Reviews

Girls of Little Hope by Sam Beckbessinger, Dale Halvorsen

revolrootion's review

4.5

I absolutely demolished this. Stephen King meets 80s body horror, with a smattering of Clueless. Kinda need a movie of it now.

lasolady's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

The writing style in this reminds me of Stephen King. Well, if he wrote YA. Because this is essentially what this is: A YA horror novel. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not conflating Stephen King with Horror, it just is very evident that the authors are influenced by King: the way we circle through POVs, and the way (I personally feel) none of the characters are entirely sympathetic, that's what King is to me. 
Anyway. The YA-ness stems from, I think, the use of the present tense, or the way all of the POVs are basically from someone with a teenager's mind

(Yes, Marybeth, you're not mature, no matter how much trauma you have gone through)

. 
I did like the mixed-media approach, even though it is a bit annoying to read on a kindle-for annotations and readability, I feel a physical copy might work better. I tested it on my phone, and yeah, the readability of those pages just sucks on an e-ink display. So if you want to read it, I would recommend not doing so on a kindle. 
Now the plot... its very intriguing to me, and it really picks up in the second half. It is a very readable book, but unfortunately, towards the end, it kind of relies on clichés too much for me:

creepy children moving in unison, the hivemind, love conquering everything, and finally, the government cover-up.

I would have preferred more grotesque body horror, less reliance on clichés. 
I did like getting the

POV of the monster

, and the question the novel brings up:

If I take someone's body and their memories, am I them? How much of them would I have to take before I am more than just a copy?

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but to me its a little too much YA and cliché. I would recommend this book to teens who would like to read their first horror novel. 

maddybx's review against another edition

5.0

Wow wow wow wow wow. How am I going to put this into words?!

Small town America. 90s backdrop. Outcasts. Best friends forever. Unsolved mystery. Darkness hiding in the woods. Something's not quite right. Sticking together. Heart-warming. Heart-breaking. Immaculate October vibes.

wunkymatts's review against another edition

2.0

A classic of the 'some interesting ideas, not sure about the execution ' genre. The pacing was terrible. Really slow to get going and then everything crammed in at the end. I felt like it was trying to make big emotional points, but this is far too clumsy a book for that and the just came off as obvious and ham-fisted.

gjenn's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

kizzabell's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

laurarosessupposes's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Fun with nicely written segments. 

ashlee_'s review against another edition

mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

alice_pyper's review

5.0

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ one of the best horror books I've read !! A perfect combo of 90s nostalgia , spooky small down vibes and some of the most chilling body horror I've encountered !!!

claires_loveofbooks2020's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

4.5

Now, this one was sooo good. I wasn't expecting the supernatural element. I loved this whole story, the 4 main characters, Rae, Donna, Marybeth, and Katie. I felt for Marybeth the most because of her upbringing with her mom and the way her husband treated her, to the way she tried to do anything to protect her duaghter, Katie from the evils in the world. The plot was really interesting, and I was gripped throughout that I didn't want to put this one down. I recommend giving it a read!