Oof. This was a tough one. This book has a promising concept, but the writing is just not very good (it makes sense that the author started writing this book while she was in high school), the characters were flat and undeveloped, and the number of “issues” packed into the book are so unbelievable. Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the message it aimed for. The dialogue was nicely executed and the timing of the novel itself flowed nicely, which is usually the biggest downfall of young adult books for me. My only issue with this book was the scope it tried to reach. At times it felt like there were too many storylines going at once. I think this would have been a 5 star read if we got a stronger focus on one or two of the threads instead of on so many at once. Otherwise, I think this is a solid read and will definitely be reading more from Katie Wismer in the future!

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Even though I’m an avid fan of Katie’s Youtube Channel, this review and my opinion of it are completely unbiased.
Trigger warnings would include sexual assault, bullying, religion, anxiety, animal abuse. Very emotional and a impactful book. I loved this book. It had everything, love, friendship, high school trouble, LGBTQ+, family, and most importantly dogs.
I was hitting a ready slump when I picked this book up but from the first page I was addicted and could not put it down. It was a fast page turning read. For a debut novel, I expected it to be a three-star read but it ended up being five stars.
I went into this book not knowing much about the plot, so I recommend going in blind. I love all the emotion we feel from the main character Mare, and her problems with anxiety, I felt like I could relate to this character (and I have a white Maltese who is super hyper as well). Mare and her relationship with her sister were great. They fought sometimes but, in the end, they were there for each other when needed. The story line flowed naturally. The best part about this book is that it is unique. Most books now a days I feel like are basically the same stuff from another book. Vampires, Illnesses, Fae, etc. But this book was completely different and unique all on its own. I cannot wait to read more of this authors work. 5 stars!

This book is about high school senior Meredith. She's a preacher's daughter who doesn't believe in the Bible. When one night she drunkenly signs a pact to lose her virginity before she graduates she'll discover that there are worse things than being ignored in high school. When a mean girl posts the pact and suddenly she's the center of attention she never asked for her world starts to fall apart. Can she figure out how to fix her problems and graduate without losing hope?

Major Spoilers
This book made me feel but not in a good way. I had very negative reactions to this book not because the book was bad but because it was so good. The subject matter is what made it difficult to read but also made me want to KEEP reading. This book has so many heavy topics such as, teenaged bullying, religious abuse, animal abuse, rape and the main characters feeling of self doubt.

Lets start with the teenaged bullying. A mean girl Meredith is forced to collaborate with on a school project finds the pact and posts it all over school. Things like this really do happen in real life. There are bullies in all school and they do some pretty nasty things. It was interesting to see how fast the teenagers turned on Meredith. She's a preacher's daughter and the pact says that she's wants to lose her virginity which means she's still a virgin but over night people are calling her a slut. Why? Because she though about having sex? All teenagers think and do have sex. And this probably happens in real life which shows that teenagers can be dumb. Then the bullying escalates when she's forced into the trunk of her car and abandoned in a forest because the mean girl thought Meredith was flirting with her boyfriend. The logic of teens makes no sense.

Next lets discuss religious abuse. This is probably the part of the novel that made me the most uncomfortable. The parents are uber religious. Ok i'm all for religion I was raised religious but there's being religious and then there's hindering peoples human rights. You can teach your kids whatever you want but you can't force them to believe what you believe that's child abuse. Children will always separate from their parents it's a fact of life kids leave eventually and once they're gone they can do and think what they want.

When Meredith's parents find out about the pact they go religious on her and when she says she doesn't believe her father kicks her out of the house. You can't pick and choose when to be a parent just because you don't like what your kid did or said that's cheap.

Another section of the novel has a friend of Meredith's sister being sent away to presumably a "church camp" where kids are "brought back to the light". This made me sick and knowing that these camps exist in real life is disgusting this goes back to encroaching on people's human rights especially if they are kids. Near the end of the novel Meredith returns home to find out that her parent's have signed her up for one of these camps she is saved by her younger sister's warning. But that was one of the creepiest scenes of the book. Men coming in the middle of the night to grab kids to take them against their will to a "faith camp" is so vile I can't even explain how this made me feel. Luckily Meredith was saved because she is 18 and can't be forced to go somewhere against her will.

Everything about the religion in this book could be used to make kids not want to think about religion if it's this batshit crazy. Which I think is sad because religion can have it's place and can help people and there are nice religious people. But I think the point of the book was to be able to show the darker side of religion and that people don't all think or believe the same thing.

Also I hated that the dad tried to get the sex ed taken out of schools because it's not abstinence. If you don't want your kid to take sex ed that's fine but you're not God you can't make that choice for all kids, other parents have the right to teach their kids the way they see fit.

Side note: Why is Meredith's family French? It seemed kind of random I thought maybe the author was French but it doesn't seem that way based on their author profile. Did the author just want the family to be different? It just seemed like and odd choice to me.

Next lets discuss Meredith's feelings of self doubt about the events that happened to her and the attempted rape. Throughout the whole book Meredith thinks she isn't good enough even before the pact was posted. I understand some teens don't have self confidence but it was a little sad. I hate that at times she doubts if things are really her fault. Even though she repeats to herself that she didn't deserve what was happening to her it was hard to see her struggle. When she finally decides to ignore the pact and enjoy what's left of her high school experience she goes to a party and is almost raped. This made me angry and rape should but I was thinking to myself this girl cannot catch a break! I hate the "you were asking for it" comment. I don't care if you're a stripper or a porn start and you're naked or just a normal girl wearing "provocative" clothing, no one EVER deserves to be raped. Rape isn't about the victim it's about the attacker's lack of or need for control. Definitely another difficult subject of this book.

And I will finish with animal abuse. This one broke my heart. So Meredith volunteer at an animal shelter and there is this one dog that she loves called Squirt. An energetic little dog she is eventually adopted by a creepy guy. Now I thought at first maybe the guy knew about the pact and was there to see Meredith which would have been really creepy but it turns out he bought Squirt to be in a dog fighting ring. I have to admit that was the one really big surprise of this whole book I did not see that one coming. Eventually Meredith and her friends save Squirt but it was pretty scary.

Now after reading this review you might think I hated the book but I didn't. I gave it five stars because it made me feel and even though they weren't happy feelings any book that can make me feel so viscerally is amazing. The writing was done well and the plot made sense. I would 100% recommend this book to everyone but especially teens and parents of teens. This book would give everyone the chance to talk about all the topics I listed above and how to react to such situations. I definitely feel like this could be one of those books that is discussed in high school 50 years from now. This book was brilliant kudos to the author for tackling such heavy subject with tact and empathy.

Katie's debut novel is a fun adventure. I was not sure what to expect, not really knowing the synopsis. I thought as I started it, it was going to be like Heathers. It definitely had a hint, but was not the full extent of the story.
Katie takes a stance on religion through her characters, that I believe was done really well. She does not necessarily shame the believers or non-believers, but charges them to be open-minded and excepting.
As a Christian, I definitely can relate to the times where doubt and the "Christian" ideal are overwhelming.
Katie's characters were well rounded and I enjoyed their growth during the story.
My main "flaw" in the book was it had SO much going on, there seemed to be four different plots all going on and some of them were just unnecessary.
Other than that, it was an enjoyable read. Nice work Katie!

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC!

I really liked the concept of this book and it had a lot of potential to be something great. I really enjoyed the catalyst of the novel and how it took you on a wild ride - I mean, I did not expect to see a story about dog fights or assault and that was a pleasant surprise (nor did I expect her parents to be crazy!!).

Let's start with Johanna (the bestie): she had a storyline which could be further explored. I feel like we got started but then forgot all about her fling with the teacher (that didn't even start). I don't know. I feel like we don't see a lot of the rejection from the teacher and how this affects her. We see that Mare doesn't approve of the whole thing but there are no consequences from the rejection.

I think there was development to see more of Mare's controlling parents because what they do at the end kind of comes as a suprise since her parents seem so... normal. But maybe that's the thing - most people are normal and then go crazy and do things like her parents. I think more of a hint of it, however, would be better as Mare seems to be living a fairly decent life that her parents aren't too controlling of.

I like the relationship between Mare and Sam and the ending between them is EXACTLY what I wanted. The fact that they don't get back together is so realistic and I love reading a book that finally depicts a relationship where the characters need to distance themselves from one another in order to grow. I don't think we see enough of that in YA.

Overall, this was a decent book which made a good read!

This was a bit of a strange book. The storyline was fine, but I feel as though it lacked detail while also having too many plot points to follow.

The main character acts much younger than she is, and makes bad decision after bad decision.

It's not the worst book in the world but it was a bit all over the place.

I found myself disliking all of the characters, and didn't really relate to much in the novel.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this E-book to review via Netgalley.

This book was much heavier than I expected it to be, but I loved every minute of it. This is a great book to adopt into a curriculum because of the issues it deals with. The conflict of the story was very personal for me because I related to the main character, Mare, in many ways. Her character is a character that main young adults would be able to sympathize with and understand. This is a story about finding your voice and finding/learning acceptance. When you are dealing with issues such as religion, I have found, books can be preachy. But, that was not the case with this book. It handled the tough subjects with such care and with a lot of acceptance. This book flew by for me because it was so well written! I was immediately immersed into the world of Mare because of how strong the narrative was and was such a great character study. The reader really got to know her family, friends, school and home environments which were so important for the through line of the story. I will be checking out more books by this author and would recommend this as read for Educators. By the time I finished the book I had felt so many emotions: happiness, sadness, frustration, and anger, it was such a fantastic cathartic read. This is one of those important contemporary stories that everyone needs to pick up!

I received a preview digital copy of this from Net Galley in exchange for a honest review.

Mare, an 18-year-old high school senior, has little life experience beyond going to school, volunteering at the local animal shelter and being known as the preacher's daughter.

One foolish drunken teenage night, she signs the titular pact with her best friend thinking nothing of it.

She later begins a relationship with an old friend who she develops feelings for, which she doesn't know how to handle at times. Her friend attempts to strike up an inappropriate relationship with an older man.

Conflicting beliefs with mother and father, secrets she has to hide and hard time she encounters with peers makes times hard for Mare. Is it all worth it for her to get what she wants?

The author does a good job of making the characters ones you care about, especially Mare.

Also, the author does give a far warning of topics covered in the book, giving a list of potential triggers prior to the beginning of the novel.

I came away from the book feeling really frustrated.
The first half of this book I enjoyed, it seemed to be setting up a story about religion and having a difference of beliefs and opinions between a child and their uber conservative parents. I feel like following this plot aspect could have been so much more powerful and impactful.
Instead so much drama, which I personally felt unnecessary, was thrown into the story. Very important things were being brought up: slut shaming, assault, dog fighting, but it all felt so cheapened because it felt like it was there for drama, for action and this is where my frustrations with the story lie.
I can't stop thinking about what this book could have been and what it was.

CWs: sexual assault, religious abuse, animal abuse

The Anti-Virginity Pact is just what it sounds like. A YA novel about a pair of high school girls who are tired of being outsiders and decide to make a pact that they'll both lose their virginities by the end of senior year. Of course, a copy of the pact gets leaked and Mare, the protagonist who signed, finds her social life turned upside down. And not in a good way. On top of that, her ultra religious parents will not be happy to find out their perfect little angel was planning on having pre-marital sex.

I got an advanced review copy of this from NetGalley and I couldn't be happier I did. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. I thought it would end up being something semi-preachy about waiting for the right boy or ignoring high school expectations. Instead, it was a really great story about needing to focus on yourself before others. I guess that's still a bit preachy in some way, but I think it was a much better done version of what a lot of YA novels try to do.

Religion plays a big backdrop to this and I was pleased how it wasn't completely demonized, just the way it's weaponized against some people. Mare's sister, for example, is still portrayed as religious, without being prejudiced because of it. And Mare's parents are mostly normal if maybe a bit strict through all of it, until near the end, when they're suddenly doing horrific things in the name of religion, which might feel sudden to some readers, but I think it perfectly shows how sometimes parents love the idea of their children and are nothing but loving and caring until the child does something to disrupt that idea. It's harsh, but it's reality for a lot of kids.

Finally, one of the things Mare says near the end really struck me. Talking to the novel's love interest Sam, she says that she has things about herself she needs to work on before anything else. I loved that reflection of hers, however brief. That's true for so many people, especially at that stage in life, yet we rarely see it in YA. Usually, its the new boy or best friend or adventure that fixes everything, not some long, painful self reflection and improvement. And as for Sam [ I'm glad they don't end up together at the end. He was a great guy and a sweet boyfriend, but it was for the best he leave her and it really drives home the message that Mare doesn't need a boy to make her senior year perfect. She just needs herself.

Overall, this definitely earned the five stars from me and I hope it helps future young readers find a little more clarity during that awkward phase in their lives. If nothing else, I'm sure it'll be an entertaining read for them!

I loved this book. I enjoyed the main character and how her anxiety was appropriately represented. I loved how much you see the main character grow into who she really is and grow more confident. I do wish that things weren't resolved so quickly at the end. Everything was resolved in like one chapter and I felt like it should've been flushed out and more detailed. Overall I give this book 4 out of 5 books.

PROS:
- I think the author has got a really nice author voice/writing style that is great for YA contemporary. As I was reading it, I was reminded of reading some of the stories I read as a teenager. Not in the sense of a similar spot, the voice and writing style. It was clear and concise and well done. Not flowery, which wouldn’t work for this genre anyway.
- The teenagers did feel like teenagers for the most part. Although, I do think the main characters didn’t seem 18 at all. To be they seemed to be 14 or 15. Besides the college application plot points, I just imagined them as younger.
- I enjoyed the pacing in the first half of the book. I like getting acquainted with the MC and her family, friends and life.
- Sam was my favorite character. He wasn’t super unique or interesting, but he seemed like an average nice guy and seemed like a normal, believable teenager.
- The mom was the most well rounded adult. She clearly had her strong beliefs, but that was not all there was to her. She had interests and a personality outside of that.
- Again, SPOILER, but I really like that Meredith and Sam did not end up together. I hate when YA romances act like everyone will stay with their high school crush for the rest of their lives so that was a nice change and showed the growth/maturity of Meredith.
- Mere and Johanna’s friendship was believable. They had chemistry and I could tell they were good friends and had a history beyond what was written on the page.

CONS:
- The parents in the story, particularly the Meredith’s and Sam’s fathers, were like caricatures. They were just religious bigots and didn’t seem to have much depth to them besides being religious. Although we got a sliver of something more with the alcoholic angle, it wasn’t resolved in the end so I do think it could’ve been taken out altogether. Also, the tension in Sam and his dad’s relationship is the ever-so-common “you’re giving up your dream, son” “no dad, I’m giving up YOURS” which is a tad overdone. Like his father got upset that Sam was even writing for fun/on the side and even if he had his own idea about what his son should do, I can’t see him being upset over a hobby.
- The blonde mean girl was kind of one-dimensional.
- The dog fight subplot was really unnecessary. Obviously every author has a message they want to get across in their work, and I’m sure animal abuse was one of them. However, it seemed like just that, trying to add a message that had no bearing on the story. If you took out this subplot nothing would’ve changed in the story.
- The response of the school to the pact was a bit far fetched. Of course you need to ramp up the drama some in a work of fiction but high schoolers really don’t care that much about each other’s sex lives. And even if they did, I don’t think they’d resort to doing what the band of mean girls did to Mere.
- Speaking of the pact, I expected it to be more present/important in the story. Until the pact was revealed to everyone, it wasn’t mentioned that much. Which brings me to a point about the synopsis of the book. This was essentially a YA contemporary romance, which isn’t to take away anything at all. I think there are misconceptions that all YA contemporary romances have to be light and fluffy and I don’t think that’s the case. Even with the bullying and sexual assault plots here it still overall was a romance and a coming-of-age(-ish) story of a girl learning to branch out from her family. The synopsis I think describes it as a darker story than it actually is.
- Most of the religious people were shown as crazy. Characters either seemed to be an atheist or bigots, no in-between.
- The first (only?) black person in the story is introduced by having “the darkest” “most beautiful” skin. Eh.

All in all, I’d still recommend this book to people who are fans of YA contemporaries/romances. I’m quite a critical reader, so perhaps some of my gripes with the book won’t bother other readers. I think if the synopsis more accurately (in my opinion) described the book, my expectations would've been different and I'd rate it higher. Still, not a bad read. This is the author’s debut and as I mentioned, she seems to have a writing style that I can see flourishing well in this genre. I look forward to her next release.

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3297583700

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I really did enjoy this book. The one thing I feel really didn't need to be in the story, was the dog fight, but I'm glad it had a good outcome. That's just my personal opinion. I loved the characters, except for Mare's parents and had quite a few feelings while reading. I was happy and mad. This book shows just how teenage life can be and just how mean girls can be, and how easy it is to get everyone else to fall into that meanness. The whole rape ordeal feels too close to home for me, but I'm glad Katie allowed Mare to have enough brains and backbone to stand up for herself and go to the cops. Maybe that part will help others. I'm not happy with the way things ended. I would have liked to see Sam and Mare stay in a relationship. Maybe in the next book?

3.75 stars

I have no clue how to review The Anti-Virginity Pact. There was a lot of good and a lot of bad but purely on enjoyment, I have to rank it higher. I think that if one doesn't overanalyse this, they will find it a pleasurable read, but when you stop and think about things, you'll realise there are somethings very wrong with it.

Some trigger warning that I must give for this book are sexual assault, bullying, animal abuse, and problems due to religion. All parts play a fairly large part in this novel, so if any of those trigger you, don't read this.

In the book, we follow Meredith Beaumont as she enters a pact with her best-friend Johanna that they plan on losing their virginities before the end of senior year. Little did they know, Mare especially, that their senior year will be filled with much much more than just studying in libraries. As they try to fulfil the pact other problems start to arise... how long it is before things get out of hand, how long before Mare's parents?

For this rating I am going purely off of my personal enjoyment. The book hooks you right in the beginning. As you go through the story you are enthralled by a lot of what is going on, but you very much stay for the story, not anything deeper. The character work isn't great. Ashley, one of the "villains" (but not really), is out to get Mare and Jo just because she is the "mean girl". There is even a rip off of the Plastics from Mean Girls, except they are called the Pretty Committee. If I was reading this critically, as I usually do, major no-no points for all of this. The prose was mediocre. Sometimes dialogues cut off in weird places, but you get used to it and overlook it pretty fast. There is a weird teacher-student kinda-romance going on for half the book, which is very awkward because Mare tells the student that it is wrong and then the student turns on Mare. The pact kinda stops mattering for a third of the book at some point, but this is fine. The other areas of the novel are enjoyable as well.

I do think that a large part of this novel does a wonderful job of turning your attention to animal abuse and sexual/religious assault. I think that this was all done in a way that no one will get offended by reading the book.

All in all, The Anti-Virginity Pact will be a quick and fun read for many, if you look past some of the more troubling aspects.

2.75/5

Picking up this book felt like watching a friend get up on stage and perform a talent for the first time. I wanted to fall in love with this book and for it to be a page-turner but it fell flat for me. Katie Wismer definitely held her own with The Anti-Virginity Pact but there are elements of her craft to work out before she becomes the excellent YA author she has the potential to be.

I follow Katie’s YouTube channel and watch her videos here and there. When she announced TAVP, the plot drew me in. Meredith Beaumont is the daughter of the star preacher in her hometown. For the sake of her family and her sanity she agrees to dress up every Sunday and sit in the front pew but her family doesn’t know that she spends her free-time reading atheist forums and signing anti-virginity pacts with her best friend Johanna. She intends to keep it this way until a mean girl spreads her signed copy of the pact throughout the school, potentially ruining her relationship with her family and her new boyfriend.

Katie’s stated in her videos that she sometimes doesn’t know what’s going to happen in a story until it happens. At certain points in this story, I can see that showing through. There are unexplained time gaps between events, plot points are mentioned but not brought up again until much later, or there’s dissonance between what was said before and what actually happens. The end happens quickly while the first 100 pages or so are slowly paced. Jo and Mare sign the pact within the first few pages and it doesn’t become the main plot point again until the halfway point of the book. It feels like there wasn’t a clear outline established which confused me as a reader and created an incohesive story.

Meredith's internal dialogue was distracting to me. It came off as being omniscient while un-knowledgeable at the same time. Often, Meredith had monologues about social issues that felt overdone and preachy (ironic) and contrasted with her inexperience and lack of confidence in other areas of the book. It resulted in different controversial topics being glanced upon but not talked about in detail. It was trying to tackle too much at the same time.

I felt like there was a real opportunity to establish characters via dialogue and interaction with Meredith but we didn’t get much of that. Instead, there were heavy-handed descriptions and a reliance on Meredith’s internal narrative to establish the world. Inter-character dialogue feels like a throwaway at some points. Meredith’s parents could’ve been fleshed out so much more as bible thumpers through their interactions with other people but we don’t see it outside of the health class debacle. Her parents’ actions towards the end feel so sudden because there wasn’t anything leading up to it. Maybe it’s just my personal experience with Christianity but there was so much that could’ve been established about her parents’ relationships with other characters. Her sister and Sam don’t feel like outstanding characters in the story either.

Lastly, there are plot points and character quirks that feel randomly inserted in. Characters speak French at her family, Meredith says "mon dieu" several times throughout the book but we never get an explanation as to why other than that her mom is French? It just doesn’t seem like a plausible reason for it to be ingrained in her interactions. I would’ve loved Meredith to be a major French foodie or in love with her mom’s culture to explain this. There are other scenes that feel lifted from a CW TV show. For spoilers sake I won’t get into them but, they felt unrealistic and plot points of convenience.

Like I said before, the potential for a great writer is there. I loved the plot for the book and there are moments when Katie’s writing shines and I can see elements being carefully crafted, especially towards the end. I wish the whole book was written like that and there was room to let the plot breathe a little bit. I would love to see what Katie could do in her next novel or a couple of years from now.

I don't even know.
I love Katie's writing style....
But there was so much about this that didn't flow well with me. I didn't really enjoy any of the characters, they read younger than what they were supposed to be.
Also the use of a certain derivative slur for lesbians not one but like 5 times, and the dog fighting plot, AND the student religiously trying to have sex with her teacher...It just didn't flow for me.
I will definitely check out Katie's poetry work, and won't hesitate to check out any other novel she works on, buy this one just wasn't for me.

Thank you to net galley for sending me a copy of this book for review! I liked this book I just felt as if the characters were a little too immature for my liking. It didn’t feel like they were trying to lose their virginity when they still called their dad daddy.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review. I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. I really enjoyed up until about 3/4 of the way through. Unlike other reviewers, I did not find the main character all that immature or unlikable. I enjoyed reading about her family dynamic - an atheist living with super religious parents - and was entertained by the plot. I also LOVED that she volunteered at an animal shelter. However, the dog-fighting storyline is where this book lost me. It seemed to come out of nowhere, and it was kind of horrifying to read. I work in animal rescue and have seen enough of this stuff with my own eyes; I’d just as soon not read about it. I’ll be honest, I skimmed the last few chapters because I was so panicked that the author was going to kill off Squirt.

This book had a strong start, but couldn’t, in the end, decide quite what it wanted to be or to be about. The writing was strong, which is why I’m still giving the book 3 stars.

Overall, I'm very impressed with Katie's writing abilities! It's always weird, going into a book written by someone you follow online-- I never know what the quality of the work is going to be. But I can see Katie's hard work and innate talent in this book, and that's such a good thing.

There's much I liked about this book, though there are some flaws that stood out to me. For one, the "main plot" of the book (the leaking of the anti-virginity pact) doesn't happen until after the 50% mark, which made it feel like I'd been spoiled before I even started reading, since it was in the synopsis.

The characters were well done, and I appreciated that every character seemed to have their own life outside of Mare's. Some of the plot-lines seemed a little out of left field, but overall it was an enjoyable read.