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A review by christajls
The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis
3.0
In a dystopian version of the Old West, a sixteen-year-old girl named Clementine is about to become a “sundown girl” in the town welcome house (brothel). But when the moment actually comes, she panics and ends up killing the john that “purchased” her for the night. Knowing that if those in charge find out she will be severely punished or killed, she does the only thing she can – she runs. She is joined by her sister Aster and some of the other ‘Good Luck Girls’ – Violet, Tallow and Mansy, who see it as their opportunity to escape as well.
But escaping won’t be easy, as each girl is branded with a tattoo that clearly marks them as Good Luck Girls and covering that tattoo causes their skin to burn. There are rumours of a woman who can remove the marks but to get to her they’ll have to travel across an unforgiving country, dodging the law and the supernatural ‘raveners’ who have the ability to torture you from within your mind.
This is a high stakes story and will keep you turning the pages as the girls encounter danger after danger. I’m not generally one for Wild West themed tales but I was totally absorbed in this. Part of that is because Davis subverts a lot of the typical Western tropes but a lot of it was due to the relationships between the girls. Particularly between Clementine and Aster. As the older sister, Aster just wants to protect Clementine but Clementine is not helpless and often pushes back against her sister’s decisions. At times they need to lean on each other and at other times they need to find their own independence and that’s a balance they continue to work on throughout the book.
Though Clementine and Aster were my favourites, I enjoyed getting to know all of the girls. Violet has a tough outer shell, having lived in the welcome house the longest, but it isn’t long before you realize that she’s suffering in her own ways. And Tansy and Mallow are perhaps the most adorable of the bunch. Once free from the welcome house and all of its restrictions, they’re able to let their relationship grow.
Charlotte Nicole Davis has done an excellent job building a dark and complex world and she has filled it with characters that you want to root for. I would have been happy for this to be a standalone since I thought the ending was just right, but I’m pleased to hear there will be a sequel so that I can return to this world and these characters once again.
Review originally posted on This is a Metaphor
But escaping won’t be easy, as each girl is branded with a tattoo that clearly marks them as Good Luck Girls and covering that tattoo causes their skin to burn. There are rumours of a woman who can remove the marks but to get to her they’ll have to travel across an unforgiving country, dodging the law and the supernatural ‘raveners’ who have the ability to torture you from within your mind.
This is a high stakes story and will keep you turning the pages as the girls encounter danger after danger. I’m not generally one for Wild West themed tales but I was totally absorbed in this. Part of that is because Davis subverts a lot of the typical Western tropes but a lot of it was due to the relationships between the girls. Particularly between Clementine and Aster. As the older sister, Aster just wants to protect Clementine but Clementine is not helpless and often pushes back against her sister’s decisions. At times they need to lean on each other and at other times they need to find their own independence and that’s a balance they continue to work on throughout the book.
Though Clementine and Aster were my favourites, I enjoyed getting to know all of the girls. Violet has a tough outer shell, having lived in the welcome house the longest, but it isn’t long before you realize that she’s suffering in her own ways. And Tansy and Mallow are perhaps the most adorable of the bunch. Once free from the welcome house and all of its restrictions, they’re able to let their relationship grow.
Charlotte Nicole Davis has done an excellent job building a dark and complex world and she has filled it with characters that you want to root for. I would have been happy for this to be a standalone since I thought the ending was just right, but I’m pleased to hear there will be a sequel so that I can return to this world and these characters once again.
Review originally posted on This is a Metaphor