Member Reviews

"There are friends you make who don't deserve you, and then friends you make that you don't deserve"

I love this quote so much because it perfectly encapsulates this entire book. This book is just a love letter to friendship, and the journey to loving yourself. The idea of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and then realizing that doesn't mean changing your entire personality.

Liv is a great character with a very strong voice. I love how this book showcases female/male friendship. How it is possible for guys and girls to be friends, that's not an unheard of concept.

So many facts were brought up in this book that made me feel just so seen and validated. The fact that Double Consciousness is touched on in this book during a scene where Liv's mother is late picking her up. The concept of always seeing yourself through the world lens. As W.E.B Dubois said, you feel your two-ness, as an American and as a black American. Liv is very aware of how it looks, her mother being a black woman who is late is a stereotype that she doesn't want to have projected onto her.

The concept of code-switching is brought up during a scene in a mall with her friends. A concept that I personally have never seen touched upon in a book before. This ability of being aware of your surroundings and switching your speech to fit the current situation.

The sex positivity within this book is amazing. The fact that a woman isn't a slut for having sex and girls can have strong friendships with each other without the competitive aspect.

This book encompasses being a black teen and a thick black teen at that is stunning. Liv comes to love her body and how having hips, thighs, boobs and a butt isn't something to try and hide in massive clothing. How it is her body and she should never feel like hiding it.

I loved everything about this book and I can't wait to see what Francina Simone does in the next book!

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Smash It follows the story of Olivia who is a girl trying to navigate her way through high school. She decided that this year will be her “year of yes” in order to push herself to try new things and be more confident in herself. So she decides to try out for the school crucial along with her friends Dre and Eli (which she has a crush on). Will she be able to conquer her obstacles in her senior year?

I love Olivia, Dre, and Ei so much. They reminded me of the Three Musketeers as friends. You can really see that they care for one another and like how they a little tight knit family. The characters in this book are so entertaining. and even though their personalities clash from time to time, they still still make for a lively cast of characters. I could relate to some parts of Olivia’s character since I’m a shy and anxious person by nature. I’ve also done similar “yes” projects on my own to try new things. It may be scary for Olivia, but the payoff is that she grows in confidence and in life experiences .

I appreciated how this novel is relatable and realistic too. The story is not only partially a romance with a friends to lovers trope (the love triangle build up was interesting) but a story about coming of age. Each character especially Olivia has to make some different decisions that will affect her life and overcome great obstacles. It’s something everyone deals with at some point in life and high school those decisions are heightened. There are so many crossroads to chose from and we’re unsure of which way to go.

This book also shows that relationships between family, friends, potential crushes aren’t always clean cut and can get messy at time. It is a part of life and how things are handled will determine how things work out. When love is thrown into the midst it gets a bit tangled. Also I loved the idea of Othello the musical. Don’t know if it’s real or not, but this one gives me Hamilton vibes. All of Olivia’s theater experiences reminds me of when I did musicals back in school and fun/hard work of putting a production together!

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I really enjoyed this. Smash It! is an honest coming of age story where the characters felt real and not over the top. The language and dialogue used between the characters didn’t feel over the top trying to sound cool as some YA contemporaries. Weird love triangles usually aren’t my thing but this one, although awkward and as an adult infuriating sometimes (just COMMUNICATE kids!), it was written realistically and I could actually see this happening with teenagers. The theater theme was really fun and a setting I don’t see too often. I loved Olivia’s growth throughout the novel. This is a great story for teens. I can’t wait to read more from Francine Simone
4/5

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I feel bad, but I had to DNF this book very early on. She works at the same place I'm furloughed from and it made my anxiety shoot up every time her job came up. (probably not a reason I ever though I'd DNF a book.)

Once I'm back or have a different job I'll probably pick it back up again.

I did like the character development so far and really resonated with Liv, she reminds me of me in high school.

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I'm so disappointed and I am not okay with this book. I was beyond excited to read a story about a young girl who falls in love with herself and spreads a positive feminine image. I WAS WRONG. There were so many times I came close to DNFing, but I kept going because I knew I had to give my honest review and share my issues with this book, since it seems to be a popular title.

There were so many problematic things within this story, but let's start with the main character, Olivia. Olivia is such a selfish and unlikeable character. She is not the role model I was hoping that young girls would have in this book. She constantly complains about her situations in life instead of doing things to change them, she only has confidence or validation when others give it to her. This is extremely problematic for young readers. As someone who was a lot like Olivia growing up, the never having validation within yourself causes you to seek it in all the wrong places. For me it was men and men who took advantage of it. I was groomed at the age of 12 by an older boy and was robbed of my virginity. Olivia's character BREAKS MY HEART!!! This is not what we want young kids to read!!! They need to learn to love themselves just the way they are. Nothing needs to change. Olivia's disregard for others feelings was completely appalling as well. The ease at which she moved from one crush to another with no regard for how her actions made others feel is RIDICULOUS!! Selfish people are what's wrong with the world right now!!

Moving away from Olivia, it's time to talk about the completely and utterly unacceptable "jokes" made regarding the Palestinian and Israeli character. ARE YOU GUYS SERIOUSLY GOING TO PRINT THIS?! GENOCIDE IS NOT A SEXUAL JOKE!!!!!! WE ARE LIVING IN 2020!!!!! AND FROM AN AUTHOR OF COLOR?!!!!!!! NO!!! NO!!!! NO!!!!

Also if I'm not mistaken this is marketed as a young adult novel. Young adult is classified as the ages of 12-18. Please tell me why there are so many FUCKS in this book?!! I cuss like a sailor in my everyday life, but I do not want to cuss around a 12 year old or have a 12 year old reading all the fucks in this book.

As you can tell by my review I am so beyond disappointed in this book and hope you as a publishing company will seriously reconsider your final prints of this book. If I could I would give the edition I read NO STARS.

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I had to DNF and that's a shame because the premise was interesting but god, it was a slog to try to get to. ''The cover is gorgeous however.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

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This one was a disappointment. I was excited to read it based on the premise, but was tempted many times to DNF due to offensive content in the book and by the author on Twitter.

I liked the way the main character was initially portrayed as proactive, and a change-it attitude, but it just went downhill when her snarky attitude became cynical and acerbic, filled with horrible jokes.

Shortly into reading, I was turned off by the way Simone chose to characterize other people of color and make light of genocide. I just can't get behind a book that uses offensive language towards marginalized groups of people.

Overall, I love a story that shows fierce girl power, of making positive changes and going for what she wants. However, Smash It! missed the mark and was disappointing and offensive.

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Smash It! An #ownvoices, mature YA novel, that is a retelling of Othello, while also recreating Othello as a high school musical.

Black teenager in a predominantly all-white high school, trying to throw caution to the wind and find confidence and a passion in life so that she can be less shy, less quiet, less invisible, and grab life by the horns. Her life revolves around her 2 best friends, Dré and Eli, along with her mother, sister, and old coworker, Al.

Olivia, the main protagonist, is taking the advice of Shonda Rimes, after her book, “The Year of Yes,” and is taking the jump into the land of “f*ck it!” to become someone she’s never been to achieve things she’s never had the guts to try. The book focuses on Olivia’s growth and progress she makes in this year of “f*ck it” and all the mistakes along the way.

“I”m not wasting another moment standing on the sidelines. I’m not just going to try out. I’m going to say yes to everything that scares me. I’m not gonna let anyone - most of all, myself, punk me anymore.”

1. “Be bold - do the things that scare me. 2. Learn to take a compliment. 3. Stand out instead of back.”

It’s very mature for a girl in high school to realize her deficiencies and want to work on them to get better and more well-rounded. I do appreciate that fact, but I think that’s where it ended for me. The rest of the book, and the stream of consciousness narration really put me off while reading this book. I honestly didn’t really like the dialogue, and I felt that the premise of this story has already been done. There are a ton of clichés, overused tropes, insensitive jokes, and micro/macroaggressions that aren’t dealt with, and I just couldn’t enjoy this book like I wanted to. It was cringe-y to read in some places, and I felt bad for all the characters who had to deal with Olivia.

One thing that I did appreciate was the body positivity that happens with Olivia and her female friends. The discussion surrounding self-affirmations, sexual freedom, avoiding fat shaming, loving on yourself, and just taking care of who you are was nicely done.

Overall though, there was too much white gaze in this book for me to enjoy, and I didn’t like the stream of consciousness narration. Although it was an #ownvoices author, the book had 2 black people in it?? Aside from Olivia’s family, including her cousin, mother and sister, Olivia was like the only black character? Lennox and Jackie may have been of color, but not sure if they were black. I honestly had to look again to see if the author was black because I didn’t really get “authentically black” from reading this book. The main protagonist also mentions how scared she was about how others see her blackness, and there is that care for the white gaze that just didn’t do it for me.

There are some entertaining parts, and of course the high school drama, but I wasn’t that impressed and I don’t think I will be reading the next installment. I rate this book a 3.5.

Thank you to Inkyard Press and Francina Simone for providing me with this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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DNF @ 42%
I honestly was really vibing with this book at first I mean I really love the representation and the positive influences and depictions of body positivity. I even was really excited about the love interest or at least what I thought the love interest was going to be. This book just contains many instances of cultural appropriation and after seeing it a couple times in the early pages of the book I hoped that it would get better but after reading reviews I have seen that it only gets worse. Unfortunately I couldn’t get through this book but I hope that with time the authors next book will be more culturally aware.

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Thanks to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for the advance Kindle copy of this 9.22.20 release. All opinions are my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. Tired of being plain and shy, Olivia decides to live her life by a “F*ck It List” for the year. She tries out for the school play, along with her two best friends , who are both gorgeous guys who are insanely talented. As she tries to figure out what she wants Olivia alienates those around her, including the guy she truly loves. This would be a great pick for high school readers - there is a LOT of talk about sex.

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Ashley was the black kid in the school and among her friends. The story took place during the Rodney King verdict and dealing with issues of policing of balm. This story was told Through The Eyes of Ashley and her friends. The story is about race, friendship, love, drama, and being privileged. I like the perspective that the author was trying to portray. Very interesting read. I would love to read more by the author. I give it five stars.

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Yeah...there was a lot of weird stuff in here but I stopped reading once I got to:

"You didn't tell me you live next door to Exotic Mulatto."
"That is so rude. His parents are Israeli and Palestinian."
"Damn. I'd let him holy war up in me."

I don't think a book can or should come back from shit like that. I don't care that it isn't the main character saying it or that she "[doesn't] even try to explain to her how fucked up that is." The book absolutely lets that slide without addressing it in the slightest and I'm done.

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DNF due to offensive content in the book and used by the author.

I wanted to love this book but shortly into it, I was turned off by the way they chose to characterize other POC and make fun of genocide. Not a fan of that sort of writing nor the author's recent comments on Twitter. So, I chose to DNF this read.

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Admittedly this took me many chapters to find the groove-perhaps I was waiting for them to hit the stage (theatre nerd that I am at my core). I'm loving the women empowerment, sex positivity that this book oozes.

That being said, perhaps a bit too much sex talk for me personally-that language was making me blush! But teens are going to really enjoy this book. I think it is one that is full of rich, real experiences and they will find relatable characters in these pages.

For librarians: This is definitely a book for older teens. So be wary of language and sexual content in reader's advisory.

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I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I’ve watched Francina Simone’s BookTube videos on occasion and have appreciated her insights on booki, as I sh topics. So, I was excited to hear she was releasing Smash It! The premise also appealed to me, as I loved the concept of someone deciding to embrace life and stand out from the crowd.

I did really like the musical aspects, and I love the interstitial bits between acts with excerpts from it. I also thought it was kind of cool how “Othello” also related tangentially to Liv herself as a character.

But while I appreciate “hot mess” heroines,” Liv was a particularly well-executed one. I did like the commentary from her perspective of her being Black in a mostly white school, and not wanting to be held back by her insecurities. And Simone (and every Black author) should be allowed to write a book that isn’t centered on racial trauma. However, the issues Liv does have feel rather silly and petty. I can understand it from a teenager’s perspective to an extent, as some are self-centered, and she does in a way come into her own through the story’s events. However, it still felt a bit much.

There are also some offensive jokes that get made completely uncontested. The anti-Hawaiian racism was particularly shocking for me. These were from secondary characters, but unfortunately, this made Liv’s character further stand out as out-of-touch, especially given this would have been a perfect time for BIPOC to connect over their shared experiences of being subject to racism, instead of continuing to perpetuate division. While I haven’t seen any updates on major changes to the book in this regard, I do hope that these have been addressed in final edits prior to release.

Problematic content aside, I feel my main issues are subjective and due to the book being better suited for the teen audience. I could see how, with a bit of polish to clean up the absolutely objectionable bits , how an angsty, insecure teen might relate to this.

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Thank you to the publisher, Inkyard Press, for providing me with an ARC of Smash It! in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Gist
A few months ago I saw a book promotion for the upcoming Fall publications and Smash It! got a lot of attention.

I checked it out and hoped I would have enough time to read it once it was published.

One could only imagine how lucky I felt when I found out Smash It! is one of the books included in the Fall Reads Blog Tour I’m participating in.

Based on the book blurb, Smash It! meant to become a sure hit with me. I mean you’ve got a spirited young woman of a minority group, ready to make some positive changes in her life.

Now that I have read it, I’m sitting here with a heavy heart and a hankering for tacos, trying to find the right words to express how I feel about this story.

The Details
The protagonist is proactive and has a good head on her shoulder. I liked her attitude: she doesn’t like something, so she is going to fix it.

Unfortunately, the story went a bit sour for me.

I understand that at the beginning the protagonist might feel a little defeated, unmotivated or even sarcastic. I get it. We have all been there.

But there is a fine line…ok, maybe not that fine a line, but there is a difference between funny, sarcastic comments and cynicism. Add a side of massive judgement to her cynical attitude and the product is something that doesn’t go down easy for me.

The protagonist, also the narrator, made some quite nasty comments regarding other characters.

In addition to that, the reader has to deal with a stream of consciousness writing style. The problem with such a writing style is that at some point the information starts to just wash over the reader.

Little details get lost in the run-on sentences; the very detailed and winding descriptions to the point that I lost my focus.

Another downside of the stream of consciousness writing style is nuances and details that are important have a tendency of disappearing among the long paragraphs.

I had to read a section three times to myself and once out loud to make sure I understood a point correctly. The story included jokes, but the more I paid attention to it, the clearer it got that they were actually offensive and should not have been said.

These bad jokes, together with the cynical and very judgemental attitude made for a highly uncomfortable reading experience.

The promising premise could not save this story for me. It got lost among the many attempts at being…funny? Badass? I’m not sure what the author tried to do here.

The Verdict
Overall, I could have really used a story that showed some fierce girl power. A portrayal of taking matters into her own hands and making positive changes. Going for it, making her mark.

Sadly, Smash It! had the exact opposite effect on me. Sorry, but this one wasn’t for me at all.

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Title: Smash It
Author: Francina Simone
Genre: YA
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Olivia "Liv" James is done with letting her insecurities get the best of her. So she does what any self-respecting hot mess of a girl who wants to SMASH junior year does...

After Liv shows up to a Halloween party in khaki shorts--why, God, why?--she decides to set aside her wack AF ways. She makes a list--a F*ck-It list.

1. Be bold--do the thing that scares me.

2. Learn to take a compliment.

3. Stand out instead of back.

She kicks it off by trying out for the school musical, saying yes to a date and making new friends. Life is great when you stop punking yourself! However, with change comes a lot of missteps, and being bold means following her heart. So what happens when Liv's heart is interested in three different guys--and two of them are her best friends? What is she supposed to do when she gets dumped by a guy she's not even dating? How does one Smash It! after the humiliation of being friend-zoned?

In Liv's own words, "F*ck it. What's the worst that can happen?"

A lot, apparently.

This is billed as a re-telling of Othello, except it’s not. Not even remotely. The school musical Liv ends up doing is Othello (a rap version, no less), but that’s it. Solid writing and diverse characters, but those were the only positives for me of this book.

Liv herself is…immensely selfish. She’s so self-involved she doesn’t even notice her two best friends’ lives imploding—and not in the way Liv’s does (because she’s so selfish she brings disaster on herself). I’m all for owning your own life, but you shouldn’t do it at the expense of those around you. And Liv does. She’s awful to her mom and sister, to the guy who likes her, to hew new friends, and how she treats her two “best” friends is atrocious (With friends like Liv, who needs enemies?).

Francina Simone was born in Germany. Smash It is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Goodreads review live now, blog link live 9/22.

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Liv had been pining away for her best friend and allowing her insecurities to keep her from new experiences. Fed up with missing out on so many possibilities, she took a vow to say "YES". This new philosophy won her a part in the school play, some new friends, and a possible boyfriend, but saying "YES" also came with some bad decisions, which might result in the end of her longest friendship.

I read Othello a very, VERY long time ago for school, and never really looked back. Therefore, I did not find myself looking for the parallels in this loose retelling. What I did find was an entertaining story of a young women taking some chances, making a few mistakes, and learning several life lessons along the way.

Five Things I Really Enjoyed about SMASH IT!

1. Olivia was fabulous! I found her to be a very open and honest narrator, while also being extremely amusing. I related to her fears and was proud of all the chances she took. Yes, I did wince at some of her missteps, but she learned and grew from each blunder. She recognized when she was wrong, and attempted to correct her errors. Growth is always a good thing.

2. There was romance in this book, but the main biggest love story was about Olivia learning to love herself. She was insecure about her size and how she looked. She was always being compared to her cousin and wondering why the boy she adored wasn't interested in her. This lack of self love was a big obstacle for her. It was one the main things, which kept Olivia from stretching her wings. It was great to see her gain that self confidence and shed her need to blend in, thus allowing herself to finally shine.

3. This book was very sex-positive. One of the storylines revolved around Olivia wanting to have sex. There were open discussions about intimacy, and I appreciated that different points of views regarding sex were presented.

4. There were some great friendships in this book. When I first met Olivia, the trio of her, Dre, and Eli was strong. They had been friends for many years and their memories of one another ran deep. But what I really loved was the friendship that developed between Olivia, Jackie, and Lennox. This was women supporting women, and it was great seeing that in this story. There was also an adorable relationship between Olivia and her senior citizen co-worker, which was super cute and also quite meaningful.

5. So much delicious drama. I was reading this book at the right moment, because I ate up all that drama. Sometimes it might have seemed over the top, but I was into it, and it kept me flipping those pages.

Even though I have a thing about awkward love triangles, I found I really enjoyed this book. I think I was in the mood for some drama, and there was lots to be found here. I also liked the overarching themes, the idea of being more honest, trying new things, seeing the possibilities, and learning to love yourself.

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I have very conflicted feelings when it comes to this one.

One the one hand, I found the writing and the sense of humor to be enjoyable, Francina has a very clear and defined voice that I really enjoyed getting lost in.

On the other hand, the story itself and the characters that populated it did very little to engage me and, often, I was very frustrated by actions of characters and the direction the plot went.

Olivia was a difficult character for me to root for. For the first chunk of the book, it was a lot of "I'm not like other girls, I'm quirky and weird." The first scene sees her attending a Halloween concert but choosing not to wear a costume because...she didn't think anyone else was going to wear one? Or something. And the rest of the book felt like more of the same. I was happy to see her sort of come into herself and find some confidence, but at the same time, she then went to the other extreme of being kind of mean to people that clearly cared about her.

A lot has been said about the (incredibly) offensive Israeli-Palestinian conflict joke, and that is definitely problematic in itself. Perhaps equally as upsetting to me was Dre (one of the main characters and, ostensibly someone we should like) making jokes about a character's Hawaiian/Polynesian heritage and the ONLY reason Olivia actually calls him out is because she thinks he's making fun of HER for liking him. Meanwhile, he's actually being incredibly racist and it was hard for me to get on board with Dre at all after that.

There's a lot of turns in the plot that just confused me. It became clear to me that "Smash It," while also being a sort of catch phrase the drama club uses, refers mainly to Olivia's desire to lose her virginity. Which *****SPOILER ALERT*** she does.

This sets off a chain of events that just further confused me, each one ended up feeling like a conflict that came out of nowhere and did very little to draw me further into the storyline.

I'm a HUGE fan of Othello so I was looking forward to reading a YA retelling of this story, but one of the best parts about about a retelling is getting to see the characters in a new way. It was really difficult for me to actually see this is a modernized Othello, though.

Overall, I didn't hate it (or even really dislike it), it didn't fill me with rage or vitriol the way some other books I've read this year, but I didn't love it as much as I wanted to.

I look forward to seeing what Francina writes next because there are real glimpses of promise here, all the pieces just didn't come together for me.

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Liv is a perfectly messy MC.
I enjoyed living inside her thoughts and sharing giggles, getting angry, sad and confused alongside her.
As much as I loved Liz, her supporting cast really brought it and made her shine even brighter.
Much love to NetGalley & Inkyard Press for my DRC.

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