A review by withlivjones
Girlcrush by Florence Given

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

3.5

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. 
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