A review by mkm95
Girls Save the World in This One by Ash Parsons

adventurous lighthearted
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I think in high school I probably would have given this a 3.5 or even a 4 so it's probably more that I'm not the target audience as a 26 year old, but I have read and loved a lot of YA as an adult so it's hard to say. I found the humor to be trying very hard to be witty teen humor like Easy A or Clueless but it fell short for me. The characters were okay, but not very complex if that's what you want. I admittedly went into this thinking it had the lgbtqia+ tag on my library app so I was pretty disappointed by how hetero it is lol, I really thought June was going to realize she's in love with Imani, but that's my own fault. I also think that the diversity was nice to see, but the author was a little odd about it. She only seemed to highlight non-white, particularly black, characters' skin/hair/etc. and it felt a little weird that she didn't do the same for other characters, a little bit like "hey wow look at how diverse I made this" without any real substance, particularly considering the author is white herself as well as the main character. The feminism is also very girlboss branded and feminist lite, again very juvenile. I honestly think this is more of a book for middle school girls than high school or older. It's not heavy despite it's "horror" focus and while there is death its not graphic. I think a 13/14 year old would probably love this, especially if they're involved in any zombie fandoms like the walking dead etc.
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