A fairly straightforward Outback-set Aussie thriller - does what it says on the tin, but it is gripping and keeps you turning the pages.

Oh wow, I loved this book from beginning to end. It is very tense in places with never a dull moment. I liked the two characters Charlie and Nao. They’re both very young, Charlie 17 and I think Nao was around 20 years old. Both girls as different as chalk and cheese to start out with. Charlie from a poor background with her mum dead and living with her sister Geena and her boyfriend, she’s a bit of a rebel, with a quick temper and an outwardly thick skin which hides a more vulnerable side to Charlie.

Nao on the other hand is from a well off background but she’s had an unfortunate incident at home. It’s while she’s on the run looking for somewhere to hide out for the night that she stumbles upon Charlie and gets involved in her problems too. It’s not really giving anything away, since it’s at the beginning of the blurb that they’ve become involved in a murder which leads them both to go on the run together.

They’re both fantastic characters. The reader is with them all the way through, travelling right across Australia, with various others hot on their trail. The descriptions of the heat, the dust, the loneliness of the road are palpable. There are times of great tension, but also an element of dark humour runs through the narrative, which I enjoyed very much. I thought Charlie was funny, yes she swears alot, but I never found it gratuitous, it’s just who Charlie is, and I think I’d be swearing just as much given the situations they find themselves in.

It all culminates in a tense and thrilling ending. I was quite sad to get to the end of this book and would definitely read another book by this author. Highly recommended, there are absolutely no slow bits to this story, you won’t be disappointed.


*To be posted to blog closer to time of publication

What an incredible, high octane, thrilling ride this book is! No Country For Girls by Emma Styles follows three young women, each of them on the run from a dark past, their lives clashing in the remote Australian outback. Charlie and Geena and Nao are such vivid, authentic, heartbreakingly flawed but loveable characters. I read this book at top speed, it had me hooked from literally page one. A kick-ass Australian Thelma and Louise (plus one), Brilliant!

Thank you to the author (Emma Styles), the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advance copy for an honest review.

I started reading the book and on the first page the author has written about Charlie walking through the "cem". It took me awhile to work out that is the cemetery. If it is the cemetery why not write cemetery and not cem? I thought well I will not be giving this book any more than 2 stars.

I continued reading (as you do), and the further the book progressed the more enjoyable it became. By the time I finished the book, I was deliberating whether to give it 4 stars or 5.

I did enjoy the book. It was well written and I could picture myself exactly what was happening. It probably helped because I knew intimately the locations the author was describing having been there many times personally. I could relate to them.

Don't be put off by any reviews and if you get the chance to read this book, do yourself a huge favour and read it. Well done Emma.

I finally decide I could only give it a 4 star rating, but I certainly would not argue with anybody who gave it 5.

As soon as I saw Thelma and Louise for a new gerneration I knew that I had to read this book. It was engaging all the way through, it was well written with good character development and a good storyline. I loved the characters and the setting in the book which was described with vivid and rich imagery. The storyline was completely gripping, twisty and unpredictable. A really enjoyable read.