As a mystery writer, I was especially drawn to this book. Come for the mystery and stay for the important discussions and revelations about consent that encompass everything from sexting to acquaintance rape, from being seen as "easy" to happily agreeing to a much-welcomed sexual relationship. A mystery with an important message.

Synopsis:
When Jo-Lynn Kirby 's former best friend-pretty, nice Maddie Price-comes to her claiming to be in trouble, Jo assumes it's some kind of joke. After all, Jo has been an outcast ever since her nude photos were leaked-and since everyone decided she deserved it. There's no way Maddie would actually come to her for help.

But then Maddie is gone.

Everyone is quick to write off Maddie as a runaway, but Jo can't shake the feeling there's more to the story. To find out the truth, Jo needs to get back in with the people who left her behind-and the only way back in is through Hudson Harper-Moore. An old fling of Jo's with his own reasons for wanting to find Maddie, Hudson hatches a fake dating scheme to get Jo back into their clique. But being back on the inside means Jo must confront everything she'd rather forget: the boys who betrayed her, the whispers that she had it coming, and the secrets that tore her and Maddie apart. As Jo digs deeper into Maddie's disappearance, she's left to wonder who she's really searching for: Maddie, or the girl she used to be.

Not Like Other Girls is a stunning debut that takes a hard look at how we treat young women and their trauma, through the lens of a missing girl and a girl trying to find herself again.

What I really loved:
- It was bingeable - I read it in two sittings and just couldn’t stop.
- Reading this kind of fiction is hard. But it’s important. Adamo does such a phenomenal job of capturing the spiral and journey that is coming to terms with trauma.
- I loved the main character. She reminded me so much of Kat from 10 Things I Hate About You. Brilliant and unapologetic.
- I loved the fake dating and mystery aspect to the whole story. There were multiple plot lines running through the book and I think that also helped balance out the really hard to read stuff with the “fun to read” stuff. It’s a heavy book with heavy themes and I think the other plots kept me from feeling so utterly depressed right alongside Jo.
- I love that this book faced all the hard conversations head on. These are important stories. And for the girls that don’t know where to turn or who to talked to or what to say, there’s a book that now exists that might help them to better understand. And for everyone else that doesn’t fall into that group, I hope this book allows empathy to grow.

What I didn’t love:
- There were a few points that felt a little less believable than others (in regards to the larger mystery plot), but I think it adds lots of drama and intrigue for YA readers, so I can’t really complain about that when I’m not exactly the intended target audience.
- This felt like a really mature “Speak” to me. It had a lot more layers and a lot more mature moments - and maybe I’m delusional in what the normal high school experience is (maybe this IS it?), but to me it felt more like an early college experience in regard to mature content. I hope the girls who need to read it will be able to (in light of our current climate).

Overall:
This is one of the best YA+ realistic fiction debuts I’ve read in a while. Wonderfully written and an incredibly impressive first novel! I imagine that this one will still stick with me for quite a while.

Thank you to both Bloomsbury YA and Netgalley for allowing me to read an early review copy!

**Trigger warning for SA on this review**

I’m gonna go a little heavy on this review. I very much enjoyed this books thriller premise. You go on a journey with Jo as she tries to figure out what happened to her missing friend. Along the way, she begins to discover that some things that happened to her are in fact not ok or acceptable. I effing LOVED seeing her learn to accept that and heal and take her power back.

One of the biggest parts of this book that impacted me was the authors note. One of the hardest struggles of SA for me was acceptance. That it happened, that it wasn’t my fault, that it’s ok that I’m still effed up from it after all these years. I want to thank Meredith for using this as an outlet and a way to open up discussion on r*pe.

Fantastic and exciting story! I loved reading it along with the audiobook - the narrator has a very pleasant voice and I enjoyed both versions!

🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

An immersive look at a troubled teen, seemingly tough but inwardly fragile, an ostracized social pariah, and her turbulent journey to self-awareness and acceptance.

Based in Rochester NY, amongst the incredibly competitive senior-year students of a crowded authoritarian high school, JoLynn Kirby, the first person narrator of this book, is seventeen years old and has come to recognize that she is not like other girls. For one thing, Jo has recently found herself considered an outsider, with plummeting grades and baggy clothes, and her tendency towards wild and reckless behavior she just can’t seem to control. With her successful and former beauty queen mom, a superstar athlete of an older brother, and a kindly dad who just can’t seem to really see her, JoLynn’s desperate downward spiral is captured perfectly here, between the pages, as we, the reader, share in her clumsy bravado in the face of peer-group inflicted bullying, and her resulting dubious decisioning, all of which seem to trip her up even further.

Jo’s world, and in particular, her tangled and tortured interactions with her peers, is written with an authenticity that does justice to both teenage sexes, so much so that this reader could not help but find herself cringing along with Jo in this brutally cruel world of teen power dynamics.

When Jo’s former best friend, Maddie, (now a member of a tight clique of girls whose mean-girl delight in shunning Jo is palpable), disappears suddenly and mysteriously, Jo takes it upon herself to investigate. Aided by an undeniably hot male classmate, Hudson Harper-Moore, (with reasons of his own for needing to get to the bottom of things) Jo’s story now begins to unfold in layers, with dangling loose ends appearing with alacrity, intertwining her traumatized past, her fractured family dynamics, and her disastrous history with her peer group. All of which slowly coalesces into a coherent sequence, illuminating both the mystery and Jo's oppressive alienation from her world and her self.

An interesting and engrossing read with a flawed and deeply engaging heroine, I enjoyed this book, its plotting and the character-driven labyrinth of slowly revealed twists and turns, all leading to an ending this reader found satisfying and thoughtful.

A great big thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

This one was just not for me. I did not like Jo, and could not find myself rooting for her. It was also felt really slow.

Typically, when I read a book, my brain automatically assigns a word to it. A “describe this book in one word” kind of thing. But my brain could not pick just one word for this book, so I give you three: raw, visceral, and poignant. This book took my heart and ripped it right out of my chest. Even the author’s note had me in tears (you’ll understand when you read it). I wanted to reach into the book and pull Jo out and wrap her in a giant blanket and protect her from the rest of the world and show her all the love she deserves. And I will fight anyone who calls Jo an unlikable main character. She is messy and she is angry, yes, but she is also tired and lonely and traumatized and so so hurt. And she has spent her whole life being told who she is and that she is unlikable. That was probably my favorite part of the book, watching her unlearn everything she was told and become her own true self and learn to show herself love and empathy. It was absolutely amazing development that had me sobbing from pride. I cannot overstate how much I loved Jo. I also loved the Birds and Tess. They were amazing side characters and helped Jo so much in her journey. As for the mystery plot, I also really enjoyed it. It was very well written in relation to the character development, stimulating Jo’s journery in the beginning then taking more of a back seat to allow for all the growth before picking back up at the end for a strong and exciting conclusion. Overall, I loved this book so much and highly recommend it (but check the trigger warnings first).

If you ever wanted a book that was the lyrics of Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘the grudge’ meets the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s ‘Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve, look no further than Not Like Other Girls. This book is a combination of many things — it’s a slow-burn mystery, a fake dating romance, and a intricate coming of age story. Most importantly, though, it’s about the complexities of girlhood and trying to find strength in yourself — and coming to terms with what happened to you — after sexual assault. Recovery from rape is different for everyone, and we see that with Jo’s experience. For most of the book, Jo didn’t realize what happened to her was rape. Her assault isn’t actually revealed until later into the story, but it’s clear from her thoughts that something happened to her. There are many heartbreaking moments throughout this book, and admittedly, sometimes I paused reading to hug my Kindle.

Meredith Adamo has crafted a masterpiece with Not Like Other Girls. It’s characters are ones that I’ll remember for a long time. I’m not one to reread books, but this is the type of book I would reread over and over again. Easiest five stars I’ve ever given out. I would read everything Adamo ever writes.


full review to be posted nearer to release day!

A gripping novel told from the perspective of a girl in the midst of a meltdown. Jo's former best friend Maddie goes missing and Jo is one of the last people to see her. Why did Maddie disappear and what is the true backstory? As the layers peel back, Jo learns more about herself and about why her friend's attitude towards her changed so suddenly. While the book can be read as a thriller or a teen coming-of-age novel, it can best be appreciated by its raw and uncomfortable truths about the relative value we put on boys vs girls and all the ways girls pay for the misdeeds of boys and men.

Not Like Other Girls is a gripping page-turner that packs quite the emotional punch. Jo is a flawed main character with skeletons in her closet that she refuses to deal with and prickly skin that deters most people from wanting to be in her orbit. All except Hudson, one of the best love interests I've read in a long time. His banter with Jo and his obvious affection for her makes it difficult not to fall in love with him.

To uncover what happened to her missing ex-friend, Maddie Price, Jo must infiltrate the popular clique to see what she can find out. Being that they're not her biggest fan, she enlists Hudson's help. Playing with the fake relationship trope, Adamo does a brilliant job with their "enemies to lovers" dynamic, and you find yourself rooting for them from the very start. Delivering a story that rings true to the darker side of high school, grit and all, Not Like Other Girls will tug at the heartstrings as Jo and Hudson delve deep into the mystery of Maddie's disappearance. I highly recommend reading this book.

Not like Other Girls was a story I honestly wasn't expecting when I read the synopsis, but one I really liked nonetheless. Reading the synopsis one would expect a thrilling mystery on where Maddie Price went, and why and finding her etc etc. But to me the story really focused on Jo and what happened to her to make her the shell of a girl she used to be.

I kept a really open mind when I started the book because I thought that whatever we learned second hand from people at the start wouldn't really be who Jo was and I was very right. People assumed and thought the worst of her based on one of the worst things to ever happen to her and didn't give it a second thought because they didn't care enough about the damage it was doing to a very real human being. They just thought it was another thing to gossip and talk about. Its sad that this is a very real thing that happens in schools every day and it was heartbreaking to unravel Jo's past and figure out everything that happened to her and then see her fully come to terms with it when she'd spent so long suppressing it instead. That along with the fact of realizing that every single adult in her life failed her, and props to Tess for actually saying it out loud. Tess was a great character and I liked that she was one of the only adults who really saw and took an interest in Jo beyond her troubled (and very undeserved) reputation. I really liked Jo as a main character, she is loud, sarcastic, and funny and smarter than she gets credit for and I enjoyed her character development. Hudson had his faults but I liked him too, nobody is 100% perfect. I didn't love Maddie, I think she was a really shitty person and just because she had bad things happen to her doesn't change that. I liked that the book didn't try and give her a redemption arc too because I would've rolled my eyes lmao.

I got a little overwhelmed with the amount of things happening sometimes and it made it hard to follow the story and keep it straight so I wish that there wasn't quite so much going on at times. It got really confusing a couple times there I had to back up and regroup lol. I also had a few things I wanted to know more about and things I still didn't understand fully but nothing that hindered my enjoyment of the story all that much. If you pick this one up I strongly suggest you check the content warnings because theres some heavy stuff in here that might not fit with everybody. But overall I enjoyed this one and highly recommend it because it is an important story that Im glad is out there for anybody who may need it. Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the ARC copy, all opinions are my own.

Truly hard to believe this is a debut, but wow. This book is about Jo, and a friendship breakup with her ex best- friend Maddie. See.. Maddie goes missing after asking Jo for help.

First of all, read the author’s note. And realize that this is an incredibly personal story, told in an honest and raw way.

Spoilers to follow:
Jo is so damn relatable. Everything she went through. From her friendship falling apart, falling in love, her photos being stolen from her, being sexually assaulted, the adults in her life failing her over and over - it was a lot to take in. I loved Jo. I wanted to protect her and hug her at the same time. Flawed. Angry. Devastated. Loved. Empowered.

Hudson was not perfect. He made me mistakes but he kept showing up. He kept being there for Jo because he wanted to. God, their first time was so tender. Their communication was amazing at 17 years old. My heart felt for him. He was dealt a crummy hand and did his best.

The mysterious circumstances surrounding Maddie’s disappearance were a whirlwind to follow and when we got to the conclusion I was ready to see that final resolution. When Jo realizes everything and they kidnap her - my heart dropped. Then - Everything Hudson and Jo worked toward with Tessa coming to a head. Justice. The side characters were really well done in this novel.

Truly, this was an incredible book. As someone who didn’t realize what happened to them until many, many years later, the author’s note about broke me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jo-Lynn Kirby is the kind of girl you don't want to be, the kind who asks for it, the kind who deserves it when her nudes leak. She's definitely not anything like pretty, nice Maddie Price—but she's the only one who's worried when Maddie goes missing. Determined to find her, Jo is pulled back into the world she used to share with Maddie before they grew apart, leaving Jo wondering if she's truly looking for Maddie, or the girl she used to be.

NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS is a YA contemporary mystery for fans of SADIE, I'M THE GIRL, and A STUDY IN DROWNING. tldr; 5 stars and you should read it.

It's funny, it's heartbreaking, it's personal and so tragically relatable. Anyone who's gone to high school in a female-presenting body will feel seen by Jo, whether you were like her on the surface or not. That's the thing about not being like other girls—you are, and it is both the best and the worst part of girlhood.

Available April 30, 2024.

Mind the trigger warnings, like SA.

At its absolute best (and it's a very good best), NLOG is a powerful and intimate portrait of a teenage girl trying to find herself. Something happened to Jo one summer that fundamentally changed her, and as the reader slowly peels back her layers, she's able to name and come to terms with it. Her trauma comes to the forefront because her ex-best friend Maddie has disappeared. While the story surrounding Maddie's disappearance was interesting enough, it was the coming of age, self-love journey and reckoning that kept me reading until the very end.

Jo has had a lot of people define her and whisper about her. And as a reader, I formed my own opinion of her based on the other characters and her inner monologue. But who is she exactly? And what was the trauma that irrevocably changed her? While I saw the trauma aspect coming, I didn't see how the mystery would unfold. I felt that sometimes there were too many things happening at once within the narration that made me confused and hard to fit the pieces together. However, this is still an incredible book that I highly recommend.

This book is about Jo finding Maddie. But it's also about how Jo finds herself (and a support system).

Thank you to NG and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Not Like Other Girls - Meredith Adamo

4.5⭐️

I had high hopes for this book and they were completely met.

There is something about letting your life implode, or making it implode, because you want to be seen. About searching for answers and feeling life everything and everyone around you is out to get you.

Now if you add to that a missing girl, a scandal at school and fake dating, then you have this book.

Bloomsbury was correct. This is not like other books. It is better.


Pub Date: April 30, 2024

Read if you enjoyed: A Good Girls Guide to Murder, One of Us is Lying or I’m the Girl

There are a lot of layers to Jo. She's experienced several traumatic episodes that reveal themselves throughout the novel. Also, her former best friend has gone missing, so there's also a mystery to solve. There is a lot of plot lines throughout the story (maybe too many), and it is slow to build, but once it does, readers will be satisfied with the ending.

NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS is an engrossing novel in the mystery department. It didn't take me long to read this book because I wanted to know what happened to Maddie, not to mention the drama. I mean, there was so much drama and scandals. It was crazy.
The premise of NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS reminded me of those movies from the 2000s: fake-dating, mean girls, rude guys showing their true colors. NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS was a refreshing take on those things.
There were parts of this book that I didn't like. It felt all too cliche and wildly unnecessary, which is why my rating is low.
Other than that, if you enjoy mysteries then this one is for you.

This was a really great YA book that I think a lot of femmes will relate too regardless of age. The messaging and validation of a common shared experience is fantastic. I did feel it dragged on a bit longer than necessary but overall a great book

The trouble with girls like Jo is that they always ruin a good thing, they just want attention, that screwing up comes so easily… or at least that’s what she’s been told.

In the beginning of this book, I thought I’d be writing a review about how much I loved reading a thrilling mystery that had a fake-dating trope and kept me laughing, but as the story progressed, I realized I was reading a book that was going to impact me for the rest of my life. Now, no matter what I write in this review could truly do this book justice.

When we are introduced to Jo, she is described as being a troublesome girl with bad grades who has made some bad decisions that’s got her labeled as the school “slut”. As the story unravels, we learn that Jo’s life is not all what it seems & there were a lot of unsettling outside factors that have resulted in this reputation. While the story progresses, Jo's ex-bestie goes missing, and while it's labeled as a "runaway girl" to the media, there's actually a much bigger story behind it with multiple conspiracies. The end result was nothing I saw coming.

Far too many women are going to relate to Jo's overall story, including trying to get her parents attention, how much she doubts herself because of other people, and her just wanting to be liked.

Reading the author's note at the end was so special. I'm grateful to Meredith for sharing her story through Jo and feel an immense amount of healing from this.

I hate to say this is yet another prep-school experience gone wrong mystery, because while the focus of the story is solving the disappearance of Jo-Lynn's former BFF Maddie and the unraveling of her past, the real story is of Jo-Lynn coming to terms with things that happened TO her and finding her missing support system. This one feels like it's for all the girls who have had to change themselves just to protect themselves from the bad behavior of boys.

TW: Sexual assault, revenge porn

Wowza. I devoured this book because it was just so well paced and twisty that I couldn't put it down. This was a pretty unique story in the scope of what it accomplished, and it's one that I'll definitely recommend moving forward.

Characters: Our MC Jo-Lynn is essentially ostracized as the school "slut" and her fall from grace leads to a domino effect on her relationships with friends, family, and academics. She's relatable and likeable, still, though. Secondary characters including her seemingly aloof parents, her clearly struggling brother, a former best friend turned nemesis, her arms-length faux friends, a prior crush turned love interest, a dependable but nerdy acquaintance, and the list goes on. It's easy to see depth and realism in each character-especially in the context of the senior year school setting. There are definitely ones to make you leery, ones that you hope have good intentions, and ones that you can't get a good read on. Overall, I really like each character had a well defined purpose and was necessary to plot advancement.

The writing and pacing were both good. As the plot balanced Jo's past trauma with Maddie missing with a (not-so) fake romance with college pressure with family and friend dynamics, there were always elements to keep the story moving ahead while simultaneously advancing several of those story lines. It was easy to see how the past influenced the present and how all the overlap between people was easily believable.

Life is complicated and messy. But people are stronger than they give themselves credit for and good people do exist. This book makes it worth the 400ish pages to get those reminders.

Overall: 5 stars (I loved it)

I'll tell my students about: rape/sexual assault, sex, physical violence, cyberbullying, bullying, social media, language, alcohol, drugs, trauma, parental death (past tense), divorce

**Thank you to NetGalley & Bloomsbury USA Children's Books | Bloomsbury YA for the free ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.**