Reviews

Girls of Little Hope by Sam Beckbessinger, Dale Halvorsen

clemencebl's review against another edition

3.0

3,5 !

varsh31's review against another edition

Girls get lost in the woods and come back super creepy - what’s not to love? Lots of 90s nostalgia and I’m old now so that appeals to me. Lauren Beukes rated it highly and that was enough for me (#fangirl).

miserable_biscuit's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

rachelspencer's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

sleepykimmy's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I couldn't stop reading this and I really liked the little supplement bits (although they were hard to read as an ebook on my phone), It did all get a bit silly

with the hivemind stuff and as happy as I was with Kat returning to a human form it was a bit ...like they couldn't think of a proper way for that to happen

I was brought back again by the end though it was quite sweet and overall a fun read 

barefootmegz's review against another edition

5.0

The premise seems familiar enough: three girls go into the woods, and only two return. But therewith ends the similarities between Girls of Little Hope (Sam Beckbessinger, Dale Halvorsen), and a dozen other horrors/thrillers...

Read the rest of my review on my blog here.

ohhdeanna's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

revolrootion's review

4.5

I absolutely demolished this. Stephen King meets 80s body horror, with a smattering of Clueless. Kinda need a movie of it now.

lasolady's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

The writing style in this reminds me of Stephen King. Well, if he wrote YA. Because this is essentially what this is: A YA horror novel. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not conflating Stephen King with Horror, it just is very evident that the authors are influenced by King: the way we circle through POVs, and the way (I personally feel) none of the characters are entirely sympathetic, that's what King is to me. 
Anyway. The YA-ness stems from, I think, the use of the present tense, or the way all of the POVs are basically from someone with a teenager's mind

(Yes, Marybeth, you're not mature, no matter how much trauma you have gone through)

. 
I did like the mixed-media approach, even though it is a bit annoying to read on a kindle-for annotations and readability, I feel a physical copy might work better. I tested it on my phone, and yeah, the readability of those pages just sucks on an e-ink display. So if you want to read it, I would recommend not doing so on a kindle. 
Now the plot... its very intriguing to me, and it really picks up in the second half. It is a very readable book, but unfortunately, towards the end, it kind of relies on clichés too much for me:

creepy children moving in unison, the hivemind, love conquering everything, and finally, the government cover-up.

I would have preferred more grotesque body horror, less reliance on clichés. 
I did like getting the

POV of the monster

, and the question the novel brings up:

If I take someone's body and their memories, am I them? How much of them would I have to take before I am more than just a copy?

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but to me its a little too much YA and cliché. I would recommend this book to teens who would like to read their first horror novel. 

maddybx's review against another edition

5.0

Wow wow wow wow wow. How am I going to put this into words?!

Small town America. 90s backdrop. Outcasts. Best friends forever. Unsolved mystery. Darkness hiding in the woods. Something's not quite right. Sticking together. Heart-warming. Heart-breaking. Immaculate October vibes.