Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Really liked this one. It picked up on some really good topics which I haven’t seen explored very often. I haven’t really seen much if any talk surrounding this book and that’s quite sad in my opinion as it was a good book. I can see why not everyone would like it but it’s definitely worth a go

I did not enjoy this read, which is what usually happens when you give me a very unlikeable main character. She was quite whiney and annoying.

This was really hard to read, i disliked Bethany so much. I didn`t at the start, but eventually she became whiny, complaining and mean. She was cruel to Ash, Christian and basically everyone around. She and Curtis did not exactly have the chemistry i was looking for either.

POINTS is the first YA novel from author Lisa Doyle. It's about unpopular teenager Bethany and her bestie, new girl in town Ash. Just as the girls are tiring of obnoxious guys who treat them like objects, they discover a points system designed by Bethany's older brother which he used to rate the girls he dated. The girls decide to steal the system and use it on guys. As you can guess, things get out of hand, the girls learn a valuable lesson or two, and that's pretty much that.

The book felt very predictable, which was disappointing as Doyle's first novel, an adult fiction novel, has some surprises in it. POINTS was also a much shorter novel, and maybe that's why the characters and story didn't feel as developed as they did in MILKED. The points system, for which the book is titled after, wasn't even that big of a focus in the book. It's like this thing that started then sort of faded into the background then reappeared toward the end. The story felt rushed, again maybe because it's so short and things seemed to wrap up too quickly at the end.

There is a definite theme of feminism in this book, with the girls starting their own feminist club at school. Overall, it's a YA story that will probably resonate with teen girls but I think I'll stick to Ms. Doyle's adult fiction novels.

•Character development- 4☆
• Story Plot- 3☆
• Side characters- 2.5☆
• Flow of the story- 4☆
• Overall - 3.5☆

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review. Thank you for the opportunity.
A quirky and fins tory flipping the traditional system of guys rating girls.
A good read.

An interesting book that approached feminism in a brilliant way. I found it very light-hearted and easy to read but it still effectively addressed many important issues. I loved how the characters were portrayed, Bethany in particular. She made many mistakes but ultimately learned from them, which helped to show her growth as a person.
Overall an enjoyable and empowering read about feminism, self love and more.

I wanted to like this book. but the feminist messaging was undermined by the main characters' complete focus on boys. The whole entire book was about Bethany and Ash being mistreated by boys, getting back at them by ranking them, and being obsessed with their social status. They have zero other interests and no redeeming personality traits. Plus, for a book called "Points," it took a third of the way through to even get to them finding the "rate the girls" spreadsheet. I was bored the whole time.

The concept of the book certainly interested me, but for me, the book's intended feminism and message of equality just didn't come through. For the vast majority of the book, you see Bethany being completely selfish and boy-obsessed, hiding it under the guise of girl power, and although she later acknowledges this, the harm was done. Bethany was not a character I could empathize with, and her attitude just wasn't it for me. She is the picture of privilege, yet views herself as so different and unique from everyone else in their town and complains incessantly about her status as a "loser". The plot twist of Ash and Christian was certainly an interesting one, a bit of a variation from the typical YA romance, and Ash's character was certainly a bright spot for me. Overall, I found the idea interesting, but the book just didn't live up to that potential.

This was a refreshing read with relatable characters. It was nice to see Bethany grow and mature as the book developed and see glimpses of characters in more than 2-dimensional caricatures of classic tropes. Overall it is a light and easy book that addresses important issues for young people.

Previous review:

I have to admit I haven’t finished reading! And I feel awful. I definitely love the concept and right from the start I love the characters. I expect to be done tomorrow, but since it released TODAY I want to throw the word out!

From what I’ve read so far, Bethany is living in a 1950s-esque cookie-cutter community where men work and women stay home and girls do not play sports as they are cheerleaders for the boys. But Bethany isn’t having that be her life. This makes her an outcast who is still invited to EVERYTHING because not sending an outcast an invite is unacceptable manners to parents’ friends’ children (aka dads are golfing buddies so kids need to ‘get along’). She lives most of her school life wondering why this is the situation.

Then she breaks it (or at least tries to-I’m not there yet) with the help of new friend, Ash, who just moved to town. And she does this by taking what her ‘perfect’, ‘do nothing wrong’ older brother created and shattering.

If you have not yet heard of this feminism-filled book about two high school girls, you should definitely look into it! Expect a full review as soon as I finish reading!

Final review:

This took me way longer to finish than I expected. When I first wrote the review for release day I had only read about a third of POINTS and had loved every second of it.

Shortly after that the tone of the book changed and Bethany became a totally different person. Yes, it was plot-driven and made sense, but I hated her. She went from rebel to spiteful and had everything going perfectly. The middle of the book really felt like a drag. There was no real conflict and no consequences for her actions.

The end improved with the introduction of a new character, or really just the great focus on them. The character was what I wanted from the book to start. Honestly, I think I just wanted someone who felt wholesome after everything else that was going on.

I did still enjoy the book but I wish the beginning matched the rest of it. Or really that there was a smoother character transition throughout to really have it hit you out of nowhere.

Still, female empowerment in high school is something I can always get behind!

Points follows Bethany and her friend Ash, who are tired of facing sexism in their school and relationships. So they start using a point system to rate boys.

I am going to be honest, I did not like the book, it was too short, everything happened so quickly. The characters had nearly no personality and I could't empathize with anyone.

Points by Lisa Doyle is a book that focuses on Bethany and her best friend Ash, who decide to use a points system to get their own back on the boys in their town.

The plot within this book moves pretty quickly, which does work, but I would have preferred a longer book, with more opportunities to delve into things and understand the characters in more depth. I did find it a little difficult to engage fully with the characters due to the lack of depth and the short length/quick pace of the book. Personally, I felt this detracted from the story and left me wanting more. I also felt that while the plot was good, it became a little predictable in places, but made for a nice easy read.

The book’s title, ‘Points’, references the points system that is used within the plot. However, I didn’t feel the book was overly reliant on this, which was a bit of a shame as I assumed the premise was about the points system and thought that some details overshadowed it slightly in places. Usually it’s the boys using a points system for girls however the points system being used for deciding when to break up with someone, rather than just simply rating on attractiveness or similar attributes, was a different take on this plot. It was also refreshing to see the girls using this rather than the boys. It was nice to have a book that was about girls taking control in a way that wasn’t too serious, raising important points in a lighter way. Elements of the story appear to be a fresher, modern take on how feminism affects girls today as they are growing up, which is a positive change!

There was a focus on the girls being a little ‘boy obsessed’ and occasionally came across as them being a little childish to me as an adult reader. Despite this I felt it was appropriate for their ages and I remember being in high school, talking with my friends about the boys we liked and being consumed with whether the boy we liked would finally ask us out.

The different encounters with boys were a little humorous and added the light-heartedness that I had hoped for and I could imagine this being an early 2000’s film, with a bit of comedy and romance mixed in with a few elements of those typical high school ‘mean girls’ vibes.

I finished this book in one sitting, finding it to be enjoyable and a page turner. I know this is something that I would have loved as a teenager. While this book did feel a little on the short side, I have since found that this is book 1 in the Snow Ridge series, so I have high hopes for the other books in the series and look forward to reading them.

Thank you to Netgalley, Lang Verhaal Company and Lisa Doyle for providing me with a free arc in exchange for my fair and honest review.

Points follows Bethany alongside her best friend Ash who are tired of getting treated badly by the boys in their town and hatch up a plan to get back at them by using a point system.

The book is really short and maybe if it was longer I would have liked it more, everything just seems to move so fast and the main aspect of the plot which I was interested in, is underdeveloped. The book starts off with a fast pace – the first 25% of the book rushes through the events leading up the girls deciding to take up action on their own and because everything happened quickly it made it hard to connect to the story and the characters. Also, Bethany was a hard character to like because she has the ‘I’m not like other girls/other people in this town’ and although this does change I do not think her change in views was addressed in depth. To be honest, there were a lot of things brought up in the books which was good but they were not addressed well and glossed over too quickly.

I did not mind the plot of the book, it was predictable but I expected that, my issue was that not enough time is spent on the various plot points. The point system is used by the characters for a short period of time and then it moves on to something else which I found weird as it was the focus of the book and the character development is rushed – her realisation on the wrongs she is doing happens so quickly in the book. I did think the ending section of the book was really cheesy and that the book was rushing to wrap up the various issues all at once.

1/5

A lot of us, if not all, feel like we don’t fit in at some points in our lives. Being a teenager, it is even more so true, and Bethany knows this all too well. So when Ash moves into town, life doesn’t seem as bleak anymore. Then a series of unfortunate boy encounters follows, concluding in the discovery of the Point System, which puts an unexpected twist in Bethany’s story. This is the concept that sounds painfully familiar, guys assigning points to girls, but now the tables have turned. The reality, however, is that you can’t right a wrong by committing the same crime.
The novel is reminiscent of Mean Girls and somewhat of John Tucker Mush Die. I found it enjoyable and empowering, and would be interested in reading the following books in The Snow Ridge Chronicles.

This was a fun and easy read. I read it in one sitting. This book has a mean girls vibe.
I just didn't get the whole point system, but maybe I am to old.

3 stars.

I received an eARC from netgalley for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book and it was a fast read. There were major "Mean Girls" vibes happening. I thought the evolvement of the MC was well done.

I did think that the point system was a little backwards. Instead of points for good behavior and breaking up with someone who was treating you well before they beat you to it they should have had a point system for poor behavior and once the max was reached they ditched the loser. 🤷‍♀️

A light, fun story that also incorporates female empowerment, sexism and self worth. I enjoyed this book and found that it got its point across without being too heavy handed.

Bethany and Ash are a best friend duo out to help their small town achieve equality between men and women after seeing how differently they are treated. Both of them have had some bad experiences with guys in their past and don’t want other girls to be treated this way anymore. They make some mistakes along the way and learn a lot about themselves and the world and come out much better people by the end of it.

I really enjoyed reading this book and couldn’t put it down! I found myself feeling what the characters felt, even second hand embarrassment at times and felt fully immersed in their world. Being from a small town myself I understood the things they were going through and it made me wish I would have stood up for myself in the way that these brave characters did.

Points was one of the wildest rollercoasters I've ever been on while reading. I turned pages faster than I thought I would. This book was a very empowering story about women's rights and being a good person. It really made me take a step back and evaluate how people treat each other, especially in high school. While nothing as dramatic happened to me while I was there, I know that people do go through these types of issues and it is so good to see something like this printed and put out there for teens and young adults to take advice from. I hope that more books like this get published in the future and we can actually start making a difference in the way that we treat each other and the world!