Claire Legrand (1) (1986–)

This book is, essentially, fun—an extended urban legend-type creepypasta fit into a psuedo-woke YA novel. It's easy to read, the characters are distinct (mostly) and interesting (mostly), and the writing itself is competent in the "dont notice it one way or the other" kind of way. This book would make a perfect forgettable bingeable Netflix series that either gets cancelled after two seasons or drags on indefinitely without ever really getting popular. So, you know—fun!!
Unfortunately, though! Unfortunately!
Unfortunately I just really didnt like it at all, despite all that good Netflix-y funness. A real core of the story (inciting incidents, character motivations, that sort of thing) has to do with grief—grief specifically over the death of a loved one. And this book just really, really didn't deliver on that. And that really, really bothered me.
(Admittedly, this sort of thing bothers me in many, many pieces of media. Don't give your character a dead parent if you don't know what it's like! Pick something else for them to be angsty about!!)
I don't want to act like works "in this genre" (whether that's YA, fantasy, horror, or whatever) can't deal seriously with real world issues. I don't even necessarily think that "fun" stories can't do that! But I do think it's much harder to pull off and takes a level of depth that most books like this just don't have.
And that's ok! Not everyone will be as bothered by this as I am, and for those people I'm sure this will be a quick, fun read.… (more)

Okay okay WHAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT!!! Omg What a book!!!!!

Have you ever had the feeling of wanting more as you read the last chapters of a book? Yes, that was a rhetorical question. Every other book makes us feel like it. Every other book leaves us with a longing for wanting to know more.

Not this one though!

This book was COMPLETE!! I absolutely loved it. With MAAAAJORRR STRANGER THINGS vibe and a perfect combination of paranormal and suspense, Sawkill Girls is the book you need to read.

The plot, the characters, the premise, everything was perfectly aligned to my liking. Not only is it brilliant, but also has a really good LGBTQ representation.

Sawkill Rock has seen girls disappear without trace for over decades. When Thora, a friend of Zoey goes missing, she refuses to accept that it is just a runaway or suicide. She gets hellbent on discovering the actual reason behind it.

Just a little time later, Marion loses her sister to this mystery. Fate brings Marion, Zoey and highly peculiar Val on a mission to solve this decades old curse that claims the Sawkill girls.

With strong MC’s in a Bi Marion, an Ace Zoey and a Lesbian Val, the book reverberates women-power and comes full circle with a proper ending, giving us everything we need.

I personally could not find fault with this one.… (more)

So I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it’s like an epic fantasy meets regency. Something different — love that — the magic element is there, but not like what I expected. The romance (spice) element was there. But the on-again/off-again thing was a little too much (at least for me). The story really picked up for me when the reanimated ladies showed up and got Gemma for the Necromancers. So that was pretty cool. The last part of the second act and the third act were the best in my opinion. I know there’s more stories featuring the sisters coming, and I heard they’re stand-alone novels, so I’d be curious to see what the next one will be.… (more)