I really loved Xena Knox's previous YA book "Sh!t Bag" so was very excited to read this one, but unfortunately it didn't hit me in the same way that one did. I found the premise interesting, a great feminist message overall, but mostly found the premise too unbelievable to find myself immersed in the story.

Thank you for the chance to read this book, and I do look forward to reading more books by Knox in the future cos I like their writing style.

A brilliant YA novel, written exceptionally well. I feel that there is definite lack of good, empoweing feminist YA books, but this has made it near the top of my list. Thank you to net galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this, I will absolutely be handselling this title.

3.5

Started this and read it within 4 hours because my insomnia said finish it and here we are...

I didn't expect this book to play out like it did, with the feature of such heavy and stigmatised topics. It's good that authors like Xena are writing about said topics with teenage characters as I mostly see them play out with adult ones.

Well I’m not the demographic for this. Having loved the author’s first book I wanted to read more. This is aimed at 16+ and may invoke a few challenges if on school bookshelves. But the message of toxic masculinity does come through and is important.
Tavi is dumped by her boyfriend who continues to treat her badly throughout their subsequent ups and downs. Her best friend Ella is not entirely supportive, mainly because of her strong opinions but the girl Tavi thought ‘an enemy’ proved to be the best ally she could have. All girls have their own problems, the main being the boys, and action needs to be taken.
It is forthright in its telling and hopefully girls will see the message and be able to spot if experiencing any similarities in their own lives and be empowered to act.