A review by woodmonsters
Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian

2.0

This book was in my recommendations and the summary made it sound like something I could like. I was wrong. Natalie was a bitch. Not even confident badass bitch I could look up to. No, she's the typical YA character who thinks she's better than everybody because she likes weird things and only has one friend. Plus she's aN awful feminazi who's part of the reason feminism get so much shit. She was terribly unlikable and I'm thinking the author was aiming towards that. Honestly her redemption at the the end left me unsatisfied. Besides, I don't think I can enjoy reading a book where the POV enrages me so much. That said, supporting characters really made me rate it two stars instead of 1. Connor Hughes was dreamy; he screwed up a bit but I think that made him human instead of a cardboard cutout of a perfect YA love interest. Why Connor would even want to be with such a negative antipathetic girl like Natalie is beyond me. Autumn was a very interesting character and I would have preferred a book from her perspective. A book about a girl who breaks free of her friendship with a crazy self righteous bitch who controls her and berates her with her internalized misogyny. Spencer was also awesome. She was the confident badass bitch. I wonder why YA books are never about girls like this. I'm tired of reading the same shit over and over. While I thought Spencer was a little precocious, she still had a better idea on feminism than Natalie or even that old hag Ms. Bee. I mean the stupid teacher has the audacity to bring up Simone de Beauvoir who iconically posed for naked pictures and then she shames Spencer for something similar. Either the teacher or the author has no clue what classical feminism truly stands for.
I had to endure 40 chapters of slut shaming and self righteousness for the character to finally sort of realize a woman can be more than just a virgin or a slut. I wouldn't recommend this book.