I added The Rust Maidens to my tbr back in 2019, so this is another book that has been on my list for quite some time! The title and cover art definitely caught my attention.

In the summer of 1980 we follow the struggles of Phoebe, an 18-year-old living in a small town in Cleveland who has just graduated from high school. Things are the same as they are every year: a rusting steel mill on the horizon, the men in town going on strike, street barbecues, and an uncertain future for everyone in town. The town is dying slowly, but everyone seems to be ignoring this fact. That is, until the first girl starts to transform. The people in town struggle as they try to ignore this transformation, until they no longer can. Phoebe tries to help the girls, especially her cousin and best friend Jacqueline, but nothing she does works out right. The story alternates between Phoebe’s POV in 1980, as she witnesses the transformation of the Rust Maidens, and Phoebe’s POV now as she returns to her childhood home.

I had a feeling I would like this one, and I was right about that! The book is listed as ‘horror’, but besides the body horror it is more like a mix of drama and mystery. The story is very haunting though, at times it is like the protagonist is living through a long fever dream. While everyone in town wants to ignore the Rust Maidens, even calling them ‘attention-seekers’, Phoebe just wants to help them somehow, even when no one seems to be on her side. Doctors do their tests on the transforming girls, tourists show up to take pictures, and government agents do their own investigating, but no one knows what is happening, or why. The transforming girls themselves are more united together than they were ever before, leaving Phoebe more alone than she has ever been and throwing the townspeople into chaos. The book focuses mostly on Phoebe’s struggle to understand what is happening and her trying to help, as well as the treatment of the girls by the town. They’re all stuck in this town with no future, kept in line by their parents and societies expectations of them.

While I enjoyed this read a lot, it did have some weaker points, one of them being Phoebe. It did take me some time to warm up to her. She can come across as melodramatic at times, and I felt like the author tried a little too much to make her ‘special’ (or not like the other girls). However, her compassion towards the other girls and her determination to help them definitely made me like her a lot more. Besides, I think a lot of people would be a bit dramatic in her situation. I also wasn’t in love with the chapters in the ‘now’ POV, I just felt like something was missing.

I’m glad I finally got around to reading this one. I will definitely be thinking about this one for a while, I’ll definitely be looking for other books from this author.