A tremendous thanks to Bibliolifestyle, Catherine Dang, and William Morrow Books for my copy of Nice Girls! Nice Girls is Dang’s debut suspenseful novel, published in September 2021.

The Story

A pulse-pounding and deviously dark debut, written with the psychological acuity and emotional punch of Luckiest Girl Alive and All the Missing Girls, that explores the hungry, angry, dark side of girlhood and dares to ask what is most dangerous to a woman: showing the world what it wants to see, or who she really is?

What did you do?

Growing up in Liberty Lake, Minnesota, Mary was chubby, awkward, and smart. Earning a scholarship to an Ivy League school was her ticket out; she was going to do great things and never look back. Three years later, “Ivy League Mary” is back—a thinner, cynical, and restless failure. Kicked out of Cornell at the beginning of senior year, she won’t tell anyone why. Working at the local grocery store, she sees familiar faces from high school and tries to make sense of the past and her life.

When beautiful, magnetic Olivia Willand, a rising social media star, goes missing, Mary—like the rest of Liberty Lake—becomes obsessed. Best friends in childhood, Mary and Olivia haven’t spoken in years. Everyone admired Olivia, but Mary knows better than anyone that behind the Instagram persona hid a willful, manipulative girl with sharp edges. As the world worries for perfect, lovely Olivia, Mary can’t help but hate her. She also believes that her disappearance is tied to another missing person—a nineteen-year-old girl named DeMaria Jackson whose disappearance has gone under the radar.  

Who was the true Olivia Willand, and where did she go? What happened to DeMaria? As Mary delves deeper into the lives of the two missing girls, old wounds bleed fresh and painful secrets threaten to destroy everything.

Maybe no one is really a nice girl, after all.

My Thoughts

When Nice Girls first arrived in the mail, I was in the middle of watching my way through Pretty Little Liars. On a very superficial level, it was giving me the same kind of vibes, so I was pumped! However, that was a very incorrect assumption.

Mary getting kicked out of Cornell seemed very forced. Granted, she seemed to “black out” for part of the altercation, but it still seemed like there was something else going on there beyond a nemesis whose daddy had money and influence. Mary is forced to live at home with her father. Her mother has died…somewhat recently? It comes up a lot, but there aren’t a ton of specifics around it.

Now, Mary gets a job at the local grocery store. She’s approximately 22 years old and has been kicked out of her Ivy League college (for which she was famous in Liberty Lake). Turns out the old high school quarterback is working at the grocery store too. Personally, I felt there was way too much time spent focusing on the fact that the former-fat girl was hanging out with the high school quarterback. Seriously? Grow up.

Mary’s focus on the disappearance of the two girls was forced too. I mean, she was right about there being a connection, but still. It ended up taking over her life.

I was moderately bothered by how mental illness was portrayed in Nice Girls as well. Mary has gone through a lot, but there was talk of “I thought you were on medication” and taking a number of pills seemingly outside of a prescribed amount that just bothered me. You don’t mess with that medication!

Nice Girls moved slowly for me in the beginning, but there was a twist that I did not see coming. Now, does that mean it was a good twist or a forced twist? I’ve wondered that a lot recently. All these twists that come about seemingly out of nowhere…is that a really talented writer or someone who tossed in a surprise for the sake of having one?

However, I did enjoy the book. I think Catherine Dang has a very good writing career ahead of her.

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