This requires a suspension of belief, in that while it's possible that some the people Margot works with and against are that ignorant, it's not possible that it's virtually all of them. It's also not believable that the people she approaches in her quest to take down the R.B. website are that gullible.
Her desperate clinging to Beth and casual treatment of Saami were very believable but it is sad, as sad as her parents attempts to reach her through Family Time. It's pretty obvious who created the site to begin with, and only Margo seems surprised by the answer. The sideplot of Mrs. Blye was even less realistic than the rest.

eARC provided by publisher via Netgalley.

I don't know if it's because of my mental state right now or something else, but getting through this story was its own struggle. I had to stop about halfway through.

Margot Mertz's college fund is non-existent. So she does what any high school student would do: create a business dedicated to taking down unwanted pictures and information, for a price. However, Margot soon discovers via a fellow student that there is a website dedicated to posting nude pictures of her female classmates, and is set to take the website and its creator down. The catch? She might need to get close to someone she doesn't entirely like to do it.

The concept immediately had me hooked, I won't lie. I thought it would be a great story and discussion about the dangers of sending pictures to people and what can result from it, as well as the darker world behind the screens. However, for me, this story fell flat for a few reasons.

First: the characters. I could not vibe with Margot at all. The story is told in first person from her perspective, and at first she had a kind of snarky know it all voice that I thought was unique, since I hadn't read anything like that in a while. But then it got annoying, to the point where she does some weird stuff, and I mean weird. Example: in order to get the attention of the main love interest Avery so she can get close to her suspects, she dresses like a "bimbo," her words not mine. And it was as awkward as I make it out to be. Second example is when she's in the car with said love interest and realizes that her seat is hot, her first immediate thought is to think she peed herself. What? Who thinks that? Also the conversations between her and Avery were so cringe-worthy.

Sammi was just... there? I didn't think there was anything special about him. Avery was just the typical nice guy but it wasn't enough to make me like him like I should have. Then again, we're seeing him from Margot's POV so that makes sense why we don't like him, because she doesn't. Also the adult figures are written very exaggerated. The parents are all happy go lucky and squealing with joy at some moments. Even Mrs. Blye is just down right annoying. This story just felt like the teens were definitely written by an adult and not in the best way.

I really wish the plot was executed a bit better. It is very fast paced, but I wish we had some more build-up to help add to the understanding and sympathy that these females are having their bodies exposed and how much of a threat this causes. I do like how Margot's anger is handled in response to it, but I'm surprised there wasn't more of a shock factor. A bunch of the girls impacted are just seen crying to Margot or to other people as well as ranting in a group chat that we almost never see. As a result, it didn't really make me sympathize with these victims the way it should have, therefore decreasing the shock value at least for me.

The format was also a bit wonky from my own experience reading it on my kindle. The story has a bunch of footnotes of random side tangents Margot goes on to fill in information gaps that really don't matter to the overall scheme of the story. However, the way these were formatted on my kindle, I sometimes wouldn't receive the text of the footnote until the very end of the chapter, which immediately put me out of touch with the story. Second, at the beginning of a new chapter, there would be these random texts from Margot to some random person, who I'm assuming is a lost friend who moved states as mentioned at the beginning of the story. I know it's meant to come off as Margot still kind of grieving and trying to hold on to the relationship, but it feels so creepy when you dig into it. Imagine if someone from two years ago sends you texts every other day, and they kept being sent even though there's no response. It's SO WEIRD, and I found absolutely no purpose into having them in the story.

Margot Mertz may be for a younger demographic than myself, but regardless is filled with unlikable characters and a messy execution.

I received a copy of this story as an e-ARC from NetGalley and Penguin Teen. Any and all thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I love female empowering books and I love a good Nancy Drew sleuthing.

Margot helps her peers and even her teacher help clean up things from their internets they wouldn’t want others seeing. For example, nude photos. Margot starts to delve deep into her school o figure out who’s been blasting personal images. Whoever they are crossed the wrong girl.

I really wanted to love this book based on what the synopsis is, because like I said I love a good female sleuth story. But I was a bit turned off by the slut shaming and the immaturity of some of the characters. I do love the vigilante story angle, but sadly I wasn’t into this book. But I will say just because it wasn’t my cup of tea doesn’t mean it can’t be yours. There is a good story behind this of what it’s like to be in that situation. Like a Lifetime movie for teens!

This book was a bit complicated, but that’s just why I liked it. It was so wittily written, Margot was a hoot. I also absolutely adored the footnotes that were throughout the book because it felt like Margot was right there whispering in my ear as I was reading. The topic of a revenge site for nudes isn’t a new one for me, but I was a bit frustrated with the amount of time Margot took to deal with the situation before getting the authorities involved. If you like books about hacking, spies, romance, revenge, or kick-butt female protagonists, then this book is perfect for you!

Sadly, this one wasn't for me. I couldn't get past the footnotes every other sentence and though I liked Margot, it wasn't a very well written story overall. I was pretty bored throughout, but I feel like this is a me problem and not a book problem, so still check it out because I think the premise is super interesting.

The potential this book had is astronomical. There was so much room for in-depth discussion to be happening within the plot of the book. But no. No depth at all. Everything feels very surface level and unexplored.

This book never got to the heart of the issue, instead focusing on humor that didn’t work for me and lots of subplots that just weighed the whole thing down. I really think it could have been a really strong read if it would have explored some of the central themes a bit more. Instead it barely scratched the surface and provided sarcastic commentary on the topic??? Which… no.

Honestly, that is my main problem with this book. It could have centered victims or had more of a discussion about the culture surrounding these sorts of violations. It just needed some depth. But even with more depth, there were a bunch of other things that did not work for me.

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First off, Margot brings the “messy” to messy characters. Which is totally fine, as long as the messy character has some growth the self reflection along the way. A key part to that is realizing their mistakes and owning up to the fact that, hey, that probably wasn’t a good move. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. What does happen is Margot belittling everyone in her life and then tries to slap a band-aid on it by going on a massive apology tour. It just felt insincere.

I don't even get me started on the romance in this book. Margot Mertz Takes It Down probably didn’t even need a romance, but the one within the pages of the book did absolutely nothing. I don't know how this girl manages to convince herself that there's some fake dating scheme going on, but somehow she does. Maybe that's just her being out of touch with her own emotions. But her whole thing is like ha ha ha ha it’s not real, I don’t like him, as she goes on to actually date him. Margot herself doesn’t acknowledge that it's fake more than once or twice, and then only as a throwaway line.

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I'm just so frustrated by this book honestly.

I'm now fully convinced that teenagers should not be self-made detectives.

Thanks to Penguin Random House and Netgalley for providing me with this eARC!

I watched Veronica Mars a while back and didn't think much of it. I didn't fully grasp the fact that she was a teenager trying to uncover the truth about her best friend's murder while also dealing with creeps and other high school happenings along the way. However, Margot Mertz solidified my no-go on teenage detectives.

Let's start with some highlights. I did enjoy Avery's character. He seemed like a sweet and kind boy and I enjoyed his time during the story. I also enjoy anything involving hacking (or cracking--that's legal) and cyberstuff and even more so when women and girls do it. However, there were some large missteps with this book that just ended up making it not enjoyable in the long run.

This book just had far too much going on. From the footnotes to the main debacle of taking down the revenge porn site, was far too intense for this to be a cute, detective YA like Nancy Drew. Margot trying to dismantle a revenge porn site (which was CP honestly) was way too much for a 17-year-old to be dealing with. On top of the fact that there was also fake dating which I found completely unnecessary and takes from the severity of the situation which is, in fact, the distribution of CP. I just kept thinking in my head, "Why would anyone place the responsibility for dismantling a revenge porn (again, really CP) site on a teenage girl who quite honestly had bigger fish to fry within herself. I understood that she wanted to protect these girls and I'm all here for that. However, I honestly think this was something that should've never been in the hands of a teenage girl.

When I first requested this book, I thought it was a very interesting route to go; however, I just don't think it was for me. If this was set in college, I think it would've been a much better and more 'realistic' story.

Thank you, Penguin Teen, for an eARC. I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Margot Mertz is not like other girls. She's not very social, doesn't do school activities, skips a majority of her classes unbenounced to her teachers, and cleans up people's internet scandals for a price. I wanted to love this book so badly, but it was a pretty big disappointment. Margot was not likable. How the authors wrote the character, it's clear she thinks she's better than other people. I hoped as the story progress, Margot would grow as the protagonist and get off her high horse but didn't in a meaningful way. She uses characters throughout the book, even those she sees as friends. I understand the comparison to the tv show Veronica Mars, but Veronica is humbled and challenged by other characters throughout her series, something Margot misses.

While the book does tackle issues like consent and revenge p*rn, the addition of the Margot and Ms. Byle relationship was uncomfortable and inappropriate. It didn't need to be included in the story and was never fully address. The authors never acknowledge the criminal aspect of underage p*rn distributed among students. If you're going to talk about the other topics, why not address this one as well?

Margot Mertz Takes It Down tried hard to be a feminist piece, but it honestly just missed the mark and failed across the board. It was a struggle to finish, and the most likable character was a man.

Oooh I wanted to love this. I had such high hopes when I read the synopsis and even seeing the cover. However, I was pretty disappointed. It was predictable, even for younger readers. It just didn't wow me, and it left me a little bored. I was not a huge fan of this book. I think some readers may really enjoy it, but it wasn't for me.

I really wanted to like this book more, but the predictability and pacing was hard to truly get into.

Margot Mertz Takes It Down has a promising premise- a highschool computer wiz helps take down nudes from fellow classmates- but it failed to get to the heart of the issue for me, and got bogged down by side plots and an overly-predictable ending.

Thank you Netgalley for this ebook arc to review.

Margot Mertz makes her money for college by cleaning up others' internet mistakes, such as erasing websites and pictures. She does so with a large amount of improvising and sarcastic wit, that was honestly pretty funny. I had originally DNFed this book, but I decided to give it another shot and I'm glad I did. I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty predictable. I guessed the ending of the novel pretty early. However, I still had a good time getting to the ending. Margot was an enjoyable narrator with a great sense of humor. Her story was fun to read about. I don't think I would read this again, but I'm glad I ended up finishing it.

I requested this book from NetGalley the minute I saw the comp titles!! I, mean, Veronica Mars AND MOXIE?!! This seemed like the perfect book for me but unfortunately, I guessed what would happen almost instantly and I was right. Margot helps teachers clear out anything that they might not want others to find them. As a part-time teacher at a private school, this was intriguing. It just didn't live up to my expectations of it.

Ugh I thought this one sounded fun, but this one just did not worko for me. This was a DNF!

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy.

this book was really bad...like really bad. The “mystery” aspect of the book (who created the website and etc) was so predictable and stupid...the main character also angered me so much. She was so selfish and even though she realized that at the end she wasn’t much better.