This book was a delight to read! There was a point when I was crying with laughter - I really enjoyed it, although am definitely not the target audience! Think we have a successor to the Louise Rennison throne. Please make this into a series!!

Not really for my age group but ok for teens.
I did not particularly like the diary format and everything seemed over the top drama reactions to commonplace life experiences.
I didn’t find it very funny but maybe that’s me.
Skipped through most of it and gave up . Sorry not for me .
Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very relevant YA novel about the pressures facing teenagers and in particular teenage girls in the era of Instagram, snapchat and the pressure to just be more. Told in diary style it gives what feels like a very genuine insight into the mind and pressures that Kat faces with her friends, school and the minefield that is dating. This is easy to read, very relatable and I would hope reassuring.

Three friends, Kat, Millie and Sam, feel they should join the feminists movement, while also balancing school work, boys, and the bitchy girls in class. But then Kat starts worrying about what people are thinking, and whether she’ll ever find a boyfriend (and should she even be worrying about this if she’s a feminist?) and life gets too much. Will her friends rally round and help her recovery?

When I started reading the book, this wasn’t the story I was expecting, and I’m sure I’m not the ideal reader demographic, school days being well behind me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish, I felt that Kat’s anxiety and depression was covered in a sensitive but positive way, and the story kept a good pace and a believable storyline throughout.

The characters are well created, with good dialogue between them and the bonds of friendship are clear to see.

A very enjoyable book.

I don't read a lot of YA fiction, unless its to visit books I loved in my younger years. However, when I read the blurb for this, I could not resist and was thrilled to be approved for a free copy.

Kat is a teenage girl entering year 11 and aspiring to be a feminist journalist. She is brilliantly funny while struggling with anxieties over growing up, feminism, friendships and relationships and those anxieties steadily threaten to overwhelm her as she experiences more and more panic attacks, while trying to put on a brave face at all times even when she is drowning, The 'voice' of Kat, both in speech and internal monologue is brilliantly done, making her a character that is both an individual and someone the books target audience will be able to identify with.

Kate Weston expertly describes how it feels to be trapped in your own head when self-doubt takes over and your brain convinces you that everyone you love secretly hates you or is bitterly disappointed in you. Juggling both humour and overwhelming sadness with intelligence and sensitivity; this is a fantastic YA read with relevance to adults too as we all manage to find ways to hate and doubt ourselves on a daily basis, with focus on how our brains can deceive us and how to manage our own mental health and take charge of our lives. I found myself laughing out loud at certain points in the story and crying a little as I identified with other parts of Kat's journey.

It is fantastic when a YA story can also relate to an adult audience as this one does and I would recommend it to readers 14 and up. When I first started reading, I noticed a lot of similarities between Kat and Georgia Nicholson (see Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging), however as the story continued this comparison ended as there are a lot more serious issues dealt with in Diary of a Confused Feminist. If I could travel back in time and gift my teenage self a copy of this book I would.

Thank you to #NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of #DiaryofaConfusedFeminist by Kate Weston, in exchange for an honest review.

Diary of A Confused feminist is a hilarious debut novel from Kate Weston. The novel follows 16 year old Kat Evans as she starts year 11, in the form of diary entries.

Weston manages to balance hearty humour with hard hitting issues, which will leave you both laughing and crying. Weston tells the story with the pressures of being a teenage girl in modern society, living up to her peers, her parents and more importantly, her own internal pressures. The novel takes a frank look at mental health, which I think is particularly poignant in this day and age. I would implore any budding feminist to read this novel.

After reading this, I would definitely read more from Kate Weston in the future.

Thank you to Hodder Children's Books and Hachette Children's Group for the copy of the book to review.

Genuinely hilarious.

Diary of a Confused Feminist made me laugh out loud - a lot! There are so many hilarious one liners, it's extremely quotable and for that reason alone it fully deserves 4 stars. I'm a sucker for books written in diary style and this doesn't disappoint, Kat is like a sweary Georgia Nicholson and the influence of Louise Rennison's books is clear from the start. As funny as Diary of a Confused Feminist is, it does deal with some serious topics such as mental health/anxiety, bullying, period poverty, etc. It's really refreshing to read a YA book with such genuine, solid friendships and that really shines through in this story. The amount of period positivity is such a plus, it's so amazing to hear a teenage girl talk so openly about periods in front of her dad, brother and male friend. I also love that Kat's dad is comfortable enough with himself to be able to call Leonardo DiCaprio swoon worthy (he's not wrong), it's always nice when a male character isn't riddled with toxic masculinity. I found my new favourite insult in this book, but I'm not going to spoil it for you, you'll have to find out and steal it yourself. Go on, it'll cheer you up.

At 31, I am not the target audience for this book. But I enjoy the YA genre very much. This book was an enjoyable example of how when YA is done well, it can appeal to adults too. It had some very funny moments, and reminded me of a teenage Bridget Jones. I would like to see this become the start of a new series reminiscent of the Georgia Nicholson books.

I am probably not the best person to write an objective review of this book given that a) I didn't know this was a teen read when I chose it and b) I am 49 years old and even when I was at the age this book is aimed at, my younger self would have found the novel silly and frivolous.
Indeed I was not impressed with the first half of the book. I found the antics of Kat and her two best friends Sam and Millie to be excruciatingly daft. The book did not make me laugh out loud. It was crude, repetitious and I was clearly entirely the wrong audience.
However, the second half of the book suddenly lost the crudity and flibbertigibbet nature. Instead Kat's angst and mental health issues dominate and are explored with great sensitivity and complete understanding of how teenagers can feel growing up. It took me back to my own angst and made me extremely grateful not to be living through those painful and paralyzing years when being self conscious and riddled with self doubt can be the order of the day.
Kat has OCD, depression and anxiety and although she gets to see a therapist quickly and is on the mend before you can blink, for the young people the book is aimed at, this is just the right message: that lots of us live under social pressures and feel like we're different, but that by telling someone about how we feel we can recover and worries do not need to control our every waking thought. A hopeful message indeed.

I started this book with no expectations on what to expect. It is different to my usual genre of psychological thrillers and it was a welcome break to my normal reads.

I love how the book was written in a diary format and it leant itself to being read in short snippets. I read it quickly and loved how the plot developed and unfolded from being a lighthearted read to being a book written about mental health. Kat’s declining mental health was dealt with very sensitively and the issues surrounding helping someone with ill mental health were also handled with great care. It highlights how seeking help with mental health is key to improving it,

This book should be a must-read for teenagers, I’m sure it would help young people realise that their thoughts and experiences (and worries!) are not unique sports unheard of. I know I’d have loved this as a teenager.

I really enjoyed this book, and found it very funny. I wasn't sure I was going to like it at the start, but it grew from a few embarrassing situations to much more important situations. Very well written

Not your typical YA book. Here is a book with a difference. I really enjoyed reading this.
It certainly made me laugh.
Great read.
Thank you to both NetGalley and publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my review

This is the diary of 15 year old Kat and how she is dealing with the stress of being a teenager and also wanting to be a good feminist. Right from the start it's a laugh out loud book and although it's aimed at young adults I think it would also strike a cord with women of any age.

It touchs on first love, rejection, bullying, friendship, mental health issue.

It's a quick and easy read tackling serious topics with humour.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for the ARC.

I really wanted to love this book, and there were definitely good things in it. I think the themes of normalising mental health struggles, facing your peers with self-respect and body confidence are all, obviously, massively important to teens. The feminist message would also be of benefit for any young person to absorb fully. There is a lot in here of immense value. I just wonder if the average teen girl would be swept up in the story enough to give the messages a chance to get through? Perhaps it’s just me — I’m far from the target market after all — but it felt a bit like a non-fiction wrapped up in a story that I just didn’t find compelling. It was all a little too heavy-handed for my liking. Still, I would be happy for any girls I knew to read it — even if it doesn’t become their favourite story ever, they’ll at least have picked up some great, affirming messages along the way.

Diary of a Confused Feminist is about Kat, who's aiming to be a real feminist, get together with Hot Josh (unless wanting that makes her not a real feminist?) and become a journalist. But she seems to have a knack for getting into embarrassing incidents, her two best friends get boyfriends while she's still trying to seal the deal with Josh, Terrible Trudy is always furious with her and she can't shake the feeling she's not good enough for... well, all of this.

I was approved on NetGalley for this (Thanks, BKMRK!) and picked it up without knowing more than the very basics about it. I was expecting something lighter, given Kate Weston's past as a stand-up comedian, but a lot of this is dealing with heavy topics - in particular Kat's anxiety. I was REALLY impressed with the way Kat's mental health issues are dealt with here. Her friends and family are behind her, she gets a fab therapist, and there's a couple of relatively detailed scenes set when she's doing CBT. These felt really realistic and well-written; it's definitely up there with Am I Normal Yet? and The Rest Of Us Just Live Here as a book I'd highly recommend people read to get an idea of what people with anxiety and depression face. I also really liked most of the relationships in the book - Kat's three-way friendship feels realistic, perhaps especially when it's going through problems, while her gay best friend is lovely and her parents like to tease their children but are incredibly supportive once they find out about how badly Kat is struggling. I also thought the relationship she has with her younger brother, who annoys her, felt very real. My only major gripe is that Trudy feels like a very one-dimensional character, for nearly the entire book - she's horrifically awful, and while this does get Kat thinking about if it's okay to dislike another girl if they're mean to you, she was just TOO nasty for me to like the portrayal much.

Kat's struggles with trying to be a really good feminist, though, are very well-portrayed and thought-provoking, and I love the references to people who inspire her - both modern writers and historical figures. It's also cool to see lots of discussions of periods and feminine hygiene products (and I especially liked the range of responses from the various guys in how mature they were in their reactions here.)

Having said early on that it deals with some tough stuff, I should point out that there is a lot of humour running through it as well, going right from the start as the girls have an abortive event to show their support for #TimesUp, and building to a hilarious climax which had me laughing out loud. This is a definite recommendation and I'm hoping for more books from Kate Weston after this strong debut.

I feel like this book and Kat are going to do for teenage girls what Louise Rennison and the Georgia Nicholson series did for me at that age (it even has some references to that series which I found really sweet).

This book is brilliant. It’s a completely up to date story that drops you straight into Kat's world, I wish I was half as assured as the three main girls at 15, but at the same time having a book which explores issues like feminism and mental health would have been so helpful and I’m so glad it’s being explored now. I laughed and cried at this book and I feel like that alone should be a massive recommendation.

I’ll definitely be recommending it to customers & anyone looking for a great contemporary read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A fun, enjoyable read that tackles a lot of issues that young people have to deal with in our society.

This was an absolute wonderful read. It made me chuckle, laugh out loud, cringe on Kat's behalf, and cry a good few tears. Kate has tackled the subject of feminism and mental health in teens with wit and sensitivity. It can after all be a mind-field and even more so for our young women today. Teenage years are tougher than they've even been. Not only do our teenage girls have to cope with ever increasing exam pressure, living up to the unrealistic expectations of image and lifestyle plastered across social media, ever changing hormones and bodies, friendship issues and now the pressure to save the planet and fly the flag for feminism. That's too much pressure for anyone! Add into the mix a nasty bully and her hangers on and any one of us would find it just a little too much. Kate captures the tension, frustration and the overall mental effects brilliantly. In fact she hits the nail right on the head brilliantly.
As I watch events and feelings unfold through Kat's eyes there were times I was overcome with emotion. I could relate to her myself, as will anyone who has suffered from anxiety. I so wanted to hug Kat and tell her that everything would be okay. I will definitely be putting a copy in the school Library for our young ladies. I think Kat is 15-year-old that many will be able to relate to and Diary of a Confused Feminist speaks out about being open about mental health and how often we are not as alone as we might feel. Help is always close at hand. Kat is certainly a confused feminist and it's not hard to see why - there are SO many rules, so many people misinterpreting what feminism is all about but through Kat we get to see things a little clearer. This is a super debut and I certainly hope there will be more to come from Kate Weston.
Many thanks to Netgalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this homage to Louise Rennison. A million memories of the Georgia Nicolson series flooded back as I read this. I loved all the little nods to the series like the angry cat called Angus, comedy Phil instead of Dave the Laugh and naming one of the characters Jas.

Amidst all the comedy writing there are moments of real importance in terms of teenage anxiety, pressure at school and comparison between real life and Instagram. There are definitely some feminist issues tackled, but done so in a light-hearted relatable way. Especially moon cups.

This is the contemporary comedy book for teenage feminists that I've been waiting a long time for, and it didn't disappoint.

This is slow to start and it took me a while to get to like the protagonist, Kat. Latterly, as I persevered, I wondered if Kate Weston did this on purpose? As Kat progresses through her personal discovery, self reflects and learns to like herself, I became more fond of her. I feel she was a bit of a teen cliché initially but by the end of the novel, she develops into a fully realised character... which reflects the arc Weston has created.

Some of the humour doesn’t appeal to me but I’m *inaudibly-whispers-age* years old so it’s not pitched at me. Much of it is delightful and offers a great insight into contemporary adolescence. It is diverse but more importantly, it is successfully inclusive.

It’s a fantastic gateway book to other feminist texts and explores some important issues. I’ll certainly be recommending it to students.