juddicted 's review for:

The Anti-Virginity Pact by Katie Wismer

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Overall an enjoyable YA read and a very good first novel by the author, whom I have followed on youtube for quite some time now. Katie Wismer is a very likeable person on camera and I like watching her writing vlogs (and her cats!) and her opinion on life. It obviously wasn't perfect, some plot line(s) seemed okay-ish, but were not elaborated more to seem realistic (though I feel this is due to them being not as important as the other plot lines).

I liked the main characters - even Jo, as it seems that most people had issues with her. I totally agreed with Mare on the whole religious aspects and really felt for her when things got rough. Sam was a really decent guy and a perfect love interest, though I liked that

they did not end up together, as Mare did mess up the whole thing. I found that very realistic and not every romance in a book has to lead to a happy end relationship

. Jo was the typical enjoyable, wild-spirited sidekick with sometimes questionable morals, but a strong sense of loyalty. Harper was intriguing and frustrating at times, but if possible, I'd like to see a companion book about her as well. :) The only characters I did not like, were the "antagonists". I could see the author tried to construct them with believable cruelty (based on history rather than being the bad boy for bad boy's sake), but it did not work all the time. Ashley's motivations were not strong enough for all the horrible stuff she did and the whole "I sense the guy at the shelter is a bad one" did not convince me either and felt not subtle, but forced on the reader.

There are several plot lines in this book, revolving around the typical teenager experience of and witch hunts in high school, religion and animal

abuse. Except for the last plot line, I liked the execution of the other two. I can see that the critical take on strict Christian religion is one of the reasons this book got a lot of mixed reviews and that it might offend a lot of devoted Christian readers, but it just shows reality. Obviously not all religious people are that radical (thankfully!), but those people exist and coming from a country like the US, it's almost brave of the author for setting the main focus in this topic.

I do not think you should expect a breathtaking new take on any of the topics of this book, nor an astonishing never-been-there-before book. But I still recommend this book, as it is perfect to simply enjoy reading it and experiencing a different kind of life. Not every book has to be a unique new thing to be a good book. And as I said in my first sentence, it is very good for a first novel. Definitely kept me reading until 1 am and picking up the 2nd book afterwards. I certainly can recommend it to anyone who likes YA contemporaries resolving around high school drama.

Though be prepared for some triggering topics like rape and animal abuse.