UGH! I really wanted to love this book. I was hoping it was going to be empowering, inspiring, recommendation- worthy. I was excited for strong female protagonists, and a modern day Nellie Bly - or at least a high school Nancy Drew.
But, alas, I was sorely disappointed. The writing is amateurish, the characters are not at all original or interesting, and everything is very one dimensional. The characters aren’t very likable and they never really form - they’re all very amorphous and boring. The “strong women” aren’t. The book dragged and it took me far too long to finish it because I kept getting bored and putting it down. It was almost a DNF for me.
I think the most upsetting part, for me, is that the credit foe the big “twist” - the realization that leads them to figure out the key to the identity - is given to a male character. What a waste! What an insult!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the manuscript.

Following books like Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson, 'Revenge of the Sluts" show the ugliness of victim shaming, invasion of privacy and the struggling of not only emotion but the reaction from those affect and those watching.
The realness of this book is what makes it so important and good; dealing with a group of girls who have their nude photos leaked and dealing with the harassment from those who were once friends is so important in today's world, showing that support can be where you want it and also where you least expect it.
While I loved the plot and the reflection of real-life situations, my issues with the book fall on Eden, the main character, not being the strongest or impactful pov & the unfortunate fast conclusion towards the end, that didn't meet my expectation.
I believe this book is 3.5/5 stars.

The whole concept behind this book was quite intriguing. It tried to be feminist centrally but failed to live up to its premise. Adored that we got a korean main, but rest of the it just fell flat and overly filled with stereotypes. The catty behavior and girl on girl shaming is just overused especially amongst the mean girls trope. While reading a lot of parts felt repetitive with conversations never being resolved. The whole setting was just overly exaggerated and I wish I loved this book and the writing style more sadly.

For a YA novel, I did not think I would enjoy this book nearly as much as I did. Instead of seeming like trivial, high school drama, I felt I was hooked into the suspense of this book and solving the mystery of Eros.

When nudes of seven girls are sent to all the students from Eden's high school, Eden and her best friend (and fellow future journalist) Ronnie know that the situation has to be published in the school news paper. Eden interviews the victims and uses all the information for her search for the culprit, As Eden does her research, she sees the impact on the victims and how the victims find support with each other. Noticing this, Eden is doing everything she can to let their voices be heard. However, the principal doesn't want anything about the situation in the school news paper, unless the article is approved by her. Instead of taking any action to help the victims, the principal refuses to let their voices be heard because of the censorship. How will the victims react?

Sloane, you are what I aspire to be. Eden was the main character, but Sloane was what kept me reading. She stood up for herself and created an atmosphere for the other victims in which they could feel safe. Eden supports the victims and shows that she's there for them, but doesn't understand the magnitude of the impact on the victims. But thanks to Sloane and the interviews with the other victims, Eden starts to see their reality and grows as a character.

The flow of the story was fine, but could have been better in my opinion. I felt that the story was dragging too much in some places, and going way too fast in others. The ending of the story was definitely one of the places where everything was going too fast. I only had 5% in the book to go and there were still too many things that needed to happen.

But most importantly, the author had an important message in this book that needs to be discussed more often. Slut shaming still happens way too often, and so does seeing girls as 'conquests'. I think this book should be made into a movie, to get a wider audience and spread the message.

Revenge of the Sluts is a fine, easy contemporary read with an important message. It didn't have the WOW factor for me, due to Eden being (I'm so sorry) quite a boring main character, but I enjoyed it and I'm sure others will too!

3.5 stars

Eden is a senior in high school the executive editor for her school newspaper, the Warrior Weekly. Most events that have happened aren't really eye-catching so she mainly covers basic things like sports interviews. This all changes one morning when nude photos of seven girls are sent to the entire student body by a person who goes by "Eros". It quickly becomes a hot topic in school and the "perfect" school is no more.

The school doesn't seem to be helping very much with the situation so Eden decides to try and help. After attending a gathering with the victims, who call themselves the Slut Squad, she realizes how much of an impact this has been on all of them. She's determined to get to the bottom of who and why they sent the email.

This book was wayyyy better than my expectations. Though the description of the book didn't stand out significantly, it still caught my eye and I'm so so glad I picked it up.

I loved all the characters! Even though there were a lot of them, the author did an excellent job making each of them unique in their own way. My favorite character was definitely Salone because of the way she stood up for herself. Not only does standing up for oneself take guts, but it also takes a tremendous amount of courage to do so. Even though she was also impacted by the email, she often led the others and comforted them which I found very admirable.

The author touches on a hard topic but does it in a way that makes the reader think in depth a lot more about it. In my opinion, I think part of that is what makes this book such a great read. Revenge of the Sluts is a great debut novel and I'm looking forward to what the author has to write next!

Is a good book with some topics that is so important to talk in these day, I like the way the author wrote about the toughts and the problems that the youth nowdays live.
Besides that I don´t like the argument, I feel bored sometimes and I had to skip pages.

This was a great book full of important issues. It was hard for me to put down and reminded me of the Good Girl's Guide to Murder books.

I had read this book before when it was still getting fleshed out on wattpad, and I LOVED back then, and that hasn’t changed. I was unable to put it down again, and it’s so much better than what I remember.

This book would be great for fans of the mystery genre, and also readers that love books that promote the empowerment of women.

The characters are so well fleshed out and developed, and I was inspired by the all female lead. I loved how in the face of adversity, the girls found strength in one another, especially when the schooling systems failed them, which unfortunately, isn’t all that uncommon in real life.

On top of the book being a fantastic and captivating story, this book deals with some incredibly relevant and heavy social issues that are all to common in today’s society, not only for teens but for adults too. It’s deals with the effects of social media, online bullying, photo sharing, revenge porn and more.

I think it’s important to see these themes, as difficult as they are to stomach, in popular fiction and in the general populations’ view so that these things can’t simply be ignored anymore. Women are taking back their right to feel strong, courageous and proud and this book is a gods damn testimony to that!

I was given this arc thanks to Natalie Walton and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

I never would have guessed it was the authors first book. It was very engaging and an extremely relevant topic in our world today. I think the author did a great job with character development and the story line. I had no idea who sent the email and really enjoyed the reveal when you found out who did. I highly recommend this read!!

When 'intimate' photos of 7 female students are sent to the whole school, Eden is put on the story. Not all are sympathetic and some people are downright cruel. Things start to get crazy at Saint Joe's and the school is mostly thinking of its reputation. With the threat of new emails surfacing, the 7 girls band with Eden to find the perpetrator and get some payback.

It presents a wonderfully conversational, straightforward and inquisitive tone to the the narrative which compliments the story. Especially the inquisitive part since it's a 'journalistic mystery' for our protagonist. It has a subdued approach of getting under your skin in a good way. I love how Eden's POV searches her feelings not only on the sensitive matter at hand and how to deal with it as journalist and fellow student, but her own personal feelings and life in general.

"You're all using photos and sex as some sort of social currency" A quote from the book so powerful that sums up the problem. Misogynistic behavior parading as machismo and bad humor, so deeply rooted it is almost unconscious. As is slut shaming. I loved that the victims took ownership of the word slut and used it to stand up for themselves. A key theme of course is privacy in the digital age, and drawing line in the virtual sand as to where it begins.

In my opinion the ending was a little rushed and I expected more of a blow out when the reveal happened, but I do admit I never could of guessed the guilty party. Also I think what really mattered here was the journey.

I really liked the 'odds stacked against them but they still fight for what's right' feel to the story. The positive outcome gives you hope and the story is an eye opener to the problem and will hopefully make readers want to be part of the solution. Congrats to Walton for this important story.

So, I actually really ended up enjoying Revenge of the Sluts. It makes you realize how woman have to deal with a double standard when it comes to sex. It’s okay for men but not for women. The only thing that concerns me with this book is a young woman having drunken sex. I know a lot of people do this but she was doing it to the point where she really couldn’t remember who she was even doing it with. I just hope other young girls/women know how dangerous this could be if you’re not in control. But I do like the fact that there are several girls in this book who help support one another instead of slut shaming!

This review will go live on my blog, Sara Mackenzi Reads, as well as my Goodreads on January 31, 2 days before the release date.

Everything was normal at St. Joseph’s High School until one day every student receives an anonymous email containing intimate pictures of 7 female students. Eden, a lead reporter for the school paper, is determined to figure out who is behind the email. While some of the students feel like the girls are victims, many others, including parents and faculty, feel that the girls are to blame. With the school being no help, Eden looks to the 7 girls to help figure out who the anonymous emailer is.

The first thing that attracted me to this book was the title and cover. The title is very blunt and is what made me want to read the summary. The term slut and other degrading terms are used throughout the book so if you’re not a fan of this language, although the language is pretty accurate for the age group, you might want to skip this book. Looking at the cover overall, I get the idea of the girls, the 7 who had their pictures sent out, and then 2 more who I would assume are Eden and Ronnie. I liked the style choice to block out the girl's faces; however, the additional animation around the cover I wasn’t a big fan of. It just made it seem more like fan fiction, and while I know that’s what the Wattpad website mainly is, I would just think the cover should be a bit more professional looking. However, the cover intrigued me none the less.

I found the main plot point very believable and something similar (on a much smaller level) happened at my own high school. The fact that the school was trying to cover up the incident fits in very well with what we see today, the school’s being ill-prepared to handle situations like this and thus trying to shove it under the rug.

This book feels like a good conversation starter as there are a lot of aspects to look at. For instance, the fact that the story takes place in a state where revenge porn is not illegal, and the characters in the book are forced to deal with the consequences of no such law. The opinions of others are also looked at in this book. We see bits of opinions from different students and parents about their thoughts on the pictures which range from feeling empathy for the girls knowing they are victims to those that think they brought it upon themselves and shouldn’t have done it in the first place. The idea of double standards is also brought up with the character Luke, where the girls are sluts for having sex but guys do not experience the same backlash.

Now, some things I disliked about the book. I felt like the ending was wrapped up rather quickly for the amount of time it took to get there. It just kind of felt like it was wrapped up and tied with a bow when that’s not how things would normally go. I just kind of wish there would’ve been more about the after-effects than the bits we got in the epilogue.

I also felt like our main character, Eden, was a bit bland and flat. While the story wasn’t really about her and more about the situation with the 7 girls, I still wish I would’ve liked the main character more. At times it felt like she was very unsympathetic to the girls and while she is a reporter for their school newspaper, she is also classmates with all of the girls and at times I felt like she needed to chill out with the questions. She didn’t really have anything to do or relate to the girls besides being in the same year and having sent a nude photograph which wasn’t one that was leaked. It just felt like she was trying to make her job seem bigger than it was when really it had nothing to do with her.

I think there were a couple of loose ends left that could’ve been wrapped up better had the ending not been a quick update in the epilogue.

Some things I think could add some content to this book would be multiple POVs from the girls that were actually involved in the scandal. We only get Eden’s POV and it’s obvious as the story progresses that things are happening between the girls that Eden doesn’t know about so it would be interesting to see their POV. I also think a cool extra content could be the article that Eden and the others published. They continuously talk about the article as Eden’s entire personality is basically the fact that she works for the school paper, so I think it could’ve been cool to include excerpts from the paper.

I really liked the concept of the book and I think the message and ideas throughout are important and need to be talked about, especially since reading other reader’s reviews. Many readers seemed to dislike the use of the word slut throughout as well as the idea of the intimate photos being released. It happens all the time and the point is to make the reader uncomfortable because we know there needs to be change. This honestly feels like something that would be created into a movie which wouldn’t be a terrible idea as this subject needs to be discussed more. This book was a solid 3/5 for me, it’s not one of my favorites or one that I feel like I need to revisit but I don’t regret reading it as it was a fairly quick read.

Revenge of the Sluts is about seven girls whose nude photos were shared to the entire student body via email anonymously. But because they are all adults, the police doesn’t do anything about it and instead a school journalist, Eden, attempts to get to the bottom of it.

The premise of this novel was very interesting but it fell short for me which left me pretty disappointed. It covers slut shaming and revenge porn which usually is not brought to attention but the terrible pacing and stereotypical characters, and lack of attention on those seven girls made it hard to continue reading. It just dragged on for the majority of the book which made it hard for me to feel very intrigued or interested.

I was given an ARC by the publisher through NetGalley.

This book's issues come from one statement. 'I love the conflict, but I didn't love the story'. The story's conflict rests around a group e-mail being sent that leaks nudes of a bunch of varied girls at a posh boarding school. From that and the title, I was ready for a high adrenaline thriller with a good amount of talk about slut-shaming. There is a lot of talk about slut-shaming but nothing that is redefining, but more a hash of what gets talked about in YA.

I found the plot was distant from the conflict of the book. The main character Eden is not involved in the scandal. She's just a school reporter who is investigating everything and doesn't even have a close friend who's involved. Her biggest connection is she once sent nudes to her ex, but those nudes were not one of the ones that were leaked. I was actually waiting for the story to become personal, but it never did.

The ending is also very quick and wraps up via exposition like that author was trying to finish the story but not drag it out. There were a lot of loose threads and I think a cut back on some of the characters would have helped this story out. Also, a complete change of a PoV would really make this story interesting.

Things in the story get really unbelievable at points where Eden (the main character) thinks the story is going to be national news. There weren't people famous enough in the nude leaks to cause national press coverage. It took me out of the story and I was never able to get back in after that.

Generally, if you want a fast read to tie you over without too much depth, this could be fun. It's not nearly as cringy as some books I've read from Wattpad.

I was not expecting this book to be as good as it was! My apologies to Natalie Walton for doubting this book! To say it exceed my expectations is putting it mildly!
This was such a revelant story in this day and age, and really the meat and bones of the story are so important for every teen girl to read.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the author for the arc

Revenge of the Sluts was a lot better than I was anticipating. I didn’t really know how this story was going to form and where it would lead, but I can say it was really good and the point the book made was powerful. This starts out with an anonymous email being sent within a high school to all of the students. In the email several of the students are featured in different states of undress and are quite obviously nude photos. The entire school erupts and no one has any clue as to who sent the photos. The girls in the email are considered “sluts” and are being made fun of and getting called names. Eden, the main character, is the editor of the school newspaper and she wants to write a piece for the paper about what happened, and she wants to know who sent the photos.

The point of this book about slut shaming and revenge porn is phenomenal. I loved how the author was super honest in writing and was realistic. I actually felt like this could have happened at my own high school growing up. The characters all felt super real and I couldn’t help but feel for what happened to the girls. I really loved Sloane, one of the girls whose nude was leaked. She didn’t let this stop her from living her life. She is super okay with her sexuality and isn’t afraid to say what is on her mind. I really enjoyed the mystery of this book as well. A classic kind of whodunit in a high school, which it always super intriguing to me.

While the middle was a little slow paced and I didn’t know where it was going at some points, it was still a really amazing book. I thought the ending could have been stronger, especially with all that the author leads with. I really think this is a super powerful book, and really points out how it is so wrong to slut shame. How it is wrong to think it was the girl’s fault for sending photos. How girls are always considered sluts, but the guys are considered cool for hooking up with so many girls.

Pros
Tackling Tough Issues: The non-consensual sharing of explicit photos may be a well-known problem, but it is still a problem. This is just the type of problem that we as a society like to push under the rug, especially because it is a problem that primarily affects young women. We like to point fingers at the victims when a "leak" like this happens instead of putting the blame where it belongs. Though the topic may be a little cut-and-dry here in this book, the willingness of Natalie Walton to cover the topic at all is a commendable.

Systemic Suppression: In the same way that Walton tackles a tough and relevant issue, she also exposes that way that the powers-that-be (in this case, the school administration) try to cover up any complicity. The school tries to distance itself from the problem, though the photos were shared on the school server. An administration cover-up is only too believable in the current climate where schools are ill-prepared to handle a generation of students who are more exposed (and more exposable) than any previous generation due to the influence of social networking. Though this book is again heavy-handed in examining the ways a school may avoid complicity, the issue is still poignant.

Level-headed Lead: Protagonist Eden Jeong and her newspaper compatriots are incredibly rational in their approach to the story, to the girls, and to all the little steps they need to accomplish writing an exposé. It is nice to have a protagonist who isn't making stupid decisions just to complicate the plot all the time, as so often happens in contemporary YA that centers around high school drama.

Cons
Journalistic Style: This book is rife with long paragraphs that "explain" the situation in matter-of-facts terms. I went back and forth at the beginning about whether this dry narrative style was a good thing. After all, narrator Eden is a journalist. It makes sense that she would break down her narrative in this manner. However, the dry prose style is ultimately distracting. It feels consistently too "info-dump"-y for a proper narrative. This book is not, after all, a news article, and it shouldn't read like one. The ultimate effect of the narrative style was to make the book feel a little too much like reading bad fanfiction--that is, the writing feels immature and unedited.

Violating, Not Liberating: This book presents itself as being liberating for the young women who have been exposed. The exposure itself isn't liberating, of course, but the comradery and modes of revenge to come are supposed to be. While this may be the goal, the end result falls far short of the aim. Eden's level-headedness, while refreshing from a YA perspective, is kind of disgusting in this narrative. Eden can be abrasive, rude, and standoffishly "mature" in the face of the highly-invasive investigative story she is working on. Her insistence on examining the girls' pictures at the start is entirely unnecessary for the story, and this action is incredibly violating for someone claiming to be on the same side as the victims. There needs to be some nuance and some humanity in the way the girls are handled, and Eden certainly doesn't show any. She ultimately badgers a bunch of girls who have been wounded until they talk to her--which is not okay.

Bad Dialogue: The dialogue in this book is consistently inconsequential, vague, undirected, and entirely too casual. It is not purposeful enough to be properly included in a narrative. A good editor could have made things snappy, but alas, the editorial work here seems to have been lacking. Readers don't need every "hello" and "goodbye" that happens. Every little detail in the conversation isn't necessary, even if dialogue is perhaps more true-to-life like that. Ellipses and paraphrases are a writer's friend. They are crucial. Otherwise, the focus becomes lost.


Rating
⭐
1/10

Those who appreciated Laurie Halse Andersen's hard-hitting topic piece Speak should take a look at this updated narrative for the contemporary day. Anyone who enjoyed the journalist lead of Joan Bauer's Peeled should take a look at the hard-hitting journalist in this new piece.

Someone uses St Joe's student list serve to email the entire student body explicit pictures of seven female students - all of which are over the age of 18. There is no legal recourse - the police aren't interested. The school's administration downplays the seriousness of the situation to deter donations - the bulk of the student body are children of wealthy families. The administration offers walk-in counseling to those impacted, not just the seven young women. They want to push it away as quietly as possible, regardless of the impact on their students.
Eden is assigned this story from her Editor in Chief, Ronnie. Eden tries to interview the young women, though many just want to hide in a corner. But not Sloane - Sloane has been very open with her sexuality, living her life on her terms with confidence. Eden becomes driven to represent the voices of these young women. Slowly they build trust - allowing Eden to hear their feelings, life long impacts on their young lives, all because they trusted the wrong person with explicit photos.
I strongly believe this is an important book - high school young women are targeted and shamed, not just for expressing their sexuality but also for trusting the wrong people with photos of their bodies. The males aren't punished or ridiculed. But the young women live with the error for the rest of their lives. This opens the discussion regarding trust, autonomy, human rights, privacy. It also exposes schools' unwillingness to address the issue, support their students or become involved.
This topic will not become obsolete. If anything has technology and our children grow, it will become even more prevalent issue.

The premise of this book was enticing.

It all starts with an email. An email everybody at the school received. In it, many pictures of different students, all in some form of undress. There is no clue as to who the sender is, but everyone is talking about it. Eden is a senior, and the editor of the school newspaper. When she sees the email she feels upset, and now she is determined to get to the bottom of it all. Since no one is doing anything, Eden and the students in the pictures join forces to solve the mystery.

First of all, I've read many reviews about the use of the word "slut" in the book. I understand why it might be uncomfortable, but I do believe it was necessary. In real life, that word is used all the time even now, and I feel like in the book the girls try to take the word back, diminish its power. I liked that.
The only problem I found in the book was that the ending was predictable, and Eden felt to me a little too plain. It makes sense to have her as the narrator, but I wish she had a bit more of a personality.
The writing was not bad to me, I think it was good for a debut novel.

My favorite character was Sloane. I loved her attitude towards her sexuality, and I think she's one of the strongest characters in the book. I loved the fact that the girls took action, decided to raise their voice and didn't let the scandal end their lives, but rather learned from it and changed the perspective, the taboos, and the prejudices that exist around sexuality.

In conclusion, I think this book is a strong start for the author. I like her potential and I'm looking forward to reading more of her book in the future.