I requested this book because I'd heard great things about it, but I was ultimately left underwhelmed by it. I'm not sure if my reaction to this book is because I've finally started to outgrow the YA category or if it was my dislike for the main character. There was just something about the main character that turned me off to her character and made me not like her.

Overall, I think that younger readers or those who really love YA books will enjoy this one, but for me it was a pass.

This was such a fun, light YA story about standing your ground, but also with a bit of romance thrown in along the way.
Phoebe is writing an anonymous sex information blog, which gets picked at by the mayoral candidate who is for very anti-sex informatoin, and sells purity rings, and wants the schools to teach absentia.
Phoebe feels great about being unknown, and I kept waiting for her to be discovered, because you just know that is going to happen. There are a few false instances, but I didn’t guess how it would finally happen.

Good sexual information, thrown in as well, which is a bonus. And as Phoebe says, not all villains are black and white, as there are nuances to why they do what they do.
Good contemporary story, as they say, ripped from the headlines. Fun, humorous, and although I didn’t cry, I did stay up late to finish it.

THanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

This book was interesting and very well-written. I would likely want to read more from this author and will recommend this to friends.

On the Subject of Unmentionable Things, by Julia Walton, is a contemporary YA novel, While some of the topics are considered somewhat taboo by other generations, I found the book to present sex in a positive way. I imagine the subject might even be a draw for some. Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with an ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

As a sex positive individual that is pro comprehensive sex education, I didn't like this book as much as I thought would. The main character kind of turned me off. There was something about her that I just didn't vibe with. The pacing felt weird. The last 20% seemed to be missing something, like it wasn't thought out. Especially the way everyone went from turning against her to supporting her at the drop of a hat .

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of On the Subject of Unmentionable Things by Julia Walton.

Phoebe is a good, quiet student. She has never been known to be any sort of trouble maker or pot stirrer. Which is why everyone would be shocked to learn that she is the one responsible for the small town scandal. A blog called the Circle in the Square, all about sexuality, deep diving into the intricacies of sex and answering questions, especially from teens.

Parents are outraged, who is in charge of this blog and how can we get it taken down? Our kids don't need to be exposed to this filth! Especially if it's going to address things of an LGBTQIA nature. And although Phoebe is terrified of getting in trouble, she deeply believes in what she is doing, and will move forward at any cost, even if the cost is high.

I loved this. And everytime I read something like this, I lament what I missed as a teen myself. I was not raised in a sex positive culture or time, so being curious about anything sex was seen as mostly perversion. I am a firm believer that by shining a light on stigmatized topics like this, especially something as absolutely normal and natural as sex, we can avoid a lot of the harm to young people. Arm them with knowledge! And that includes your decision to wait until marriage. It's all ok, just be informed, take control of what happens to your body on YOUR terms.

On top of all of that, this was just a great story. I enjoyed watching Phoebe come into her own self and experience her own romances and disappointments. I loved the relationship she has with her parents and how despite their own shortcomings in this particular topic, they 100% had Phoebe's back. Great YA read.

#bookreview On the Subject of Unmentionable Things by Julia Walton

I received an eARC of this book from the publishers (Random House) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ☺️

☺️ the good ☺️
- Jorge the farmer. Cracked me up when I realized his name literally means farmer. Fitting, though. What a sweet quarterback that loves growing things in his backyard. Precious.
- The Circle in the Square. Great name for a blog and I loved the premise of this blog going viral and being such a hot topic in this small town.
- Fruit. All the inclusion of fruit. From the cover being a peach 🍑 to Phoebe going by “Pom” on the blog to Jorge apologizing with baskets of fruit 😂

🤨 the bad 😒
- I’m not the target demographic. That’s like the only reason it’s four stars instead of five for me. It’s very much written for a teen and I am far from one 😂🫣

😍 the beautiful 😍
- Phoebe. She’s a sex expert on paper (or on her blog lol) but she’s completely inexperienced IRL. She’s a great character to take us through this story as she deals with getting her first boyfriend while also doing everything she can to successfully secretly run a sex education blog anonymously.
- Lydia Brookhurst was a perfect villain to allude to Trump. She’s loved unabashedly by her supporters. She can do no wrong. Her supporters will not be condemned by her regardless of the terrible things that they do which she in no way has told them to do!
- Phoebe and Jorge’s relationship. Adorbs 🥰
- A young adult book that manages to teach sex ed while keeping in line with an interesting story? Yep, this one did it. At times it seemed a little forced, but managing to do all of this while alluding to Phoebe’s blog posts and her own brain is clever. The amount of sex education in this fictional novel is impressive. Bravo.

rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#bookstagram

Thank you so much to #Netgalley and the publisher for the arc in return for my honest review.

I LOVED almost everything about this book. I say ALMOST because the "love" story line felt so out of place for me. It was like the book already offered so much, the "romance" was not needed at all.

Phoebe blogs about sex. Not in a crazy way but in a pure education needing to educate way. Sex positivity. Sex still is a taboo subject, not as bad as it was 20 years ago, but there still are some people who think sex is taboo.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: On the Subject of Unmentionable Things

Author: Julia Walton

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: Hispanic Character

Recommended For...: young adult readers, contemporary, sex education

Publication Date: August 23, 2022

Genre: YA Contemporary

Age Relevance: 15+ (sexual content, racism, micro aggressive comments, alt-right ideals, rape mentioned, illness, vomiting, homophobia, romance)

Explanation of Above: The book talks openly about sex and sexual practices and sexual health in an informative and educational manner that I believe every teenager needs to read. We cannot stop teenagers from having sex, but we can give them the information to proceed with it in an informed, safe, and consensual manner. There is some racism in the book, including micro aggressive comments about ethnic food, and homophobic remarks as well. Alt-right ideals are shown in the book, though the MC and most of the cast of the characters are against it, but it does eerily show reality in those passages. There is some illness shown with vomiting shown as well. There is one scene in which a character is threatened with an allusion to rape and that is discussed. There is also some romance in the book.

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers

Pages: 320

Synopsis: Phoebe Townsend is a rule follower . . . or so everyone thinks. She’s an A student who writes for her small-town school newspaper. But what no one knows is that Phoebe is also Pom—the anonymous teen who’s rewriting sex education on her blog and social media.

Phoebe is not a pervert. No, really. Her unconventional hobby is just a research obsession. And sex should not be a secret. As long as Phoebe stays undercover, she’s sure she’ll fly through junior year unnoticed. . . .

That is, until Pom goes viral, courtesy of mayoral candidate Lydia Brookhurst. The former beauty queen labels Phoebe’s work an “assault on morality,” riling up her supporters and calling on Pom to reveal her identity. But Phoebe is not backing down. With her anonymity on the line, is it all worth the fight?

Julia Walton delivers a brutally honest novel about sex, social media, and the courage to pursue truth when misinformation is rife. Who knew truth could be so scandalous?

Review: Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I think that this is one of those necessary books because it speaks so openly about sex and sex education and sexual consent. I love that it was directed at teenagers as well. Teenagers are going to have sex and making them ill-prepared is only setting them up for failure via pregnancy, sexual violence, sexual trafficking, or illness with STDs. It’s uncomfortable and raw, but it’s a necessity for them to learn, especially about how to protect their own bodies and what warning signs to watch out for with partners. The book is a funny, but passionate and honestly raw book that I think everyone should read. The character development was amazing and the writing was well done.

The only issue I had with the book is that I felt like it was a bit quick with the romance aspect and that sometimes it took away from the plot of the book.

Verdict: It was great! Highly recommend!

When the main character answered the question “How do I give my girlfriend an orgasm?” with an automatic assumption that the person asking was male, I was ready to write this book off as willfully ignoring the Queer community, but about halfway through the book Phoebe realizes her blind spot about the whole spectrum of sex that includes Gay people and strives to be more inclusive. It feels mostly real- we all have blind spots. But also, in 2022 I can’t imagine that someone who prides themselves on giving progressive critical content not even thinking of the LGBTQ+ community.

Beyond that, the story is both sweet (great best friend! Charming love interest!) and super hard to read because it feels all too real and very much like a lot of the rhetoric that has come from the t***p era.
As someone who grew up in the infancy of the internet, I relied on Judy Blume and some of my mother’s novels to give me some clues about sex beyond the biological basics that I was given. As the internet is not always the most reliable resource, and because there is a certain rite of passage vibe to reading about sex, I hope this book is read by many a teen.

I found this book refreshing, fascinating, and laugh out loud funny. This book caught me off guard and I read it in less than 24 hours. Phoebe is such a strong female MC who truly believes in education, loves research and is passionate about her friends. She is awkward and smart, and during this story she gained some serious strength and pride in herself. I actually wrote my masters program thesis about sex education and it was really fun for me to read this book. As Phoebe points out, science is not an opinion, and abstinence only education has been proven time and time again to not work or be helpful. This book is well worth the read and I would recommend it to any and all teens (and grown ups!)

Perfect for fans of Sex Education! Such a great read for every age. A real page turner. you can check my full review on my blog.

3.5 stars rounded down!

This was a quick read for me! I enjoyed it quite a bit. I am all for the younger generation getting proper sex education, not abstinence. This book did a great job of providing factual blog posts and a unique storyline where the blog's author, Phoebe, lives in a conservative town. She is under an anonymous name, Pom, since she doesn't want anyone to find out it is her writing. While the storyline was predictable. I still thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I cannot believe more people aren't talking about it!

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Really great and timely book. Would love to see this on all YA shelves, we need more sex-positive sexual education available to teenagers, and having books like this is important. Enjoyed the conservative town setting, having grown up in one myself it felt very realistic, and I also appreciated the author emphasizing the importance of local elections.

This was a great sex positive YA Contemporary. I think it’s so important for young people to be aware of their bodies and have good representation of consent and safe sex. I liked the format and felt like the quick pace made for a perfect read.

I loved Words on Bathroom Walls and was excited to see a new release from Julia Walton. I enjoyed the characters, plot, and overall tone of this novel. I picked up the audiobook and had the hardest time putting it down. It was the perfect listen.

I definitely recommend!

I just finished an ARC called On the Subject of Unmentionable Things by Julia Walton. It is amazing! Starts slow but ends great. It's about a girl who writes a secret sex positive blog. Politics. Family. First love. I want to hug it! I wish there had been books like this when I was a teen.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Phoebe Townsend is obsessed with sex… in an educational way of course and in order to spread her knowledge she decides to create a blog under the pen name, Pom. Nothing too scandalous except for the fact that she lives in a conservative town that hears the word sex and is ready to start carrying pitchforks.

I enjoyed this book, but few parts of it were memorable, I finished it in about a week and had forgotten segments of the story by the end. Besides that, my one big flaw with this book is that it severely lacks lgbtqia experiences and even references to anything that isn’t cishet until 58% into the book. While I appreciate that it is addressed in a way that is respectful and acknowledges that despite research the main character doesn’t know a lot about queer intercourse it still feels lacking. It feels like an honorable mention, like when tv shows confirm a character is gay only to kill them off two seconds later (I’m looking at you Supernatural).

Overall, it was an enjoyable read and I’m glad I took the chance on it because I don’t read very much YA anymore and this convinced me I should.

An engagingly genuine teenager looks for and provides answers to some age-old questions while the fuddy-duddies in town gasp in horror!

What a fantastic story! For most of the book, I had a smile on my face as I followed Phoebe through her days and evenings of maintaining her blog and anonymity. Phoebe is intelligent, curious, and brave for putting herself and her research out there to share with others who didn’t have this vitally needed information. I loved how she had a real idea of what she wanted in her future (veterinarian ballerina was hilarious.) She’s amazingly comfortable talking about all the unmentionable things; however, she’s been working on her research and blog for two years by this time, so I was good with that. The back and forth with her delightful friend, Cora, was a joy to watch. They were a mighty duo, having each other’s back like they did.

But the story isn’t all light and fluffy by any means. There are real issues brought into the open: sexuality and knowing one’s own body. Some of the questions posed may appear so simple to adults, but they are real unknowns to the young. The answers to the blog questions were outstanding, very well thought out, and strictly adhered to presenting facts and not opinions. I liked that the author pointed out the differences between possible responses.

There are romances for Phoebe and Cora. Phoebe has two boys she is interested in, and they turn out to be very different from each other. I liked how the author has Phoebe learn that there is more than one way to approach intimacy, and she must trust herself to know which one is right for her. I also really appreciated that the typical football hero turns out to have some hidden depths. He was just an all-around great guy.

The characters, old and young, all make mistakes. Some take responsibility for them right away, some delay but step up, and others never do, just like in real life. The characters and the story felt genuine.

There are occurrences of strong profanity at particular (and appropriate) points in the book. However, if that is something you’re concerned with, it doesn’t happen often, but the words used are the big ones.

With its genuine and engaging characters and compelling storyline, I read this book in just a little over one day; I didn’t want to put it down! I recommend ON THE SUBJECT OF UNMENTIONABLE THINGS to young adults and readers of young adult fiction.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author or publisher through TBR and Beyond Book Tours.

Thank you, TBR and Beyond Tours, for the chance to read a really great young adult book that tackles an important topic without making it cringy or dull. 

Which of us has ever had a really informative talk with our parents? What we know, generally speaking, comes from pop culture, things we google in secret and porn. I live in a country where we ask if a woman is married to check if she’s sexually active or not. For me, the talk was just about periods and just that this happens to a woman as she grows older. I was then accidentally given a book on teen health that everyone thought would convince me to eat healthier and lose weight but instead answered the other question that plagued my mind; can a guy pee inside you when you’re having sex?

Sex education is still a controversial topic in most places. For some reason, people think it will involve showing young kids porn and encouraging kids to do it, and not as we will tell young people that STDs are a real thing, you can get pregnant the very first time, and what is good touch and bad touch. Let’s not even get into the joy of sex. It can be about pleasure and not just something for men to thirst for and women to put up with.

So when the sign-ups for On The Subject of Unmentionable Things went around, I was curious. This could either be really good or really bad, and I’m happy to say it fell into the first category. 

I had a brilliant professor in my freshmen year. She was a labor historian in Pakistan. I may not remember her exact words, but she talked about people who commented on why she was researching labor in Pakistan and not women because she was a woman. Her answer was, simply put, because I’m interested in labor. 

I thought of this because On The Subject of Unmentionable Things reminds us that a woman’s interests are political. A woman’s choice to study something not directly related to women is political. And we have Phoebe right here writing a blog and managing a Twitter page on the most political thing of them all; sex. She writes about sex not from a place of fear or because she’s having loads and thinking about facts turns her on; she writes about it because the human body, and sex, are fascinating things. You can be incredibly interested in them for no reason than that.

Julia Walton’s book was excellent. She touches on subjects that impact many of us; misinformation, fear-mongering, racism, sexism, homophobia, and how people can just be assholes without making this book feel preachy or boring. She writes well and has a plot, and I’m disappointed with Random House for not marketing this book better because she only has 3 reviews on amazon.

Phoebe has friends who don’t know the truth, parents trying to figure out how to manage their business and political preferences, people whose loyalty is up for rent, and a trump like woman who wants to make her town great again. 

You get where the author leans politically, and I love that about her. This is not her first book on teens, but her third. She seems to genuinely care about younger readers because while this book didn’t hold back, it wasn’t a graphic read. Phoebe does get slut shamed; the town is vandalized; she is stolen from. And yet you have a character that comes through with dignity and self-respect. Julia Walton writes about a character more mature than most of the older ones, a reminder that only the young can run.

Well written and timely. A dive into the conflicted landscape of social media, politics and sex education. I appreciated the emphasis on facts, science and consent. The sex positivity message that each person is normal and deserves to have answers to confusing, awkward questions. The relationships Phoebe has with friends and her boyfriend are healthy and authentic. Content warnings are important. Language is specific and a little explicit. But the only actual sex is closed door “off screen”. Teens will appreciate the honest conversation and enjoy the underlying friendships and romantic development. The current political climate will, sadly, make it tough to get this book into the hands of teens who want to read it and need the positive message.