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baileyloveless's review against another edition
2.0
It was okay. I really enjoyed the beginning, but I felt like the agenda and message of the story, while not a bad one, sort of took over the story, leaving the characters underdeveloped. I appreciated that the book celebrated girls that don't fit the mainstream mold, me being a short, curvy woman myself. But I felt it did at the expense of girls who do and some passages were heavy with skinny shaming without characters changing their attitude. Meaning those characters who fat shamed were reprimanded and portrayed as villains but those who skinny shamed were not. I don't enjoy body shaming of any type.
ajisreading's review against another edition
1.0
I got this book at a grocery store for $4 and should’ve checked the reviews before I bought it.
Hands down one of the worst books I’ve ever read. A few of my issues are the amount of times the f word is used for no reason, it’s so unnecessary and very annoying. The relationship between Ava and Mark made no sense because there was barely any in depth details about important things like their dates. Also some of the arguments in this book were so unnecessary and had way too many f bombs in them.
I wanted more details from parts with no detail (Ava and Mark’s relationship) and less detail from parts with detail (party scenes and some prom bowl scenes).
The Prom Bowl idea could’ve been executed in a better way but this was just so wrong in so many ways.
Also Cody, geez this guy was so horrible to everyone. The party they had at his house with the drinking and forcing girls to do things was disgusting and made me want to dnf so bad. I thought maybe it could get better but honestly no. The ending was boring and could’ve used more detail.
Hands down one of the worst books I’ve ever read. A few of my issues are the amount of times the f word is used for no reason, it’s so unnecessary and very annoying. The relationship between Ava and Mark made no sense because there was barely any in depth details about important things like their dates. Also some of the arguments in this book were so unnecessary and had way too many f bombs in them.
I wanted more details from parts with no detail (Ava and Mark’s relationship) and less detail from parts with detail (party scenes and some prom bowl scenes).
The Prom Bowl idea could’ve been executed in a better way but this was just so wrong in so many ways.
Also Cody, geez this guy was so horrible to everyone. The party they had at his house with the drinking and forcing girls to do things was disgusting and made me want to dnf so bad. I thought maybe it could get better but honestly no. The ending was boring and could’ve used more detail.
nicolecraswell's review against another edition
2.0
I don’t know if I’ve ever been so angry reading a book. I picked this up expecting a funny, empowering angry feminist book (mostly based on the title, the description, and the fact that I loved Gena/Finn and I know her writing partner for that, Hannah Moskowitz, is a feminist badass). Yeah not so much... I spent more time pacing around my room trying not to scream than actually reading this book. Like I get that high school is a difficult time, it’s crazy, people get very caught up in things that nobody will care about in 6 months, peer pressure makes it difficult to do the right thing. But tbh if I were in Ava’s shoes I would have done literally whatever it took to get this disgusting, sexist, objectifying, and frankly slightly racist (it’s literally a people auction, there is no way that situation can NOT be racially coded) “tradition” taken down from day 1. I could kind of maybe get when it was just a fun fashion show and talent show going along with it, being an inspiration for the younger girls in the school. But that party crossed every single line I have. Not only can I not fathom how none of the girls punched Cody in the balls (to be fair, I was thinking Cody needed to get punched in the balls for 95% of the book) but I am shocked and appalled that literally nobody in the entire school was able to stop being so damn self absorbed for 5 minutes to think about the fact that maybe someone almost dying and someone getting sexually assaulted is more important than their own egos.
I was at least hoping that everything would get deconstructed and that we would get a good badass feminist ending but it all felt kinda half assed. Nothing was really fixed, even the senior football players practically torturing freshmen in order to earn their friendship was brushed off and everyone lived happily ever after under the stars. I have never been so livid reading a book.
In all fairness I didn’t hate Ava as a character, I just was extremely frustrated with how she kept kinda half heartedly talking about how there was issues with the prom bowl and how she should do the right thing, but she never (until the VERY end) actually stood up and did anything about it.
I was at least hoping that everything would get deconstructed and that we would get a good badass feminist ending but it all felt kinda half assed. Nothing was really fixed, even the senior football players practically torturing freshmen in order to earn their friendship was brushed off and everyone lived happily ever after under the stars. I have never been so livid reading a book.
In all fairness I didn’t hate Ava as a character, I just was extremely frustrated with how she kept kinda half heartedly talking about how there was issues with the prom bowl and how she should do the right thing, but she never (until the VERY end) actually stood up and did anything about it.
emilyyyytug's review
- Loveable characters? No
This was a bad book. I can't even call it half-cooked feminism. It's all over the place, and never sticks a landing with its attempted commentary on high schoolers or feminism.
I am trying to think of one redeeming moment in this book. But there really isn't one. Don't waste your time on this. I've literally never written a negative review before, but I feel so strongly that this book is not only bad, it's harmful. It never gets to the point of a strong condemnation of the heinous things these students did. Which by itself is annoying, but could be seen as a literary choice. But at the end Ava's anger is gone and they have a kumbaya prom moment??? The author gave moments for growth for her characters but they actively ignore them. No one is likable, and you can get away with that in a story with good plot or a story with something else going for it. This book had nothing.
I am trying to think of one redeeming moment in this book. But there really isn't one. Don't waste your time on this. I've literally never written a negative review before, but I feel so strongly that this book is not only bad, it's harmful. It never gets to the point of a strong condemnation of the heinous things these students did. Which by itself is annoying, but could be seen as a literary choice. But at the end Ava's anger is gone and they have a kumbaya prom moment??? The author gave moments for growth for her characters but they actively ignore them. No one is likable, and you can get away with that in a story with good plot or a story with something else going for it. This book had nothing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
ashurq's review against another edition
2.0
Okay…to be perfectly honest I read this back in April and I’m having a hard time remembering everything. The notes that I wrote down for this, though, are as follows: “I’m not really buying their relationship. I feel like it doesn’t fit with who I think the characters are.” From what I remember of the book, all of a sudden the two main characters were dating and I was like, “Okay, that’s random.” Like, not random plotwise, but random because it didn’t feel genuine. I also remember not really liking any of the characters–they all just seemed really selfish to me.
bibisuzanne's review against another edition
1.0
um lol no. this book was pretty bad. I'm normally not good at giving books bad ratings, but I didn't really have a choice here.
let me start with the writing style, which I described as bad fanfiction in the beginning. that statement actually turned out to be pretty correct, since this author used to write Star Wars fanfiction. sometimes it was just unclear as to what was going on since there was a bunch of dialogue without any added comments, so I couldn't keep track of who was actually speaking and if they had any emotions behind it. there wasn't much depth to these characters at all, like I feel like I barely know anything about Ava and Mark - other than the fact I really don't like Mark and their relationship.
this story is about Ava, who has only been in town for two weeks and gets added to this thing called the Prom Bowl. it's a competition where boys bid on girls with money so they can be their prom date and the winner becomes prom queen. Ava only gets added because she isn't some hot, popular girl and that should make it fun. ha ha.
what I expected from this book, is that Ava and Mark would realise how much of a sexist (and many other things) type of competition this is and would try to bring the whole thing down. nope, they only try to get Ava out of the competition. in bad ways might I add - Ava just wears an ugly dress to the first event to try and lose, but Mark decided to be a dick and gets someone to ruin her dress by throwing a slushy on it (while she is wearing it). yeah, great move, that won't upset her at all.
I don't think there are any redeeming qualities to this. Mark continues to be a dick throughout the story, even to Ava, and they kiss and make up without any real apologies. Ava thinks she's being so good by going to the principal about the last event and getting prom cancelled, even though she should've tried to bring it down from the beginning. I don't really have any good points about the side characters either. Mark's best friend, Cody, is the biggest dick of this story and he stays the exact same. he beats freshmen up, because seniors used to do it to him, and he sexually assaults Ava at the last event. just a straight up disgusting character. the other girls who are in the Prom Bowl show a lot of unneccesary girl on girl hate, fatshaming and other things.
this author says she is a feminist, but I didn't see that reflected in this book at all. I would've seen that if they had decided to bring the competition down and if the girls had been supporting each other, with Mark also helping them. but no, none of that happened. I already hated the title of this book, but I liked the premise enough to give it a shot. if you read this review, I suggest you don't.
let me start with the writing style, which I described as bad fanfiction in the beginning. that statement actually turned out to be pretty correct, since this author used to write Star Wars fanfiction. sometimes it was just unclear as to what was going on since there was a bunch of dialogue without any added comments, so I couldn't keep track of who was actually speaking and if they had any emotions behind it. there wasn't much depth to these characters at all, like I feel like I barely know anything about Ava and Mark - other than the fact I really don't like Mark and their relationship.
this story is about Ava, who has only been in town for two weeks and gets added to this thing called the Prom Bowl. it's a competition where boys bid on girls with money so they can be their prom date and the winner becomes prom queen. Ava only gets added because she isn't some hot, popular girl and that should make it fun. ha ha.
what I expected from this book, is that Ava and Mark would realise how much of a sexist (and many other things) type of competition this is and would try to bring the whole thing down. nope, they only try to get Ava out of the competition. in bad ways might I add - Ava just wears an ugly dress to the first event to try and lose, but Mark decided to be a dick and gets someone to ruin her dress by throwing a slushy on it (while she is wearing it). yeah, great move, that won't upset her at all.
I don't think there are any redeeming qualities to this. Mark continues to be a dick throughout the story, even to Ava, and they kiss and make up without any real apologies. Ava thinks she's being so good by going to the principal about the last event and getting prom cancelled, even though she should've tried to bring it down from the beginning. I don't really have any good points about the side characters either. Mark's best friend, Cody, is the biggest dick of this story and he stays the exact same. he beats freshmen up, because seniors used to do it to him, and he sexually assaults Ava at the last event. just a straight up disgusting character. the other girls who are in the Prom Bowl show a lot of unneccesary girl on girl hate, fatshaming and other things.
this author says she is a feminist, but I didn't see that reflected in this book at all. I would've seen that if they had decided to bring the competition down and if the girls had been supporting each other, with Mark also helping them. but no, none of that happened. I already hated the title of this book, but I liked the premise enough to give it a shot. if you read this review, I suggest you don't.
emandm2222's review against another edition
2.0
*actual rating is 2.5 stars*
I liked the idea of this, but I don’t think it was executed in a way that got the points across that the author was trying to make. I think Kat intended to write a story about a normal looking (and sized) girl proving that size and looks don’t matter as much as a personality and a good conscious, in combination with a cast of normally flawed characters. However, this ended up being about a girl who has to rely on her popular boyfriend to get her through her senior in high school because she isn’t “pretty” or “thin” enough to fit in and/or change the backward minds of the crowd without him. Add on top of that a horrible popularity contest that pimps our high school girls that no one tries to stop (because both of the main characters are too spineless and apathetic to do anything until someone is almost killed, and even then it takes them weeks to do anything). Furthermore, there is way too much swearing for my taste. I don’t mind a couple of sweat word here or there, but I also don’t like to have characters cussing out whomever they are angry with every five or so pages. As much as I wanted to like this for the attempted positive messages, it just fell flat.
I liked the idea of this, but I don’t think it was executed in a way that got the points across that the author was trying to make. I think Kat intended to write a story about a normal looking (and sized) girl proving that size and looks don’t matter as much as a personality and a good conscious, in combination with a cast of normally flawed characters. However, this ended up being about a girl who has to rely on her popular boyfriend to get her through her senior in high school because she isn’t “pretty” or “thin” enough to fit in and/or change the backward minds of the crowd without him. Add on top of that a horrible popularity contest that pimps our high school girls that no one tries to stop (because both of the main characters are too spineless and apathetic to do anything until someone is almost killed, and even then it takes them weeks to do anything). Furthermore, there is way too much swearing for my taste. I don’t mind a couple of sweat word here or there, but I also don’t like to have characters cussing out whomever they are angry with every five or so pages. As much as I wanted to like this for the attempted positive messages, it just fell flat.
booksteastories's review against another edition
2.0
This book was very boring. Where was the saying no to the bro part? The answer is nowhere. And the high school equivalent of the hunger games hadn’t been explored to its full potential — but that would’ve made the book longer and we don’t want that. The characters had also been bland and flavorless.
samwlabb's review
4.0
Ava is forced to start over in a new high school after her parents' divorce. She thought she would just fly under the radar, until she is named as the wild card in the Prom Bowl. The Prom Bowl is a time honored tradition at Patterson High, where senior girls complete challenges, and are bid upon by the senior boys.
This book started off as a very adorable YA romance. Ava describes herself as not a traditional beauty, and perhaps curvier than the classically pretty girls. Therefore, she is shocked, when Mark, the attractive star quarterback of the football team, shows a genuine interest in her. These two were adorable together, and I greatly enjoyed watching those first romantic sparks between these two. They were both such likable characters, and I hoped their plot to sabotage Ava's chances in the Prom Bowl were successful.
Then, the story took a turn. The focus was less on the romance, and more on issues. One thing that took center stage, was this concept of when a tradition goes bad. Do you go along with something that is "tradition" even if it's destructive in nature? Hazing freshman, buying prom dates -- these were traditions at Patterson High, and it took an outsider to call attention to these issues.
Helgeson gave us a great hero and heroine, and a compelling story filled with lots of great messages: being true to yourself, swimming against the current, not blindly following the crowd, beauty coming in all shapes and sizes. This was quite an enjoyable read, but I still wish we would have gotten a little bit more at the end. I am an epilogue kind of girl. I abhor open type endings, and I just wanted a wee bit more from Helgeson, so I could have a little closure.
**I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book
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This book started off as a very adorable YA romance. Ava describes herself as not a traditional beauty, and perhaps curvier than the classically pretty girls. Therefore, she is shocked, when Mark, the attractive star quarterback of the football team, shows a genuine interest in her. These two were adorable together, and I greatly enjoyed watching those first romantic sparks between these two. They were both such likable characters, and I hoped their plot to sabotage Ava's chances in the Prom Bowl were successful.
"It's Tradition."
"Oh, what are you, the Fiddler on the Roof?"
Then, the story took a turn. The focus was less on the romance, and more on issues. One thing that took center stage, was this concept of when a tradition goes bad. Do you go along with something that is "tradition" even if it's destructive in nature? Hazing freshman, buying prom dates -- these were traditions at Patterson High, and it took an outsider to call attention to these issues.
Helgeson gave us a great hero and heroine, and a compelling story filled with lots of great messages: being true to yourself, swimming against the current, not blindly following the crowd, beauty coming in all shapes and sizes. This was quite an enjoyable read, but I still wish we would have gotten a little bit more at the end. I am an epilogue kind of girl. I abhor open type endings, and I just wanted a wee bit more from Helgeson, so I could have a little closure.
**I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book
BLOG|INSTAGRAM|BLOGLOVIN| FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS
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