Review: Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne young

The Girls of Innovations Academy are beautiful and well-behaved—it says so on their report cards. Under the watchful gaze of their Guardians, the all-girl boarding school offers an array of studies and activities, from “Growing a Beautiful and Prosperous Garden” to “Art Appreciation” and “Interior Design.” The girls learn to be the best society has to offer. Absent is the difficult math coursework, or the unnecessary sciences or current events. They are obedient young ladies, free from arrogance or defiance. Until Mena starts to realize that their carefully controlled existence may not be quite as it appears.

As Mena and her friends begin to uncover the dark secrets of what’s actually happening there—and who they really are—the girls of Innovations will find out what they are truly capable of. Because some of the prettiest flowers have the sharpest thorns. ~ Goodreads

Source; ARC provided by the publishers in exchange for an honest review

Review:

I’ll be honest and say that it took me a little bit to get into this book at first. I had read, and loved! Young’s The Program series and there were just too many similarities that made it feel repetitive. But then the author turned all that on it’s head and made this a series that stands entirely on it’s own, seamlessly blending genres into a horrifying tale of misogyny, abuse and ultimately... empowerment.

The characters, including the main POV of Mena, come off pretty bland at first but that’s because she is a student of The Girls of Innovations Academy – an elite school that accepts only the best. And in this case, the best means only the most beautiful and obedient of girls so that they can be trained to become the perfect wife for the men awaiting their graduation. They are taught to be bland and it takes a bit before Mena starts to come into her own personality and voice.

After a chance encounter with a boy on one of the girls infrequent field trips, Mena starts to question the things she’s been taught at the academy and pushes back.

You do not push back a the academy without consequence.

This is where Girls with Sharp Sticks starts to shine. A boy may have been the catalyst (and on ongoing source of support) but it’s the girls who use their fierce bond to outsmart and out maneuver the men who have been controlling both their minds and bodies for so long.

I’m not going to say much more – because there are a few twists. While not entirely surprising to me – they were genuinely creepy and will make you squirm and want to rage against the system because, while this is an exaggerated – fictional account, there is plenty of reality to recognize on these pages.

Girls with Sharp Sticks is a stand alone novel but leaves enough open to continue on with stories from the other girls from the academy.