Book Review: A Map for Wrecked Girls by Jessica Taylor

Title: A Map for Wrecked Girls

By: Jessica Taylor

Published: August 15th 2017

By: Dial Books

Genre: Contemporary-Suvival-YA-Romance-Family-ARC

We sat at the edge of the ocean—my sister Henri and I—inches apart but not touching at all. We’d been so sure someone would find us by now.

Emma had always orbited Henri, her fierce, magnetic queen bee of an older sister, and the two had always been best friends. Until something happened that wrecked them.

I’d trusted Henri more than I’d trusted myself. Wherever she told me to go, I’d follow.

Then the unthinkable occurs—a watery nightmare off the dazzling coast. The girls wash up on shore, stranded. Their only companion is Alex, a troubled boy agonizing over his own secrets. Trapped in this gorgeous hell, Emma and Alex fall together as Emma and Henri fall catastrophically apart. 

For the first time, I was afraid we’d die on this shore.

To find their way home, the sisters must find their way back to each other. But there’s no map for this—or anything. Can they survive the unearthing of the past and the upheaval of the present? 

Goodreads

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I want to thank NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for providing me with this copy in exchange for an honest review

I have some issues that I want to talk about , but at the same time I have so many mixed feelings about it that I don’t know how I’m going to do it in an appropriate way, I need time guys lol. I had some problems with the characters and their actions, but I think the final message is great , I really liked that and I ended up getting up my rating because of that. I enjoyed it, but I also struggled a little at times. 

There was and still is, a lot of hype around this book and I get it, the promise is great and Have you seen that cover?, it’s simply beautiful. I have been very lucky to have received this copy via NetGalley since I really wanted to read it, I always appreciate a good story about survival and thought that if I found myself with a strong sisterhood bond on it, even better.

The book follows Emma, she had a bond of great union with her sister Henri, but things that have happened have separated them and now, in the present, they have had an accident in the ocean and are stranded on a desert island, along with Alex, a mysterious boy who they recently have met on their trip to Puerto Rico. They’ll find theirselves struggling to survive, and the book follows all the problems that this brings them, physically as well as mentally. All this will lead them to face each of their personal demons and Emma will be forced to face her past and perhaps recover the bond that she and her sister had or lose her forever. 

It wasn’t what I expected, it’s a good book, with a very good structure that goes from the present to the past and I always enjoy that way of telling the plot, since I think it creates a mystery atmosphere, where situations of the past are revealed little by little and you’re discovering secrets, that aspect of the book is fantastic.

I enjoyed much more the present chapters than the past’s, even so the past chapters are necessary since we’re discovering what has led the girls to be so distant from each other and why Emma feels so guilty about it , we can also learn more about them, and know their personalities.

But I’ve had some problems with the characters and I can’t let it go. I literally hate Henri almost 99% of the book. I understand that the idea is to create these characters who are problem teenage girls, with dark pasts and all that, I also understand that Henri’s character is created to be like an unliked character at first, of which after we know more her story, we’ll managed to understand her and we’ll ended up loving her, well, I couldn’t do it. . Henri is a bitch lol, she treats her sister like trash most of the time, tells her super hurtful things and then comes back and talks to her like nothing had happened, hoping for Emma not to remember what happened about 2 seconds ago. Henri is really silly and not only makes her life a complete disaster, but she drags her sister with her and then Emma has to solve everything, I really can’t feel sorry for her, nor understand the why of her actions.
The girls are going through the separation of their parents which is obviously hard but doesn’t justify all the mean, rude, and arrogant Henri’s behavior, and all her excuses are really stupid and pointless. Also, one last thing,the guys end up lost on this island where they must fight to survive and Henri literally doesn’t help at all, she does nothing useful, she spends all day lying in the sand, building necklaces. And I was so angry guys, I can’t stand this character, I don’t care her at all, I can’t. That would be a summary of what I feel.

We have Emma, she’s our main character, I don’t love her to be honest, but she ended up growing as much as a person, I feel she has evolved a lot from beginning to end and that makes me very happy, she deserves something better in her life than she has had and I really want what’s best for her.
Even so, there were times when I didn’t understand her and I didn’t agree with her actions. Every time Henri did something she tried to convince herself that she deserved it or justified her sister for her actions, and that makes me feel super sad me because her personality was very submissive and easy to master in the past, I feel she never really said “It’s enough!” and she end up feeling miserable for each of her acts. I also had that feeling that in the past she lived through her sister, which was also sad to read.

I feel that although it’s obvious that they love each other despite all the things that have been done to each other, I personally couldn’t feel connected to this relationship, I don’t like how they’re handled it or the way in which they treat one another and I didn’t see at all that beautiful sisiterhood bond that the book promised me, even so it may be different for you, or at least I hope so 

Although there was no character that I loved, doesn’t mean that I haven’t enjoyed other aspects of the book, I think the most solid part is near the end and the end, I really found myself hooked on the last pages and that made me raise up my rating a bit, I think Jessica Taylor knows how to write and her structure to create a good flow in plot is great, also it’s very easy to read, I would love to read something else by her, but with another type of characters, I think that would work better for me.

As the plot ends it’s really very good, I was surprised because it was different than I expected, so I consider myself a fan of the end.
Although my problem with the characters is obvious, this book has many really good things from the writing style to the survival aspects that were really real and hard. I recommend this book if you’re interested in any of these aspects, I can’t tell you for characters because I wouldn’t mean it, but you’ll find a super complex plot that unravels in a brilliant way, so go for it 

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Rating

3/5 Stars

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