A Map for Wrecked Girls

Written by Jessica Taylor

Narrated by Shannon McManus

"A masterfully written tale of survival, sisters, and love." —Julie Murphy, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Dumplin'

In this twisting tale of loyalty, betrayal, and hope, two sisters must survive the wilds, if they can first survive each other—for fans of Tell Me Three Things, The One Memory of Flora Banks, and Pretty Little Liars.

Emma had always orbited Henri, her fierce, magnetic older sister, and the two had always been best friends. Until something happenned that wrecked them.
 
I'd trusted Henri more than I'd trusted myself. Wherever she told me to go, I'd follow.
 
Now the unthinkable occurrs—a watery nightmare off the dazzling coast. The girls wash up on shore, stranded. Their only companion is Alex, a troubled boy agonizing over his own secrets. Trapped on a gorgeous hell of an island, Emma and Alex fall together as Emma and Henri fall further apart. To find their way home, the sisters must find their way back to each other. But will Henri ever forgive Emma? Can they survive this island? Can they reclaim what they’ve lost? There is no map for this.

For the first time, I was afraid we'd die on this shore.
 
"Emotionally eviscerating." —Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of Caraval
"Top-notch—readers will be riveted." —Publishers Weekly
"If you enjoyed the twisty suspense of We Were Liars, you'll rip through [this]." —PopSugar
"A must-read." —HelloGiggles
"A heart-stopping page-turner." —Jennifer Mathieu, author of The Truth About Alice
“A unique glimpse at emotional and physical struggles.” —SLJ 
"Harrowing." —Stacey Lee, author of Under a Painted Sky
"Beautifully told." —Buzzfeed
"Will suck you in from the first page." —Brightly

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9780525495420

Jessica Taylor

Jessica Taylor is a speaker, nonprofit owner, and pastor's wife. She is a dynamic leader and creative who runs Come Away Missions and DO GOOD Project, a nonprofit serving the people of Rwanda, Africa. She sends multiple teams to Rwanda each year and empowers Rwandan artisans by helping them monetize their beautiful creations. Jessica fights for women to see their worth in Christ and to make an impact in the world through their unique giftings and callings.

Reviews for A Map for Wrecked Girls

[simplykelina · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this one and am learning that I really enjoy stories involving being stranded. This was kept my attention the whole time.

This does deal with triggers for teacher/student relationship, date rape, drugs, abuse, and more. This follows Emma and Henri and their tumultuous sibling relationship. They had a very strong relationship until they did not. The story jumps between the siblings and Alex being on the Island, and several months before they were stranded. As the story continues you begin to see what happened between Emma and Henri. Henri was very unlikable throughout the whole story for me. I was personally happy to have the romance aspect thrown in with Alex and Emma. I think it needed to add something extra to the story.

The ending was a little rushed and I did not love the ending for Alex.

Overall, I enjoyed this one more than I was expecting though.

[titania86_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Henri and Emma are sisters and have always been close, dreaming of a future by themselves in a beachside house with cats. Henri's behavior becomes more and more erratic with excessive drinking at parties. Emma is pretty straight edge, but becomes enraged when Henri seduces Emma's crush and strings him along, clearly planning to drop him soon. Emma acts rashly and simultaneously obliterates her relationship with Henri. Then, they get stranded on a deserted island with a boy named Alex. How long will they stay there? How will they survive? Will Henri let her anger win out over survival?

A Map for Wrecked Girls is a bit of a frustrating read overall. It sounds out fine with establishing Henri and Emma's relationship. Henri has always been the leader while Emma has always followed faithfully. Now that Henri seems to be spiralling out of control with risky behavior, Emma starts to be more assertive. She does something that is portrayed as unforgiveably horrible which really isn't. It's motivated by jealousy and anger, but it wasn't the wrong thing to do. The novel is told starting with the island and then going back in time to show what happened with all of this. It served to hold the audience in suspense as to what happened, but other aspects of the novel made this not work for me.

Henri and Emma are stranded on a desert island with a boy named Alex. From page 1, Henri holds on to her grudge like it's a flotation device. Even the death of Alex's cousin and the explosion of their boat didn't distract her from making Emma (and by extension Alex) as miserable as possible. I hated Henri for most of the novel because she kept valuable information that would lead to an easier life on the island and even sabotaged attempts to leave. It's incredibly and unforgiveably petty to keep up this act when their lives are in danger. Henri's personality and actions grew stale fast and she doesn't change all that much. Emma changes a little, but still lets Henri have so much power over her. The whole situation was frustrating to read and I wanted Henri to suffer from the consequences of her idiotic behavior.

I didn't enjoy A Map for Wrecked Girls. The toxic sister relationship had Henri being mean and dangerous all the time while Emma continually gave excuse after excuse to dismiss the behavior. The only thing that kept me reading was Emma's huge faux pas and it didn't deserve the weight it was given. It took me over a week to read this even though it should have taken me a couple of days because I hated Henri that much. This was supposed to be an uplifting story of sisterly love, but it falls very short of that. I understand having a rough relationship with a sister, but there comes a time when you need to say enough of their bad behavior and abuse. Not recommended.

[jane3phillips-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Teenage sisters Emma and Henri are close in age and also very close as friends, to the point where they imagine becoming old ladies living together in a house by the sea. Something tears them apart and shortly thereafter they are shipwrecked, together with Alex, a boy they met in Puerto Rico, and left stranded on an island. This novel is well crafted as it goes back and forth between the present as the three teenagers struggle to survive on a mysterious island, and the past, revealing how Emma and Henri fell out. An enjoyable summer read.