Even though this took me a little longer to read than I expected (because some of the scenes were pretty anxiety inducing for me), it was SO worth the time I spent with it. This book is a hard read for sure, but it was a very important one and I ultimately really liked it.

The rumors spread quickly at North Bay Academy. Popular track star Mike Parker's girlfriend has accused him of hitting her. She even told the principal. But, they wonder, why not the police? Why did she wait so long to tell? Why hasn't Mike been expelled? Some students at the school want to hold a rally--to expel Mike. But others aren't so quick to believe his girlfriend.

"But (of course), by lunchtime everyone at school knows, as easily and quickly as if they'd announced it over the loudspeaker: Sad Girl accuses Golden Boy of abuse."

This was an interesting book. It tackles a lot of heavy subjects within its pages. It also presents an intriguing format. The beginning of the book is told via archetypes: think popular girl; nerd; sad girl; the girlfriend, etc. It's a strange, almost gimmicky, format and meant it took some time for me to warm to any of the characters (especially since you don't know their names). Over time, the book grew on me, but it was hard to overcome that slow start.

There's so much going on in this one. Abuse, self-harm, drug use, mental health, eating disorders, and more. Please keep this in mind in terms of trigger warnings. I applaud Sheinmel and all she takes on. It's a very brave book, and the characters have a lot of depth. I think it might have had even more if the book maybe shortened its focus on just a few issues, versus trying to take on so many. Still, it's a very relevant story, and you can't help but appreciate how it tackles such big themes and emotions. I can see how it would be helpful to young adults. Even I found myself identifying with one of the characters and growing to root for all of them. 3.5 stars; rounded to four here for the powerful topics and messaging.

***Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free ARC in exchange for an honest review***
Let me first say that this book has a LOT of trigger warnings. They’re even listed in the front of this book, which i really appreciated. They include: cutting, bulimia, relationship violence, coercion/manipulation, physical violence, victim blaming, slut shaming, and bullying.
That being said, I really enjoyed this book. It tackled all of these really hard and really important issues and showed how important it is to stand up for what’s right, what you believe in, and yourself. It was a perfectly paced story that took on a sensitive story and showed the different perspectives that it was made up of.
While it has a lot of dark themes, it also is a story of acceptance and love and supporting one another. Overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit and I would recommend it for anybody who wants to read a YA contemporary book that deals with the tough stuff.

Ohhhhhh it’s so hard to review this without spoilers. I’ll keep it short and sweet. A book that tackles issues of violence, drug use, homophobia and bulimia. A deeply affecting novel that manages to deal with serious issues whilst maintaining an engrossing and fast moving plot. Thanks tot he publisher and netgalley for the arc.

I always appreciate difficult & important topics such as domestic violence being spoken about in YA. I thought the characters did really read as teenagers and not as an adult trying to write as a teenager. I liked the POV style at first but the connections were revealed too early and it just seemed kind of pointless after that. it also got suuuper repetitive which meant I started skimming through some parts. I never really felt connected to any of the characters except for Junie. the ending was also SO unsatisfying and I didn't feel like we got any conclusion whatsoever.
overall, I think this story touches on SO many important issues and a lot of people will be able to connect to it and feel impacted by it. personally it wasn't a fave.

This story is really close to my heart. Although I never was in an abusive relationship. I have been abused by someone I loved so I really connected with the main character Maya in this story.

This is a dual perspective novel with a twist. We follow two main characters Maya and her best friend but each chapter title is broken up into the different types of labels that they are associated with. For example: the popular girl, the anxious girl, the bulimic, etc. I really loved the way Alyssa did this and proved that there are many labels associated with people that no one really sees.

What kind of girl does not just discuss relationship abuse but also discuss mental illness and how much people suffer in silence so people see them as “normal”. These hard topics are discussed and written with the utmost care, empathy and attention.

In my opinion I feel like the abuse in this story was accurately described and it truly showed the teeny tiny signs that an abuser takes control and starts their abuse. Although this abuse turned physical it also showed the mental and psychological abuse that starts before the violence like the isolation, control and so much more.

The main message in this novel to stand up for yourself and it’s okay to speak up which I really really loved. This story was not a five star read for me because I was left a little disappointed at the ending. I wanted more and wanted to find out what happened with Mike.

This is definitely a book I believe that everyone should read. It is such an important story and I truly believe that you will learn a lot from this book about abuse and mental illness.

An excellent read which explores the impact of physical abuse on the two main characters, the abuser, their families and their school. I really enjoyed how earlier chapter titles are based on aspects of the two main characters' personalities and identities. It was nice to see how the growth of both characters by the end of the story. This is the second novel I have read by the author and I look forward to reading more.

A young adult aged novel that explores themes of substance abuse, domestic violence, self harm, and sexuality. Written in a clever way, What Kind of Girl follows teen girls as they face societal expectations in the fast-paced, gossipy high school atmosphere. With no names, only self-given titles, we follow The Bulimic, The Popular Girl, The Pothead, The Abused Girlfriend. We see their interactions with family, friends, their abuser. We are given access to their emotions, to their decision making, to the truth. We know what others are whispering and thinking, we know how it's making them feel, but until the very end we don't know everything. There is a grand reveal, one I certainly didn't expect, that really tied this book together and made it jump above four stars for me. You see, we all take what society thinks of us and allow it to impact how we dress, act, feel, and Alyssa B. Sheinmel captures that in this book perfectly.

Written in a format that allows you to really step into the narrators shoes, What Kind of Girl is a heavy novel that forces readers to recognize that the hardships we'd like to pretend do not touch teens still do regardless of our pretending. It's emotional and raw, presenting readers with a relatable story that reminded me what it was like to not have a single version of myself at that age; I had no idea who I wanted to become or what I wanted others to see of me yet. The narrator(s) question their own opinions of themselves, we see them work through the beliefs they think others will have of them, we see them hide the truth from their parents afraid to speak up. The societal expectations the girls in this book feel are accurate, they're felt by women of all ages, and Sheinmel delivers a powerful story about those expectations and the harm they can do to us, both from our own actions and others.

I really enjoyed What Kind of Girl quite a lot, it's written with a punch, leaving an impact on me even as a reader well above the age group for the novel. It's a story about judgement and acceptance, about discovering oneself and the support needed when those expectations all become too much. I'd call it a coming-of-age story that is more up-to-date on the times than the romances we all like to believe in.

Hi all!
Today I am back to review another new release - What Kind of Girl by Alyssa Sheinmel. This literally came out two days ago, so I hope this post inspires you to add it to your TBR list. I received an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this book from NetGalley. It is a contemporary YA novel that follows two different POV's. The first is from Maya's perspective, who reports her abusive boyfriend to the principal. The second is from her best friend Juniper's perspective and how she supports Maya, as well as dealing with her own troubles. As with every review, I am going to be very honest, discuss my thoughts and tell you if I feel it’s worth checking out. Without further ado, let’s get into it!
Trigger Warnings: physical abuse, sexual abuse, self-harm, bulimia, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety and substance abuse.

 This is a snapshot from my NetGalley account
WHAT THIS BOOK DOES RIGHT 
This book raises an extremely important issue: how females are treated in the aftermath of abuse. When Maya reports being physically assaulted by beloved sports star and academic Mike Parker, the students (and teachers) at North Bay Academy scramble to take sides. Instead of rallying to support her, a lot of them ask 'why didn't she report him sooner' as though it was her fault. They question why she went to the principal instead of the police. Did she do something to provoke him? Mike is such a good guy, he would never do that. I appreciate how real this book is. A lot of the time, when a woman is abused by a man, she is told she is lying. There is a lot of boys will be boys talk and how Maya shouldn't let this one thing ruin Mike's career, as if his actions were minuscule. It takes a brave person to stand up, especially in high school, and demand justice.
I was a fan of the character development in this story; particularly from Juniper. She is perceived as an extremely beautiful and put together girl, but behind closed doors there is so much insecurity and suffering. This highlights another pivotal message: that we cannot always claim to know what a person is going through just by looking at them. 
The writing was powerful and cutting. Alyssa did a good job at weaving the two stories together. There is also a ton of representation, not only mentally but physically. We have LGBT characters, characters of colour and a huge list of trigger warnings that I have mentioned at the beginning of this post. I feel it will connect with a lot of teens and make them feel seen/heard. 
WHAT THIS BOOK DOES WRONG
It's very difficult to write about eating disorders without it influencing young girls to develop one. Unfortunately I feel like the author didn't do a good enough job at protecting readers from going down the same path. The character with bulimia is described as quite thin already, but she obsesses over a bit of extra weight here and there. There is no real resolution at the end where she realises she's beautiful as she is. I worry about the ramifications this may have on readers. 
Furthermore, the book structure itself is quite odd. It starts off with chapters titled: 'The Bulimic', 'The Popular Girl' etc and then when it is revealed to be Maya and Juniper, the chapters begin with just their names. It felt a bit unnecessary for me.
OVERALL STAR RATING
I gave this book 4/5 stars. I truly enjoyed it and felt it was very relevant/relatable. 
If you are interested, you can order a copy here.
I hope you enjoyed this honest review. Let me know your thoughts down below. I appreciate all feedback. Thanks for reading!
Peace & Love xoxo

3.5 Stars

What Kind of Girl covers many difficult topics-- domestic/dating violence, cutting, bulimia, drug abuse, and even sexual orientation in that one of the main characters is a lesbian. The story shifts POV, making some of the story repetitive--slowing the pace. The message is powerful and is an important mirror/window book for YA audiences.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3143844372

A book on real world high school topics such as bulimia, cutting, date abuse, divorce, etc. Maya and Junie are best friends but they are keeping secrets from each other. When Maya finally reveals to the principal what has happened to her, word gets around and the school is torn as to whom to believe. There is a rally scheduled to protest date abuse to change how cases are handled at school. The beginning was a little confusing as chapters were labeled as titles so trying to figure out that but then changed to names so less thinking involved as to who was talking during that chapter. Lots of hard subjects to cover but overall, a good read. Will be recommending to our school library. Thanks to Ms. Sheinmel, Sourcefire Books, and NetGalley for an advance read copy of the book.

An absolute must read. Engaging and at times heart breaking. It's a book that should be read by everyone. Make sure you have plenty of time for this wonderful book because you won't want to put it down. Happy reading!

Alyssa Sheinmel was an author I recognized from a previous review I did of her book, A Danger to Herself and Others. I thoroughly enjoyed that novel and was excited to dig in to this one.

I want to start by saying I love how Sheinmel always writes books about hard hitting issues! Mental health is a focus a lot and What Kind of Girl focused on bulimia, cutting, abusive relationships, and mental health issues such as anxiety. It’s still rather taboo for writers to really write in depth about these types of issues because they aren’t “feel good” thoughts, but I think we need to read about them and Sheinmel does a fantastic job of bringing the reality of these issues to light. She writes them well and realistically without sugar coating like a lot of other stories do.

I loved Maya and Junie in this book. They both had some serious issues going on, but even as best friends had no clue the struggles the other endured. I think that stands true to people who think their weaknesses will cause others to run away. May and Junie were interesting characters to read about and learn more of. There were so many layers to each of them that the entire first half of the book had chapters labeled by character type instead of name.

The one issue I had with this novel was the fact that it was a bit confusing in the beginning with the character type as the title. I wasn’t sure who I was reading about and that left confusion. I guess the author was likely going for a point here with the fact that people have different personalities they keep to themselves, but I felt it caused more confusion than anything good. It also retold the same part of the story twice. Once from one perspective and once from another. Again, probably aiming for a vision of how people view things differently, but really I was just ready to move on with the story. I also didn’t love the ending completely. I feel the girls stories wrapped up, but the main one about the boyfriend was kind of left hanging. That was disappointing. I wanted to know what happened.

With that said, I still gave this book a 4 stars because after that initial beginning, the confusion went away and we really dug into the feelings and realities of the situation these characters were in. It was deep and not happy in the slightest, but it showed personal growth.

If you like teen books, but also some of the dark and dirty realities of the world, this book is for you. A true coming of age story about dealing with your internal struggles and learning to accept them and accept help. Love Alyssa Sheinmel and I’ll be picking up her next book when it comes out.

This is a difficult but important read. Alyssa Sheinmel is back with another hard-hitting novel that tackles domestic abuse, ED's, and anxiety in her latest novel.

I will admit that I totally did devour this novel in basically one sitting despite having a few issues with it. I really enjoyed the aspect of the story were the girls included weren't named yet and we were left guessing who they could be. It left a lot of intrigue to the story but once it was revealed the story felt like it fell a little flat. I also wasn't the biggest fan of the ending of the story, it seemed pretty underwhelming and dissatisfying. Normally, I am okay with a sense of open ended ness when it comes to stories like this but I think this time around I may have preferred a little more closure.

Overall though, this was still a really great read and I can't wait to read more from the author in the future.

*sigh*

This one is heavy.

“No self-respecting girl would stay with a guy who hit her.”

What Kind of Girl is more than just a domestic violence story.

It’s about two best friends who are both going through extremely trying times in their lives, but don’t reach out to each other for support. It’s about the expectations put on a person by their parents and peers, the assumptions that are made from onlookers, how trauma can drive a person towards self-harm, and the importance of mental health.

“I need you to come with me. I need you to say you’re too worried about me to let me go. I need you to stay that you’ll love me whether I change the world or not.”

This book is told by Maya and Junie, two teenagers who are best friends but find themselves suffering alone. Maya is struggling with the repercussions of telling her principle that her boyfriend Mike had been hitting her, as the entire school divides itself and chooses sides. For Maya, the situation is just as confusing to her as it is to others. On the outside, her relationship with Mike seemed perfect, and most days, even she thought so. Mike is the responsible and stellar student, the track star. He is popular and nice to everyone around him, which makes it so hard for students to believe that he was abusing his girlfriend. Throughout the story Maya professes her love for Mike, how sweetly he treated her and how he didn’t want him to get in trouble for fear of him being expelled and losing his scholarship.

“It’s hard to believe he would ever do what he’s accused of doing. And if he did, maybe he didn’t mean it. Maybe it was an accident. Or maybe it was justified, somehow.”

Maya always saw herself as a girl who would stick up for herself and immediately tell someone if she was being abused, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen like that. A lot of times victims stay in their relationships because they think that it could have been an accident, that their partner didn’t mean to hurt them, that they just got angry and lost control for a second. But other times it goes deeper. Manipulation plays a huge role. The abuser will not always be the screaming and violent character that is usually portrayed. Some abusers take the opposite approach. Soothing voices, promises of love and respect, ignoring the fact that they have hurt their partner, and learning how to control with their words.

“Now, when I think about it, the bracelet reminds me of a handcuff.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t the only thing in Maya’s life that is causing her harm. She is bulimic and uses purging as a way to stay in control. Though she is a beautiful girl inside and out, she see’s herself as needing to be thinner or better. Her thoughts on when to eat, when she can throw up, how much food she has consumed takes over her thoughts and places her in an even more isolating place than she already was. To see how her bulimia and abuse were intertwined broke my heart, and all I wanted to do was give her a hug and tell her she wasn’t alone.

“His fingers wrap around my upper arm. Sometimes he held me there instead of holding hands, and I’d see extra flesh in between his fingers. I don’t remember if I noticed that before or after I started throwing up.”

The other half of this story is told by Junie, Maya’s best friend. Junie is yet another beautiful girl who struggles with her own demons. She suffers from OCD and panic attacks, intrusive thoughts that leave her dissecting conversations and putting herself down, and cuts herself in order to finally quiet her mind and be still. Junie fights to be the strong and self-assured woman that her parents believe and want her to be. Their high expectations of her to be an activist, to stand up for what is right and make a change, weighs on her greatly. Whether it is her parents, her girlfriend or her peers, Junie feels she must be a leader and shouldn’t have issues like OCD. She sees these things as immense weaknesses and the reason for why she thinks nobody wants her.

“So I went deeper again, like I thought maybe I could cut out the bad parts, the lonely parts, the needy parts. The parts that were sad about being alone. The parts that explained why I was alone in the first place.”

This is my second story by Alyssa B. Sheinmel, and it was just as amazing as the first book I read by her – A Danger to Herself and Others. This author knows how to talk about real mental health issues, and display them in a way that is equally beautiful and heart-achingly sorrowful. It’s as if she reaches inside a person’s mind, body and soul, extracts their fears and quirks, and displays them like she’s lived and breathed every aspect of who they are. Her writing and expertise on mental health is superb and she gives a voice to so many people who are struggling or feel lost.

As I suspected it would be, this story was beautiful. It is a gentle portrayal of some very serious topics that so many of us have been affected by, whether it be personally or through a friend or loved one. This author makes these characters so realistic-they have flaws that compliment their stunning attributes and voices that want to speak but just don’t know how. Yes, this book is about mental health and abuse, but it’s also about finding self-love and the importance of friendship. About reaching out when something is wrong, and not worrying about how other’s will look at you or judge you.

“We may suffer alone, but we survive together”

-Aly Raisman

What kind of girl stays with a boyfriend after he hits her? This is the question that one of our two protagonists continues to ask herself because she stayed for several months and she doesn’t know why. It’s a question that occurs to her peers, her BFF, her parents, etc. She even wonders if the abuser (Mike) knew she would keep quiet.

“But then, why did I wait? Why didn’t I come forward sooner? What kind of girl stays after her boyfriend hits her? What kind of girl gets hit in the first place?”

“No self-respecting girl would stay with a guy who hit her. I don’t care how many times he apologizes or promises not to do it again or tells you he loves you.”

“Maybe the kind of girl who gets hit in the first place is the kind of girl who stays. The kind of girl who cheats rather than leaving.”

Maya even tries rationalizing the abuse and why she stayed with him. She questions her feelings for Mike after reporting him to the principal. She considers all her feelings — such as both loving and hating him — and the questions she ponders are pertinent and reasonable.

“I thought it wasn’t that big a deal. I thought it would stop, eventually. I thought it was worth it if I still got to be with him. It seemed like a small price to pay for how good things were the rest of the time.”

“I’m supposed to hate him. I’m supposed to hate him because he hurt me. The problem is, I can hate him for hurting me and still love him for the way things were when he didn’t hurt me.”

Maya even contemplates whether the term domestic abuse applies because typically we’ve heard it in relation to a married couple. But alas, it does apply.

“Does domestic violence even apply to us, to Mike and me, a couple of teenagers? We’re not married. We don’t live together. Like my mom said, there’s no house to sell, no child custody to negotiate. We have our whole lives ahead of us. In one of the articles I read last week, I saw words like dating abuse and relationship violence. Are those the right words?”

The other protagonist is her best friend Junie who suffers from a different form of abuse - self-harm in the form of cutting. Sheinmel paints an incredibly rich and realistic picture of such a person and how this behavior is a coping mechanism. I never completely understood what drives people to cutting aside from a self-destructive tendency and this book opened my eyes to the motivation behind such behavior.

“...made a tiny cut on my inner thigh. And I felt better. It was a relief, like all that energy finally had a way to escape. My heart stopped racing, my hands stilled. I had one thing—the pain—to focus on, and suddenly it was easy to concentrate on that, and only that.”

What Kind of Girl is a powerful story about two teen girls as they navigate through their issues and their worlds. Both girls’ inner dialogues add a rich layer to their stories and makes them very real and three-dimensional. Alyssa Sheinmel excels at creating teen characters that are very believable that you really get to know. She presents a very realistic portrayal of someone in a dating abuse situation.

The book touches on many themes relevant to young women today — besides dating violence and self-harm, bulimia is also explored and dealt with in a realistic way. The consequences for the domestic violence, committed by the school’s “golden boy,” is another important issue that is introduced into the story. Should Mike be expelled? If he is, he won’t get the scholarship he is counting on to attend college. Interestingly, the school did not have a policy in place for this kind of behavior and Sheinmel sends the message that they should. This is my second book by Alyssa Sheinmel and I look forward to her next one.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

From a young age, I knew that “domestic abuse” was when a man hit his wife, and that it was wrong, and that no woman should ever tolerate that kind of behaviour. Dr. Phil was my main professor on the topic, bringing women on stage to tell them in no uncertain terms that it was not okay. It took much longer before I realized, “Oh, wait, women can abuse a man?” and even longer before I caught on to violence in LGBTQ+ couples and emotional abuse.

WHY? Um, simple. Unless you’re experiencing one of these situations first- or second-hand, no one is talking about them. Schools are not teaching students how to handle relationship abuse. Parents will drop the “treat my daughter well, haha!” line, but who believes their child is being battered/manipulated?

The fact that Sheinmel wonderfully illustrates in her novel is that we don’t expect teens to deal with relationship abuse. So we don’t prepare them for it.

I haven’t started talking about What Kind of Girl yet, but in a way, I am? This book has made relationship abuse—the survivor’s emotions, the relations’ feelings, the courses of action—accessible to teens. (Who enjoys reading What to Do if You’re in a Bad Relationship pamphlets?)

Mike Parker’s girlfriend, Maya, is a mess of emotions throughout the book. She struggles with self-identification after coming forwards to her school principal. Is she still “Mike Parker’s girlfriend”? Is she only “the girl who was abused” or “the girl who lied about abuse”? I have not experienced relationship abuse, but Maya’s thoughts gave me insight into some of the feelings a person may have during or after an abusive relationship. I hope some of that insight may help me help someone else one day.

Aside from Maya’s relationship, What Kind of Girl deals with bulimia, self-harm, self-medication, and self-image. Each topic was given its time to expand and be explored. The endings to each plot point could be called HEAs, as they are resolved quite timely, but I had no issue with this.

OVERALL

4.5 stars and an Aurora rating for a book that truly showed up with clean writing, sharp plot, and a strong message. While I loved the characters in this book (I mean, obviously not Mike), the message of this book resonated with me more than Maya and Junie.
representation: main character with OCD and anxiety (mental illness)
content warnings: bulimia, self-harm, relationship violence, emotional manipulation, panic attack **some scenes may be triggering**
read this if you: want to learn more about relationship violence or get better insight into the thoughts of someone with bulimia/who self-harms **bearing in mind this is not own-voices**

This was a DIFFICULT book to read. If you have had any type of abuse, trauma or ED you will want to skip this one. I had to skip several passages because it was just too much detail. I can appreciate that this book is important and talks about issues that people should talk about but the detail was too much at times.

When an act of violence rocks a small California high school, the students are left to try to piece together what actually happened, and who among them they can trust. Maya has shown up to school with a black eye. A black eye she says her boyfriend Mike, North Bay Academy’s golden boy, gave her. Mike has his own version of events, one that perpetuates the violence as an accident. But who is telling the truth? As the students divide themselves into Team Maya and Team Mike, both Maya and her best friend Junie work to fight against those who say that Maya must have brought this abuse upon herself, as well as their own inner battles.

YA author Alyssa Sheinmel returns to the writing scene with What Kind of a Girl, a novel which explores the abuses we inflict upon each other, as well as those we exact upon ourselves. Topics covered in this honest and inclusive novel include partner abuse, bulimia, cutting, and LGBTQIA relationships. Sheinmel’s intended audience, teenage girls, will relate to Maya, and how high school feels like a fishbowl, with your peers watching your every move and forming unwanted opinions about the choices you struggle with and make.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This book is difficult, and hard to read as it talks about subjects that affect many people. This book has the ability to approach these hard topics in a way that makes you think about them long after finishing the book. It took me a little longer to read this book than it normally would have, due to the intense material, I had to take breaks.

The way the author told to stories and the raw emotions that came through to the reader was jaw-dropping and incredible. Alyssa has a talent of conveying these hard emotions so well on paper. People need to be aware there are a lot of trigger warnings throughout the book, so if you're sensitive about any other the following topics, I would recommend you stay away from this book: Self harm, abuse, homophobia, drug abuse, and bulimia. If you're not the type of person to be triggered by these subject, I highly recommend you pick up this book because it can completely shift your views and cause you to really think about things you haven't before.