Ummm, there are quite a few books around at the moment that have a very similar premise.

I think the reason that this one appears to have resonated with so many people is due to the fact that it just isn't too "in your face"


There is a powerful message in this book that is relevant to all teenagers, no matter what sex they are but I feel that the issues that are brought up in this book (and there are many) are dealt with in a rather unbelievable manner.

Basically, we have Marin who is in her final year of high school. She's looking forward to going to a prestigious collage and along with her best friend, Chloe, is editor of the school newspaper.
Everything is going well. until the "cool" teacher makes a pass at Marin.

Marin knows that it's not right but what should she do? And how will her life change depending on what she decides? Will her decision only effect her . . or are there others that could be caught in the crossfire?

This is a big decision for a young girl and the reaction that Marin has to deal with from lots of different people, is probably very true to life and so disappointing.

Marin Lospato is a grade A student and co-editor of the school newspaper. She has a best friend Chloe, and a boyfriend Jacob, and life seems pretty good. Chloe and her have a crush on their English teacher Mr Beckett, who is young, good-looking and friendly. But Marin's life is about to change drastically. When Mr Beckett offers her a lift home, she accepts, but when he detours at his house, and kisses her, she is shocked and shaken. Did she bring it on herself by accepting the lift? When she confesses what happened to her best friend Chloe, she's confused by the response she gets. Expecting support, instead she's met with disbelief and this causes a rift in their friendship.

When a fellow student is humiliated in front of the whole school for a violation of the uniform code, she begins to question the double standards that permeate high school, and society. She writes a passionate article about 'The Rules for Being a Girl' - this is met with scorn and derision from almost all. But unperturbed, Marin goes on to form a feminist book group to balance out the predominantly white, male reading list that makes up the school curriculum.

Finding the courage to approach the head teacher about the sexual assault, she is again met with suspicion, and after investigation it's found that there is no conclusive evidence of any wrongdoing on his part.

Marin is angry and when her dream of getting into Brown is ruined by Mr Beckett, she vandalises his car and is suspended. Chloe comes to visit her, and what she reveals is to turn things around and prove Marin to be telling the truth to the whole school.

This is a book that young people should read, it is thought-provoking and current, and I thought Marin was a wonderful protagonist - 'smart, funny and fierce as all hell'.

Fantastic insight into a topic some readers will really relate to. An easy read but one that gets the reader thinking and also resonates with stories we hear every day. I enjoyed reading this book but I will also recommend to my teenage cohort at school (both male and female) to give it a try as they might learn something without realising it.

I was intrigued by the premise of this book and it didn’t disappoint in that regard - an interesting take on the usual coming of age themes. Probably a bit too young for me in terms of a target market but still well written and it’s nice to see a fresh approach to this YA genre.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I loved the author's style of bringing up the topic in a very readable way. The story makes you want to pause, reflect on the times when you were growing up and the weird contacts you had with people when you did not feel comfortable but were too naive to speak up or say something. Unfortunately we still live in a society where there are separate rules for girls and even though I try really hard to bring up my children in the same manner, there are times when I find myself telling my daughter to behave appropriately and I have to pause and rephrase my sentence. I want her to grow up and be brave to fight against all the injustices she will come across in the world and even though the world has become more aware, I dont think it has changed at all. Highly recommended!

A nicely original take on the teacher/student narrative that weaves in feminist themes that have yet to be explored in one YA novel. I enjoyed its originality and liked how it works as a starter guide to feminist literature through Marin’s book group selections

I enjoyed this book and found it a quick, interesting read. I did find the narrative a little 'samey' to some already existing books but still a good read!

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest, independent review.

"Marin is a smart, driven, popular girl – she's headed for Brown when she graduates and has a brilliant career as a journalist ahead of her. Especially in the eyes of English teacher Mr Beckett. He spends a lot of time around Marin, and she thinks it's harmless . . . until he kisses her.

"No one believes Marin when she tells them what happened, so she does the only thing she can: she writes an article called 'Rules for Being a Girl' for the school paper to point out the misogyny and sexism that girls face every day. As things heat up at school and in her personal life, Marin must figure out how to take back the power and rewrite her own rules."

There are many rules for being a girl: "Speak up, but don't be too loud. Be assertive, but not bossy. Be friendly, but don't lead him on." And sometimes young girls and women are lead to thought that they "asked for it".

When I started reading this book, I must admit that I at first thought I was a little too 'old' for it (I'm in my early thirties!), and I would get a bit bored from reading a book based on a teenage girl's point of view and problems. At first, the book did start a little slow, but by around 20% of the way through, it picked up and the feminist in me came out, rooting for Marin.

A quick and easy read but with very important topics, the book's topics are relevant, and make the reader realise the rules for girls/women do need to be rewritten, and all of this is cleverly wrapped up in a YA novel, in a way that is relatable and at times funny.

A powerful story about feminism, trust, self-belief, and abuse of power.

I loved this - it felt very realistic, and modern. A great example of how good YA literature can be and how it can raise awareness to how things are in schools, for girls, young people and the difficulties of being an adolescent. Really enjoyed the whole thing, would have loved this when I was teenager, and I loved it now.

"I think suddenly, even if she is dressing to get attention, how is that anybody's business but hers?"

For a young adult book, this was powerful, wow, since finishing this book I have not stopped thinking about it. This is one that every girl should read. The appeal to this book for me was one of the authors, I am a big fan of Sex and the City but had never read any books by Candace Bushnell so didn't really know what to expect but this was impressive.

I liked that even though this book has a powerful message and a feminist voice, it was very easy to read, and so more-ish, the chapters flow so well that it's hard not to read in one sitting. Great characters and I loved the main character Marin, i was so proud of her by the end of this book and even though I am in my mid 20's I did find her character relatable, I wish there had been more books like this when I was growing up. I loved the breakdown of stereotypes in this book through Marin starting her own feminist book club and seeing people come together through tough circumstances.

This book is uncomfortable at some points, it definitely made my skin crawl at certain stages, parts made me
really angry and frustrated and at other times i just wanted to reach in and give the Marin a massive hug (bit of an emotional rollercoaster). It is thought provoking and eye opening but i really liked that the authors managed to break up the seriousness with great humor and made it enjoyable to read. I think this book will be a great conversation starter especially amongst the young adult audience. There are triggering topics in the book, just keep that in mind if you are planning on reading this but I think the authors do an excellent job at handling some hard topics.

There is so much more I could say on this book but it is one that you need to read for yourself.

Even though I’m not the target market for this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it and got involved with the characters from the first chapter. It’s a coming of age book, not really about sexual awakening but more about awakening of sexual equality which is refreshing. I have been a fan of Candace Bushnell’s writing for a long time and love this collaboration with Katie Colugno. More please ladies!

As an adult, this book didn't make the best impression on me I’m afraid. Written by two authors (although I have no knowledge of Katie Cotugno) and two female authors at that, I expected the subject matter to be handled with a little more tact than it was. I know that I am not this book's target audience but from a Contemporary Young Adult novel I was really disappointed.


Marin as a main character is perfect, she is what you expect - kind, smart and independent as a reader I was firmly on her side of the battle from the start. The teacher involved, Bex (don’t even get me started) is awful and cringey from the get go and Marin’s best friend is pretty horrible and so is her boyfriend. I’m not quite sure what Marin did to warrant having such nasty people in her life! The parents of a few kids are introduced too however and they came across pretty well, being supportive and diverse.


Despite this, I found the narrative to be too simple. The book sits at around 300 pages and took me between 2.5 - 3 hours to read. For such a heavy subject matter, I would have wanted a bit more delving in to the relationships of the novel to get me more involved and emotionally connected. I feel like it skims the surface just to pass on its main message but doesn’t really hit the mark. On every page I was struggling not to roll my eyes at some of the obvious plot points that are supposed to be hints but instead end up being glaringly obvious but as i said initially, I read this book as an adult, not the young adult it was intended for. I would like to think, in a younger mind that girls don’t need this message spoon-feeding to them but I could be wrong.


All the way through this novel i thought my rating would be a 2 but i raised it to 3 partly because I’m not the target audience and partly because, despite its flaws, it was a quick read for me and it tied itself up quite nicely in the end.

Rules for Being a Girl takes a little while to sink into. It was very barebones at the beginning in a way that made it so that characters and relationships weren't fully fleshed out. If you push past that (roughly the first quarter) the book settles into its style and story.

We follow Marin as she navigates her last year of high school, her advanced classes, extracurriculars, her boyfriend and then, being kissed by a teacher. She struggles with what to do, her rage and confusion and doubt. It affects a number of her personal relationships (which have been better defined by now) and her schoolwork.

Marin then decides to do something about it, a number of somethings, many of which blow up in her face but along the way she becomes a more informed woman, more confident of herself and her place in the world. Things don't finish up the way she had hoped, due to said to teacher being a scumbag, but she comes out the other end knowing she's done the right thing. Including having helped a number of other girls who have been preyed on by the same teacher feel confident in coming forward.

The great things this book does include:
- not shying away from the fact that reporting sexual assault will have repercussions
- gets our protagonist to investigate her own feelings about the world around her, including her own internalised misogyny
- gets our protagonist to realise the sexism of the world around her
- doesn't pretend the outcome will be golden and rosy
- but does say that being more confident in and of yourself, and being more aware, are valuable lessons

All in all, this would perhaps have been a stronger book in the hands of another writer but the messages it gets across are vital for the time we live in.

I haven't reads any of Candace Bushnell's or Katie Cotugno's books before, but I was a huge fan of the Sex and the City series in HBO at least.

Based on just that, I was delighted to be approved by the publishers to read their latest book with YA protagonists - Rules for being a girl.

Trigger warnings: sexual abuse of minors

The story and narration are quite simple, straightforward and engaging, I felt. As young girls, or even boys (lets not take them out of similar situations well), I'm sure a lot of us have been victims to some kind of abuse - direct or indirect. And all of us have felt the feelings our protagonist feels/goes through - feelings of confusion, self doubt - did I bring this on myself?, of being judged by our closest friends and family, of anger, rage and utter frustration at the system and the unfairness of it all.

And I think, even though the story was not new, the emotions that Marin goes through, and her journey, made me feel really attached to her as a reader. I cared about her and I could see myself in her story many times, and probably every other girl or boy who has ever been taken advantage of will be able to relate to her story and root for her.

I also really appreciated how the authors decided to add in contexts of feminism, with the idea of the feminist book club (made me think of Emma Watson's OSS book club :)), to picking up books that can be used as starting books or references for any young girl trying to make her place in the world and trying to fight against social and sexual inequality. I was delighted to see books like The Handmaid's Tale, Bad Feminist, We Should All Be Feminists and essays by Audre Lorde in the list of books that Marin's feminist book club picks up - which act as references for any young reader and are such amazing reads!

I also liked the breezy style of writing. Although the book touches upon a really serious subject that makes one's blood boil, the overall story has many moments that make it easy for the reader to digest - coming of age, romance, taking care of an elderly, friendships, redemption. That's why I was able to finish this book in two days, despite the difficult subject of the book :)

This is a book I would like my future teenage daughter to read, along with all the others mentioned above as well. We need our daughters and sons to know, that it is NOT OK to be taken advantage of by an adult or by a figure of authority.

This is a book that I believe teenage girls need to read.
It starts by showing the relationship Marin has with her teacher (I think most teenage girls have a crush on a teacher at some point) but then explores the fall out from when it all goes too far.
Even though I could sense what was coming, the book kept me gripped as it explored how Marin matured and started to see what was happening in front of her, regarding sexism.
I really would have liked for her to fight at the end for her future rather than settling but otherwise I did enjoy this book and would recommend it to young adults. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

The cliche "its a page turner" really does apply to Rules for Being a Girl , it is a young adult novel and as not a young adult I really enjoyed it.

Marin is a popular, clever girl enjoying her teenage years without really looking to deeply in to anything until an encounter with her English teacher opens her eyes to the real world and and what its like to be a girl. The fact that in order to get along there are rules, and these rules are contradictory and often unfair. As she decides to confront these rules she sees attitudes towards her change and has to dig deep to stay true to herself.

I hope this story will encourage women of all ages to question what is expected of them.

I was given a copy of Rules for Being a Girl by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

I am in love with the fact that there are so many explicitly feminist YA contemporaries now. We’ve always had feisty, no-nonsense girls in YA novels but I feel that there has always been a lack of books that tackle serious female issues head on. So of course I was delighted when I was accepted for a copy of the latest release from Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell co-written with gritty YA romance writer Katie Cotugno.

Rules For Being A Girl follows smart bookish Marin, a 16-year-old girl who is dating her classmate Jacob and co-edits the school newspaper with her best friend Chloe. She also has a special bond with her English teacher, Mr Beckett. When something happens and turns her world upside down, Marin comes to some pretty shocking conclusions and the campaign to wage war on the injustices towards the women of her high school begins.

The first 30% of the book gives us an insight into the nature of the dynamics of Marin and Mr ‘Bex’ Beckett. The red flags were so numerous and so blatant that I instantly knew what was going to happen. Bex is reasonably young (possibly about 30), attractive, smart and charming. Had he been the hero of an adult romance novel, I’d have fallen for him instantly. Therefore I completely understood why Marin and seemingly most of the other girls in her year did. But of course, I was painfully aware that this wasn’t an adult novel and that Marin was a teenager. His behaviour towards her made my flesh crawl from the very start and when the incident came, I wasn’t the least bit surprised.

I’m pretty sure I physically tensed up with frustration when Marin told Chloe what had happened. I understood that Chloe’s own crush on Bex was the reason for her blinkered reaction and outright denial but I was still astonished. However, I know that this kind of kneejerk negative response isn’t uncommon. As shocking as it seems, it rings incredibly true when women talk about their abuse even to those who apparently love them the most.

One of my favourite things about this book was watching Marin’s blindfold come off and the realisation that she needs to change. As she begins to notice the differences between the treatment of boys and girls in her own school, she starts to see how her own thoughts and behaviour may have contributed to it. Her transformation is a great example of how a terrible life event can be the catalyst to improve your own life.

There's a part where Marin is looking at herself in the mirror and thinking about how she would talk about herself, if she were someone else. This carries something that every woman can relate to. We’ve all felt the cold knife of self-hatred burrowing its way into our heads and compared how we think of ourselves to how we think of others. As a high-flying academic and popular girl, Marin could easily have been a character that I struggled to connect with. However, it’s moments like this that give her a degree of humanity and vulnerability that makes her very likeable.

There is also a really lovely unexpected romance that starts around halfway through the book. It’s very cute and slow-burning, which is my favourite kind of romantic relationship to read. I’m pretty sure it was the driving force for me zooming through the book because I just wanted to see everything work out!

Rules For Being A Girl is a must-read for everyone but especially teenage girls. It possibly wouldn’t speak to guys in the same way as it is inherently about female issues. However, there is also an abuse of power element that could relate to anyone. It’s a quick read that is fierce, inspirational and incredibly satisfying.

I absolutely adored this book. Sharp, funny, well-written, acerbically observed and hugely compelling, it's not only the best student-teacher romance book I've read recently (and I've read a few of those), but frankly, one of the best books I've read this year.

Cotugno and Bushnell write together about Marin, a bright, clever, funny senior in high school, and her cool, laid back teacher Mr Beckett (Bex). When Bex begins to spend more time around Marin, she's pleased and surprised to be called 'an old soul', and sees no harm in accepting a lift home from him one day when she's stranded. But things quickly escalate, and when he kisses her, Marin doesn't know how to react.

This book gets all that out of the way in the first 10-15%, and the bulk of the book details Marin's response to this disconcerting incident, and how the different people in her life react to this. As Marin tries to unpick her motivations and reactions leading up to the kiss she's not sure she wanted, her friends, family, and classmates offer different perspectives on where the blame for this lies - or even whether it's blameworthy at all.

I thought this book was really incredibly clever and well-written. Marin uses this experience as a springboard towards discovering feminism and outlining the disproportionate weight of expectations placed on teenage girls over teenage boys - something which permeates throughout adolescence and into adulthood. She writes for the school newspaper and begins a feminist bookclub, and begins to discover and interrogate the entrenched power systems in her school and her society. Her ongoing relation to her teacher and classmates, and the time it takes to process her understanding of what happened and the ripple effects moving out from it are incredibly real and compelling, and I loved watching Marin discover herself and the society around her.

With a supporting cast of characters that's an excellent depiction of how people's reactions can vary and a version of high school that feels very real, Marin's experience chimed with me in many ways, and I think will resonate also with teenagers now. Not bleak, but certainly not cheery, the effect of Bex and his actions in the school are far-reaching, and as we discover them along with Marin we see the race, sex, and class distinctions that are entrenched in modern society.

Marin is a great main character, not only because she feels very real, but because her blinkers are very clear. She begins the book seeing only from her own perspective, but she develops a view of intersectionality and the related issues of discrimination throughout the book, leaning on her fellow students to open her world view. 

Finally, the book is underscored by Marin's relationship with her Gram, punctuated by regular visits to her. A poignant and sweet relationship, Gram serves not only to add emotional heft to the narrative but also to remind us that these fights have been ongoing for decades and are far from won. 

Reminding me strongly of Moxie and The Exact Opposite of Okay, I'm definitely going to have to bump up the Katie Cotugno books that have been languishing on my TBR (and get my hands on some Candace Bushnell), as this thoroughly enjoyable experience - I devoured the book in only a matter of hours - is sure to be repeated!

Marin is a typical schoolgirl, harbouring a crush on her young English teacher, Mr Beckett (Bex), especially as he helps her and friend Chloe to edit the school newsletter. Then one day, he offers her a lift home one and tries to kiss her. Marin isn’t sure what to do, but when she finally tries to tell anybody about it, they don’t believe her, and even the school administrators brush it away. So Marin decides to take matters into her own hands, little realising the effect it will have on her life.

I thoroughly enjoyed Rules for Being a Girl. Marin is a strong character, well created and believable. Her actions, and reactions, to the situations that occur, especially her relationship with Chloe, helped the story flow.

A delightful feminism story, trying to show the difficulties young girls face in the modern world, without going over the top. And, although the main characters are still at school, it’s a story for all ages.

This a short quick read with some triggers throughout.

It's a YA contemporary with feminism interwoven into the storyline.

I'm glad I read this book because it portrays teenage girls trying to figure out the rules of society. Theres only a little romance in this so it wont be too distracting