Andrea Contos

Throwaway Girls is a weighty and unflinching confrontation of our ingrained biases and the value we place on young women and which ones are deemed worth looking for, worth fighting for. The first third or even half of the narrative is sluggish and Contos’ florid prose periodically caused me to lose the vein of the story, while the alternating POVs take at least a few chapters to feel intuitive. But Caroline is my favorite kind of YA heroine, probably in that aspects of her character show more reminded me of myself as a teenager. Stubborn to a fault, recurrently myopic, and guilty of making often rash decisions, but always because she is driven, full of heart, and experiences every feeling so intensely. Caroline is fallible and makes numerous mistakes and poor (sometimes dangerous) judgments, but Throwaway Girls is her journey. Her journey to adulthood, to self-realization, to fully confronting her privilege and blind spots. It’s painful to read at times, again, probably because it reflects on my own experience of and confrontation of my inherent entitlements as a middle class white woman. The LGBTQ representation read to me as a fluid aspect of the story and sincere without the Hollywood melodrama. A haunting, often grim, read with plenty of sinister twists but not without fervidness and an acute and enduring message. Highly recommended. show less

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and Kids Can Press in exchange for an honest review

Really a 3.5 out of 5

"It's never the people who reap the benefits who want to change how the world works."

I had a hard time connecting with Caroline as a character, and most of the time I was reading the book I found her rather unlikeable. At times I felt like there was too much going on in the story, and was worried that there would be too many loose ends. It was also rather unbelievable, show more as a lot of thrillers are, but Throwaway Girls was almost too much.

In this case though, the good outweighed the bad. Overall, I really liked the story, and the writing style. I think it brought up important social issues. It really highlighted the class system in the US. It also showed LGBTQ+ representation, and talked about conversion therapy for minors, which is still legal in 30 states. I think dropping true facts into books like this are super helpful for readers.

The ending of the book had me turning pages so fast! I could not get enough. I loved the ending, and never saw the twist coming. This is definitely a young adult thriller, but if you like that genre this is a great book to choose! show less

Caroline thinks she has to solve the mystery behind the disappearance of her best friend. There is a lot these 2 best friends don’t know about each other—too much really to believe they were even good friends. The title of the book makes it sound like the story will be about poor girls with problems at home that no one cares about when they go missing, but instead, it is about a rich boarding school girl named Caroline. Caroline is arrogant and annoying. I don’t like her. She is a show more valedictorian candidate that has a fake ID at 17 and spends a lot of time in dive bars. That’s a bit unrealistic. She also claims drunk guys are “asshats” while enjoying the dive bar scene. She does not cooperate enough with the police. She thinks she can do everything better than everyone else. The search for her friend is slow-paced without any big exciting breakthroughs or nerve-wracking moments. The story dragged through the middle. The author did a poor job of switching the point of view and that made things confusing. The writing style of the author is good. The character and plot development need work. show less

An interesting debut Mystery, one that had moments of on suspense, but for the most part, I was confused. The story POV went back and forth between the protagonist, Caroline, and another female character, which is revealed much later in the story. There was a sense of far-fetchedness that I couldn’t shake with the mystery. I was able to figure it out half way through the book. It took a bit to get through, just wasn’t my cup of tea.