But when a highly incriminating video goes viral after the first rager of the year, Brynn finds herself at the center of a school-wide scandal of catastrophic proportions. She knows she's not the girl in the video hooking up with her former best friend's boyfriend (While wearing a banana costume, no less. Hey, points for style), but adding that to her reputation of being a serial dater, she quickly starts losing friends and customers. On top of that, the scorn she receives exposes the culture of misogyny that is rampant at her school . . . and Brynn and her three best friends are determined to take down all the haters.
But as she gets closer to identifying the person in the video that got her cancelled, Brynn must decide—is exposing the girl worth losing everything she's worked so hard for?
This witty, unapologetic novel by Farrah Penn boldly tackles the problematic double standards that seek to bring girls down, and shines a light on the loving, uplifting friendships that can help them make it through those brutal four years. (Pub Date: Mar 19, 2024)
Brynn is cancelled when a video of someone wearing the exact same costume as her and her ex-best friend's boyfriend is spread to all her school. Seeing the imbalance in how she, whose face isn't even on camera after all that wasn't her, and he, who is the actual cheater, are treated, she gets together with her friend and form a club against misogyny to try and cancel the cancel culture.
It's not that I had the best of times reading it. A lot of the approach of feminism was shallow, some of the plot was more of the same, so this is more like a 3.5 rounded up to 4. It's not the incredible read that will be added to the pantheon of the unforgettable YA's. However, I never even expected it to be amazing, and it's got some great moments to make up for it.
One thing I loved to hate was how unfair everything was to Brynn, and how the unfairness was basically unavoidable. Her mother needs to devote herself to her older brother, who is always in rehabs, the principal is never on her side, but Brynn does overdo things, making it hard for someone who clearly doesn't like her to fight her battles, and well, her ex-best friend has no reason not to believe that she isn't the one her boyfriend cheated her on with, but she's also got no reason to believe it either. This frustration made me connect to the story more than anything. I really needed to see things get fixed or I wouldn't ever get a full night's sleep again.
Another thing I loved is Charlie, the boy who helps her. I loved that he's no savior, she's got some great friends for that, and yet he's made me swoon in a couple of scenes. It's been a while a YA has last managed to do that, actually. Romances in YAs seem to have gotten a little lazy lately, it's either too much or too little. So, YES! We've got some properly romantic scenes that have made my heart beat faster.
There's a good side to how shallow they approach feminism. With a strong character like Brynn, it could have easily gotten preachy, and the message would have been lost. I feel it does enough calling out the situation, though of course I can see it if someone says otherwise. It is supposed to play a major part of the plot when you put the topic on the title, right? For me, that was okay at least; easy to understand and to support. I'd say the number of side characters and subplots were more messy than that.
This is a recommended read to anyone who is a fan of contemporary YA's, and I'd love to read more from Farrah Penn.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
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