On Wednesdays We Wear Pink: A Review of Lauren Saft’s Those Girls

Girls on their own as teenagers can be awful—believe me, as a former girl I can tell you stories. But add a group, and the stakes get a lot higher—and the jokes even more cruel. When publisher, Poppy (part of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) gave me the opportunity to read Lauren Saft’s Those Girls, I jumped at the chance to read this book.

Alex and Mollie have been friends forever. Since fifth grade, Veronica has been part of their group and they’ve all navigated the waters together. Fast forward to this year—junior year. This year is the year everything changes—sure, Alex is still a little shy and stoner-y, Mollie still has her older boyfriend Sam and her eating disorder and Veronica is still on her own at home and using her body as a way to connect with the opposite sex. But this year, things are different—Mollie feels Sam slipping away, Veronica has a boyfriend (Alex’s best friend, Drew) and Alex joins a band. But as things change, they seem to unravel—and there are some dangerous implications as friend is pitted against friend. And the futures of these friends are in jeopardy.

I really enjoyed this book and found it to be a well-written and QUICK read. Saft’s characters are every girls—meaning readers can identify with one or more of these characters. I am looking forward to reading more from Lauren Saft.

I loved the character of Alex. All of what she was going through, and the way she dealt with it made me love her even more. I saw a lot of myself in Alex. However, she makes a pretty heinous choice later on that I wanted to scream AT her about.

Veronica was set up to do a few things in the book early on. I was saddened to see how readily she accepted her status with the male population of their area. She was also not as intelligent as the other girls, and I had hoped she would prove me wrong.

As I said, while I was shocked with the freedoms that some of the teens had in this book, overall it was a solid and interesting read. I definitely recommend it for the summer!

Do you still have a core group of friends from high school like Those Girls?