Review of Girls in Trucks

Debut Novel by Katie Crouch

Jul 6, 2008

Once a Camellia, always a Camellia. In Charleston, South Carolina, decorum means everything. For Sarah, it means rebellion.

Sarah Walters grew up a debutant in Charleston, South Carolina, where she and other old money children were a part of the exclusive Camellia Society. There they learned to dance properly, sit properly, entertain properly and properly live their lives. For Sarah, the problem with that is that she just wants to run off with a guy in his pickup and have a good time.

This seems to be the motto of Sarah’s life. She lives to have a good time even if it gets her into trouble. She moves to New York for college and finds out that her Camellia lifestyle only exists in Charleston and love isn’t an easy as the house mothers say it is. It’s especially harder to live up to the rules of the Camellias when she isn’t even in the same state.

So, Sarah becomes a wild child and gets herself into a lot of trouble. Fling after fling she realizes that nothing is ever going to work out for her, so she decides to go home when she needs to most. But at home, nothing is what it seems either. She learns a shocking secret from her mother and opens up her heart to the man she least expected.

Girls in Trucks reeks of “first novel” by author Katie Crouch. The novel starts off strong giving readers a taste of the old South and how it hasn’t really changed as well as the taste of rebellion and sweet freedom.

However, it loses its steam as soon as Sarah moves to New York and gets even worse by the middle. The whole thing leaves readers seriously wanting more. Sarah gets herself into the same situation over and over again leaving readers to wonder “Is anything else going to happen?” It finally does …at the end, which is much too short for what it needs to do.

The story is captivating as long as it stays set in South Carolina. When it deviates, it falls short of greatness.

Overall, Katie Crouch makes an effort to create something great but falls flat with her flat, underdeveloped characters and unresolved plot lines. If you don’t mind a main character that whines constantly about her situation, then Girls in Trucks shouldn’t bother you so much. But, if you’re like me, you’ll find it irritating and dull and wish something different would finally happen.

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