Scan barcode
A review by polkadotgirl
Michigan vs. the Boys by Carrie S. Allen
3.0
3/5 stars:
I received an e-ARC of this story through NetGalley in exchange on an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity!
Michigan vs The Boys is, I would, a very important contemporary that I'm so glad is now out and that I feel has the potential to be crucial for young teenage girls. This book focuses heavily on hockey and it deals with very interesting and hard to read topics like misogyny in sports and bullying. I think for young girls involved in any kind of sport this book has a very strong capacity to resonate with them.
I think that the protagonist of the story, Michigan, is a good character. So many times in YA contemporary we get main characters that we don't really know outside of the plot of romance or friendship or whatever. Michigan was very passionate about her hobbies and it made her feel like a more realistic character because of that.
The rest of the characters, however, were pretty plain and two-dimensional: we get our villains, our love interest, the family, the friends, etc. They don't offer much to the plot apart from a few key plot elements. We don't know their thoughts or emotions, really.
By the last third of the story Michigan's friendship with her ex-teammates from the girls' hockey team starts being of more importance and I think that was the best part of the whole book. I wish we had gotten more of it and more interactions between the girls from the very beginning. In fact, I'm very sad at how irrelevant Michigan's friendship with her best friend was during the whole book. I thought at the very beginning of the book that it had so much potential and then it was taken from us until like the last chapter. It was very sad.
In general this was a quick and important read, I think, but not great enough to become a favorite or for me to be able to rave about it. I do still recommend it, though!
I received an e-ARC of this story through NetGalley in exchange on an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity!
Michigan vs The Boys is, I would, a very important contemporary that I'm so glad is now out and that I feel has the potential to be crucial for young teenage girls. This book focuses heavily on hockey and it deals with very interesting and hard to read topics like misogyny in sports and bullying. I think for young girls involved in any kind of sport this book has a very strong capacity to resonate with them.
I think that the protagonist of the story, Michigan, is a good character. So many times in YA contemporary we get main characters that we don't really know outside of the plot of romance or friendship or whatever. Michigan was very passionate about her hobbies and it made her feel like a more realistic character because of that.
The rest of the characters, however, were pretty plain and two-dimensional: we get our villains, our love interest, the family, the friends, etc. They don't offer much to the plot apart from a few key plot elements. We don't know their thoughts or emotions, really.
By the last third of the story Michigan's friendship with her ex-teammates from the girls' hockey team starts being of more importance and I think that was the best part of the whole book. I wish we had gotten more of it and more interactions between the girls from the very beginning. In fact, I'm very sad at how irrelevant Michigan's friendship with her best friend was during the whole book. I thought at the very beginning of the book that it had so much potential and then it was taken from us until like the last chapter. It was very sad.
In general this was a quick and important read, I think, but not great enough to become a favorite or for me to be able to rave about it. I do still recommend it, though!