I’ve had this book for years but never got around to reading it until now, but I am so glad that I did. This book is perfect for fans of stories about dark female characters and obsessive, toxic friendships. On Halloween, 1991, a popular high school basketball star ventures into the woods near Battle Creek, Pennsylvania, and disappears. Three days later, he's found with a bullet in his head and a gun in his hand, a discovery that sends tremors through this conservative community, already unnerved by growing rumours of Satanic worship in the region. In the wake of this incident, bright but lonely Hannah Dexter is befriended by Lacey Champlain, a dark-eyed, Cobain-worshiping bad influence in lip gloss and Doc Martens. The charismatic, seductive Lacey forges a fast, intimate bond with the impressionable Dex, making her over in her own image and unleashing a fierce defiance that neither girl expected. As Lacey gradually lures Dex away from her safe life into a feverish spiral of obsession, rebellion, and ever greater risk, an unwelcome figure appears on the horizon, and Lacey's secret history collides with Dex's worst nightmare. Content warning for bullying, suicide, sexual violence, homophobia, gun violence, alcoholism and adult/minor relationship. I love books that explore toxic and destructive female friendships. There is something that is so intense, obsessive and even terrifying about teenaged girls and their friendships, and the author does a fantastic job at portraying this sentiment authentically. I admit that I don’t prefer stories that are set in high school (it’s just a time in my life that I’d rather not revisit), but the teenaged characters and their interpersonal relationships and struggles were written authentically and that really elevated the story for me. I liked the commentary on the satanic panic of the 90s and how believing in satanic cults was somehow easier than believing in natural human darkness. This book is loud and brash and vibrant. It shouts at the reader. These girls do not take the path of quiet surrender, they push and fight and live. It is both a celebration of youth, the fire that burns within young girls, and a warning that such fire can destroy, even as it enthrals us and consumes us. I thought it was beautifully dark and a fantastic look at the psychology of dangerous co-dependent relationships that are quick to form in teenage girls. The need to fit in, find a best friend, the teenage yearning for the intimacy of finding somebody who understands you, is perfectly depicted here. It's tragic and dark and kind of wonderful. I have seen some reviewers on Goodreads say that they couldn’t connect to this book because the depiction of teenagers and adolescent life felt extreme and unrealistic, but I saw a lot of my teenage years and hometown reflected in this book, minus the darkest parts that fit into the thriller genre. I think that even if you can’t relate to the characters or story in general, most readers will be able to connect with this story. Equally compelling as it is disturbing, Wasserman’s beautifully written novel about the power and destructiveness of teenage friendships really puts its reader through the emotional ringer. Her choice of alternating the narrative between the central characters keeps you on your toes and offers deep insight into their state of mind. I loved the passages exploring the combustibility of young girls, and the experience of being a mother with a teenaged daughter, and being a parent of a destructive young girl while also remember when you were a destructive young girl and all the envy, jealousy, hatred and love that comes along with that. I loved the ending passages about divorcing yourself from who you were and reconciling with your past self as if they were a stranger. I loved the dark open ending. I highly recommend this book for fans of coming-of-age stories exploring dark, obsessive, toxic female friendships.

Book #87 Read in 2016 Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman This is not a nice book. This book is gritty, disturbing and edgy. Hannah is a nice girl but not popular in high school. The new girl, Lacey, takes an interest in her and turns her into "Dex" a more wild, rebellious girl, much like Lacey. But Lacey has a lot of issues in her world that bring a dark side to her. How far will she go? This book will hook readers will non-stop angst and action and readers will be on the edge of their seats seeing how far into the darkness these high school girls will go. I recommend it.

I loved the second part of the book so much, the start was not

I’d heard that it was a really good read and was so excited when I started reading it. I expected drama and emotion but not THAT much! Once I started I could barely put it down.

A toxic friendship that ties bond between them. If you would like to read more of my review check out my blog: www.readergalcom.wordpress.com

This book is very much in the same vein as Boring Girls, but somewhat less compelling for me. What was done best here was show the sometimes obsessive nature of teenage friendships that can morph into something seriously unhealthy and dangerous - a cookbook with the best recipe for girls gone wild~! I liked the POVs of Lacey and Dex/Hannah, with Dex's parts being told in the present & Lacey's told in past tense; I thought it was an interesting way to show the differing maturity levels between the two (with Lacey being the "strong mature one" able to look back on how she groomed Dex to be a kind of 'mini me'). What I didn't like was the ridiculously florid prose that felt too try-hard. I also felt the moments of the book where adults had their POVs highlighted (the chapters labelled as "Them") were unnecessary. They didn't serve any purpose other than as a vehicle for the author to scorn /those/ ignorant Middle America parents who think their children & lives are perfect despite evidence to the contrary; I'm not saying that the scorn isn't justified, it's just the kind of thing where in a book about dysfunctional teenage girls it should've been shown rather than told. Overall, this book didn't do enough to make itself stand out, but it wasn't bad! Definitely recommended for people that had a huge Cobain/Nirvana phase as teens & want to second-hand cringe :D

DNF Got to about 1/4 of the way through the book and had to stop. I really tried to get into this book but it didn't happen for me. Every time I thought it was going somewhere it just .......stopped. Boring, not interesting, just plain Meh book.

** spoiler alert ** I struggled with the rating and the reading of this book, but I have to give it up for the second half. I couldn't finish this book fast enough. It was nothing like what I expected and I was so thrown by the ending I really should have seen coming. Girls are vicious, and this story is no exception.

A bit of a slow burn at he beginning but worth it for the end.