Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand Review

Hello Readers,
Just a little house keeping before we jump into my review this book is a little hard hitting and I am going to include Trigger Warnings: homophobia (challenged), acephobia (challenged), sexual assault, parental abuse, animal death.


I don’t quite know how to describe this book it’s a thriller, a supernatural horror that is also a discussion of grief and trauma. This book is about Sawkill, a mystical island where girls disappear frequently, and nobody knows what happened to them. There are three main characters to this story, with chapters alternating between their perspectives Marion, Val, and Zoey. Through the alternating chapters we get to know the girls and we see how they get together, how they hate, fight, talk and love.
 
Each of the main characters in this book are dealing with what it means to mourn. Not only in the typical sense but to mourn, to be alone and to miss people who aren't coming back. Marion is mourning the lost her dad. Then we have Val who is an abuse survivor. Finally, Zoey is trying to recover from grief over a friend. The friendship between these three girls felt believable and realistic.
 
I loved this book and I couldn’t put it down as I wanted to know as much as I could about the island. It was like the legend of Sawkill itself had dug its claws into me. The plot sucked me in, and it is helped along by the immersive atmosphere that Claire has created. I felt fully immersed into the book’s world and into the the island’s grasp that I couldn’t help the dread feeling growing in my gut with each chapter’s. The mystery and horror elements gave me shivers and I think it would be great spooky season read.

Happy 700th blog post to me 

L x

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