Watch the Girls by Jennifer Wolfe

This book follows Liv Hendricks who quit her acting career after her sister goes missing at a Hollywood party. Liv escaped but her sister was never heard from ever again. Knowing someone is watching, wanting to finish what they started, Liv returns back into the spotlight fifteen years later on a webseries she started on as a teen to investigate disappearances outside of town. Slowly gathering evidence piece by piece, Liv is dragged into a dark path of disturbing discoveries.

I was sent an Advance Reader Copy of this book by Hatchette Book Group in exchange for an honest review.

If you are interested in owning your own copy, this book comes out on July 10th, 2018.

**There is a major trigger warning for sexual assault and/or rape if you are interested in reading this novel***

I can't say I liked this book. But I also can't say I hated it.

There were a couple of elements in this novel that I did enjoy but others that did make me feel a little iffy.

First off, there are scenes just dedicated to the rape Liv and her sister had to go through, so if you are uncomfortable reading it, I highly suggest looking into it and skipping it (I believe most of them are at the end of the novel and they are in young Liv's perspective.)

I don't usually feel uncomfortable with literature - heck, I love horror and all the gore scenes. But I did have to skip a couple of the scenes because I did feel a little uncomfortable.

One of the other things that I didn't really like about this novel was how abrupt scenes transitioned.

Especially the beginning and especially the end.

The only obvious transitions we get are the chapter intros pre se where it says whether the reader is diving into Olivia's perspective or Liv's. Otherwise, everything is so abrupt.

And I know, people are going to say, "Thats the point of an introduction, Jess. You're supposed to get to know the characters throughout the book."

I know, I get it. But even then, the ending happened way too quickly for me. For those who drive, it felt like I hit the break at a stop light too quick, stayed idle until the light turned green and smashed my foot on the gas.

Did you feel the whiplash as I described it? That's how I felt reading the ending. I wished the scenes flowed better.

I'll have to say, I didn't like how quick the ending came but the ending was quite surprising. It was most definitely a shock factor, although not a huge one that sticks to me. If someone asked me in two weeks what the ending was for Watch the Girls, I probably couldn't say.

Nonetheless, the overall writing was fantastic. I thought it was very quick paced and easy to read - for the most part. I really liked Liv's character as well.

She is so genuinely relatable and felt like someone I personally knew. The character build and overall writing when it came to Liv made her seem so realistic it was terrifying. Terrifying because I felt like I was her going through all of this with her; terrifying because it is a real world thing that anyone could go through.

I think that is one of the aspects of this novel that really got to me, was how realistic this plot-line was. Anyone can be stalked, anyone can be watched or kidnapped or have an overly obsessed fan. The fact that Liv was popular in the media and went through all of this was way too realistic and that is what made this terrifying.

And some parts, I even feel incredibly sorry for Liv because of everything she is going through.

Another thing I really liked is the minor details the author uses to be a little creative with the book.

I love the incorporation of text messages and how she incorporates not only Liv's follower count but also how the numbers increase as she's going through all of this. I found that to be very interesting and one of my favourite details of this novel.

Overall, I liked this book but I didn't love it. It isn't the type of book I would go back to re-read throughout my life but I indeed thought it was well written.