The Nowhere Girls ARC Review

The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed

4.5 Stars

I want to start by saying that I fought hard for this book. I requested it on NetGalley, straight from the publisher, lurked on books for trade and I just could not get my hands on it. So when I saw it pop up in the ARC Adoption program run by Emma at Miss Print I practically begged her for it. I got lucky. It may have taken me a while, but here is my review.

From the minute I heard about The Nowhere Girls I wanted to get my hands on it. If you've been around for a while then you know I feel a connection to certain books about the hard stuff. Some being mental illnesses, some on assault, bullying, and so many more. The Nowhere Girls centers on rape, consent, breaking the silence and the sad norms surrounding such things. For this exact reason I needed it in my life.

To me this book is pretty slow, but very important. The chapters alternate perspectives as a group of girls try to get justice for a fellow teenage girl previously having been violated. She came forward and no one believed her. These girls saw that this was in fact wrong, something worth fighting for. The entire book is kind of about meetings in secret and making change. I'm all about change, believe me. However at times I found myself wishing things would happen faster or be more impactful.

I grew to love our main characters who are actually decently diverse to me. I do not consider myself an expert in diversity though so if that is important to you I would check someone who lives for diverse books. I found myself enjoying Grace and Erin more than Rosie. And while I originally liked Amber, I found myself hating her by the end. Which kind of made me feel a little bitter. All I know is that the guys drove me insane for the most part. There were a few exceptions and I won't spoil who that is for you. You need to get to know everyone for yourself.

One thing that infuriated me to no end, and it was supposed to, was the blog called The Real Men of Prescott. The posts were disgusting and the sad thing is that blogs like this do exist in our world. The inclusion of these posts within the book was actually quite crucial to the story. The provided insight to the other side of things was important and also heartbreaking when you realized who was being discussed each time. I wanted to throw my copy across the room! But I believe that was the point. We need to get mad. To fight. To stand up for victims who seek justice rather than scare them into hiding and giving the assailant a slap on the wrist.

The Nowhere Girls is a very important book that I think everyone should read. I really enjoyed it despite it taking me a while to read. I highly recommend it to those like me who want to read the tough about stuff. Overall the book isn't hard to read. It has it's moments. I cannot wait to see what Amy Reed comes out with next. Thank you again to Emma for allowing me to adopt this ARC. The Nowhere Girls is out now and if you haven't grabbed a copy yet then you should. Feel free to come back here and discuss it with me when you finish! Happy reading!

Xoxo,

Gabriella