“I once read somewhere that no man is an island. But I think maybe girls are,” (McCauley 35).
Liv Whitlock has never known what home is. She and her twin sister have moved from foster home to foster home because of Liv’s own “volatile and violent” behaviour, but finally they’ve found a home with the Millers who love Liv’s sister Everly, and tolerate Liv. But Liv is tired of not being wanted and after using her sister’s transcript’s, wins a prestigious internship on a movie production Shakespeare’s The Tempest set to film in Alaska. Liv joins infamous producer Vincent Bellegarde on a luxury yacht with pop star Paris Grace, actress sisters Effie and Miri Knight, Olympic Gymnast Rosalind Torres, and social media influencer Celia Jones and tries to find her place among them when a storm strands the girls on a small strip of island. As the girls work together to prevent starvation and death by exposure, they feel something watching them in the forest, and after some injuries find their bodies changing in strange ways. What is wrong with the island they’ve found themselves on? Will they ever be rescued?
The fault is mine for reading this book. I see a book being compared to Yellowjackets, I expect Yellowjackets level darkness and trauma (and cannibalism), but instead I got a very weird fantasy book.
Look, I get what McCauley was trying to do. There was some great themes about identity, expectations, and the feeling of powerlessness that comes with being a girl. The problem is the book doesn’t spend enough time developing any of the characters for this to matter, instead McCauley tells us exactly why these themes fit with each character without actually exploring any depth into them. And while I understand that all the girls were brought together for a movie version of The Tempest even that was fairly unclear. What roles are each of the girls playing? How does Liv’s writing prize factor in to being invited for 6-weeks of the shoot and help at all with the production?
Also, at times McCauley seems to forget about her characters on the island, particularly Paris and Celia and Rosa, only showing up when it’s relevant. Too much of the novel is spent on the early days on the island and speeding through some of the harsher moments that are referenced in a large time jump right near the end. The resolution is fast with certain references that would have been interesting to see explore storyline. Honestly, a going back and forth between being stranded and being rescued like in Yellowjackets could have made this book much stronger.
This is my second Kyrie McCauley book and sadly, I think, my last. She’s a fine enough writer, but the addition of fantasy in what I assume are going to be contemporary novels has thrown me each time. Lesson learned, if I want something like Yellowjackets I’ll just watch Yellowjackets, or read Lord of the Flies, I guess.
Publication: June 6 2024
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Pages: 310 pages (Hardcover)
Source: Library
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, LGTBQ+
My Rating: ⛤⛤
Summary:
Liv Whitlock knows she doesn’t belong there. But after years of stumbling between foster homes, often due to her own self-destructive tendencies, Liv desperately needs to change the trajectory of her life . . . so she steals her perfect sister’s identity.
Using her sister’s grades and clean record, Liv starts to rewrite her story, winning a prestigious internship on a movie set filming in Alaska. Then executive producer Vincent Bellegarde changes her travel plans. Instead of a commercial flight, Liv finds herself on a luxury yacht alongside pop star Paris Grace, actress sisters Effie and Miri Knight, Olympic gymnast Rosalind Torres, and social media influencer Celia Jones. Liv tries to find common ground with her famous companions, but just as the group starts to bond, a violent storm wrecks their vessel, stranding them on a slip of an island in the North Pacific Ocean.
Among the threats of starvation and exposure, they learn there is a predator lurking in the forest, unlike anything they’ve seen before—until they begin to see it in themselves. Every injury they suffer on the island causes inexplicable changes in their bodies, transforming them bit by inhuman bit. With little hope for rescue and only each other as their final tether to humanity, can the girls endure the ominous forces at work on the island? Or will they lose themselves to their darker natures?
Sarah O'Connor 