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3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
That second half really picked up
3.5 stars. I have to say I enjoyed this so much more than I ever expected. That second half was so fast paced and full of chaos and things going on. I loved how the relationship story arch went, it was realistic and fair and right. I love how different Mare is by the end of the novel I mean she really changes so much and becomes this kind if morally gray/misguided character. She really makes some poor decisions. I didn't like the cheating, Mare was a terribly terrible girlfriend and that definitely impacted my rating but I digress. I loved Johanna she played such a good role in this and wasn't a useless background friend like I thought she might have ended up being. This really was more about Mare and her journey with her family and herself than anything else.
3.5 stars. I have to say I enjoyed this so much more than I ever expected. That second half was so fast paced and full of chaos and things going on. I loved how the relationship story arch went, it was realistic and fair and right. I love how different Mare is by the end of the novel I mean she really changes so much and becomes this kind if morally gray/misguided character. She really makes some poor decisions. I didn't like the cheating, Mare was a terribly terrible girlfriend and that definitely impacted my rating but I digress. I loved Johanna she played such a good role in this and wasn't a useless background friend like I thought she might have ended up being. This really was more about Mare and her journey with her family and herself than anything else.
Thank you to net galley for sending me a copy of this book for review! I liked this book I just felt as if the characters were a little too immature for my liking. It didn’t feel like they were trying to lose their virginity when they still called their dad daddy.
*I received a free e-copy of this book via netgalley.com, in exchange for an honest review*
CW: bullying, religion, sexual assault, animal abuse, substance abuse, anxiety, trauma.
This was so much darker than I was expecting, but I loved it nonetheless! I do love a hard-hitting contemporary every once in a while, and this was definitely that. It covered so many important and tough topics (check the content warnings before you pick this one up). I loved the discussion of religion in this book - it's something that isn't often written about, but I think it was done very well.
I adored Meredith's friendship with Johanna and seeing her relationship develop with Harper. Her relationship with Sam was interesting to read about because it didn't go in the direction you might expect.
I love Katie's writing style! There were some absolutely beautiful passages in this book which perfectly portrayed what it's like to suffer through high school and also Meredith's anxiety.
Overall, a fantastic debut (novel, that is. She already has a beautiful poetry collection out) which I would highly recommend.
CW: bullying, religion, sexual assault, animal abuse, substance abuse, anxiety, trauma.
This was so much darker than I was expecting, but I loved it nonetheless! I do love a hard-hitting contemporary every once in a while, and this was definitely that. It covered so many important and tough topics (check the content warnings before you pick this one up). I loved the discussion of religion in this book - it's something that isn't often written about, but I think it was done very well.
I adored Meredith's friendship with Johanna and seeing her relationship develop with Harper. Her relationship with Sam was interesting to read about because it didn't go in the direction you might expect.
I love Katie's writing style! There were some absolutely beautiful passages in this book which perfectly portrayed what it's like to suffer through high school and also Meredith's anxiety.
Overall, a fantastic debut (novel, that is. She already has a beautiful poetry collection out) which I would highly recommend.
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this book had the potential to be a gritty, thought provoking and powerful story, but ultimately it felt diluted by the sheer amount of issues it attempted to cover, and an inconsistent tone.
what I liked
➽ the way religion was handled
This was initially the thing that made me want to read the book in the first place. I find discussions about religion really interesting largely due to its divisive nature. Religion tends to be a touchy subject, and I find that it is often neglected in young adult fiction, which is disappointing considering the valuable discussions that can come out it.
Our main character Mere is the daughter of a preacher and begins to feel stifled by the constant bible verses, restrictive teachings and inconsistent morals. I found this element really refreshing and was where the book came into its own and found its stride.
“I. Don’t. Believe. And I don’t want to. There’s nothing you can say that’ll change that. I’m not just having doubts. It’s not a phase, or me being rebellious. I don’t care what the Bible tells us because that book—and that’s really all it is, a book—has made me feel terrible about myself all my life. I can see that believing in it helps you and comforts you and is true for you, but it’s not true for me. I have the right to choose what I believe, and if you loved me half as much as you claim to, then you’d respect that.”
➽ the writing
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the writing. While it wasn't necessarily the most beautiful prose I have ever read, it was polished and overall well done. I would definitely read more from this author in the future, as her writing- in particular for a debut- was very promising.
➽ the discussions on being introverted/quiet
this issue in particular felt really authentic and real. I found myself relating to quite a few lines throughout the book, and think it will definitely connect with the younger end of the YA audience.
“All my life, I’d been the quiet one. The one people teased about why I never talked, and when I did, they feigned shock that I had the capability to speak. I was the girl with a yearbook full of flippant have a good summer messages because no one had anything better to say. My shyness had always been a self-imposed cage that left me crippled to all that was high school."
what I didn't
➽ the plot
overall, I found the plot to be disjointed and jumpy. It felt like so many different elements were introduced that there was no consistent underlying storyline throughout the book. The main focus of the story went from the pact to the romance to the pact to sexual assault to religion to-inexplicably- dog fights. This meant the tone of the book was vastly different from chapter to chapter and became quite jarring.
➽ too many issues, too little time
similarly to the previous point, I felt like the myriad of issues that were introduced was excessive and as such became watered down. I appreciated their merit, and the importance of them being discussed in a young adult setting but there simply wasn't enough page time devoted for them to be meaningful or reach a resolution. If we just focused on a few of these issues I believe they could have been much more impactful. I fully trust that the author could do justice to these issues, especially considering how religion was handled. If that amount of care and time went into some of the other societal problems, I think the book would have been overall more poignant and cohesive.
➽ the characters
this isn't necessarily a dislike, but a less-like if that makes sense. There was nothing wrong with the characters per se, they just fell a little flat for me. Some of them just felt like caricatures with no personality apart from one or two defining characteristics. For example, I didn't love the way the 'mean girl' Ashley was done. I hate when characters are mean or evil just for the sake of it or when they make complete 180's without reason.
overall
I found this book to be well written and overall entertaining. This book held great potential, I just found it to be stretched too thin and overly ambitious with the amount of elements and issues it introduced. I would definitely read more by this author in the future, and I cannot wait to see how her writing develops.
Thank you to the author and netgalley for this ARC!
Release Date: 16 June 2020
what I liked
➽ the way religion was handled
This was initially the thing that made me want to read the book in the first place. I find discussions about religion really interesting largely due to its divisive nature. Religion tends to be a touchy subject, and I find that it is often neglected in young adult fiction, which is disappointing considering the valuable discussions that can come out it.
Our main character Mere is the daughter of a preacher and begins to feel stifled by the constant bible verses, restrictive teachings and inconsistent morals. I found this element really refreshing and was where the book came into its own and found its stride.
“I. Don’t. Believe. And I don’t want to. There’s nothing you can say that’ll change that. I’m not just having doubts. It’s not a phase, or me being rebellious. I don’t care what the Bible tells us because that book—and that’s really all it is, a book—has made me feel terrible about myself all my life. I can see that believing in it helps you and comforts you and is true for you, but it’s not true for me. I have the right to choose what I believe, and if you loved me half as much as you claim to, then you’d respect that.”
➽ the writing
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the writing. While it wasn't necessarily the most beautiful prose I have ever read, it was polished and overall well done. I would definitely read more from this author in the future, as her writing- in particular for a debut- was very promising.
➽ the discussions on being introverted/quiet
this issue in particular felt really authentic and real. I found myself relating to quite a few lines throughout the book, and think it will definitely connect with the younger end of the YA audience.
“All my life, I’d been the quiet one. The one people teased about why I never talked, and when I did, they feigned shock that I had the capability to speak. I was the girl with a yearbook full of flippant have a good summer messages because no one had anything better to say. My shyness had always been a self-imposed cage that left me crippled to all that was high school."
what I didn't
➽ the plot
overall, I found the plot to be disjointed and jumpy. It felt like so many different elements were introduced that there was no consistent underlying storyline throughout the book. The main focus of the story went from the pact to the romance to the pact to sexual assault to religion to-inexplicably- dog fights. This meant the tone of the book was vastly different from chapter to chapter and became quite jarring.
➽ too many issues, too little time
similarly to the previous point, I felt like the myriad of issues that were introduced was excessive and as such became watered down. I appreciated their merit, and the importance of them being discussed in a young adult setting but there simply wasn't enough page time devoted for them to be meaningful or reach a resolution. If we just focused on a few of these issues I believe they could have been much more impactful. I fully trust that the author could do justice to these issues, especially considering how religion was handled. If that amount of care and time went into some of the other societal problems, I think the book would have been overall more poignant and cohesive.
➽ the characters
this isn't necessarily a dislike, but a less-like if that makes sense. There was nothing wrong with the characters per se, they just fell a little flat for me. Some of them just felt like caricatures with no personality apart from one or two defining characteristics. For example, I didn't love the way the 'mean girl' Ashley was done. I hate when characters are mean or evil just for the sake of it or when they make complete 180's without reason.
overall
I found this book to be well written and overall entertaining. This book held great potential, I just found it to be stretched too thin and overly ambitious with the amount of elements and issues it introduced. I would definitely read more by this author in the future, and I cannot wait to see how her writing develops.
Thank you to the author and netgalley for this ARC!
Release Date: 16 June 2020
The anti-virginity pack sounds like it’s going to be a great coming of age story about a young protagonist dealing with how to handle loosing her virginity right? Well, that’s sort of what this book is about. Spoiler alert… it’s also about rescuing a dog, very religious parents/religious identity and some crisis about going to college with little money and needing scholarships.
What this book for me lacked was a thread tying all of those things together. I don’t mind wacky things being thrown into books if they have a common thread that ties them together really well. This book just felt disjointed and wasn’t tied well together. I also felt that due to this, the pacing was off. The beginning of the book starts out how you would expect- laying out the pact and deciding who the girls should get to know so that they can carry out their pact. Then about halfway through- everything else piles on and its a sprint to the end with all the additional plot points.
Another thing that lacked for me was that all the characters read in one tone and read young… younger than they said they were. It was hard to believe that Mare, Jo, and Sam were 18 years old in their senior year. This also applied to the parents/adult figures.
What I do find to be some redeeming qualities is that this book does talk about what it is like to have different beliefs than those around you and what that means and how people internalize those difference so often. I do think that the sections in which this is talked about is some of the better writing in the book. (I think that Katie said on her channel that she had reached out to others to help make sure this type of stuff was correct.)
I will keep following Katie to see what she comes up with in the future.
Thank you to Katie and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.
What this book for me lacked was a thread tying all of those things together. I don’t mind wacky things being thrown into books if they have a common thread that ties them together really well. This book just felt disjointed and wasn’t tied well together. I also felt that due to this, the pacing was off. The beginning of the book starts out how you would expect- laying out the pact and deciding who the girls should get to know so that they can carry out their pact. Then about halfway through- everything else piles on and its a sprint to the end with all the additional plot points.
Another thing that lacked for me was that all the characters read in one tone and read young… younger than they said they were. It was hard to believe that Mare, Jo, and Sam were 18 years old in their senior year. This also applied to the parents/adult figures.
What I do find to be some redeeming qualities is that this book does talk about what it is like to have different beliefs than those around you and what that means and how people internalize those difference so often. I do think that the sections in which this is talked about is some of the better writing in the book. (I think that Katie said on her channel that she had reached out to others to help make sure this type of stuff was correct.)
I will keep following Katie to see what she comes up with in the future.
Thank you to Katie and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.
When Katie announced she was publishing this book I was really excited to try and get an Arc copy. I'm not a big reader of contemporary but I was really excited to try this book out to one support on of my favourite booktubers and two to see how she tackles the certain topics that are involved in this story.
Trigger warnings: sexual assault, bullying, animal abuse, problems involving religion.
I read this book in one sitting. It was a very fast and quick paced read which I truly enjoyed. Mare is a very naive, shy and quiet young adult who is realizing towards the end of her high school year she hasn't had the "normal" high school experience. I really related to Mare because I was the exact same as her while in school. I never went to my school dance and I was very shy, socially awkward and had no friends. I really felt the struggles that Mare went through.
Although Mare makes some questionable decisions and huge mistakes trying to deal with the anti Virginity pact coming out which pissed me off it made sense to me because of her naivity.
Although the synopsis tells us that the anti Virginity pact gets out and everyone finds out this doesn't happen until very far into the book.
I really enjoyed the topics discussed in this story and it really makes you think about things such as religion, atheism, sexual assault and animal abuse. This book does tackle some very serious themes but never makes it too hard to read.
I do feel like this book could have been made a little darker and grittier but I really did love this story and super glad that I read it!
Trigger warnings: sexual assault, bullying, animal abuse, problems involving religion.
I read this book in one sitting. It was a very fast and quick paced read which I truly enjoyed. Mare is a very naive, shy and quiet young adult who is realizing towards the end of her high school year she hasn't had the "normal" high school experience. I really related to Mare because I was the exact same as her while in school. I never went to my school dance and I was very shy, socially awkward and had no friends. I really felt the struggles that Mare went through.
Although Mare makes some questionable decisions and huge mistakes trying to deal with the anti Virginity pact coming out which pissed me off it made sense to me because of her naivity.
Although the synopsis tells us that the anti Virginity pact gets out and everyone finds out this doesn't happen until very far into the book.
I really enjoyed the topics discussed in this story and it really makes you think about things such as religion, atheism, sexual assault and animal abuse. This book does tackle some very serious themes but never makes it too hard to read.
I do feel like this book could have been made a little darker and grittier but I really did love this story and super glad that I read it!
Meh. I feel like I was never really clear on if the main character was actually raped or not, which made the rest of the story entirely confusing. Some things said made me think she got away before the actual rape, but other things said made it seem it did happen. Anyway, nothing really new or earth shattering in this story to make it stand out or unique. Maybe I have read too many teen rape novels. In the end, she seems fine, as if nothing really happened, which seemed kind of odd and flippant. Probably would not recommend.
I was thrilled to receive an ARC of The Anti-Virginity Pact. I love watching bookish youtube videos of the author in my free time, and I couldn't wait to read her debut novel!
I want to start by saying I really enjoyed this book, and I'm going to give it 4/5 stars easily. It took me on a roller-coaster of emotions. Anytime an author can actually sway my emotions and make me care about the characters, I count it as a success. I really liked Meredith. I found her to be strong through her meekness and overall likable. I understood why she made the decisions she did and it seemed plausible. Her best friend is a little more free-spirited, but as I got to know her, I really liked her too.
I also found the plot believable and entertaining. The book navigated religion tastefully, which is something I was a little worried about going into. I loved the dynamics between the different characters and how they developed over time. I think the one thing I really was a little sad about was that I felt the ending was rushed. I just wanted more.
Overall, great book! I had such a great time reading this I read it in one sitting.
I want to start by saying I really enjoyed this book, and I'm going to give it 4/5 stars easily. It took me on a roller-coaster of emotions. Anytime an author can actually sway my emotions and make me care about the characters, I count it as a success. I really liked Meredith. I found her to be strong through her meekness and overall likable. I understood why she made the decisions she did and it seemed plausible. Her best friend is a little more free-spirited, but as I got to know her, I really liked her too.
I also found the plot believable and entertaining. The book navigated religion tastefully, which is something I was a little worried about going into. I loved the dynamics between the different characters and how they developed over time. I think the one thing I really was a little sad about was that I felt the ending was rushed. I just wanted more.
Overall, great book! I had such a great time reading this I read it in one sitting.
✨FULL REVIEW OVER AT PAGES & PLOTS ✨
The Anti-Virginity Pact is one of those books where the cover and summary mislead the reader’s expectations. I predicted a dark and provocating coming of age story. Instead, as this The Anti-Virginity Pact book review shows, it’s a cute contemporary with a lot of drama.
The first half is entertaining, and interesting plot threads were picking up. However, they all pick up at once. There are so many different traumatic events happening back to back that the story feels unrealistic. I couldn’t believe that Mare, the main character, was able to deal with everything going on. And please check the trigger warnings, because A LOT of the stuff is heavy.
The Anti-Virginity Pact is one of those books where the cover and summary mislead the reader’s expectations. I predicted a dark and provocating coming of age story. Instead, as this The Anti-Virginity Pact book review shows, it’s a cute contemporary with a lot of drama.
The first half is entertaining, and interesting plot threads were picking up. However, they all pick up at once. There are so many different traumatic events happening back to back that the story feels unrealistic. I couldn’t believe that Mare, the main character, was able to deal with everything going on. And please check the trigger warnings, because A LOT of the stuff is heavy.