Hello Girls by Brittany Cavallaro, Emily Henry Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
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Synopsis:
Best friends are forged by fire. For Winona Olsen and Lucille Pryce, that fire happened the night they met outside the police station—both deciding whether to turn their families in.
Winona has been starving for life in the seemingly perfect home that she shares with her seemingly perfect father, celebrity weatherman Stormy Olsen. No one knows that he locks the pantry door to control her eating and leaves bruises where no one can see them.
Lucille has been suffocating beneath the needs of her mother and her drug-dealing brother, wondering if there’s more out there for her than disappearing waitress tips and generations of barely getting by.
One harrowing night, Winona and Lucille realize they can’t wait until graduation to start their new lives. They need out. Now. All they need is three grand, fast. And really, a stolen convertible to take them from Michigan to Las Vegas can’t hurt.
Thank you to Edelweiss, the authors and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
From the opening chapters, I knew I was going to be hooked into this book. I thought the way Winona and Lucille were introduced was brilliant and captivating. Immediately I felt for both of these girls and their horrible home lives. In in spite of their terrible families, the bond they formed was truly inspiring. The deep friendship between the two was what kept the story staying grounded when some of the other elements get a bit wild and crazy.
Lucille couldn’t have wants. She couldn’t have needs. What she had was a hole that she shoveled her love into, a hole she couldn’t see the bottom of until she met Winona.
During the initial part of Winona and Lucille’s cross country road trip, I found my interest waning. After the awesome beginning, it took the story a little while to pick back up.
But as Winona and Lucille get closer to their final destination, the twists and turns pick up and more characters are introduced to the story. There’s some great moments about first relationships, trust, toxic family relationships and jealousy among friends.
Sometime since yesterday, it was like Winona had gone from being a book Lucille knew by heart to being the same book with its ending ripped out.
The ending is quite explosive, and honestly, a little heartbreaking. However, I really liked how the authors chose to end it the way they did.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and thought there were a lot really great themes packed in a Thelma and Louise-type road trip story. The writing was excellent and engaging. My main fault was the pacing, as it definitely lulled at times. Also, sometimes the story seemed to go off the rails a little bit and was a bit unrealistic, but overall I enjoyed it.
“I don’t know you or your business, honey, but I can tell you this – you two are the Lamborghini of problems.”
I have this book on my tbr list, it sounds like an interesting read; thanks for the review!
You are welcome! And it’s such an interesting book – it’s very different but very enjoyable.