very good and insightful to damaging relationships and healing process between old friends. I felt like the novel wanted to get a message that even if struggles occur just be there for each other

This book was not at all what I expected but in the best way. I went into this book blind, and it didn't disappoint. This is not for the faint of heart. its rough. its gritty. its realistic. but its really worth the read.

This book was a really complete story to me. The mystery was interesting, the romance was sweet and felt true to the age group and Jo was a well written character who felt really relatable. I think my only critique is some parts could have been tightened up a little and the end could have used a little more

This book has lot more going for it though. While the disappearance of Jo’s former best friend Maddie Price kept me hooked, I think the themes of consent and sexual assault are what really make this book stand out.

We find out what happened to Jo slowly, over the course of the book and I think that was a really good way of handling it. It allowed the reader to discover what happened through Jo’s feelings and recollections, rather than be being *told* right away. This method really allowed for more emotional depth and exploration to me. By the end, the message is really powerful and I hope it resonants with people, especially those who need it the most.

Thank you to Bloomsbury and Bloomsbury Audio for the advanced copies in exchange for an honest review.

This well written young adult novel about the case of a missing teenage girl -- told from the perspective of her former friend -- is about so much more than that. The story delves into important issues facing young people today, including friend break-ups, sexual assault and harassment, and the bad behavior that sometimes occurs as a result of the pressure and competition that is the college admission process.

There were a lot of loose threads in this story, and quite a bit of flashbacks to help explain some of what was happening in the present story's context. But that amount of back-and-forth could be confusing and unsettling at times.

Overall, this novel was entertaining as a mystery, if sometimes overly complicated, and carried a good message of self-worth for those who are "not like other girls."

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for a fair review.

Not Like Other Girls is an engaging debut that is a coming of age mystery and romance. This book had me hooked from the start, with Jo-Lynn journey from outcast to detective as she digs into the disappearance of her former best friend, Maddie Price.

I found myself constantly guessing what might have happened to Maddie. The fake dating trope was also a fun addition, and I really liked the chemistry between Jo and Hudson as they navigated their complicated history and worked together to find Maddie. I thought Jo’s character growth was well done, especially as she confronted the hurt and betrayal that led to her ostracism.

While the buildup was solid, some plot elements at the end felt a little out of place. Despite that, the overall experience was still enjoyable, and the underlying themes about how young women are treated and judged felt important and relevant.

Overall, if you’re a fan of YA mysteries with a touch of romance, “Not Like Other Girls” is definitely worth checking out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Audio for this Advance Copy of Not Like Other Girls

One Line Review: Jo-Lynn was the girl I wished I could be in high school, confident, popular, and couldn’t do wrong… until she simply wasn’t. One fateful event turned everyone against her, leaving her emotionally bruised and unable to trust anyone around her. But when a past best friend goes missing, will she be able to work her way back into the fold of her former friends to get answers?

Synopsis: Jo HYPHEN Lynn had it all, and then didn’t. She misses the person she used to be, confident, popular, and able to excel in almost anything she tried to accomplish. The world dealt her a painful blow, causing her life to upheave itself. Her former friends are cruel, including “Pretty, Nice, Maddie Price,” until one moment changes it all. Maddie desperately asks Jo for help one afternoon and then goes missing. Jo formulates a plan when she realizes the “friends” of her past seem to know more than they are telling police and Maddie’s family. Will Jo be able to help Maddie, before it’s too late?

This novel navigates the trauma of self-sabotage when someone who is young cannot process what has happened to them… and I don’t know a single person in my life that wouldn’t relate to that on some level. Mix this in with the mystery of trying to help a missing friend, and you have a captivating story that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

My Thoughts: When I tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed this listen, I feel like that is an understatement. The pacing kept me interested throughout and was reminiscent of experience I feel almost everyone at that tender age can relate to. I absolutely did not expect to love this book as much as I did. What a fantastic debut for Meredith Adamo, I will be keeping an eye out for future novels!

This book follows Jo-Lynn while she navigates many obstacles in her high school years. Her and a girl named Maddie used to be best friends, Maddie becomes missing after speaking to Jo and telling her she needed her help, due to being in trouble. Everyone thinks Maddie ran away but Jo and a boy named Hudson take it upon themselves to find out what happened to her. During all this we find out something happened previously that caused the entire school to harass her and ostracize her.

I think Jo-Lynn is in my top 5 favorite characters of all time. She is so quick with her comebacks and that banter in this book was amazing. It’s not just a mystery, it’s coming of age, romance, and humor. This book is everything someone could need to read.

This was SO SO good!! It was mystery with romance and drama and I DEVOURED it. I felt for the FMC & all the girl drama that she went through. This book talks about all of the issues that teens go through in a way that makes it relatable to everyone who has been a teenage girl who wasn't accepted by the in group. Make sure you check the TWs!

Jo's former best friend Maddie goes missing she's determined to find the truth behind her disappearance.

Shared on Goodreads, Amazon, & Storygraph 5/2. Sharing on instagram feed & stories 5/2 or 5/3

⭐️rating: 4.5/5

I loved this debut! There’s so much encompassed in this book, so it’s a little hard to describe, but it was great! I didn’t have any expectations going in, but Not Like Other Girls was a perfect blend of YA drama, mystery, secrets, and romance.

You start off thinking it’s gonna go one way when being introduced to this young girl Jo-Lynn who’s been struggling recently, wondering how she’s gonna hopefully turn it around, and then a whole mystery starts to unfold, fully drawing you into Jo’s world. I was transported back to high school (but thankfully not in a bad way), feeling like I was right there with Jo, following along, and being reminded of what it was like when I was her age. Well, thankfully, minus the drama and secrets that ensued in this book.

It’s touching and Jo had so much growth. She’s gone through so much from the past and during the events of this book, and I enjoyed seeing how she worked through it all. There’s mystery and drama and secrets and scandals. There’s sweet romance with fake dating and first loves and some steam. And there’s a compelling story about a young girl who’s coming into her own and learning how to tell her own story.

The narration was also amazing! Georgina Sadler did an awesome job portraying all the different characters. It was a delight to listen to. Also, the author’s note at the end was very touching. I loved what Meredith included, telling her own story and bringing more insight into why she wrote what she wrote.

Overall, I very much enjoyed Meredith’s debut. Very well done! If any of what I’ve mentioned sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend! I hope you enjoy it too!

Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Audio for the advanced copy of this book! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a great read on so many levels. I was enraged on Jo-Lynn's behalf at the treatment of her by pretty much everyone in the book. They truly had no clue who she was or how she became that person. The story of sexual assault is such a common one but so many girls and women don't eve realize what they have been through is actually sexual assault. It's heartbreak and so so so wrong. Meredith Adamo did a fabulous job bringing this plight to live on the page.

I wish I'd had more books like this growing up. It's books like this with real life issues that show young adults they're not alone in their life battles and that even their darkest times are not only relatable on a greater scale, but also something they can overcome.

Loved the mystery and slight romance aspects as well. Would definitely read more by this author.

Tysm for the ARC!

There is just something special about a YA thriller! This one was so captivating and the narrator did a fantastic job bringing this story to life.

The writing was fantastic and the story moved along in a great pace. I was hooked on the mystery and also how Jo was handling everything life had thrown at her. The story is told in such a way that it was like Jo was sitting there beside you, telling you her story. She was relatable right off the bat and I couldn’t help but root for her to get through to the other side.

The ending felt a bit underwhelming to me but I think it was more of a me problem than a story problem.

Grateful to have received a complimentary ALC copy to honestly review.

Aarrgghh – I detest reviewing books that I love and hate at the same time. The themes of this YA book are so timely and so important – a boy Jo considers a friend takes her phone and sends provocative photos of her to everyone and when she was 15, a 21 yo talked her into doing things she didn’t want to do which together makes her basically hate herself. But when her used-to-be friend Maddie goes missing, she is sure she didn’t just run away which most people think.
This debut author really hit the spot on these topics BUT shame on her editor for not having the very explicit sex scenes removed and replaced perhaps with “fade to black” which is more in keeping with a YA rating. Consequently, I’m very disappointed that I won’t be recommending this book.

So this is the trouble with girls like me.”

Not Like Other Girls
By Meredith Adamo @mere_adamo
Narrated by Georgina Sadler
5⭐️

No notes. This YA thriller was completely balanced between plot development and character growth. A girl is missing and her friend , or former friend, Jo-Lynn may be the only person who can find out what happened to her.

The mystery keeps heating up and you are sucked into the plot throughout the whole thing, but the star of the show for me was Jo-Lynn’s character development. She was on a coming of age journey while working through some serious trauma. Jo-Lynn had been ousted by almost everyone at her school including the missing girl, Maddie. Her brain was in a constant struggle between who she feels she is and who she is seen as.

I recommend in any format but the audiobook narration was excellent. The emotions of the story were perfectly portrayed by the narrator. I sometimes have a hard time with YA audiobooks because I can’t suspend belief enough from the adult narrating to imagine their voice as the age of character. Georgina did a great job.

This book gave Sadie by Courtney Summers vibes so I absolutely was the audience for this. Not Like Other Girls is gritty and dark but truthful to things real teen girls experience.

This hits shelves today. Definitely recommend picking it up.

This story is important for young girls to realize how much abuse and SA are rampant, and how they are enticed to stay quiet. The narrator felt authentic.
The only thing that bugged me was the time jumps from the past to the present, it wasn’t always clear what timeline you were in.
Satisfying conclusion and definitely check your triggers, there are lots

This is a hard-hitting book about a teenage girls who will stop at nothing to solve her ex-best friend's disappearance. I'm many years past my own high school days, but I can still vividly remember the angst and challenges that went along with that time period. Meredith Adamo does a fantastic job of capturing the relationships between students, the stresses with planning for the future, the teenage/parent challenges, and the high school experience as a whole. But this story is much more than a contemporary, young adult drama; it's also a statement on how singular events can change forever the course of a life and the consequences that result from our own decisions as well as choices made by others that are beyond our control.

I enjoyed this book. The characters were well-crafted and the plot was just fast enough to hold my attention whithout overwhelming the point of the story. I did feel a bit like we only got a slice of life in this particular private school and that their were many groups of students who were under-represented, but it felt authentic given the first person narrative and the focus of the plot.

My only criticism, and it's more just something to note as this is categorized as a young adult book, is that there is quite a bit of foul language, drugs and alcohol, and several romantic scenes.

Bottom line: If you enjoy young adult contemporary, or you are interested in a first-person narrative from a girl struggling to fit in and crying out for attention; check out this book. It's definitely worth the read.

This book took me a minute to finish but to be fair I was listening to TTPD and had a hard time breaking away to read but I ended up loving this one. For a YA mystery book, I felt like Meredith Adams absolutely smashed it out of the park. I was loving every second of it. I did find some parts to be a little long winded but for the most part this was incredible.
Huge thank you to Bloomsbury Audio for the gifted ALC of “Not Like Other Girls.” I thought the audio was clear and concise. The narrator did a wonderful job. Miles voice drove me crazy when she’d do it but she portrayed him perfectly!

4.5 ⭐️ rounded up.

Jo-Lynn “Jo” was popular, a good student, and on track for a successful future. Until nude photos of her were leaked and she was made an outcast. Left basically friendless, her grades plummeted, she became hard to manage, and was often in trouble. When her former best friend Maddie suddenly disappears, everyone believes she ran away, but Jo suspects something is amiss. Jo needs to get back in with her former group of friends to learn more about what Maddie was involved in, and Hudson suggests they pretend to date in order to help Jo reintegrate with the group. The last thing Jo wants to do is hang out with the group who betrayed her, talked about her, and violated her in more ways than one. As Jo uncovers more and more about what Maddie was doing, she also learns a lot of dark secrets about her other classmates, and discovers even more about herself.

Let me tell you. I was fully unprepared for how powerful this book was going to be. We have the mystery/thriller piece which does feel very much like the YA that it is intended to be. I don’t think I could fully appreciate this part of the novel, being 38 years old I just feel like there are some things about YA novels that aren’t going to work as well for me. That being said, it WAS well done.

BUT where this novel fully won me over was Jo’s self discovery. We learn things about Jo and her experiences right alongside her as she discovers and realizes things for herself and it is POWERFUL. The way the author wrote some of her internal dialogue was so moving. Watching Jo push back, take control, and realize what she deserves in life and in relationships was a really emotional journey. A YA novel that can make me feel such strong emotion gets a round of applause from me. And then the authors note at the end in her own voice was just icing on the emotional cake. A stunning debut novel from this author.

I have a physical copy of this book and also the audio and chose to listen mostly to the audio and the narration was fantastic!

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘴𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘓𝘊 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘈𝘙𝘊.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC read.. this was an audiobook and I felt like the narrator did a great job representing Jo in the story. The character development kept me engaged and wanting to know more about each of the characters. Reasoning for the star rating.. as a young adult novel, I understand that sometimes these teenagers are going through and dealing with these things. BUT it alluded to and described many things that I don't think I would suggest my teenager to read. There was a lot of subplots that did kind of distract from the main plot and by the ending it felt like it all got rushed to a conclusion after so many chapters of building the suspense. I have an eyebrow raise to the ending with Myles, so bravo for that unexpected twist. I did like the explanation of all Jo and Maddie went through as their friendship took a nose dive, because that is so relatable.

This book was a bit of a challenge for me. I normally love YA anything, and connect with the characters for sentimental reasons, but this book was really not my cup of tea. The sexual nature of a situation the female main character finds herself in while in high school really made me disinterested. The writing was well done, I just couldn’t get over the ick feeling.