A review by aromanticreadsromance
Girls with Bad Reputations by Xio Axelrod

Did not finish book. Stopped at 8%.

Okay, this could totally just be a me thing, after working in the sexual violence field since college and knowing what I know about the statistics. Ty, one of the main characters, was "falsely accused" of assault by a girl in college, and it derailed his dreams and took away his academic scholarship. Men like to cry, "But what about the false accusations?" but the percentage of false accusations is VERY low. Like, we're talking a single digit number. I felt that Ty being falsely accused perpetuated this myth that women lie about sexual assault, and look how it ruined this one man's life! He's still living with his grandpa, couldn't get his college degree, went into debt from the legal fees, and is having a hard time finding a job. It might not be a dealbreaker for you. I wanted to see if I could get past it, so I waited a few days before deciding that I couldn't. I liked the writing itself. I felt drawn into the story right away. This was one of my anticipated reads for February, so I'm disappointed.

"He'd accused a legacy student—a girl with the name of her family emblazoned on a wing of the university hospital—of filing a false claim. Of cheating. Meredith Stanwick had been a friend, he'd thought. They'd even hooked up a few times when studying had turned to teasing and teasing to flirtation. And yet, to cover her own ass, she had falsely accused him of assault. Assault. Him!" (quote may be different in final copy)

Thank you to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca for the advanced copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.