I will not be giving feedback on this book as I couldn’t really get into it but I think others may enjoy it.

I found it an interesting read, but perhaps one that contains an unlikeable narrator. The character presents flaws many people have, but in a way she’s never given an opportunity to redeem herself from them; which will remove any sympathy for her.

"One, two, three, four." It was a goddamn mess - but it was beautiful

* * * 
3 / 5

The Punk Factor made me feel things. It made me hate the main character Frankie, for being so self-obsessed and lusting after her useless ex all the time, and it made me root for her. This is an angry book; for the content itself the book felt rather adult - casual drug usage, lots of drinking, sex, pregnancy, etc. - but the writing and school setting was classic YA. Definitely one for the older readers, I reckon.

"Frankie had hatched a plan, and Aimee was the poor mug who would be strong-armed into helping. This was how Frankie got things done"

Frankie forms a punk rock girl band for pretty much the sole purpose of attracting her musician, drug-smoking, good-for-nothing ex-boyfriend who none of her friends like. Frankie has never really stuck to anything, and she's crap at the guitar and bad at practicing. She's selfish and needy and wild and she felt like a real, rebellious teenage girl who doesn't really have much to rebel about - I feel like I've known a few Frankies and you probably have too.

Then there's her best friend, Haruna, a girl who doesn't know her real father and whose abusive step-father has got her mother caught up in a religious cult. She's tiptoeing around, trying to survive until graduation. Both girl's are pretty different - Haruna is definitely the more sympathetic character of the two and it's great that she gets some chapters of her own - but they are tied together by their growing love of music. As Frankie throws herself into the band it becomes less about her good-for-nothing-ex (so glad he gets thrown over) and more about freedom; as Haruna plays the drums it's about making noise and being heard. 

This is a very readable book but I reckon it will be a bit divisive. On the one hand, the cast feels very real, like real, wild, irresponsible and weirdly motivated teenage girls. On the other, Frankie comes off as brash, entitled, and mean. I liked her "arc" and I wasn't that fussed by the drinking and MDMA, but I think Haruna needed more support and more page-time. 

Also this book is part of a series but it read fine as a standalone. I have not read any other books in the trilogy. 

My thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

Thank you to both NetGalley and Littlebrownbookgroupuk for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my open, honest unbiased review.
This was an ok book. I wasn’t really that into it if I’m truthful. Sadly I didn’t enjoy it.

I received this book from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

This was... so so. The ending did improve it slightly, hence me giving it 2.5 stars, but the start was hard to get into. This is largely due to the fact that Frankie is a selfish, lazy, entitled little moron. She is not an endearing main character. At all. Her only saving grace is how good a friend she is to Ru, when she tries. She is otherwise useless. And as much as she “loves” punk, she clearly doesn’t really know what it’s about.

Ru however is lovely and needs approximately a billion hugs. I really felt for her. And her storyline for me needed more focus, and a little more support. She goes through something horrific and there’s not really much fall out shown from it other than a sudden personality change, an accident, and running away a bit. I feel that I wanted her to get the support she clearly needed. She deals with massive abuse, and just getting away from it isn’t the answer.

The punk music storyline was meh in places, but fun in others. I love music, and punk, so I did like feeling like I was at a gig somewhere, listening to good music in a little sweat box of a venue. But it’s hard to convey that whole kick ass, girls rock I punk vibe with Frankie in the lead. She’s just so entitled, even not really having any reason to be. She gets so much for free from basically having the gift of the gab. Even though later on, she is actually shown to be working on her playing, or dedicating herself to the band in various ways, so much of what she gets is on the coattails of others and she rarely seems to acknowledge that.

Overall, it’s not a terrible book, it’s not also not a great one. It’s a relatively easy read and if you can get over Frankie in the first third, you can probably handle the rest!



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