The Girls Of No Return.

The Girls Of No Return.

Erin Saldin.

Publisher:Arthur A. Levine.

Publication Date:February 1,2012.

Genre:YA Drama|Suspence|Romance.

Format|Pages:Hardcover|348.

Source:Library|Goodreads.

4.7 STARS

I been wanting to read The Girls Of No Return since it came out last year. However my library didn’t carry it for while. I got say it was not what I was expecting this book to be. To be honest, the beginning was bit slow for me, so I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy it. But once it picked up, I found myself unable to put the book down. I got so observed in the story, the characters that I had actually had to force myself to put the book down. There were quite bit of twists through the book, that I didn’t see coming. Especially towards end. It was pretty realistic; I can see something like this happening. I’m eager to find out what story Erin Saldin will come up with next.

GOODREADS SUMMARY

The Alice Marshall School, set within a glorious 2-million acre wilderness area, is a place where teenage girls are sent to escape their histories and themselves. Lida Wallace has tried to negate herself in every way possible.

At Alice Marshall, she meets Elsa Boone, Jules, and Gia Longchamps, whose glamour entrances the entire camp. As the girls prepare for a wilderness trek, Lida is both thrilled and terrified to be chosen as Gia's friend. Everyone has their secrets – the “Things” they try to protect; and when those come out, the knives do as well.

First of all, how can you not love the title and the cover? By just reading the title and looking at cover, it feels like part of story is revealed already. The river, the background is stunning, and I love nature and by looking at the cover, I can only imagine how beautiful it must be out there. I actually felt a bit jealous of Lida while I was reading the book. By looking at the photograph that something is on the girl’s mind, fact that she is by herself on canoe. When I first saw it, I was curious what that could possibly mean. Was she running away from something? Or was she going somewhere. Once I read the book, I knew that she was running away from something. The photograph in general is stunning and it also makes you think about the book, even before you read it. Both the cover and the title will grab any reader’s attention.


Lida: At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about her. To me, it seemed like she was a bit too angry, especially towards Terri, thought I could see why she wouldn’t like her. But as book progressed, I could see why she was angry. She was angry because she was hurting, because her mother left, and maybe a bit confused. Of course I didn’t know that till halfway through the book, about her mother. I was curious from moment she arrived to Alice Marshall, what her ‘thing’ was. That’s what I loved about this book, it was filled with suspense that you wanted to figure and that was one of things that kept you on reading. I was constantly curious what would happen with her character next. As book progressed, I could see Lida grow in bit more of stronger and happier person, especially when she was around Gia. I was glad that she was able to make friends, considering that it didn’t come easy to her, friendships.

Gia: I liked Gia, at least in beginning but even then I felt like there was something off about her, kind of like Boone did. I just kind of feeling that she wasn’t being honest with her, even when Lida was and I knew that it was hard for her. Sometimes I just plain didn’t get Gia though, she would get so mad, whenever Lida didn’t tell her about something, and she sounded like a jealous girlfriend to be honest. I knew that she had some sort of temper issues right then. That was one of things I didn’t like about Gia, how easily she seemed to upset Lida, thought she didn’t do anything wrong. I loved her when she had her talks with Lida, listened to her, to her troubles. I was in shock when she revealed Lida’s ‘thing’ as hers. That is something isn’t right, it wasn’t her right for her to do that, even if she was angry with her. By end, I couldn’t stand her.


Boone: At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about character, but at same time I liked that she was different from other characters. Honestly I didn’t see her and Lida becoming friends, especially how cold she seemed to treat her half of time, especially in beginning. It was more of hate like relationship but I still didn’t see those becoming friends. Though, she denied half of time, I knew that she cared for her, especially when she came to her rescue when she saw that Lida was upset when Gia revealed her ‘ secret’. That’s why I was bit unhappy of what happened next, how the book ending. I got say that I did not see that coming, but of course I wasn’t sure who she handed knife too. But I got agree with Boone on this one, what was she thinking? If there was strain between their friendships before, it caused even more issues after that. I was glad that they reunited at end, I was kind of hoping they would.


I though interesting how from time to time, there would kind of journal format from Lida, from the current past. It let reader know how she was doing since the incident, how she was feeling. I kind of felt bad for her, she seemed even more damaged after incident but then couldn’t blame her.

The Girls Of No Return was an amazing debut. It’s filled with suspense, drama, friendship and romance and worth your time.