From the Bookshelf of Addicted to YA…

Wilder Girls

Rory Power

Start date: October 1, 2019

Finish date: October 31, 2019

Discussion: Stand Alone

Why we're reading this: Won the poll for the theme BOTM
Theme: Horror
[close] Won the poll for the theme BOTM
Theme: Horror

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Showing 2 of 156 topics — 4,053 comments total

Stand Alone

* Stand Alone- Better Than Revenge
By Bailey · 2 posts · 28 views

last updated Sep 15, 2025 07:03AM

* Stand Alone- Maybe Meant to Be
By Bailey · 3 posts · 30 views

last updated Aug 18, 2025 12:04PM

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What Members Thought

Aug 22, 2019 Dichotomy Girl rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, 2019, ya, 2019-genre-challenge

3.5 Stars

3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 12, 2019 Sarah rated it it was amazing

I'd be lying if I didn't admit I (in part) selected this book because of its beautiful cover. Of course, the description of the story was intriguing as well, and I am so glad I gave this book a chance. After hearing it was reminiscent of "Lord of the Flies" I was wary (I did not enjoy that high school read), but Powers created an entirely unique world into which I was instantly drawn. I found the strange and mysterious changes happening to the girls on this secluded island both horrific and fasc ...more

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Dec 31, 2021 Naomi rated it really liked it

This book so weird and creepy and very enjoyable. It's hard to say really what the plot is or describe what happens, and anyway I think the book is mostly about friendship and girls. Also maybe not the best book to read during a pandemic. I flew through this. I could not put it down. While I found some of the characters annoying, there were enough of them and enough going on that no one really became unbearable. I wish this was a little longer or a little more in depth. There were so many unansw ...more

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Apr 24, 2020 Robyn rated it it was amazing

Hetty had only been at the Raxter School for Girls a year when the Tox hit, turning the girls' bodies strange in ways they couldn't quite explain. Death after death left them abandoned and alone, with the American Navy sending supplies infrequently, and no cure seemingly coming. Then, Hetty's best friend Byatt goes missing, and in her attempts to find her, Hetty discovers there is more happening on the island than she could ever have imagined.

I must admit that this book sat on my shelves for qui Hetty had only been at the Raxter School for Girls a year when the Tox hit, turning the girls' bodies strange in ways they couldn't quite explain. Death after death left them abandoned and alone, with the American Navy sending supplies infrequently, and no cure seemingly coming. Then, Hetty's best friend Byatt goes missing, and in her attempts to find her, Hetty discovers there is more happening on the island than she could ever have imagined.

I must admit that this book sat on my shelves for quite some time before I finally picked it up. Not for lack of good reviews - it just never felt like the "right" book to read in any given moment. But two pages in, I was so hooked I read through the entire novel in less than 24 hours. Hetty's character development is genius, leaving the events unfolding on the island to take a close second place in my mind. While the idea that a strange sickness could befall a group of people, or that no one would actually be looking for a cure does not seem that far-fetched, the impossibleness of what happens to these girls is easy to believe as you experience everything through the eyes of Hetty, and then Byatt.

Woven through the entire book is a queer subtext that I wasn't expecting, but that felt natural, understated, and totally necessary for the telling of the story. Kids are queer; teens discovering who they are in the midst of crisis and chaos do not abandon their hearts in the face of tragedy, and so to see the characters in this story quietly own these individual love stories felt perfect. I was worried that their queerness would be used against them in some way - so often authors try to tell tales of harm and injustice by punishing queer kids, but in this story that did not happen. Hetty is allowed to feel what she feels (for both boys and girls, according to her), and her queerness is never used as a crutch or a weapon.

I was thrown by the friendship between Hetty and Byatt, however. The physical closeness they shared throughout the book was refreshing and something I witness regularly with my middle school students. I was not expecting such raw and real friendship to be on such display in such a tragic book.

My one dislike? I wanted to know more at the end. I like my tragedy with closure, and while there is some closure, there is much room for interpretation and conjecture, and I am left thinking of Hetty, Byatt, and Reese far more than I was expecting. ...more

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