Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Reviewed by GGGinny

What I drank: Plenty o wine. Red, white, and nothing in between.

Goodreads Overview:

It’s been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty’s life out from under her.

It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don’t dare wander outside the school’s fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.

But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there’s more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.

Drunk Overview: I know Minda also reviewed this book, but oh boy. The Eaxter academy for girls has been quarantined as a disease (known as yhe Tox has spread). Hetty ends up investigating as her friend Byatt goes missing.

Drunk Thoughts:

• The beginnimg of this book was so interesting because it was hard to understamd if our three main characters actually liked each other. Hetty and Byatt were pretty close vut Reese felt more like a side addition
• Also figuring out what was actually going on was a bit difficuly (but intentionally so).
• But I think this book did a nice job of capturimg how complicated the relationships between young girls is. The way you could love and hate the same person…
• This book did a great job of setting a scene. The descriptions were offputting while still feeling lush and made the book just a little bit eerie.
• There were times when I was reading to get through it rather than for enjoyment (there are some parts that focused on Byatt that felt a little unnecessary – although it did a nice job of showing who Byatt was outside of Hetty’s impression.
• That being said, I feel like Reese should have been given the same courtesy.
• Plot-wise, I liked the twists that showed up. They fit the world and there was some pretty good foreshadowing for some of it.
• I do thing that the cdc involvement should have been shared a little but ealier although that mat have ruined yhe tension
• Honestly, my biggest issue with tge book was the ham fisted message at the end.
• Without being a major spoiler there ended up being a connection to climate change that felt like it was out of nowhere and honestly felt really overdone
• It just didnt fir the overall (well done) creepy tone of this book

What it Pairs With: drink a Mike’s hard lemonade.

Rating: 3.5/5