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Dead End Girls Paperback – May 16, 2023
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"A clever page-turner that I couldn’t put down." —Natasha Preston, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
Determined to escape menacing families, two desperate teens fake their own deaths in this queer contemporary thriller perfect for fans of Karen McManus.
In one week Maude will be dead. At least, that’s what she wants everyone to think. After years of research, Maude has decided to fake her own death. She’s figured out the how, the when, the where, and who will help her unsuspectingly. The why is complex: revenge, partly. Her terrible parents deserve this. But there’s also 'l’appel du vide,' the call of the void, that beckons her toward a new life where she will be tied to no one, free and adrift. Then Frankie, a step-cousin she barely knows, figures out what she’s plotting, and the plan seems like it’s ruined. Except Frankie doesn’t want to rat her out—Frankie wants in. The girls vault into the unknown, risking everything for a new and limitless life. But there are some things you can never run away from. What if the poison is not in the soil, but in the roots? This pulse-pounding thriller offers a nuanced exploration of identity, freedom, and falling in love while your world falls apart.
Dead End Girls is perfect for fans of:
- Riverdale
- Do Revenge
- They Wish They Were Us and One of Us Is Lying
- Murder mystery books for teens
- Teen thrillers
- Young adult suspense
A Rainbow Book List Selection
A YALSA Amazing Audiobook for Young Adults
A YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherChristy Ottaviano Books
- Publication dateMay 16, 2023
- Grade level9 - 12
- Reading age14 - 18 years
- Dimensions5.5 x 1.15 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-100316310522
- ISBN-13978-0316310529
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What a way to start a wild fun coming of age thriller. Dead End Girls by thriller author Wendy Heard is a non stop fly by the seat of your pants ride that once you get on you can't get off.
Almost 18, Maude has meticulously planned and saved for her "death" day. Her body won't be found and she will be far away. Why all this trouble to leave her family; to not just run away but cause them grief believing she is probably dead? Is she just an evil genius or a brilliant girl needing to escape?
Everything begins to go haywire when Maude's step cousin, Frankie, finds out her plan. But Frankie doesn't want to stop her she wants to join her. Why? Frankie gets her trust fund when she turns 18 but at what cost. Conformity, pretending to be something she is not, is something she can't live with another day. Then there are the "accidents" that could have killed her. Are they accidents? Who benefits if she isn't around to get that trust fund?
I read and listened to this teen sapphic story that was very much about adulting and taking matters into your own hands to be your authentic self. Narrators @natalienaudus and Taylor Meakimen @tmex are perfectly cast for this dual POV giving the girls the right balance of teen angst and uncanny maturity. The author's talent kept me up all night. She made me care about these girls and at the same time I had to know how it would all end. I had no clue.
So what if Thelma and Louise ran away when they were teens? Would they have survived? Some moments were a bit far fetched but books are about imagination and hope. Dead End Girls has both.
I received a free copy of this book/audiobook from the publishers via NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own
The writing! There is so much beautiful wordplay in this story. Especially from Maude, who wants to leave behind the sham of her life and has thought long and hard about what life means and what living it means. It would be so much easier for her to decide to just deal with life until she graduated and could move on, but she doesn’t. But, when Frankie makes a muck her plans, she drops such beautiful sentences as this: “My whole body is my heartbeat, furious and hurt.
Dead people. Seriously, this is not a book for the faint of heart. In their quest for freedom, Maude and Frankie make some not great friends and some not great choices. Plus, they want everyone they know to think they’re dead, too. So, yeah, if death bothers you, this is not the book for you.
Someone might be trying to kill someone for money. There is more going on than meets the eye as we look past what we think we know about Frankie and Maude. One of them might just be in too deep and need help getting out – but who can she trust?
Family who can’t see past their own noses. Dead End Girls definitely plays into family drama, especially fancy people family drama. There are a few cliches here: the overly pompous grandmother, the ne’er do good son, the possibly just in it for the money new wife…
Pronouns! There is a subtle pronoun shift toward the end of the book as a character comes to grip with their sexuality that isn’t explained or pointed out – it just happens, and it’s beautiful!
Book: Dead End Girls
Author: Wendy Heard
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 5/5
Diversity: Queer MC, Queer trans side character
Recommended For...: young adult readers, thriller, LGBT, Thelma and Louise
Publication Date: May 10, 2022
Genre: YA Thriller
Age Relevance: 16+ (death, language, disordered eating, fatphobia, romance, running away, drug use, attempted overdose, underage alcohol consumption, gore, violence, sexual harassment, murder, sexual content, gaslighting, emotional abuse, child abuse, attempted murder)
Explanation of Above: This book contains death, murder, attempted murder, gore in the form of some blood and vomit, and violence in the form of stabbing and car accidents. There is moderate cursing in the book. Disordered eating is shown and mentioned, as well as fatphobic comments said to the MC. There is also gaslighting, emotional abuse to a child, and child abuse shown in the book. The book centers around characters who run away from home. There is some romance in the book and some slight sexual content. There is also drug use shown, underage alcohol consumption shown, sexual harassment mentioned and shown, and an attempted overdose shown.
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Pages: 336
Synopsis: In one week, Maude will be dead. At least, that’s what she wants everyone to think. After years of research, Maude has decided to fake her own death. She’s figured out the how, the when, the where, and who will help her unsuspectingly.
The why is complex: revenge, partly. Her terrible parents deserve this. But there’s also l’appel du vide, the call of the void, that beckons her toward a new life where she will be tied to no one, free and adrift. Then Frankie, a step-cousin she barely knows, figures out what she’s plotting, and the plan seems like it’s ruined. Except Frankie doesn’t want to rat her out. Frankie wants in. The girls vault into the unknown, risking everything for a new and limitless life. But there are some things you can never run away from. What if the poison is not in the soil, but in the roots?
This pulse-pounding thriller offers a nuanced exploration of identity, freedom, and falling in love while your world falls apart.
Review: I really liked this book! It was a fun Thelma and Louise themed book centering around two characters who have fairly bad spaces at home, one more toxic than the other, and their attempt to make their own way in the world ala faking their own death and then having to become a little murderous. The book is Multi-POV with Frankie’s scenes being more of a flashback at what led them to this conclusion currently in the book. The character development was well done as was the world building. And overall I loved the book and had so much fun with it. It kept me on the edge of my seat as I questioned how the characters would get out of the mess they kept making for themselves and I will say that the ending is satisfying.
The only issue I had with the book is that when the scenes would cut to Frankie the voice was a little hard to distinguish from Maude and the back and forth nature of the book is a little confusing at first. You have to pay attention to the headings at the top of the chapters, which is always my arch nemesis.
Verdict: It was great!