This was an enjoyable read. The author grew up in a great Samoan family and mentions that many times. She has a great boyfriend who supports her and actually got her into making TikTok content that helped her spread her word.

I think this a good read.

Thank you NetGalley and Farrar Straus and Griroux for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Thank you so much to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for the ARC!

I have loved Drew for years now. She is so hilarious and confident and has inspired me to be the best version of myself. So when I found out she was writing a book I was so excited. And then I got my hands on an ARC and I got even more excited. Listen y'all, this book is fantastic. I was cackling the whole time. It is full of humor, heart, and wit. I felt so validated as a woman. I felt validated in my anger at the patriarchal world we live in today. Drew has a way of explaining things in an intelligent but accessible way so that we all can understand. I appreciate all the things she took time to explain. I learned a lot in reading this book.

Overall, I loved it! I absolutely adore Drew and her voice shines through in this book!

“The Devil works hard, but the patriarchy works harder.”

This quote aptly summarizes the need for this book. I found it uplifting and thought-provoking. If you have already picked up this book or are thinking about reading it, I am sure you are aware of who Drew is. But if you aren’t familiar, she is known for being a bad bitch that makes fun of awful misogynistic men on the internet. This is a big aspect of her platform and this book aims to help her audience uplift themselves in the face of misogyny and patriarchy. I quite like how Drew put it:

“If you don’t have your supportive unit just yet, you can use this book as a tool to start building support within yourself.’

Through telling her life story, Drew conveys big life lessons she has learned in life. She shares stories from childhood all the way up to getting fired from her dream job out of college and how it turned out to be a blessing in disguise that paved the way to her starting her social media career she is known for today. To put it simply, I found that this book was therapy in disguise. It is one that will stick with me for a while. There were so many points that hit home and made me self-reflect and I found myself relating to just about everything in this book even though my life and upbringing are so different from Drew’s. I think all women and femmes navigating this patriarchal world can relate to something in this book no matter where you are in life.

In short, here is the message I came away with:

Live LOUD! You only have one life so live it for yourself and to its fullest extent!

Loud: Accept Nothing Less but the Life You Deserve by Drew Afualo is part memoir, part how-to on living your best life and stopping terrible men from dictating how you see yourself. It addresses so many issues young women & femme-presenting people face today.

Anyone who knows Drew from TikTok knows how funny, witty, and smart she is and that is on full display in her book. It’s not just anecdotes of her taking down misogynists but stories about her family, her adolescence, and her life before & after fame.

There are some sections that felt elementary in its discussion of feminism but I think that’s only because I’m a bit older than the target demographic and have already gone through the early stages of learning how to be an intersectional advocate. I still believe this book would be a great read for anyone who calls themselves a feminist whether they are a veteran or just starting out in their journey. Drew does a great job of stressing the importance of showing up for all marginalized communities, especially the ones you are not a part of.

I really enjoyed reading this and will most likely revisit it in the near future. It’s laugh out loud funny at times and overall just a good read.

Thanks to FSG Books, Auwa Books, & NetGalley for the ARC!

Have you ever watched Drew’s tik tok videos and been left wanting more? This book does that and so much more. It was definitely a new experience to read her words without hearing her amazing laugh to go with it. Drew is vulnerable with her readers as she discusses childhood, culture, fears, family, the patriarchy, love, and everything in between. The writing has a way of making you feel motivated and validated at the same time. While acknowledging and explaining the misogyny of daily life, she counters this with her own outlook on life and strategies for self care. The content is easy to read, relatable, and enjoyable. I loved reading this before bed so I could go to sleep with Drew telling me what a badass I am. Overall, I definitely recommend picking up this book to help you understand why you should, “accept nothing less than the life you deserve!” Thank you Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I really love Drew on Tik Tok so I was very excited to get early access to her book. Hearing her story was really eye opening and enlightened me to who she is as a person. One thing I really loved about Drew's writing was that she also discussed her mistakes, not just her victories. It made her more relatable and honestly made her content more real to me. The only downside I had to this audiobook was it lacked Drew's enthusiasm. I didn't really hear her voice shine through and instead it felt like she was reading from a script. Reading the book itself without narration, I felt that I could insert the Drew's voice that I knew and loved. Overall this book was a fun memoir that helped me learn more about someone I find to be hilarious and entertaining.

Rating: 4,5 stars

Let it first be known that I am a huge fan of Drew Afualo and the work she does online. When I got my copy of this arc, the thing I was most excited for was learning more about Drew’s life and upbringing, i.e. the memoir part of the book, and it definitely delivered! Drew spends some time of her novel talking about pick-me-ism and how she was a pick-me girl herself when she was younger, which came as a surprise. She described pick-me-ism as “one woman leveraging her self-worth in exchange for a man’s affection, all at the expense of another woman” and mentions examples such as engaging in “not like other girls” behaviour and letting disrespectful behavior to slide just to be seen as “cool” and “chill”. I found this part of the book very interesting to read, because it is such a modern and current aspect of living as a girl and a young woman in today’s flavour of the patriarchy. What I mean by this is that pick-me-ism is something not often found discussed in other feminist books or memoirs, at least not in the ones I have read. I also found it interesting due to how much it resonated with my own experiences as a girl growing into womanhood. I fear we can all find the pick-me girl in us if we look hard enough.

However, the manual and manifesto parts of the novel are amazing as well! Drew writes about her life and her journey to becoming the loud, confident woman she is today in a very intelligent but at the same time accessible way. The book almost feels like reading a podcast episode, Drew’s voice is powerful and present and so entirely her. At first this threw me a little off, because it is very unlike the narrations I am used to reading. However, as soon as I got properly into the book I stopped being bothered by it. Drew writes about topics such as: body neutrality, rather than positivity, how it is a good thing if you are okay with dying alone rather than being ready to compromise on who you are just for human companionship from men, and how you are worth it, which is always a necessary thing to hear. Drew inspires her readers to look inwards and start searching for the sneaky tendrils of misogyny in their own hearts, and she inspires us all to work harder to empower and love ourselves as women and femmes in this “man’s world”.

I loved this book, and if there is only one thing to take away from it, I would say it is this: dare to be mean, dare to be loud, and dare to always be yourself!

Do yourself a favor and go read this book.

This book surprised me in the best way possible. Having grown up during the YouTuber book era, I wasn’t expecting a book as great as it was. Afualo was able to perfectly capture her personality into the written format and got real about some very difficult topics.

I appreciated so much the transparency and accountability shown in the chapter where her sister comes out to her.

While some of these ideas aren’t the biggest revolutionary ones unless you have no knowledge of Afualo and her platform/feminist theory, what was discussed were all often under discussed topics. The way the author reflected on them was amazing and made some complex topics very digestible.

I wish I had a book like this when I was younger and still figuring life out but I think it was still a great read and very interesting.

Only downside I could think of is if you listen to either of her podcasts regularly, some of the stories might be familiar. Personally, I didn’t mind that.

I enjoyed getting to learn a bit more about her Samoan culture.

Loud by Drew Afualo 5 ⭐️

“Don’t dim your light so inferior men won’t have to cover their eyes in your presence.”


I am not usually a non fiction reader but when I saw Drew was releasing a book I knew I needed to read it. It felt like Drew was reading this to me herself. It really made me question my relationship with the patriarchy and how decentering male validation would affect my relationship with myself. Drew does a great job explaining the long term effects of the patriarchy on young people and how no one wins under the patriarchy. I appreciated Drew’s unabashed honesty throughout this book from her past of being a pick-me to her views on parenthood. All in all this book has given me a lot to think about so I can begin to unpack the long term effects of being a woman under the patriarchy.


Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Drew is most widely known for her crusade against mysogynistic men via the internet, but this book was so much more than that. First off - it was so well done! Loud was more of a self-help book about breaking down those familiar patriarchal ideals rather than a memoir of the author. Drew's voice was vulnerable and honest, and she spoke her truth about experiences all women can relate to. Her witty commentary made me laugh, and her personal stories and experiences made me cry.

I'd recommend this book to literally anyone - but especially all women. It never hurts to be reminded of your worth, and remember that you deserve good things just as much as anyone else!

Can't wait to highlight my favorite quotes in the officially published version that releases TOMORROW!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and honestly review an ARC copy of this book.

I wasn’t able to finish the book. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the eARC.

However, this is very much Drew’s voice throughout the book. You can definitely see her voice through the writing and how much love she has for her communities.
This book explains a lot of the why behind Drew and her experiences.

LOUD by Drew Afualo is a more earnest and tender look at the author than we've seen before. It was really nice to see Afualo's voice come through on the page, keeping the energy we all know and love on TikTok, but adding in a sincerity that I liked seeing in print.

If you enjoy learning more about your favorite celebrities and notable people, you will enjoy Afualo's notes on her upbringing, which reveal why she is able to be such a strong feminist and inspiration for women everywhere.

This was exactly what I needed. Sometimes all it takes is for a really amazing woman to tell you that it’s okay to be you, it’s okay to be loud and never back down. I cried more than expected during this book. I love Drew so much.

Overall 4.5 ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley, Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, and Drew Afualo for allowing me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Being such a big Drew fan I was so excited when I got approved to read this ARC. This was such a beautiful book and allowed the reader to see more into Drew's life and mindset outside of her TikTok and podcast presence.

The writing style also felt true to who she was, it felt like I was reading advice from an older sister rather than reading a book. This really solidifies the target audience while also reaching outside to a wider audience. It is meant for teens to young/new adult women and femmes but I feel that it can extend to an older audience as well.

Her vulnerability, advice, and stories really reflect her power and ability to inspire those whose lives she impacts. I will say there was a but of repetitiveness but I think that was intentional especially for the younger audience for the book. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to most of my friends.

Drew was my reason for being on TikTok! I was thrilled to find out that I was approved to read her book from NetGalley. This books has a bit more of a serious twist from her typical presence online. It was such a great read of life advice, her stories of stopping men in their tracks and the life that lead her to where she is now!

This memoir by Drew was fantastic. Despite her young age, she writes like a big sister, offering advice on life, dating, finding your voice, being true to yourself, and handling mistakes. It’s perfect for young women in their late teens and twenties. Drew’s feminism is intersectional, addressing race, sexuality, and gender identity, and she discusses her Samoan heritage throughout. A key takeaway is her distinction between misogynistic men's fear of ridicule and women's fear of assault or murder, highlighting the empowering nature of her work.

Loud is a love letter to women in their late teens and early twenties. Drew's passion for women to own their own lives, be confident, and have zero tolerance for disrespect bleeds through every page. Women who have read other feminist works may find Loud to be a little reductive and repetitive; however, it's an accessible and digestible introduction and it reads like it was written by your best friend. I really enjoyed Drew's moments of vulnerability in sharing her own experiences. Thank you NetGalley and AUWA for the ARC!

This is Drew through and through!

I think anyone who is a fan of Drew’s content will be a fan of this book. Drew was successful in staying true to her brand and her stance. While I did find the book a little repetitive at times, there were some really beautiful moments that allowed us to see a side of Drew that we don’t often see in the material she puts out online. Not to say she’s a different person, but it adds layers and depth to the person we see on our phone screens regularly.

There were moments I wished she would’ve opened up even more, particularly about her experience working in social media as a younger woman. I ultimately felt this book would be perfect for anyone in their 20s or even young adults/teens. Not to say someone older can’t read and appreciate it, like I did. The self-help aspect of this book is familiar and not necessarily nuanced, but some people need to hear the message multiple times before they get it. So, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the lessons and guidance she provides, considering it’s still informative and delivered in an organic and true-to-herself manner.

This book feels like you’re having a conversation directly with her. My favorite aspects of the book were the ones where she talks vulnerably and provides insight into the decisions she made for herself, specifically as a young woman, and some of the challenges she’s faced. If you’re looking for a book that might give you a little boost and help you get to know one of the larger creators on a different level, I definitely recommend this read. It’s funny, positive, and authentic.

this was such a fantastic read. i think im at a point in my life where i needed to read this. thank you drew afualo, your words were so impactful

Love her so much! She is unapologetically herself and this book is a great example of that! If you didn't know drew before, you will after this book.