Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Unfortunately, whilst this book was a good enough read, my expectations were not met. However, I think this is less to do with the book itself, than to do with the marketing of it. In my opinion, the description above does not at all correlate to the story that we get within.

Instead, Sheinmel tells a story of abuse from multiple perspectives which often goes off into tangents about side character's storylines rather than focusing on what happened to the main character. These stories were good enough in their own right, and I enjoyed the character development we go to see throughout, as well as how Sheinmel captured all of the different personalities you get in one school year. However, I thought this book was going to be more of a mystery, with tension around the truth of what happened to Mike Parker's girlfriend. But it just lacked any element of tension at all, and as such lacked momentum at points.

I did enjoy reading this one, and I do think the characters are well written. Unfortunately though, it doesn't feel like a single book; it feels like multiple stories the author has come up with separately have been forced together. I feel like she was trying to write a 'Thirteen Reasons Why' style story of abuse, but the links weren't quite there. It just didn't quite work for me.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

Many thanks, as ever, to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of this novel by Alyssa Sheinmel for an honest review.

This novel certainly hit home a little too hard for me having very recently been a victim of domestic abuse so I would say it should definitely come with a trigger warning. It will be deeply affecting for many and will often make one reflect on their own morality. Addressed within are a lot of questions that are often asked and all to easy to answer - if you are on the outside looking in. e.g. why would she stay? Maybe she hit him first? That guy isn't the 'type.' etc etc

I will be honest, I did not finish the book - and my apologies to not be able to write a complete review. I would say that I just couldn't - it was really to raw for me. I would say that I would nonetheless highly recommend it, I think it is well written and unconventional in how it presents the topics discussed. and one that I will definitely revisit.

It took me a while to read this book as I struggled with the difficult subject matter but I found the story is told perfectly for our generation, it is very hard hitting and deals with the subject matter extremely well. A thought provoking dual narrative that has you guessing at who is who, this book is well written and gut wrenching at times.

Another amazing book from Alyssa Sheinmel. Although it is not my favourite book from her it is one that I throughly enjoyed! I will be reviewing this fully very soon!

What Kind Of Girl is a fantastic book to show that there is more to people than you can see on the surface. The story mostly follows two girls, Maya and Junie, both of whom don't think they are good enough and find ways to cope in secret.

When I started this book I didn't expect it to be two stories and so I found it a little confusing at the start but I soon got into the book and found it a really enjoyable read. The book tackles many difficult subjects like bulimia, domestic violence, self harm, but it does it in a way that you can really feel for the characters and understand why they are doing it.

I liked both of the main characters and unlike a lot of books written from multiple perspectives i didn't have a favourite of the two as they both had very interesting stories. It was great to see when the two girls got together and started to confide in each other and reconsider the friendship. I would have liked to have known a bit more about why the domestic violence occurred from Mikes side but i can see that the importance was put on how Maya was coping and blaming herself for something out of her control.

This is a very good book that tackles difficult subjects in an understandable way. I can't wait to read more from this author in the future.

Just like her first novel, Alyssa Sheinmel just does not shy away from the tough topics. I was blown away by this book - the way Sheinmel discussed society's expectations, the "blaming" game we all entertain when someone comes forward about domestic abuse or assault and how groups are formed and the mindset is kind of a "given" depending on who you are friends with.
It's hard to trust anyone in this novel and that was a bold choice to make and I loved it. It kept me guessing as to how this story would end (and though I just wanted to scream and rally and shout JUSTICE every single page, I am satisfied with the conclusion).
Definitely recommended to anyone who wants to burn down the patriarchy, wants to empower young voices and has ever found themselves on the wrong side of the argument.

'What Kind of Girl' was a great book that really made me mad - because it terrible that the topics faced in this book are so relevant to us today. It is the perfect YA book for the #metoo generation today and I hope young people (both boys and girls) read it and learn. The dual narrative was really powerful and so clever.

Thank you for giving me the eBook to review!

It all started when a girl showed up to school one day with a bruise on her face. She decides enough is enough and she accuses the golden boy – Mike Parker – of hitting her, and it wasn’t the first time. Soon, everyone is taking sides. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone wants the truth. Everyone is asking, why did she stay so long if he was hurting her? Should he be expelled? Is it actually true? Some people believe her, some people don’t. But everyone does agree on one thing – someone has to face the consequences.

Trigger warnings: abuse, drug use, bulimia, anxiety, graphic depictions of self-harm.

What Kind of Girl had a very intersesting and powerful narrative format. It packed a heavier punch than I was expecting in all honesty. It was raw, emotional, and a little jarring. We followed numerous unnamed narrators – ‘the abused girlfriend’, ‘the bulimic’, ‘the popular girl’, ‘the cool girl’, ‘the burnout’, ‘the anxious girl’. We follow these girl as they attempt naviagate the fall-out from the abuse allegation.

“We may suffer alone, but we survive together.”

What Kind of Girl delved deep into abuse. It explored societal reaction to abuse allegations, but I think it what it did best was exploring how some abuse victims feel. Constantly questioning herself, whether she viewed the situation right, whether she ‘deserved’ it, whether she being too harsh or too dramatic, whether he still loves her, whether she still loves him. But ultimately it ends on a positive note, and it handled abuse and the aftermath in a powerful but sensitive way.

“Plenty of women never tell. They don’t come forward and say their boyfriends are hitting them. They find thicker cover-up and better cover stories. They opened a cabinet and a mug fell on their faces. They walked into a doorknob in the middle of the night. Sure, it’s completely implausible-why would anyone be eye-level with a doorknob?-but that’s what women in the movies say. They cover for the men in their lives, at least at first. Eventually the woman stands up for herself and says: Enough.“

What Kind of Girl doesn’t just explore abuse, but it explores anxiety, self-harm, and bulimia aswell. I, personally, really loved the anxiety rep in this one. To everyone, our anxious girl is viewed as the cool girl. She seems confident, capable, outspoken, and she seems as though she has everything together but really she suffers from extreme anxiety, she overthinks about every conversation, every interaction. She has to practice and rehearse everything she says. Everyone thinks everything comes easy to her but really everything is so so difficult. It’s a constant battle. I really appreciated this rep – I really related. For our character, this leads to quite bad self-harm and it can be quite graphic at times so if this is a trigger for you please proceed with caution.

Also, there is a f/f romance in What Kind of Girl, it is between one of the protagonist and a side character, it’s a small part of the book but it’s there!

What Kind of Girl is really about how we are more than what we show to the world. We are multifaceted. We all have secrets and insecurities and you never know what someone is truly going through because we don’t always live in a society or culture that is accepting of anyone different, or anyone struggling, or anyone who isn’t neurotypical.

As soon as I saw that there was a new Alyssa Sheinmel novel I jumped on requesting it from NetGalley where I was super excited to receive an ARC. I've previously read Faceless and thought it was incredibly well written so I wanted to give this a go. For a chunk of the novel, the female characters aren't given names, instead, they're described by their traits which, although I found it hard to follow initially, I found to be an excellent way of writing. For me, it added to the idea that this could happen to anyone no matter how popular, smart etc - part of me wishes that this could have gone on for longer.

Of course, it goes without saying that this is a tough book to read with mentions of violence within a relationship, self-harm, Bulimia and mental ill health. If these are difficult for you I'd maybe recommend waiting until you're in the right headspace.

This is, without a doubt, an important read and one that I hope gets a lot of attention. I think it shows that these things do happen to young people. It also makes you question your own reactions to these kinds of stories, who do you believe and why? Can you separate a person and an accusation? All of these questions will make you think for days after finishing it.

There were points where I struggled to read what was happening, I felt such a range of emotions while reading. For a book to make me feel like that was pretty incredible and I applaud Sheinmel for the writing.

I do wish there was more of a resolution at the end because I feel like it was left quite open and there are also some point where I'm not sure I completely followed who was who and what was happening. That said, the book itself was a good read.
<p>This was a 4 star read from me and I'm definitely going to be reading more of Sheinmel's books because she can transport me into a story and a person's hardship. </p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->

This book uses multiple POVs to tell the story of Maya, a young girl who accuses her boyfriend of hitting her. Gradually we hear from more and more characters at Maya's school, most of whom do not believe her or at least doubt her in some way. An interesting story about how victims are often put under greater scrutiny than those accused - I will definitely encourage younger relatives and friends to read this book.

In my opinion What Kind of Girl is exactly the kind of book I wish all teenagers and young adults would read. The story follows two girls, one of whom accuses her ‘golden boy’ boyfriend of hitting her. The ramifications of this accusation are felt throughout the girl’s school and community.

From the very beginning of this book one thing is made very clear and that is the sad truth that most of the time the victim in an abusive situation is put through much more invasive scrutiny than the perpetrator. What Kind of Girl perfectly encapsulates what I imagine a young woman in this situation would be thinking, for example, the myriad of ways she would question every move she makes and every word she says. It is a depressing but eminently truthful reaction and it is a direct result of the way society treats and judges women. It makes for a read that feels deeply honest and personal which is incredibly effective. I think young people sometimes feel like the term ‘domestic abuse’ doesn’t really apply to them because the violence perhaps doesn’t occur in a domestic environment. This could then lead to them feeling like what they are experiencing is not as serious. The term ‘relationship abuse’ seems to fit better and there needs to be more awareness of it’s existence amongst young people. Books like this are one of the ways this awareness can be achieved.

What Kind of Girl actually covers quite a few complex issues within it’s pages like self harm, eating disorders, OCD and anxiety. These are dealt with in a way that felt really authentic – to me at least. I think an important thing that this book does is show that mental health problems like the ones above are not always caused by an obvious massive trauma. Absolutely anyone can suffer mental health disorders and everyone’s suffering is valid and important. Equally important is the fact that people are made up of more than just one part – we are all many things at once and should not be defined by one aspect of ourselves. I have experiences with a few of the issues What Kind of Girl deals with and I think it is an honest representation of what it is like to deal with them and also how difficult it can be to accept help, plus how hard it sometimes is to give yourself a break and stop judging yourself so harshly.

Overall, I found What Kind of Girl engaging, realistic and the kind of book I wish teenagers were reading in schools. I would definitely recommend it, although do bear in mind the possible triggers before reading.

Mike is the school golden boy who abused his girlfriend and we see her, Maya, come to terms with telling the school and her mum as she goes over their relationship.



Meanwhile we see the perspectives of other in school after learning about Mike's actions, in the form of Maya his girlfriend, Junie her best friend, Tess Junie's ex girlfriend and Hiram a guy who they know who can get you pills as his dad works in medicine and has a link to Maya.



I liked the story and it's guaranteed to have a great impact and teach about the signs of domestic abuse and violence, but in story terms fiction wise I felt we should've seen more previous scenes between Mike and Maya leading up to the present of her coming forward about the abuse. However saying that, being so quick to tell at least it gives the message speak up sooner rather than later which is obviously the best solution for a great outcome but not fully realistic. There was rep for self harm, bulimia, drug use and LGBTQIA communities and of course the former need a trigger warning.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. (I am large, I contain multitudes.)”

What kind of girl stays after her boyfriend hits her?
What kind of girl gets hit in the first place?

High school track star Mike Parker is regarded as an all round good guy, so when his girlfriend turns up at school with a black eye and claims Mike is responsible, it sends shockwaves through their classmates. Divisions quickly develop as people pick sides. Is Mike’s girlfriend a victim, or is she lying? Why wouldn’t she leave him, anyway?

The structure of the book, particularly at the beginning, is quite unusual: told from the viewpoints of various “kinds of girl”: the popular girl, the cool girl, the anxious girl, the bulimic girl, the activist, and so on. Initially this was a bit confusing, but it soon became apparent how the story held together.

What Kind of Girl (the title is perfect) is both compelling and devastating, and should probably be compulsory reading for young women.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

Trigger warnings about self harm, bulimia, physical and physicological abuse, drug use

What kind of girl is a book about survivors, fighting, love, friendship and abuse. Told by multiple POVs, or I should write, different side of the same two person, the story is narrated by Maya and Junie, her best friend, during the time of one week.
It's Monday when Maya goes to the principal office with a black eye, denouncing the golden boy of their high school, her boyfriend Mike. It's her last straw. After three months of abuse, she says it's enough. He has to stop.
After that the school divide in two parts. Who believe in Maya, rallying against her abuser and demanding the school board to expel him and who can't side with her, asking why she waited to speak? Why did she stay with him?
Bit by bit the reader finds about the controlling nature of the track star, how Maya was scared of him, how she suffers from bulimia, how she couldn't confide in her mother or best friend, how she sought the help of the school burn out, Hiram, finding solace and understanding in him.
Maya realizes her relationship with Mike, seeing it clearly, understanding all the times he pulled, pushed and pinched her, how he wanted to controll her.
At the same time the reader gets to know Juniper, Junie, Maya's best friend, who struggles with anxiety and who finds release in cutting herself, who, without realizing fully, suffers from her parent's expectations, above all her father, a human rights attorney, who pushed her to fight, to rally, without seeing her sufferings. In just one week both of their lives are upset, pushing them to make decisions, to stand for themselves, to seek one other, to support each other.

It was interesting reading the two POVs and seeing all their facets. Maya is the girlfriend, the popular girl, the bulimic, the burn out, while June is the anxious girl, the cool girl, the activist, both of them struggling against pressure and expectations, both of them sick and confused.
I appreciate how the author wrote about Maya's difficulty to talk, to accept her being a survivor, her being abused, her guilty about Mike's future and scholarship, her confused feelings, her feeling guilty because she couldn't talk, because controlled and scared. Her accepting this wasn't her fault.
I appreciate Junie's side, too, reading about her anxiety, her need to cut, her need to please her parents, to be controlled, to be cool, her fear that loved ones could think her a basket case, above all her parents, Maya and Tess. I liked reading about Tess, how Junie decided to be open to her, be sincere about who she is and the open ending. I really loved the open ending. It wasn't disappointing. I felt that, one way or another, I would have felt hurt or disappointed, but leaving it like that was really smart.
I liked this story, the writing style, it's a quick read, even though the book is almost 400 pages, because the reader needs to know more, needs to know what happened, what happens, how the main characters will react to this or that and so on.
Compelling, interesting and captivating.

Trigger/Content warnings: domestic/relationship abuse, bullimia, non-suicidal self-injury, drug use
Representation: MC diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, side character with un-diagnosed Bulimia Nervosa, lesbian side-characters

This book was a tough read. But it was also important, strong, and beautiful. Please pay attention to the Trigger Warnings for this book though. Some content is very graphic.

The Writing

What Kind of Girl is written and developed in a way that I haven't seen often in YA contemporaries. Portions of the book are told through multiple unnamed narratives. Giving Breakfast Club vibes, the reader is instead introduced to characters by their labels: the popular girl, the girlfriend, the burn-out etc.

While it can be slightly off-kilter at the beginning, as you get your head around it, the reasoning for it is gorgeous and genius. You need to read it to understand.


The Representation

If you've read the synopsis, you already know that this book deals with some tough topics. Domestic abuse, also labelled dating or relationship abuse in the book, is a topic that easily could have become problematic. And while it does contain problematic thinking from a lot of characters, the book develops incredibly well. It doesn't shy away from the toxic views many people have surrounding the subject, but it clearly highlights the complexity and harm that comes from such a circumstance as well.

**Please note that I am not an #ownvoices reviewer for this content - my views may not be accurate to experience**

"Because I'm the kind of girl who stays."


What Kind of Girl also tackles mental health brilliantly, in my opinion. Anxiety, bulimia and self-injury all play a huge part in this story. As an #ownvoice reviewer for 2/3 of these, I applaud the work the author did creating these scenes throughout the book.

Some scenes are incredibly graphic and hard-hitting. Please note, these are not off-the-page scenes. But they are also not glorified or over dramatic either. I wish that the bulimia had maybe been explored a little bit more. But with so much going on in the story, I understand why it wasn't.

"I think it was bad love."


There are so many other themes that this book explored brilliantly. The impact of assumed parental expectations. The concept of consent; the impact of asking vs. not. How peers, communities, and authority figures react to publicly standing up for one's self.

The biggest take-away was that girls are allowed to be messy and complicated and contradictory.

I am always on the lookout for YA that touches upon sensitive topics and What Kind of Girl sounded just like that. To say I was curious to read this book would be an understatement and I couldn’t wait to see how it tackled such topics as mental health and domestic abuse.

What Kind of Girl follows the girlfriend of Mike Parker, after she walks into her principals office one day with a black eye claiming that Mike hit her. The news spreads around North Bay Academy very quickly and soon people are taking sides and asking questions, with some calling for Mike’s expulsion. The truth about the incident must come out and the lies exposed.

This was a really thought out story that brings to light topics that aren’t often seen in YA, especially domestic abuse. Many people think that domestic abuse doesn’t really happen to teens and it just happens to adults, so What Kind of Girl really brings the topic of domestic abuse in teenagers to the forefront and I commend it for that. The other sensitive topics that feature throughout the book such as self harm and eating disorders are also handled extremely well. You can really tell that all the issues were carefully researched and that a lot of time was taken to portray them in a sensitive way.

The storytelling style within What Kind of Girl was very different to what I’ve recently read and this, in a way, made it stand out to me. At the very start we don’t know our protagonists names and the chapters are just titled ‘The Girlfriend’, ‘The Popular Girl’, ‘The Anxious One’, ‘The Activist’ etc. This brought a little bit of mystery to the story and it definitely made me want to read on and find out who they were. However, what I noticed as I got further into the story was that the voices for each of these ‘characters’ were extremely different and when I came to find out who they were I was slightly disappointed by this.

The plot took me a while to get into if I’m being honest and it did drag ever so slightly. As this is very much a character driven book I can see why you would want to take your time getting to know the protagonists, but as someone who is very plot driven I wanted to see a bit more of that. I can understand that the author wanted to solely focus on the girls but I would have liked to have learnt more about Mike. Also, the ending left me feeling downhearted as it stopped so abruptly and I felt like nothing was really wrapped up enough.

What Kind of Girl was a unique, intriguing read that was full of originality and sensitivity. Despite a few negatives, I did overall enjoy my time reading it.

The questioning narrative hook made the start of this book a little confusing. The first part of the book is written in the third person. However by the time I get to the second part of the book I enjoyed the narrative choices that were made by the author.

The subject of the book deals with a lot of heavy topics. I felt like they were dealt with appropriately for the older teen audience. I appreciated that at the start of the novel the reader got lots of thoughts and opinions from a wide range of characters to show that when domestic violence occurs it can have a wide ranging impact across the whole community.

WHAT KIND OF GIRL was such an interesting read that addressed some relevant but less written-about themes in the context of physical abuse in a dating situation in YA. There are some additional trigger warnings at the beginning of the book for those who seek this out.

This story asked the question, what kind of girl would let something like this happen and focused on the individuals but also very importantly, it focused on the reactions from friends, enemies, family and the school community. I can tell you it frustrated me and infuriated me at times with people’s reactions and turns of events but it was utterly compelling.

The way the story was told was innovative and clever. It was told from mulitple POVS (not too many, I hasten to add) but for the first part of the story, you don’t have names for the characters. This worked really well and there came a point where it was all woven together and the reveals came. Interestingly, this story was also told over one week and yet the level of depth to this story was impressive. I loved the style and structure, it felt fresh. There were moments where I felt in the dark but I enjoyed the veil of mystery until the reveals.

There were two key characters in this book and some strong supporting characters. I loved Maya, Hiram and Junie, although there were moments for each of these characters where I felt unsure about who they were, how loyal they would be and how true to themselves they could be. This is the kind of story that builds and builds and really, you don’t know the full story until the final page.

The writing was inviting in story-telling and mysterious voices. I couldn’t put the book down and read it in less than 24 hours. Alyssa B Sheinmel has a strong narrative YA voice that captured my attention with its themes and ability to immerse me in a situation.

Plenty of women never tell. They don’t come forward and say their boyfriends are hitting them. They find thicker cover-up and better cover stories. They opened a cabinet and a mug fell on their faces. They walked into a doorknob in the middle of the night. Sure, it’s completely implausible-why would anyone be eye-level with a doorknob?-but that’s what women in the movies say. They cover for the men in their lives, at least at first. Eventually the woman stands up for herself and says: Enough.

Thank you to Atom books for the early review copy in return for an honest review.