Scan barcode
A review by heyjudy
Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian
3.0
~3-3.5/5
I think maybe I had too high of expectations for this book. I was expecting a very good book, with a very impressive girl-power message. That’s not how it seemed to me.
On the bright side, the writing was good. And the characters were fleshed out, at least mostly. The storyline wasn’t too bad.
First of all, I did not like the main character. Natalie drove me crazy. At first, I was looking forward to her learning her lesson, but about halfway through the book, she was just getting on my nerves. She’s cocky, too confident, very what-I-think-is-right, thinking that everyone should make the “right” decision, and no matter what, what she thinks it right. I just wanted to smack her.
Then there’s the girl message. And I do think that Natalie learned that women shouldn’t be put down for sex, but I don’t really think the message was driven home as much as it could have. She really only seemed to think about it like she should, after she met a guy and fooled around and people looked at her differently. I don’t think it was pushed enough that it doesn’t matter what you’re doing—if you’re having sex, married or not, pregnant young, or a virgin—because all of it is okay. None of it shameful or “wrong”. Natalie thought about it only after having sex and being bullied because of it; then there’s Spencer, who thinks that manipulating men is the right way to go, and I don’t think she fully learned anything either. Autumn, I think, had the right idea, though; she’d smarted up in the right way. There’s also Natalie’s teacher, who is so prejudiced, and yet nothing really came of her opinion but frustration.
Mostly, I think the message was good, I just don’t think it reached the full-fleshed direction it was going.
Then there was the romance. Natalie and Connor start fooling around, and Natalie is the one who’s making it hard. But I think they jumped into it too quickly—I mean, they made eye-contact and seemed to just feel a strong attraction, when I didn’t really feel that. And everything that Natalie does with Connor, changing her mind and having sex with him, just didn’t seem to make sense to me. I just didn’t feel very much chemistry between them, so it didn’t work for me. I wanted it to, but it didn’t.
I wanted to love this book. I really, really did. But instead I’m a little disappointed. I do want to pick up another of Vivian's books, though. I think maybe a different character, at least, could have made this story better, so I hope to see what else she does.
[Read more at my blog, Geeky Reading!]
I think maybe I had too high of expectations for this book. I was expecting a very good book, with a very impressive girl-power message. That’s not how it seemed to me.
On the bright side, the writing was good. And the characters were fleshed out, at least mostly. The storyline wasn’t too bad.
First of all, I did not like the main character. Natalie drove me crazy. At first, I was looking forward to her learning her lesson, but about halfway through the book, she was just getting on my nerves. She’s cocky, too confident, very what-I-think-is-right, thinking that everyone should make the “right” decision, and no matter what, what she thinks it right. I just wanted to smack her.
Then there’s the girl message. And I do think that Natalie learned that women shouldn’t be put down for sex, but I don’t really think the message was driven home as much as it could have. She really only seemed to think about it like she should, after she met a guy and fooled around and people looked at her differently. I don’t think it was pushed enough that it doesn’t matter what you’re doing—if you’re having sex, married or not, pregnant young, or a virgin—because all of it is okay. None of it shameful or “wrong”. Natalie thought about it only after having sex and being bullied because of it; then there’s Spencer, who thinks that manipulating men is the right way to go, and I don’t think she fully learned anything either. Autumn, I think, had the right idea, though; she’d smarted up in the right way. There’s also Natalie’s teacher, who is so prejudiced, and yet nothing really came of her opinion but frustration.
Mostly, I think the message was good, I just don’t think it reached the full-fleshed direction it was going.
Then there was the romance. Natalie and Connor start fooling around, and Natalie is the one who’s making it hard. But I think they jumped into it too quickly—I mean, they made eye-contact and seemed to just feel a strong attraction, when I didn’t really feel that. And everything that Natalie does with Connor, changing her mind and having sex with him, just didn’t seem to make sense to me. I just didn’t feel very much chemistry between them, so it didn’t work for me. I wanted it to, but it didn’t.
I wanted to love this book. I really, really did. But instead I’m a little disappointed. I do want to pick up another of Vivian's books, though. I think maybe a different character, at least, could have made this story better, so I hope to see what else she does.
[Read more at my blog, Geeky Reading!]