This book kept me on the edge of my seat mainly because I had no idea what was going on until the very end, but when I finished it, I felt let down. The idea behind Wilder Girls is so cool - a bunch of girls stuck Lord-of-the-Flies-style on an island plagued by the gruesome Tox. They're all living at a boarding school when girls suddenly start experiencing horrific, painful symptoms. Byatt grows a second spine. Hetty's eye seals shut. Someone sprouts gills. Reese gets a scaly hand. I mean, how twisted is that?  The island is quarantined from the mainland, and the girls and two remaining adults set up a system for survival. The mainland sends food and supplies as they try to discover a cure.  This is how I like my horror, grisly and terrifying.

I loved how all the elements of this meshed together into something cohesive - post-apocalyptic, survival, feminist, sapphic horror, environmental critique, and a smidge of romance and longing. If I'm ever cut off from society in a pandemic, I want the girls from this book with me as my survival squad. The whole book felt very girl power-ish but not in a corny way at all.  I appreciated the unique name choices, unique but not outrageous like Moon Puzzle. Some of the names I've been seeing in YA fiction lately make me cringe. Who can take Moon Puzzle seriously? All of the main characters are assumed white.

One of Byatt's cyclic changes forces her into the infirmary, but she never returns. Hetty is determined to find her. Reese is quiet and brooding, and the sexual tension between Hetty and Reese is electrifying and gradual. The girls grapple with the physical challenges created by the Tox but also with one another and the elements outside their compound. The Tox has affected nature, and wild animals show signs of infection. My biggest issue with the book was the reveal of the nature of the Tox including the secrets surrounding it and the adults who are controlling information on the island. Answers are teased through the whole book and then dumped in your lap in a giant, messy pile with no fanfare. It's like the author decided to wrap things up by spilling all the secrets in one anticlimactic word vomit. I felt like I was holding my breath through the entire book, and then the big gulp of air I got to take at the end was stale and smelled like a paper mill at the same time.  Harsh. If you've never smelled the emissions from a paper mill, consider yourself lucky. It's a putrid mix of sauerkraut and rotten eggs. I digress. My main point is that I was frustrated with the ending and the reveal, and it ultimately ruined the book for me.

The first place I want to go when the stay-at-home orders are lifted is Assateague.  This beach holds a special place in my heart and invokes a nostalgia and memory that warms me to the core. My family grew up  vacationing many summers in Chincoteague, Assateague's southern district located in Virginia. Both beach districts have wild horses roaming the area and are a big tourist draw. We bought a cozy, little place in West Ocean City a little over a year ago, and Assateague is always our favorite place to enjoy the ocean.

There are two different parks on Assateague Island, and each has different costs and different services.

Assateague Island National Seashore
The national park side is a little more basic in terms of facilities but also costs less if you're planning to visit for multiple days. They charge $25 per vehicle for a 7-day pass. They do not offer a daily rate. You can also purchase a yearly pass for $45. They have basic facilities at the beach including pit toilets and outdoor showers just for a quick rinse-off. You can bring pets on some parts of the beach, and we see lots of people taking advantage of this. They have camping facilities on this side as well, but we have never tried them out. We mainly use the national park beaches.

There are two main parking areas. North Ocean Beach is the first one you come to after paying to enter. South Ocean Beach has a tiny parking lot and fills up pretty early in the morning during the summer months. Beyond that is the Over Sand Vehicle Zone which requires a permit.

Wild Horses
Assateague is best known for the wild horses that roam freely all over the island. It's rare that we drive to the beach and don't see them grazing by the sides of the road. They are often clumped in groups in the parking lots and will wander the beaches as well. I've seen them early in the morning before the sands get busy, but we've also seen them traipsing through throngs of beach goers in the middle of the day at the height of the summer season. There are signs everywhere cautioning people to keep a safe distance as they do bite and kick. They also will rummage through your belongings to find food. Coolers are allowed on the beach but they must be hard-sided containers that close tightly. The horses will try to bite through bags if they smell food. We've seen them sniff out a sandwich and banana from a closed beach bag and destroy it in seconds. The posted rules are for your safety and that of the horses as they can get sick from food and non-food items like plastic bags that aren't properly secured. The horses are lovely to watch and part of the charm of this beach sanctuary.

When I think of light, airy beach books, I think of Nicholas Sparks. Even though I'm not a huge fan, the books certainly do possess an air of reverence for the calming effect the ocean and those quaint coastal towns have on our psyche and souls.

This is a young adult romance with a contemporary twist. There are tons of books out there with teenagers battling rare and complicated illness while falling in love with someone. This one is a little different so it's nice to see some plot changes within the genre.