e-ARC, 320 pages
Release Date: August 6, 2019Published by: Katherine Tegen Books
Read from: July 29-August 3, 2019Stand-aloneSource: Publisher & Edelweiss (I received a copy of this book from the Publisher & Edelweiss in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)TW: Abuse (from parents and siblings)For fans of: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Stand-alones, YA
Best friends are forged by fire. For Winona Olsen and Lucille Pryce, that fire happened the night they met outside the police station—both deciding whether to turn their families in.
Winona has been starving for life in the seemingly perfect home that she shares with her seemingly perfect father, celebrity weatherman Stormy Olsen. No one knows that he locks the pantry door to control her eating and leaves bruises where no one can see them.
Lucille has been suffocating beneath the needs of her mother and her drug-dealing brother, wondering if there’s more out there for her than disappearing waitress tips and generations of barely getting by.
One harrowing night, Winona and Lucille realize they can’t wait until graduation to start their new lives. They need out. Now. All they need is three grand, fast. And really, a stolen convertible to take them from Michigan to Las Vegas can’t hurt.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did! One of these authors I haven’t had any luck with and the other is always a hit or miss for me, so this was a very pleasant surprise. Just goes to show you, judge a book by its cover lmao
“Lucille flashed him a vicious smile Winona wished she could bottle and spray onto herself when she needed courage.“46%
Winona and Lucille became best friends at some really tough moments in their life. They start to think about how they can help each other and develop a plan to get outta dodge as soon as they hit graduation. But one night they decide that waiting until graduation is no longer an option and they have to get out of there now. So they take a stolen car and take off on the road trip of their lives!
“It’s not just you. You’re not alone, WInona. You’re safe now.“50%
As a character driven reader, this book was everything! I really enjoyed getting to know Winona and Lucille and I really loved seeing how strong they got to be as the story goes on. But because I’m a character driven reader, I got really attached to the characters and I HATED seeing what they had went through. As far as everyone else in this book, I didn’t like anyone else besides the main characters. I wanted to jump into the book and choke everyone else from the book. I’ll just say they weren’t really likeable……
“We’re not exactly Mother Teresa and the Virgin Mary, Lucille pointed out. […] We’re not the Virgin Mary, but we’re not the whores, either. They tried to make us into them, to box us in, and maybe at some point we fit where they wanted us, but they pushed too hard and we’re not those girls anymore.“63%
I haven’t really seen anything about Thelma and Louise, but from a little research I realized that this was basically a YA retelling of the movie. At first I was thinking the book was ridiculous, but from just reading the Wiki page, it seems just like the movie. I think I’m going to request the movie to try and pair it together.
“A sack of shit painted gold would only fool people for so long.“71%
The only thing I didn’t care for about this was the abrupt ending. Like I get it… [Small spoiler] They made it to their destination, but after what transpired there, I felt like there should have been something else that happened after them being there. But they walked outside and it just ended. How did they feel about the situation? Why did they let that happen? I felt like they spent this whole story trying to do this and when they finally did, the story is just over. I get emotionally invested and this story basically just cut me off.
“Why did people lie? With their words, with their voices, with their bodies, with their beautiful houses, and beautiful clothes and sometimes even their faces? Why couldn’t everyone just be what they were? Monsters should look like monsters.“74%
I have a bit of trouble for these two apart, but these two together were just what I needed! It was such a great story of female empowerment and recklessness! It was fun to see these girls get into all this trouble. Definitely a super fun book that everyone should read!
Overall, I give this
