The Stillwater Girls, Minka Kent

I borrowed The Stillwater Girls from Amazon Prime when it came up as a recommended read. The idea of girls raised away from civilization had a promising premise, and the book didn’t disappoint. I became oddly fascinated at the strict rules imposed on the girls, on how naïve they were, and wondered why a single mother would raise her girls in this way. But then Kent added a mystery element, and I knew something was afoot.

I liked that we not only had the girl’s story, but we also had an alternating viewpoint involving Nicolette, who was desperate for a child. It made me curious how Kent would tie these two seemingly unrelated households together. If I had any issue, which was incredibly minor, it’s that their mother grew herbs which play a big role later on in the story. Wren grinds up melatonin, and that’s not an herb you can grow. She also grinds up valerian root, and that is the farthest thing from a scentless herb I have ever grown. The way Wren uses them, there is no way it wouldn’t smell like the rotten, stinky gym sock scent that ground valerian root has.

When I look past that minor issue, this was a fun read. I didn’t have to relate to the characters to enjoy them. The story immediately draws you in and makes you want to get to the finish to find out what is really going on.

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The Stillwater Girls is available on Amazon for $2.49, it’s enrolled in KU and available if you have Prime.

About the Book:
Ignorant of civilization and cautioned against its evils, nineteen-year-old Wren and her two sisters, Sage and Evie, were raised in off-the-grid isolation in a primitive cabin in upstate New York. When the youngest grows gravely ill, their mother leaves with the child to get help from a nearby town. And they never return.

As months pass, hope vanishes. Supplies are low. Livestock are dying. A brutal winter is bearing down. Then comes the stranger. He claims to be looking for the girls’ mother, and he’s not leaving without them.

To escape, Wren and her sister must break the rule they’ve grown up with: never go beyond the forest.

Past the thicket of dread, they come upon a house on the other side of the pines. This is where Wren and Sage must confront something more chilling than the unknowable. They’ll discover what’s been hidden from them, what they’re running from, and the secrets that have left them in the dark their entire lives.