Reviews: Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand & A Thousand Beginnings and Endings

 /  / Goodreads

Beware of the woods and the dark, dank deep.

He’ll follow you home, and he won’t let you sleep.

Who are the Sawkill Girls?

Marion: the new girl. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find.

Zoey: the pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken—or maybe everyone else is.

Val: the queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives, a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.

Their stories come together on the island of Sawkill Rock, where gleaming horses graze in rolling pastures and cold waves crash against black cliffs. Where kids whisper the legend of an insidious monster at parties and around campfires.

Where girls have been disappearing for decades, stolen away by a ravenous evil no one has dared to fight… until now.

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This was such a weird one, and I don’t even know how to fully talk about it. I just sit there and I’m like: moths. That’s all I got. I apologize for this review in advance.

First and foremost, there are a few triggers that should be noted. There was a moment toward the beginning of the novel that could be triggering for those that struggle with bulimia. One of the main characters isn’t doing that, specifically, but it felt like it could be triggering. There was also abuse as well especially regarding parental abuse. There is quite a bit of gore as well.

Things I Enjoyed:

👑It was actually creepy???? Like, actually creepy moments that had me staring the book going is this a horror movie or is this a book that I am reading? It gave me creeps, and I’m 200% down with it.

👑It was intriguing and dark and killer – and filled with lots of killers too.

👑Allllllllllllllllllllll the female empowerment and girls supporting girls and girls loving girls and girls being girls and girls being epic and girls just kicking so much butt. Seriously, this was so much epic feminism and showcasing just how diverse girls are (there is asexual, lesbian, and black rep). It felt like an ode to fierce and powerful girls in mental, emotional, and physical ways, and I was loving it.

👑The characters were intriguing and captivating. Sometimes they got a little eh, but I thought they were such fascinating people to follow in this story. Val was the most intriguing for me, and I swear Zoey felt like Sha in book format for like 1/2 of the story.

Things I Didn’t:

Belle is staying away from these woods because she don’t think she will find a nice castle in them.

👑 I never fully grasped it all? Like, okay, it was super creepy, but it also felt super surreal??? Like, I was just sitting here most of the time, whispering to myself, wtf is happening. what am i reading? what is going on??? Like, I knew what was going on, but it just felt like a whole other world like that super trippy end sequence of Don’t Look Under the Bed where you might have convinced yourself that you accidentally dropped some acid. Idk if it was a personal thing or a book thing but it was weirdness.

👑The ending wasn’t quite my jam as much as I wanted it to be. I felt like I lost a lot of the excitement 3/4 into the book and I was like meh when I was supposed be YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS.

👑A few other minor things.

Overall, this wasn’t quite the book I was looking for since while I was fascinated by the creepiness, I did seem to disconnect with it since I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. 3 crowns and Belle rating!

 /  / Goodreads

Star-crossed lovers, meddling immortals, feigned identities, battles of wits, and dire warnings. These are the stuff of fairy tale, myth, and folklore that have drawn us in for centuries.

Fifteen bestselling and acclaimed authors reimagine the folklore and mythology of East and South Asia in short stories that are by turns enchanting, heartbreaking, romantic, and passionate.

Compiled by We Need Diverse Books’s Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman, the authors included in this exquisite collection are: Renee Ahdieh, Sona Charaipotra, Preeti Chhibber, Roshani Chokshi, Aliette de Bodard, Melissa de la Cruz, Julie Kagawa, Rahul Kanakia, Lori M. Lee, E. C. Myers, Cindy Pon, Aisha Saeed, Shveta Thakrar, and Alyssa Wong.

A mountain loses her heart. Two sisters transform into birds to escape captivity. A young man learns the true meaning of sacrifice. A young woman takes up her mother’s mantle and leads the dead to their final resting place. From fantasy to science fiction to contemporary, from romance to tales of revenge, these stories will beguile readers from start to finish. For fans of Neil Gaiman’s Unnatural Creatures and Ameriie’s New York Times–bestselling Because You Love to Hate Me.

Disclaimer: Book Princess Reviews is a professional review site that receives compensation through affiliate programs (Barnes & Noble and Book Depository). We receive a percentage of commission from each purchase you make after following links provided on our site. Our promise to you is to always disclose affiliate links/buttons which you see above!

3.5 crowns

Favorite Stories: Oliva’s Table (my fave and it gave so so so much ghostie goodness), The Land of the Morning Calm by E. C. Myers (gamer world mixed with fantasy dealing with grief), Forbidden Fruit by Roshani Chokshi (except for that ending, tho), Nothing into All by Renee Ahdieh (um, goblins and complex brother/sis dynamics), and The Smile by Aisha Saeed (beautifully done).

The Okay Stories: Still Star-Crossed by Sona Charaipotra, Girls Who Twirl and Other Dangers by Preeti Chhibber, Bullet, Butterfly by Elsie Chapman, and The Crimson Cloak by Cindy Pon.

Jasmine is down for all of the short stories…especially since her movie was inspired from an anthology too.

Skipped/Meh Stories: Code of Honor by Melissa de la Cruz (too…2008), Eyes like Candlelight by Julie Kagawa (I fell apart since it was the last one in the book), Daughter of the Sun by Shveta Thakrar (it was trying real hard), The Counting of Vermillion beads by Aliette De Bodard (meh), Steel Skin by Lori M. Lee (too sci-fi), and Spear Carrier by Rahul Kanakia (writing style wasn’t my jam).

This was one of the best anthologies that I ever read. Even though I didn’t jive with 6 of the stories, the ones that I did was really really good that outshone the bad. And most of them were for personal reasons – and the fact that I can never quite do anthologies. Overall, if you are ever going to read one anthology in your life, I recommend this one. 3.5 crowns and a Jasmine rating!

What do you think? Do you like anthologies? Just have some books that are just so weird you can’t explain? Let’s discuss in the comments below!