Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

“Reader, hang on for dear life. Sawkill Girls is a wild, gorgeous, and rich coming-of-age story about complicity, female camaraderie, and power.” —Sarah Gailey, author of River of Teeth
“An eerie, atmospheric assertion of female strength.” —Mindy McGinnis, author of The Female of the Species
FIVE STARRED REVIEWS
NAMED ONE OF YALSA’S 2019 BEST FICTION FOR YOUNG ADULTS
A BRAM STOKER AWARD NOMINEE
A LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD NOMINEE
From the New York Times bestselling author of Furyborn comes a breathtaking and spine-tingling novel about three teenage girls who face off against an insidious monster that preys upon young women. Perfect for fans of Victoria Schwab and Stranger Things.
Who are the Sawkill Girls?
Marion: The newbie. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find.
Zoey: The pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken—or maybe everyone else is.
Val: The queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives; a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.
Their stories come together on the island of Sawkill Rock, where gleaming horses graze in rolling pastures and cold waves crash against black cliffs. Where kids whisper the legend of an insidious monster at parties and around campfires. Where girls have been disappearing for decades, stolen away by a ravenous evil no one has dared to fight…until now.

If Stephen King wrote YA fiction, this book would be right up his alley. Don’t believe me?

An evil creature – demon, devil, who knows? This thing comes from somewhere beyond our wildest imaginations. It feeds on teenage girls – at least until it can break free of its anchor. Doesn’t that sound like something straight out of a Stephen King horrorfest? Well, it does to me.

Marion is sweet, plain, and well, the mountain on which her family leans. She can’t afford to be fanciful or whimsical. She can’t afford to take a break, because what will her mother or Charlotte do without her? But she’s so much more than that. She plays such an important part in the story and it’s so hard to talk about her without giving things away.

Zoey is sweet, loving, but can hold a grudge like no one’s business. Her hatred of the Mortimers of Kingshead on Sawkill Rock should be nothing short of legendary. But, she does have good reason to hate and distrust them. At least, she does for a while. She’s another very important person in this book, again, hard to talk about her without giving too much away.

Val isn’t what she seems. The description above is Val, but it also isn’t. You have to read the book to understand how that works exactly, but know this, she’s important for more than one reason. And to be honest, if you don’t end up feeling sorry for her, I don’t know why you wouldn’t.

Even though it isn’t the main focus of the story – the main focus is what the heck is happening to Sawkill Rock’s girls – I do have to mention the LGBTQ+ subplots going on. I’m not going to spoil it for you, you’ll need to read it for yourself, but it was nice to have a story that doesn’t have the normal straight characters throughout.

I gave this one 4 stars because it was a great read, but I would have loved to have a little bit more info on what exactly that thing was and the place it came from. Other than that, it was an awesome read and I really enjoyed this one.