspiring. I can’t wait to share this book with my students!
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
here’s the key point to this one: it is NOT a thriller. I went into this thinking I was getting a historical fiction thriller story, and it was most definitely heavy on the history side.
that being said, if you go into it with the right mindset, you will thoroughly enjoy this book!! the vibe was definitely the outsiders meets west side story, and the feminism messages behind the story was SUPERB.
however, I found myself skipping chapters quite frequently because it was meaningless dialogue - evie apologizing to her mom and grandmother for the 8th time, evie and diane having a heart to heart about the same situation, diane and connie crying about johnny, just to name a few.
and this book was THICC like 500+ pages thicc. I haven’t read something this long since the red queen series wow. I felt like it definitely could have been trimmed down and still had the same effect on readers.
was the struggle through the book worth it in the end? I’m still debating on that. I’d consider myself in neutral territory on this one.
wine pairing: austria grüner veltliner
rating: 1.5 stars
that being said, if you go into it with the right mindset, you will thoroughly enjoy this book!! the vibe was definitely the outsiders meets west side story, and the feminism messages behind the story was SUPERB.
however, I found myself skipping chapters quite frequently because it was meaningless dialogue - evie apologizing to her mom and grandmother for the 8th time, evie and diane having a heart to heart about the same situation, diane and connie crying about johnny, just to name a few.
and this book was THICC like 500+ pages thicc. I haven’t read something this long since the red queen series wow. I felt like it definitely could have been trimmed down and still had the same effect on readers.
was the struggle through the book worth it in the end? I’m still debating on that. I’d consider myself in neutral territory on this one.
wine pairing: austria grüner veltliner
rating: 1.5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Sexual harassment
Minor: Abortion, Pregnancy
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Set in 1964, this young adult novel covers female friendships and expectations. These tough friends look out for each other...even when tragedy strikes. The characters are great, the plot intense, and the friendships amazing. Occasionally Mathieu strikes her message a little hard. Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for an advanced digital copy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Minor: Racism