Scan barcode
questsandcrimes's review against another edition
3.0
Lux and Trixie are going on their first weekend trip together. They both need a break from the stressful everyday. But everything goes horribly wrong after one violent night, and their lives are altered forever. Now, the face of a #MeToo movement they didn’t want to be in, the girls try to stay ahead of the cops and the media. The girls only have each other and the new love they’re discovering.
I have such mixed feelings on Trouble Girls. I love a road trip book, a road trip book plus crime
I have such mixed feelings on Trouble Girls. I love a road trip book, a road trip book plus crime
hsinjulit's review against another edition
1.0
Buddy read with Gabriella! I encourage you to check out her 4-star review instead.
This book is well-written and I did like the social commentary-ness of Trouble Girls, but I don’t know... maybe Thelma & Louise just isn’t meant to be retold in YA in almost its entirety.
Trixie Denton (~17) and Lux Leesburg (~17) go on a weekend getaway but accidentally get entangled with a crime. Now, they are on the run and the road trip stretches into days and weeks.
I… am not sure what I just read.
I appreciate the points this book is making, including the main theme of sexual assault and some mentions of racism, homophobia, etc., but other than that, the somewhat unnecessary descriptions included to build the scenes made me very uncomfortable. Especially some insults other characters throw around. They felt somewhat gratuitous even though, at the same time, I understand why they were included.
The book is full of panic attacks and anxious energy, and yet, I never really felt enough connection to the main characters to care for them. I liked that the romance subplot is full of chemistry, but other than that, Trixie and Lux just move from town to town, meeting a lot of random people on their way. And I didn’t feel like I know them at all, even when it is told in Trixie’s first-person point of view.
Had the story been told from Lux’s POV, we might have been able to learn more about the both of them. Alas, I spent most of the time waiting for the ending of the story and when I reached it, I was disappointed. Like the movie, which I have not seen, it is somewhat open-ended. I love a good open ending, but in Trouble Girls, I finished the book wondering why I road-tripped with them for almost 300 pages.
I should reiterate that Rubin wrote the story well, but I personally couldn’t get into it. Perhaps, if you are a Thelma & Louise fan, you will love this YA retelling.
Content warnings: murder, panic attack, dementia, sexual assault (including rape), blood, homophobia, smoking (underage), brief suicidal thoughts, mention of overdose, homophobia, misogyny, mention of teen pregnancy, mention of trans rejection, mention of racism
I received a digital review copy from Wednesday Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is well-written and I did like the social commentary-ness of Trouble Girls, but I don’t know... maybe Thelma & Louise just isn’t meant to be retold in YA in almost its entirety.
Trixie Denton (~17) and Lux Leesburg (~17) go on a weekend getaway but accidentally get entangled with a crime. Now, they are on the run and the road trip stretches into days and weeks.
I… am not sure what I just read.
I appreciate the points this book is making, including the main theme of sexual assault and some mentions of racism, homophobia, etc., but other than that, the somewhat unnecessary descriptions included to build the scenes made me very uncomfortable. Especially some insults other characters throw around. They felt somewhat gratuitous even though, at the same time, I understand why they were included.
The book is full of panic attacks and anxious energy, and yet, I never really felt enough connection to the main characters to care for them. I liked that the romance subplot is full of chemistry, but other than that, Trixie and Lux just move from town to town, meeting a lot of random people on their way. And I didn’t feel like I know them at all, even when it is told in Trixie’s first-person point of view.
Had the story been told from Lux’s POV, we might have been able to learn more about the both of them. Alas, I spent most of the time waiting for the ending of the story and when I reached it, I was disappointed. Like the movie, which I have not seen, it is somewhat open-ended. I love a good open ending, but in Trouble Girls, I finished the book wondering why I road-tripped with them for almost 300 pages.
I should reiterate that Rubin wrote the story well, but I personally couldn’t get into it. Perhaps, if you are a Thelma & Louise fan, you will love this YA retelling.
Content warnings: murder, panic attack, dementia, sexual assault (including rape), blood, homophobia, smoking (underage), brief suicidal thoughts, mention of overdose, homophobia, misogyny, mention of teen pregnancy, mention of trans rejection, mention of racism
I received a digital review copy from Wednesday Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
thelaynierose's review against another edition
4.0
What a stunning, sucker punch of a novel. It was a devastatingly beautiful love letter to angry girls and queer girls everywhere. This book filled a niche for me that I didn't know I was missing: the angry girls, the messy girls, the girls who make actual mistakes with incredibly high stakes in the contemporary world, and this book provided that for me. It was thrilling to read and you latched onto the characters right away and were with them every mile of their journey. I also loved the discussions of feminism and activism laced throughout the novel. It was very interesting to see how Trixie and Lux's actions grew beyond themselves and started a movement, even when they were more removed from the movement than the activists at the college who were leading the charge were. I also just adored the poetry of Trixie and Lux's love for each other. I can't wait for this book to come out so I can share it with my friends. I'll definitely be recommending this to the older end of the YA age range, just because of the trigger warnings that will need to go along with it. (like for real please check the trigger warnings before you read.) Overall, a fantastic read that I couldn't put down.
lookingforamandaa's review against another edition
3.0
Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. Trouble Girls is pitched as a sapphic retelling of Thelma and Louise. I never saw the original film, but I definitely want to now. I have to start this review by saying that this story starts off with an attempted rape. There’s also some violence, murder, and so much degrading hate speak toward women that we see through the characters.
We follow Trixie and Lux who are on the run after Trixie stabbed a college man who was trying to rape Lux. They’re fleeing because they know what will happen if they go to the police. Lux comes right out and says that she’ll be questioned about why she was in a bar, what she was wearing, about how she was dancing with the person that tried to rape her. This book really obviously points out the flaws and issues that todays’s world has with believing the victim when someone tries to report being raped or sexually assaulted. There’s also a lot of anger. We only get Trixie’s point of view, so I can’t say how Lux was feeling, but Trixie was angry. I could absolutely understand her anger, but at times I couldn’t sympathize with it because the voices the girls made just kept making things worse and worse. I couldn’t help but think they should have just turned themselves in.
Overall, I wanted to like this book more than I did. I liked the romance between the girls. I liked their adventures while traveling, but I didn’t like many of the choices they made.
We follow Trixie and Lux who are on the run after Trixie stabbed a college man who was trying to rape Lux. They’re fleeing because they know what will happen if they go to the police. Lux comes right out and says that she’ll be questioned about why she was in a bar, what she was wearing, about how she was dancing with the person that tried to rape her. This book really obviously points out the flaws and issues that todays’s world has with believing the victim when someone tries to report being raped or sexually assaulted. There’s also a lot of anger. We only get Trixie’s point of view, so I can’t say how Lux was feeling, but Trixie was angry. I could absolutely understand her anger, but at times I couldn’t sympathize with it because the voices the girls made just kept making things worse and worse. I couldn’t help but think they should have just turned themselves in.
Overall, I wanted to like this book more than I did. I liked the romance between the girls. I liked their adventures while traveling, but I didn’t like many of the choices they made.
ashleylauren13's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
trisha_thomas's review against another edition
3.0
I'm really torn on this one - 2 stars rounded up for the love story.
I liked a lot of things about this story. I liked the reality of life on the run - being dirty, breaking out, being hungry, sleeping weird hours and some of the odd people you are forced to align yourself with. I loved the love story - their shared history, their fierce protectiveness, their handholding and being there for each other.
I also liked how the hog story and the fear after being attacked was handled. It's a rough topic and I thought this one was gritty and dark and true.
But for all these parts of the story I liked, there are a lot of slow parts. A lot of inner turmoil and driving, driving, driving. I wish I'd felt a bit more connected so the tortured thinking drew me in instead of leaving me wondering when something would happen. It was okay, I liked a lot of it, but didn't love it.
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
I liked a lot of things about this story. I liked the reality of life on the run - being dirty, breaking out, being hungry, sleeping weird hours and some of the odd people you are forced to align yourself with. I loved the love story - their shared history, their fierce protectiveness, their handholding and being there for each other.
I also liked how the hog story and the fear after being attacked was handled. It's a rough topic and I thought this one was gritty and dark and true.
But for all these parts of the story I liked, there are a lot of slow parts. A lot of inner turmoil and driving, driving, driving. I wish I'd felt a bit more connected so the tortured thinking drew me in instead of leaving me wondering when something would happen. It was okay, I liked a lot of it, but didn't love it.
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
haileyannereads's review against another edition
2.0
Content Warning: Sexual assault, violence
I understand and appreciate what this book was trying to do. And there were some parts that I really liked. But overall, I just wasn't into it.
I understand and appreciate what this book was trying to do. And there were some parts that I really liked. But overall, I just wasn't into it.
zinzee's review against another edition
2.0
Trigger warning for rape culture and victim blaming. I think the writing was beautiful. Overall the intention of the book was good however it didn’t really fully capture my attention. 2.5 star rating.
emerz's review against another edition
3.0
okay this is a thriller and I don’t really enjoy thriller bc they put me on edge and I don’t like feeling that way so I tend to not read them. but I had to read this because lesbian Bonnie and Clyde murdering men.
bookapotamus's review against another edition
4.0
Ahh this book was so fun! It certainly met my expectations as far as having been blurbed a "YA Thelma & Louise" because it had all those chilling, crazy road trip vibes that I wanted!
Trixie and Lux get stuck in bad situation and make some pretty terrible decisions throughout this story, but you can't help but root for them throughout everything they endure. They are troubled, scared kids, the messiest of flawed characters, and I feel like that only made them all the more endearing. I just wish we had some more of them! It also would have been fun to get inside Lux's head as well, and feel what she was feeling throughout this gritty story of friendship on the run.
There's suspense, and love, and so much bad-assery, and a timely #metoo storyline that is refreshing but also heartbreaking. The writing is beautiful, and while ending may not be for every reader, I absolutely loved it.
Trixie and Lux get stuck in bad situation and make some pretty terrible decisions throughout this story, but you can't help but root for them throughout everything they endure. They are troubled, scared kids, the messiest of flawed characters, and I feel like that only made them all the more endearing. I just wish we had some more of them! It also would have been fun to get inside Lux's head as well, and feel what she was feeling throughout this gritty story of friendship on the run.
There's suspense, and love, and so much bad-assery, and a timely #metoo storyline that is refreshing but also heartbreaking. The writing is beautiful, and while ending may not be for every reader, I absolutely loved it.