Lauren
Man, I don’t know. I know this is YA, but it’s a struggle to want to read this book. It’s VERY YA in its writing, but the hinting at and near discussion of sexual topics makes it feel more high school. Oddly, it reminded me a little of the House of Night series that way. The writing is juvenile, but the content is older. That being said, I imagine my high school self still would have love this book, but my adult self cannot overlook the many issues.
For starters, this “love triangle” shouldn’t exist. Alex is too immature and going through too much trauma to be in any kind of relationship (see, great example: high school me wouldn’t care, but adult me knows better). She uses these boys unfairly to fill in the holes and gaps in her life, which is unfair to them. I would almost feel bad but I find both Aiden and Seth to be walking red flags (admittedly Seth is better, but he’s still pretty flawed).
But fine, this is YA and teens are angsty and hormonal. I can believe that. What I can’t ignore, however, is the girl hate. I know this is from 2012, but it is still gross. I don’t know why Alex has to find every girl to be competition to the boys she likes (and is not in a committed relationship with), but it feels bad. I could still even see that, but the book pointedly tries to make calling girls who are against Alex “whore “ a funny joke that we should agree with. Absolutely not. The almost casual threat of rape throughout this book was also unsettling and not made into a big enough deal.
I don’t know. I know it’s old (I got this book as a gift, which is why I’m reading it), but even in 2012 I know I was reading books much better and less girls hating girls than this. This book does try to make some commentary on topics like women being seen as small or weak or domestic violence (again, casually) once or twice, but it was never convincing.
While it does feel mildly nostalgic at times (I’m looking at every other “she’s not like other girls book”), I can’t say I’d recommend it to anyway.
Man, I don’t know. I know this is YA, but it’s a struggle to want to read this book. It’s VERY YA in its writing, but the hinting at and near discussion of sexual topics makes it feel more high school. Oddly, it reminded me a little of the House of Night series that way. The writing is juvenile, but the content is older. That being said, I imagine my high school self still would have love this book, but my adult self cannot overlook the many issues.
For starters, this “love triangle” shouldn’t exist. Alex is too immature and going through too much trauma to be in any kind of relationship (see, great example: high school me wouldn’t care, but adult me knows better). She uses these boys unfairly to fill in the holes and gaps in her life, which is unfair to them. I would almost feel bad but I find both Aiden and Seth to be walking red flags (admittedly Seth is better, but he’s still pretty flawed).
But fine, this is YA and teens are angsty and hormonal. I can believe that. What I can’t ignore, however, is the girl hate. I know this is from 2012, but it is still gross. I don’t know why Alex has to find every girl to be competition to the boys she likes (and is not in a committed relationship with), but it feels bad. I could still even see that, but the book pointedly tries to make calling girls who are against Alex “whore “ a funny joke that we should agree with. Absolutely not. The almost casual threat of rape throughout this book was also unsettling and not made into a big enough deal.
I don’t know. I know it’s old (I got this book as a gift, which is why I’m reading it), but even in 2012 I know I was reading books much better and less girls hating girls than this. This book does try to make some commentary on topics like women being seen as small or weak or domestic violence (again, casually) once or twice, but it was never convincing.
While it does feel mildly nostalgic at times (I’m looking at every other “she’s not like other girls book”), I can’t say I’d recommend it to anyway.