Sawkill Girls

By: Claire Legrand

Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo

Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

From the New York Times best-selling author of Furyborn comes a breathtaking and spine-tingling novel about three teenage girls who face off against an insidious monster that preys upon young women. Perfect for fans of Victoria Schwab and Stranger Things.

Who are the Sawkill Girls?

Marion: The newbie. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find.

Zoey: The pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken - or maybe everyone else is.

Val: The queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives; a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.

Their stories come together on the island of Sawkill Rock, where gleaming horses graze in rolling pastures and cold waves crash against black cliffs. Where kids whisper the legend of an insidious monster at parties and around campfires. Where girls have been disappearing for decades, stolen away by a ravenous evil no one has dared to fight…until now.

©2018 Claire Legrand (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

“Reader, hang on for dear life. Sawkill Girls is a wild, gorgeous, and rich coming-of-age story about complicity, female camaraderie, and power.” (Sarah Gailey, author of River of Teeth)

“An eerie, atmospheric assertion of female strength.” (Mindy McGinnis, author of The Female of the Species)

A very empowering divine feminine story!!!

The narrator was great! Made me want to create a powerful girl group and go dancing around an open field. Loved the themes of masculine and feminine energy and the jabs at patriarchy. The romantic sub plots in the book were fantastic but didn't take over the whole story which I also loved!

Lauren Ezzo is amazing

I bought this mainly for Lauren Ezzo, I love her as a voice actress and her narration is just top tier. But the story itself is intriguing and beautifully done.

AMAZING BOOK!

I loved this book completely and furiously. It's thrilling and surprising and gorgeously written. Read it!

amazing narration, great story

I really enjoyed this story and was blown away by the skillful narration. There were a few parts I could have done without, the overly obvious men think they are amazing and its misogynistic lines felt a little cringe but they were few enough to look past. Sometimes Zoey drove me mad, she was overly rude and annoying, but I also felt as though she and I were eerily similar so that may have been part of it. I'll definitely be looking for other things narrated by Laura Ezzo

BEAUTIFUL!!

I’ve had 𝒮𝒶𝓌𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒢𝒾𝓇𝓁𝓈 in my wishlist for a while now, holding off on getting it because of the reviews. I am SO GLAD I finally went for it! This story is beautifully written, and at no point did I feel there was any “man hating” messages being pushed. There are a group of men in the story who may be chauvinistic, and of course the main female characters feel a reaction to that (what female wouldn’t?) but it’s not a theme whatsoever.

Listening to this story was like running my hands through silk, it progressed so smoothly (and right from the start, I might add) with the mixture of love, horror and action having been woven together seamlessly. I am sure Lauren Ezzo’s lovely voice added to this sensation, I completely forgot she was there! She had no weird or annoying quirks to her narration, it made it so easy to get lost in the story.

5 ☆ all around! Absolutely recommend!

Women's ways of knowing...but make it horror

Captivating from start to finish. A rare, refreshing narrative that sheds new light on old terrors.

Strange Little Book

This book wasn't bad, but wasn't great. the narrator did a good job but the story was just a bit weird. I'm not sure I loved the ending, but we chose it for book club.

Love it!

Great story!
*mini spoiler*

Girl power and monster’s. Enough said.
I’m going to check out all the stories from this author.
THANKS FOR WRITING THIS!

Too good to put into words

You know how when a story is really good, but you know if you try to explain it it would sound lame? (EX: “Game of Thrones is about a bunch of non-princes trying to take back a throne from an incestuous, murderous twin—all before zombies and their zombie dragons kill everybody.” Sounds lame, but is probably the most awesome show on television right now.) That is what this book is. I can explain what it’s about and what it’s like, but it will come out unfairly lame, and this book is fantastic!

I was sucked in almost instantly. There is so much mystery and wonder. The relationships are complex and strong. The themes are positive and plentiful. The characters have layers and growth. I binge-listened. I can’t wait to binge it again. The narration is spot on. This book made me want more. I’ll be purchasing more books by this author (and narrator while I’m at it!)

I Didn't Love It

I wanted to love it. This book has an excellent concept. interesting characters, and a fantastic setting. I feel like I should have loved it.

I didn't.

The two main culprits that kept me at arm's length was the excessive purple prose and the heavy handed gender agitation. I get that books like this need to exist, especially for young readers, but I'm just not into the us versus them vibe that came in hard like Zoey's swinging bat.

This book has a lot of hard grit and lacks refinement at its core... but I did like it to some extent. I'd read another, maybe where the girls travel or teach. I'd be happy to find out that they ended up monster hunters.

As of right now, at the end of this book, I'm feeling like 3 stars is fitting and possibly somewhat generous considering how hard it was to hype myself up into picking it back up time and time again. Seriously, that prose gets to be a bit much way too often.