This was such a great and important story which discusses the important themes of feminism and the inequality between men and women that can be seen in almost every aspect of life. Eliza is a strong, bold main character who fights for what is right with the help of her classmates when she is passed over for a role in her school newspaper that she has worked towards for years to a guy who has only just started. I loved the enemies to lovers plot of the story and I enjoyed seeing the rivalry she had with Len throughout the book start to turn into something more as they were forced to work together. As Eliza and Len develop their relationship and people end up finding out about it the book goes on to explore the reactions of the students and how women get compared to men when in exactly the same situation and how it’s almost always men that get a pat on the back while women get torn down and the unfairness of that.

This book also had lots of fun, cute moments within it between Len and Eliza and also had great friendships between the girls in this story and overall I really enjoyed this book and felt that it explored the important themes within it well!

“𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐛𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨.” ~ 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆 𝑸𝒖𝒂𝒄𝒉 , 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑩𝒆 𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒅

𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖
𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Not Here to be Liked
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: Michelle Quach
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Young Adult, Contemporary
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

𝐆𝐔𝐒𝐇:
• Distinct narration
• Eliza is said to be a dislikeable character however, I liked her. She is described to be “prickly” and she is. She’s intense, hard-working, and also sincere and genuine. I liked how we witness her learn and unlearn and learn. Her growth and journey was a pleasure to read.
• I liked how this book held an intersectional perspective view on feminism. There are no absolute rules and challenging the patriarchy is messy and complicated but the journey is so worth it.


𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤:
• A nuanced take on and the exploration of sexism and feminism from the lens of an Asian American main character.
• Thoughtful read and fun read. A great introduction to starting discussion regarding intersectional feminism.

𝐈𝐧 𝐚 𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞:
✔ academic rivals
✔ prickly main characters softening up
✔ nerd x jock (sort of)
✔ challenging the patriarchy!

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬: feminism (challenging, learning and unlearning), family dynamics, love and friendship, exploring and challenging gender and race-related stereotypes

𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫: fans of YA contemporary, Asian American (specifically a Chinese x Vietnamese background main character) readers looking for representation, readers looking for a fun and important read.

𝐂𝐖: sexism, slut-shaming

Thank you to @NetGalley and the publisher (@UsborneYA) for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠: 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐣𝐨𝐲.𝐜𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞.

𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦: 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘊𝘰𝘱𝘺 (𝘈𝘙𝘊) 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.

Wow! This was such a fantastic and remarkable read!

If you didn’t know already, this books follows the story of Eliza Quan, a Chinese- Vietnamese girl who’s been part of her school magazine’s team for a long time but ends up losing the position of editor-in-chief to a very new, less than qualified boy, Len DiMartile just because he’s more easy- going and ‘likeable’. For obvious reasons, she’s appalled by this and after an essay of hers talking about this goes viral, she surprisingly ends up inspiring a feminist movement in her school. But, as she starts working together with Len and getting to know him, she realises she’s also starting to fall for him.

Not here to be liked has your classic enemies-to-lovers romance with a high school setting but with a huge sub plot of feminism and all it entails.
This book really made me think about how embedded sexism is in all our minds. I LOVED the author’s writing style and how easily she managed to discuss SO many prejudices against women that are happening everyday but aren’t given much of a thought by us.

Though, according to the title, Eliza is ‘not here to be liked’ but she is in fact, a very likeable character. I loved how brave she was to stand up for what she felt was wrong. I could really understand Eliza’s frustration and struggle with misogyny and sexism existing in the society and I was also able to relate to her when she had conflicting thoughts about what is it to be a good or a bad feminist.

I also loved Eliza’s friends Winnona and Serena. Unlikely friendship is one of my favourite things to witness in a book and seeing these three together, who’re actually so different from one another was amazing!

The romance was utterly adorable! Len was such a sweetheart *heart eyes* and he definitely charmed me from the beginning!

We also got a good variety of Asian rep: Korean, Japanese, Cantonese and Chinese-Vietnamese. It was nice to know more about Asian ways of things like their culture, their beliefs, what things are like in an Asian household, the family dynamics, etc.

I not only loved that we got to know more about an Asian family, it also felt like a realistic portrayal because no family is actually perfect. We usually get dead parents trope (no offence meant here) to show a dysfunctional family in YA but a complete family also has it’s fair share of arguments and fights.

There were also so many discussions on very important things like:-

- How women are held upto certain beauty standards. They’re told what is beautiful and what’s not and how they’re taught from the beginning that beauty is what matters the most, which is extremely sexist so I appreciated that being discussed.

- Slut-shaming and how misogyny is internalized and so deeply embedded in everyone’s minds that automatically everyone assumes the worst of a woman.

- How misogyny exists in the most mundane of things, like song lyrics that barely anyone pays attention to but when you think about it, actually shows what some people still think about women.

It also focused on showing what feminism actually is compared to what people think it is. If you’re a feminist, it doesn’t mean you can’t be with a boy. Seeing Eliza’s struggles with having feelings for a boy AND being a feminist but then slowly coming to understand that both can exist was a nice addition to the story.

I’d say this book was definitely one of my favourite reads of the year. It was such an important read while also having light moments and a cute romance! I’ll 100% recommend it to everyone!

A huge thanks to Usborne and Netgalley for the e-arc!

Not Here To Be Liked is a compelling and entertaining story, with brilliant characters, which drew me in immediately. It’s also a powerful exploration of gender roles, stereotypes, hypocrisy, double-standards and the inherent misogyny and chauvinism that even girls internalise without realising. I love how it examines biases and misconceptions, challenges so-called ‘slut-shaming’, and shows how there is more than one way to be a feminist.

What’s also brilliant about this is that as well as gender stereotypes, it smashes the stereotype of the romance novel too. I absolutely loved the main character, Eliza. Referencing the Bechdel Test at one point, this book passes it with flying colours. Eliza’s friendships, family, activism and professional development are given far more focus than the romantic elements of the story.

Even better is that although Eliza grows during the course of the novel, she never once alters her personality or is motivated by the approval of others. Her own principles are what guide her, and though they might evolve, her core values never change. I was astonished to discover that Not Here To Be Liked is author Michelle Quach’s first ever book. Buy it for every teenage girl you know; I can’t wait to share it with my own daughters when they’re older.

I did not have any expectations going into this book and the first few pages immediately drew me in. Eliza seems like such a relatable character to me. She doesn't care about other people's opinions and doesn't want to be liked either; she's just being herself and doing her thing. However, going forward with the story, I started getting irritated because the book was suddenly giving me white feminism vibes. I don't know how to describe it but I didn't like where this was going. I think the author had good intentions but I just didn't quite get it.
I really enjoyed the addition of Serena's character and wished there was more of Winona's and Eliza's friendship because I felt like it got cut off a little bit short. The romance was okay, I didn't care for it as much unfortunately, but I do like Len as an individual.

3.5/5 stars

Not here to be liked is definitely an interesting read that I did appreciate for how it tackled certain themes, but in the end I expected it a bit more from it.

Eliza is the main character of this novel and I actually saw a lot of myself in her and in her not here to be liked attitude, she's just herself, she knows what she wants and if people aren't okay with that it's not her problem.
If there's one thing she really wants is to become the next editor in chief of her high school newspaper and she thinks she has this in the bag. That is until Len, a guy with way less experience, decides to run against her last minute and actually wins the position of editor in chief. Eliza is understandably hurt and mad and she pours all her feelings into an article that nobody is supposed to see, but that eventually gets mysteriously published without her knowing anything about it. This article becomes the feminist manifesto the school needs to finally start changing some things.

There was a lot of talk throughout the book about what it means to be a feminist and I appreciated these young characters talking about this topic.

What I wasn't sold on is the relationship between Eliza and Len, it didn't really work for me, even though I wanted to like it so much.

Overall this is definitely a good read that touches upon some interesting topics and for this I definitely do recommend it.

This book was really good! I would definitely recommend it to fans of moxie as it was quite similar in some points of the book. The message that this book put out was important and I love the title; it really matches the vibe of the book. I really liked how Eliza was developed as at first, I didn’t like her that much, however she really grew on me and I loved her by the end! This book dealt with misogyny in the school system and disciplinary system in a really good way, whilst also touching on topics in society and the way that people at her school gossip about incidents within the students’ lives, like one later on in the book. I loved the concept of the book and the writing was very good, however at some points I didn’t like the way the author went about writing those particular scenes as it felt a little bit awkward to me, however that may have been intentional. Either way, it was still very enjoyable and engaging and it was very fun to read. I loved reading about Eliza’s family dynamic as it was interesting to hear her parents’ story. I can’t wait to read the next book that Michelle Quan releases. I highly recommend this book, go and buy it when it’s out!

Thank you so much to netgalley and Usborne for the ARC!

This was a pleasure to read, Eliza and Winona are great characters and I wish more time had been spent on their friendship. It’s a great, uplifting book and I’m looking forward to recommending it to customers.

This was funny and entertaining! Plot driving and really addicting! Loved the characters and of course the family. Remembered mine , so I was smiling when I feel related to it. But the reason number one why I will be selling this book to my costumers is how much this read will teach them of the deal with sexism! Read it!!!

Not Here To Be Liked-Review

Author: Michelle Quach
Genre: Contemporary YA
Page count: 418 pages
Publication Date: 14th of September 2021

Such a great read!

Blurb;
Eliza Quan fully expects to be voted the next editor in chief of her school paper. She works hard, she respects the facts and has the most experience.
Len DiMartile is an injured star baseball player who seems to have joined the paper just to have something to do. Naturally the staff picks Len to be their next leader because while they may respect Eliza, they don’t particularly like her.
Eliza is not here is be liked. She’s here to win.
But someone does like Eliza, A lot
Shame it’s the very boy standing in her way of becoming editor in chief………

Review;
In this book the main book is feminism which I think Quach did a great job in writing into this story, The way it’s written brings a lot of light on the subject of feminism. Quach covered the theme of sexism and how men almost always have the upper hand. I really enjoyed reading this as it’s the first book I’ve read that has dealt with this topic head on which is amazing.
This book was filled with representation and diversity which was great!

When reading this book, I found that I could relate to lesson revolving the themes of friendship and family dynamics.

It was great to follow Eliza journey as she shined light on the sexism within her school and the great feminist friends she made during this journey.

At the start of the book Eliza seemed in very focus on school and intense but as I read I saw her growing as a person which is great!

Throughout the book there was great character development, great life lessons and the theme of accepting change prevalent.

I would definitely recommend to anyone especially if you looking for a quick read as its not super long. I would describe this book as short and impactful

Rating;
4 ½ Stars

TRIGGER/CONTENT WARINGS
Bullying
Sexism

I dont know where to start because i love the book. At first i was wondering about the title 'not here to be liked' i think i wanted to dont like Eliza but i really loved her because she isnt perfect, she try to question herself a lot on everything i can relate a lot to her and her questions.
I was afraid about the feminist subject but it was well written, I could understand what the author wanted to show us. At the end of the book we have a lot of questions about what to think about some situation on the book, that a good thing.
Now i need to talk about the the romance it was really soft and cute Len is a nice guy (i can't tell more because im afraid to spoil)
Friendship is a part of the book and I wanted to know more about Winona and Serena

'Not Here to be liked' has some ennemies to lovers romance, diverses book, asian cultures, féminist subjects.

Thank you NetGalley for the eArc

Im sorry for my english by the way it's not my frist langage, if people wondering the english is

This made me think of To all the boys I've loved before and the kissing booth, although it was predictable in ways I did still really enjoy it. It has powerful messages about sexism, feminism and friendship, the characters are fun to read about and go through a progression that seems quite natural if a little on the fast side.

A good solid story

First of all, I would like to say thank you for the review copy, which was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley. This fact does not in any way affect my personal opinion of this book. This post contains advertising and the rights for the book belong to the publisher.

Eliza's plan is to be chosen as the editor chief of her school's newspaper and it seems that she is going to get it. She doesn't have any competitors and thats a good thing as she is not a very social person. However, everything changes when Len, the injured baseball player is chosen instead of her. Eliza decides to write about the sexism existing on her school. Now Eliza is not only a feminist hero in her school but alsao faces backlash from some of the male students in her school.

Eliza was such a reliebe character. She was unlikable and stood up for her beliefs. Didn't care about what anyone said and just continued being her. Eliza went through a change during the book while finding new friendships and it was refreshing seeing her enjoying what once she though she didn't like.
Her relationship with Len was adorable and it felt so nice to see her slowly developing feelings even if Len liked her since the beginning

Overall it was a cute novel that explores feminism and friendship with a pinch of romance.

I absorbed this book, I could not put it down. Whilst there is a warning in the synopsis of this book for an unlikable female character, Eliza grew on me regardless. I loved how she questioned her values and was constantly growing throughout the story., She was a strong independent female character and I found myself rooting for her. Whilst this book was just told from Eliza’s perspective, I would have loved to see Len’s and how he felt at certain points of this story. He was a very interesting character and I really liked what we saw of him.

Eliza is an extremely hardworking member of the Bugle, the school newspaper. She begins the book as the only member running for editor-in-chief for the following year, however, once she arrives at school on the day of the election, she is greeted by Len running also. Ultimately, Len gets picked for school newspaper, which causes Eliza to angrily write up a manifesto about how Len was picked due to sexism as she has more experience and it appears that Len was running just for something to do. Eliza never plans for her manifesto to be published, as it acts more as an outlet for her anger and other emotions. However, the following day, her manifesto has been publishe and the whole school soon knows about her accusing them of sexism. What follows is an extremely interesting book about romance, finding yourself and, of course, feminism.

‘I thought you didn’t care about being liked’… ‘I can care about whatever I like.’

The author deals with the topic of intersectional feminism very well and I loved the way it was explored by each character and how it seemed to mean something different to each person. There were many different examples of sexism throughout this book, showing how boys could get away with cheating, how periods were something to be embarrassed of. I think it was really interesting the way this important topic was mixed in so well with a YA romance book. Eliza and Len are forced to work together, despite the fact that Eliza is campaigning to get him to step down. But very quickly, things get more complicated as Eliza realises that Len may not be as bad as she first thought and feelings become involved. Overall, this book was the perfect YA romance and had me hooked and I recommend it if you want some cute romance!

Eliza Quan is sure she is going to be the next Editor in Chief of the school newspaper Bugle as she is the most worthy and best qualified for the post. But her plan goes awry, when ex-jock, Len DiMartile surprises everyone by going against Eliza for the post of Editor in Chief, and wins. And all this is topped by a article by Eliza attacking the patriarchy at play in this election of the editor in chief, that is published by someone without her consent on the front page of the Bugle. This sets off a feminist movement at Eliza"s high school, attacking the supposed face of patriarchy, Len, and she finds herself in the middle of this movement but what happens when she develops feelings for the 'Face Of Patriarchy'?
Let me start by saying this was a brilliant read. A very well thought out plot with well developed characters and good representation with a whole lot of diversity. It examines what being a second generation Asian American means and how their lives are sometimes different from those of their peers. It also examines how the idea of feminism is different in different generations, with the help of Eliza's mom. It takes up the very important discussion of whether there is thing such as being a bad feminist? It touches upon various themes including internalised misogny in a very subtle way.It questions double standards and the casual sexism.
As the title suggests, Eliza Quan is not here to be liked. She wears the same grey cardigan everyday to sace her the mental power to decide upon how to dress everyday. She is critical, cold and an unlikable character at the beginning. But she soon grows on the reader.
The best part of this book was when Eliza questions whether her certain actions make her a bad feminist and when it also shows that how feminism can mean different things for different people.
What I did not like was how Len's actions which are revealed at the end of the book do not seem to make much sense. His POV would have shed some light on the motivation of his actions.
But all in all this was a pretty good read and I highly recommend it.

Stands true to the title. But wait... What's there not to be liked about Eliza? She's bold, strong, smart, observant, knowledgeable, hard working, speaks her mind and girl, I love her attitude and originality! Her romance with her rival, Len picks up at a realistic pace. Is this not how it's suppose to come about loving someone from hating him?

Not Here to be Liked is a burst of a book for teens and young adults and those that are at heart!

Thank you Usborne and Net Galley for the e-ARC.

'Not Here to Be Liked' follows high school student Eliza Quan, soon to be the next editor-in-chief of of her school paper-- the Bugle. Or so she thinks. Despite being completely unqualified and inexperienced next to Eliza, Ex-jock Len DiMartile decides on a whim to run against her and is voted into the position because 'he just seems more like a leader'.

Frustrated and outraged at the outcome of events, Eliza accidentally becomes the face of Willoughby's feminist movement. But theres just one problem; she might just just fall for the face of the patriarchy that she's trying to bring down along the way.

In this fast paced and beautifully written novel, Michelle Quach brings important discussions of feminism to the forefront, highlighting the struggles of being a woman and how unfairly many are treated because of their gender.

Everything about this book was brilliant, from the writing to the way it makes the reader really think about ongoing issues in society and how they affect people of all ages.

Set in an Asian majority area, 'Not Here to Be Liked' gives insight into Asian culture and sheds light on the lives of immigrants that travel to America in search of a better life for their family.

This book was truly a masterpiece and I learned so much from this read. The enemies to lovers trope mixed in with the fight for feminism and to understand what it means to be a woman in the modern world was excellently executed and written in a way easy for anyone to understand and relate to.

In all, 'Not Here to Be Liked' is a book not to be missed and I strongly recommend this read to anyone who is a fan of the enemies to lovers trope, contemporary fiction, or wants to learn more about feminism and its impact in the modern world.

Thankyou to Usborne and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Overall Rating – 5/5

‘Not Here to be Liked’ by Michelle Quach I think might be one of my absolute favourite reads of this year so far, it is so compelling, heart-warming and packed a powerful message, basically all the best things rolled up into one delightful (gorgeous cover) package.

The book itself is about Eliza Quan, a Chinese/Vietnamese US teenager who is running for her editor in chief role at her school newspaper the Bugle which she has worked for years to get. However, she ends up losing to a very inexperienced journalist Len DiMartile which sparks a feminist movement within her school - as the question begins to come forward ‘why is it that males have these roles of power given so easily to them?’ …Although, things do start to get a bit complicated when she starts to have feelings for the boy, ‘the face of the patriarchy’.

A wonderful contemporary ‘enemies to lovers’ YA book, which although being fluffy and delightful, tackles some BIG topics such as feminism, sexism, race and immigration and does so very well! The relationships written through the book were superb, from the dynamics between friends, the romance, to the family relationships where we saw the struggles of Eliza being a second-generation child of immigrant parents and the pressures this had on her.

The ROMANCE, it was sooooo cute. Len was a bit hot and cold so wasn’t sure where it was going but the development throughout the book was wonderful, and I loved them together!

Overall, fully recommend picking this one up as it was such a great read, I think many people will be able to enjoy this one.

Thanks to NetGallery and the publishers at Usborne Publishing for the advance copy.

Mu Rating: 4.4 stars
Not Here to be Liked is the best rivals-to-lovers YA book out there. It was a good commentary on teen feminism and immigrant issues. With its realistic portrayal of friendship, love, diverse Asian cast, it stole my heart with each turn of the page. I’m not doing justice to say how much I enjoyed this book by making this review sound so formal, but you’ll know once you read it. It’s a must-read, that’s worth the time and energy spent on it. Definitely gonna reread it soon!

Thanks to the author,publisher, and NetGalley for the ecopy.

I enjoyed this book very much, and found the characters believable and the portrayal of the angst of high school very well done. Characters are diverse, and the issues of different cultural backgrounds are beautifully handled in a natural and sensible way. Nothing about the inclusion of and focus on different cultures felt contrived and this is certainly a book I will recommend to friends and teens I know. The main theme of trying to hold firm to principles in the face of adversity had me rooting firmly for the characters throughout. I'll look out for other books from this author.

The reason I would not recommend it to my students is purely that it would not suit the ESL students I work with - Most of my students are too young for the book.