Bad Girls Never Say Die

From the acclaimed author of Moxie comes a gripping gender-flipped reimagining of The Outsiders that explores the deep bonds of female friendship and what it takes to be a "bad girl."

1964. Houston, Texas.

Evie Barnes is a bad girl. So are all her friends. They’re the sort who wear bold makeup, laugh too loud, and run around with boys. Most of all, they protect their own against the world. So when Evie is saved from a sinister encounter by a good girl from the "right" side of the tracks, every rule she's always lived by is called into question. Now she must redefine what it means to be a bad girl and rethink everything she knew about loyalty.

In this riveting story of murder, secrets, and tragedy, Jennifer Mathieu puts a female twist on S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders. Bad Girls Never Say Die has all the drama and heartache of that teen classic, but with a feminist take just right for our times.

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Published Sep 26, 2023

320 pages

Average rating: 6.2

5 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

abookwanderer
Oct 09, 2025
6/10 stars
3.25 stars. I enjoyed the setting of this one and the fact that it’s a gender-flipped retelling of The Outsiders, but it was just okay for me. I wanted a little MORE. I wouldn’t have minded if it had followed the original text even more than it did. But I did enjoy the friendships and bonds between the main girls. And the message the story told. It’s a fast read, and I read it in one day.

#popsugarreadingchallenge2022 (prompt #26 - A book with a misleading title)

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