Reviews

Girlcrush by Florence Given

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ibosel's review against another edition

medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Starts off pretty engaging and a page-turner, but unfortunately derails and becomes confusing, quite despairing and lacks resolution.

ninahanrath's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

endless_waffles's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I feel like for me, anything Florence Given writes is just so cathartic. I was absolutely obsessed with this book while reading it, there's so much I want to unpack. A though I do agree with some criticisms about the world building, idk why it has such a low average rating :(

phantomnr's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

bookishwithkayla's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Really want to review this book honestly and I’m hoping not to offend anybody.

So I have literally just finished this book, and I must say I’m actually really disappointed. I didn’t mind the beginning with Eartha coming out as bisexual…. But that’s where it all sort of stopped for me.

The first few chapters I will admit I got confused by the They/Them pronouns but I got the hang on it by about the 5th chapter. Also didn’t understand why there was like directors notes every now and then, but that’s not important.

So story starts with Eatha drunkenly posting her coming out video online while bashing her dickhead ex-boyfriend that had moved out only hours before, she also really Slates and outs her mum for staying with her abusive father.

Somehow by her doing this she instantly becomes the voice for the bisexual and lesbian community even tho she has never been with a woman. She’s 25 and it’s 2030 plus she has Roes, her Non-binary lesbian, best friend, ( who Eartha is horrible to btw and we don’t even see a apology or if they make up) but shes only just found out that scissoring isn’t a thing, Why some lesbians have their fingernails short, and that mixed gender bathrooms are a thing. I mean did she live under a rock!

One thing this book dose do is it shows the dark side of social media, how metal health can spiral out of control and the importance of likes, followers and comments.. and how dark it can get when them numbers are going down or when the comments are the nicest.

I know other people have said this as well but i believed that as they made it clear it was set in 2030 there would have been clear changes in the world, but there’s not, everything is the same as it is now (and that’s ok I just think more could have been done with)

Spoiler

Really not a fan of the last few chapters the whole assault thing was just not really needed and didn’t bring much to the story.. felt like an afterthought

Spoiler

devilsdaughter666's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Content Warnings

withlivjones's review against another edition

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funny reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I really wanted to love this book. The exploration of a life lived on the internet is a super relevant and interesting topic imo, and Given makes some good points about what it’s like being a queer woman (particularly a newly out queer woman) in modern internet culture, facing off against biphobia and sexism and armies of incels. I particularly loved the parts where the lines between what was real and what was fake started to blur, and it felt a bit trippy to read. I was definitely entertained, but honestly this book just felt like a story I’ve heard many times before - MC accidentally becomes popular, MC does everything in their power to maintain said popularity but ends up losing the people they love and their own identity in the process, MC is betrayed by their new “friends” and loses everything they worked for but learns they were better off where they were anyway, etc. It’s very Mean Girls and doesn’t do much to say anything new. I wasn’t sure whether we were supposed to be rooting for Eartha or against her, because on the one hand she is written to be very relatable (and her internal monologue is pretty fun to read!), but on the other hand she makes bad decision after bad decision until you struggle to defend her. I felt like the supporting characters were a bit one-dimensional and caricature-ish as well. Overall, it’s not a bad book and parts of it were definitely enjoyable! It just didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

Content Warnings

vikkom's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

sambevlee's review against another edition

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I really wanted to enjoy this book, but I just felt like the author was constantly grabbing me by the shoulder and being like look at this idea i just had, which I just don't really enjoy in my fiction 😢

emmah27's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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