Girls with Sharp Sticks

Special thanks to NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

I am an affiliate with Z Publishing House. See the bottom of this post for more details.

Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young was published in March 2019 by Simone Pulse Publishing. Young is a New York Times best seller and has written several novels, including the Program series. 

Girls with Sharp Sticks follows Mena as she attends the elite all-girl's academy that promises to make her a "better girl." There, she and her friends learn necessary lessons about gardening, etiquette, and table setting. After a field trip to a local garden that ends with a chance meeting with a boy, Mena begins to notice inconsistencies and odd behaviors in the men who claim to be protecting them. When one of her friends goes missing, Mena stops taking her vitamins and begins to see the school and what the professors are trying to do for what it really is. Now they need to find answers and a way to escape, but they are helpless against the men who keep them trapped in the school.

I liked this book. It was a quick read and leaves you guessing most of the way through. Mena and her friends are great characters. They are all allowed time to develop, they each get their own personalities and wants and dreams, they love each other like sisters and support each other, and they are allowed to have every emotion. They cry, they get angry, they're scared, they fight for each other, and they protect each other. It's beautiful and wonderful to see.

The men, on the other hand, are all absolute pigs! There are only a couple that gets their own personalities Guardian Bose and Adrian are especially notable, while the rest seem pretty interchangeable, to the point of I wasn't paying too much attention to their names and even Young seems to give little reminders of who is who throughout her book. Jackson, the boy Mena meets while on a field trip, is the only decent guy in the entire book. I know he's supposed to be the love interest and the only window into the outside world, and he doesn't really play much of a role in the grand scheme of the book, but I enjoyed seeing him reacting to Mena and how he tries to be the brave rescuer but doesn't actually do  more than provide information and a getaway car. 

It's at this point that I should mention this book is good but it is not an easy, comfortable read. The characters may not realize the issues right away, but the readers will and it raises so many red flags. For those who aren't sure of what I'm talking about, imagine older men instructing girls in how to be the "perfect wives" as depicted in the 40s and 50s media and literature while also not being human. The girls aren't allowed to eat anything other than oatmeal (unsweetened), salads, and vitamin drinks. They aren't allowed to dress or do their hair or make-up in anyway that doesn't match their "specifications," and the headmaster determines what outfits they wear during the formal open houses, including how low the dress is. And if something happens and the girls get hurt or something goes wrong, then it's the girls' fault for not being perfect and handling the situation properly despite not being allowed to protest. Trigger warnings for rape and rape culture, misogyny, abuse (emotional and physical), violence, , probably more things that I didn't recognize or remembered. The girls are treated like products. Keep this in mind. This book is good but it may not be for everyone.

I also wouldn't say it's wholly original. I predicted the final plot twist about three chapters in and it;s not a story that hasn't been told before. My biggest gripe with the book is that it takes its time in some parts that I ended up skipping over because I felt the momentum needed to keep moving and not stop for twenty pages in order to confirm my suspicions and set up for a sequel. I also hated the epilogue. That could have been left out but again, set up for the sequel. 

Overall, I liked this book. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads. It's intense, it's not afraid to shove everything in your face, and it does a good job of giving us good female characters. That being said, this is not a book for everyone. I, thankfully, wasn't triggered by the topics covered in the book, but I know several people who would be. It's a book that I would be careful about recommending. 

Again, special thanks to NetGalley and Simone Pulse for giving me a copy of Girls with Sharp Sticks.

I am an affiliate with Z Publishing House. If you're interested in reading the works of emerging writers, this is a great place to get them. I do get a small commission for anything purchased through this link: http://www.zpublishinghouse.com?rfsn=1831564.e6264