Scan barcode
trisha_thomas's review
4.0
"There's nothing wrong with sending photos," Sloane said. "You sent the picture to someone who consented to receiving it and you're an adult, so you didn't do anything bad or wrong. And that applies to all of you equally. The only person to blame here is the person who sent the email."
What a powerful, relevant story. Revenge Porn. It seems to be the dirty words no one wants to talk about, adults and high school students alike. And too often, we wrong and get mad at the person who is "sending" the photo and don't think about the words like consent and adults and the agreement made when you send them. This book shines a light on this and makes the reader weigh it, like the MC does. You have to grapple with the pain and frustration of the girls who have been betrayed and yet, feel guilty. The adults in their worlds also have to struggle with the appropriate response and what, legally, anyone can do. It was such an eye opening story, one with so much insight into the students and the ever-changing digital world we live in. So well done, I'm really glad I read it.
An e-ARC was provided to me by [a:Natalie Walton|14137591|Natalie Walton|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and Wattpad Books via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
What a powerful, relevant story. Revenge Porn. It seems to be the dirty words no one wants to talk about, adults and high school students alike. And too often, we wrong and get mad at the person who is "sending" the photo and don't think about the words like consent and adults and the agreement made when you send them. This book shines a light on this and makes the reader weigh it, like the MC does. You have to grapple with the pain and frustration of the girls who have been betrayed and yet, feel guilty. The adults in their worlds also have to struggle with the appropriate response and what, legally, anyone can do. It was such an eye opening story, one with so much insight into the students and the ever-changing digital world we live in. So well done, I'm really glad I read it.
An e-ARC was provided to me by [a:Natalie Walton|14137591|Natalie Walton|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and Wattpad Books via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
smilesgiggle's review
5.0
Someone uses St Joe's student list serve to email the entire student body explicit pictures of seven female students - all of which are over the age of 18. There is no legal recourse - the police aren't interested. The school's administration downplays the seriousness of the situation to deter donations - the bulk of the student body are children of wealthy families. The administration offers walk-in counseling to those impacted, not just the seven young women. They want to push it away as quietly as possible, regardless of the impact on their students.
Eden is assigned this story from her Editor in Chief, Ronnie. Eden tries to interview the young women, though many just want to hide in a corner. But not Sloane - Sloane has been very open with her sexuality, living her life on her terms with confidence. Eden becomes driven to represent the voices of these young women. Slowly they build trust - allowing Eden to hear their feelings, life long impacts on their young lives, all because they trusted the wrong person with explicit photos.
I strongly believe this is an important book - high school young women are targeted and shamed, not just for expressing their sexuality but also for trusting the wrong people with photos of their bodies. The males aren't punished or ridiculed. But the young women live with the error for the rest of their lives. This opens the discussion regarding trust, autonomy, human rights, privacy. It also exposes schools' unwillingness to address the issue, support their students or become involved.
This topic will not become obsolete. If anything has technology and our children grow, it will become even more prevalent issue.
Eden is assigned this story from her Editor in Chief, Ronnie. Eden tries to interview the young women, though many just want to hide in a corner. But not Sloane - Sloane has been very open with her sexuality, living her life on her terms with confidence. Eden becomes driven to represent the voices of these young women. Slowly they build trust - allowing Eden to hear their feelings, life long impacts on their young lives, all because they trusted the wrong person with explicit photos.
I strongly believe this is an important book - high school young women are targeted and shamed, not just for expressing their sexuality but also for trusting the wrong people with photos of their bodies. The males aren't punished or ridiculed. But the young women live with the error for the rest of their lives. This opens the discussion regarding trust, autonomy, human rights, privacy. It also exposes schools' unwillingness to address the issue, support their students or become involved.
This topic will not become obsolete. If anything has technology and our children grow, it will become even more prevalent issue.
nixbix_reads's review
5.0
My first book for 2021 & what a powerful read it was! The subject matter is something that can be awkward to discuss - consent, revenge porn & slut-shaming - but I think Natalie Walton did a fantastic job with this. I loved how the girls, especially Sloane, took ownership of what happened to them, showing how there is a double standard for boys. I thought the characters were strong and the commentary on these issues was spot on.
Thanks to Wattpad Books & NetGalley for the DRC in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to Wattpad Books & NetGalley for the DRC in exchange for an honest review.
ashify's review
3.0
3.5 stars
→ → It didn’t sit well with me that the women who’d sent the pictures were demonized while those who requested them, and later shared them, were not.
I read this book to figure out what a Wattpad-published book would look like. And it felt just that. The starting made me feel like I was reading a Wattpad book, published on the site. I had taken a break from Wattpad but it dropped me back there.
This story revolves around St Joseph’s High School. The main protagonist, Eden Jeong is the daughter of second-generation Korean immigrants. She is the executive editor of Warrior Weekly, a newspaper published via the high school. Within the first few paragraphs, the story kicks off with the nudes of seven high school seniors being circulated by an email via an anonymous Eros.
Eden is desperate to get to the bottom of this and finds very unlikely allies throughout, including the seven girls, who called themselves The Slut Squad.
Natalie Walton made a stunning debut with YA novel. I’m not a big fan of YA and the only reason I picked it up was because it promised no romance and I am glad of it. This was essentially a plot-driven story rather than a character-driven one. There were several instances of telling, instead of showing.
The exterior was beautiful and imposing, inspired by Gothic architecture and built with old money, but the interior was mostly modernized except for a few small corners, like the front office and the auditorium.
Like, how am I supposed to know Gothic architecture? What is the modernized part about?
The newsroom was a surprisingly cozy place that felt more like a former-classroom-turned-lounge than anything else.
Show me cozy?
The characters felt rather flat to me, embarrassingly so. But the plot more or less filled the absence of that & I am up for it. That's basically it.
→ → It didn’t sit well with me that the women who’d sent the pictures were demonized while those who requested them, and later shared them, were not.
I read this book to figure out what a Wattpad-published book would look like. And it felt just that. The starting made me feel like I was reading a Wattpad book, published on the site. I had taken a break from Wattpad but it dropped me back there.
This story revolves around St Joseph’s High School. The main protagonist, Eden Jeong is the daughter of second-generation Korean immigrants. She is the executive editor of Warrior Weekly, a newspaper published via the high school. Within the first few paragraphs, the story kicks off with the nudes of seven high school seniors being circulated by an email via an anonymous Eros.
Eden is desperate to get to the bottom of this and finds very unlikely allies throughout, including the seven girls, who called themselves The Slut Squad.
Natalie Walton made a stunning debut with YA novel. I’m not a big fan of YA and the only reason I picked it up was because it promised no romance and I am glad of it. This was essentially a plot-driven story rather than a character-driven one. There were several instances of telling, instead of showing.
The exterior was beautiful and imposing, inspired by Gothic architecture and built with old money, but the interior was mostly modernized except for a few small corners, like the front office and the auditorium.
Like, how am I supposed to know Gothic architecture? What is the modernized part about?
The newsroom was a surprisingly cozy place that felt more like a former-classroom-turned-lounge than anything else.
Show me cozy?
The characters felt rather flat to me, embarrassingly so. But the plot more or less filled the absence of that & I am up for it. That's basically it.
briannarengland's review
3.0
A solid debut if you're able to suspend your disbelief. I found the writing to feel stilted at times and some of the dialogue was hard to read. The overall idea/message of the book was strong and I enjoyed the sex positivity and mystery elements. The pacing, however, was very slow.
The author appears to be white (a quick scope over their social media accounts didn't find any information to prove otherwise) so it doesn't feel right that the main character is second-generation Korean and there's a brief mention of racism/discrimination. I didn't mark down what page it occurred on and I can't be bothered to try and find it now that I've finished, but I do know that white people don't get to have a say in racism and should leave those conversations for those that are actually affected.
The author appears to be white (a quick scope over their social media accounts didn't find any information to prove otherwise) so it doesn't feel right that the main character is second-generation Korean and there's a brief mention of racism/discrimination. I didn't mark down what page it occurred on and I can't be bothered to try and find it now that I've finished, but I do know that white people don't get to have a say in racism and should leave those conversations for those that are actually affected.
thereaderandthebeast's review
3.0
Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book.
A book with interesting and complicated characters, which addresses controversial issues from a feminist approach, which in my opinion, seemed very well run. However, at times the pace of the story slowed and I lamented this inertia for what seemed like endless pages... I don't want to call it "boring", but sometimes: yes, it was.
It's a good book, but not one of my favorites.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Un libro con personajes variados y complicados, que aborda temas polémicos desde un enfoque feminista, que en mi opinión, me pareció muy bien llevado. Sin embargo, por momentos el ritmo de la historia se enlentecía y lamenté esta inercia por lo que me parecieron páginas interminables. Es un buen libro, pero no uno de mis favoritos.
A book with interesting and complicated characters, which addresses controversial issues from a feminist approach, which in my opinion, seemed very well run. However, at times the pace of the story slowed and I lamented this inertia for what seemed like endless pages... I don't want to call it "boring", but sometimes: yes, it was.
It's a good book, but not one of my favorites.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Un libro con personajes variados y complicados, que aborda temas polémicos desde un enfoque feminista, que en mi opinión, me pareció muy bien llevado. Sin embargo, por momentos el ritmo de la historia se enlentecía y lamenté esta inercia por lo que me parecieron páginas interminables. Es un buen libro, pero no uno de mis favoritos.
southernbellebooks's review
3.0
This book was a really interesting look into what is happening in many places around the world with the concept of "revenge porn" and how that could affect a student's mental healthy, identity, and health in general. I really appreciated a book being written about the topic. I think I wanted a more exciting ending and felt like it was a plateau of an ending rather than the climax that it was supposed to have achieved.
bestdressedbookworm's review
3.0
I had my ups and downs with this book. It started very feminist and political but once i worked out a few spoliers and realised its not as femisinst as i first though. the story felt like it changed its projection about half way through which was wierd and i found our leading lady very obssesed with this one part of her life that we didnt get much in ghe way of character development out of her. Everything was about the newspaper or the photos, its like she had no life outside of it. This went from kick ass girl power to "lets be typical high school females and turm om each other".
I did however enjoy a lot of the other characters, sloane carried this story a little and she was really entertaining. There are a lot of YA books like this in the market right now, if you like them you will enjoy this too.
I did however enjoy a lot of the other characters, sloane carried this story a little and she was really entertaining. There are a lot of YA books like this in the market right now, if you like them you will enjoy this too.
davenmcq's review
5.0
This book: SLAPS. The characters are well-developed, the mystery is engaging, and the social commentary around slutshaming and revenge porn is discussed with a lot of thought and nuance while still maintaining the readability of YA. Natalie Walton is the next superstar of YA feminist fiction.
p.s. saw another reviewer saying this isn’t a book, it’s a revolution and.... sis u right
p.s. saw another reviewer saying this isn’t a book, it’s a revolution and.... sis u right