Not Like Other Girls is more young adult fiction than a mystery or even a suspense thriller. Meredith Adamo doesn’t have Maddie go missing until Chapter Eight. The book mainly tells the story of Jo and how they got to where they are in their life. As you can see by the content warnings, she goes through some difficult times. She makes consensual choices for which her peers judge her for, but not the boys for in our patriarchal society.

Georgina Sadler does an excellent job narrating this story to include accents and tone. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her as this is my first time listening to one of her reads.

I was anticipating a mystery and this part of Not Like Other Girls is disappointing. This unfortunately affects my review because I was expecting a mystery/suspense/thriller and what I got was a general fiction book with some romance thrown in. The story is too long and should have been edited to take out the filler.

I’m going to date myself, but this book was reminiscent of the coming of age aspects of The Perks of Being a Wallflower combined with the mystery and intrigue of Get a Clue - the 2002 Disney Channel Original Movie starring Lindsay Lohan.

Teenager, Jo-Lynn Kirby fell from grace after her nude photos were leaked, resulting in bullying and alienation from her peers. Jo-Lynn is struggling to survive senior year when she is approached by her former friend Maddie Price who claims to be in trouble. Jo-Lynn contemplates the authenticity of Maddie’s situation until Maddie suddenly goes missing. Authorities are quick to write her off as a runaway teen but Jo-Lynn isn’t convinced. Enlisting her old fling Hudson Harper-Moore, Jo-Lynn will stop at nothing to uncover what exactly is going on in their town, and what happened to Maddie, before it’s too late.

This book was far more introspective than I was expecting. It is just as much about Jo-Lynn’s self-discovery as it is about Maddie’s disappearance. There are a lot of moving parts to this story but I found each of them vital to the overall arc in addition to being highly compelling. The tone of this book worked well to convey Jo-Lynn’s cynicism and her existential crisis brought on by various factors that hardened her to the world. She was a sharp, biting main character peppered with insecurity that made her incredibly relatable.

I am so glad I was able to consume this book via both audio and physical formats. The audio narrator did a FANTASTIC job narrating Jo-Lynn and I thought she did a wonderful job conveying the story as a whole.

Thank you to Bloomsbury for a physical ARC as well as the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced audio copy!

This YA book was so good! 🙌 It's got a bit of everything - thriller, mystery, and romance - which kept me engaged the whole time and even though it is YA, it didn't feel YA, like it had way more grit to it!

🩶 Jo-Lynn was involved in a scandal, causing her to lose most of her friends. One day, her ex-best friend Maddie says that she needs her help - but before Jo-Lynn can find out why Maddie disappears. Worried that Maddie is in trouble, Jo-Lynn and another old friend, Hudson, plan to uncover where Maddie is.

🩶 Throughout this coming-of-age book, we watch Jo-Lynn evolve - in her friendships and relationships. I absolutely loved Jo-Lynn's character, and the narrator, Georgina Sadler, was amazing - their voice was a perfect fit.

Thank you Netgalley and Bloomsbury Boooks for my #gifted copy to read and review! #ad #sponsored

⚠️ Trigger warnings: SA

Initial Thoughts
This was a great book! I am a bit surprised by just how much I connected to the main character, Jo-Lynn. Jo-Lynn is one of those girls that everyone has labeled a "bad girl." Her old friend Maddie would never come to her for help, but ends up doing exactly that before disappearing. Jo teams up with Hudson to try to figure out what really happened and learns a lot of things in the process. I enjoyed this mystery and loved how layered the story was. I listened to the audiobook and thought that the narrator did a fantastic job with this story.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Full review to be posted soon.

4.5 stars highly recommend I had a love-hate relationship with this main character all the way through she was a mess but when we find out why she was acting that way you understand it. The twists and turns you had to get through with this story for the ending to all come together were great! My biggest thing with these types of books is my high school and high school experience wasn't like this and I hope most teens and girls don't think that is so. For a YA book, this had so much depth and was fantastic I don't even know if I'd call it a YA other than the character's ages the writing was well done.

This book is wild. Apparently Mindy McGinnis recommended it to some people, which is good enough for me.

This is a PERFECT book for people who like Karen McManus books.

So just know...Mindy McGinnis + Karen M. McManus... it's gonna be a good book.

This book starts with Jo reminiscing about her life. How she never got along with girls, how all the guys she was friends with would say she's "not like other girls." And then how that turns from a compliment to something sinister. How the boys betray her and hurt her. How the girls backstab and call her names. How she can't trust anyone.

Nude photos of Jo-Lynn get sent around by her alleged best friend, Cody. With her reputations in shambles, she's left with no one except one nerdy friend. Then one day, her former BFF Maddie corners Jo and says she needs her help. Reluctant to help, Jo-Lynn eventually agrees. Only Maddie disappears.

Now Jo-Lynn has to step back into the world she was outcast from in order to find Maddie. But who can she trust? The boy who always treated her with kindness? Her one remaining friend? The new girls who have her back and shelter her from harm and tell her "it wasn't your fault," when she opens up to them? Her family?

Or maybe...no one.

This is a GREAT story of reputations and how human we all are. How awful we are. How unforgiving and forgiving we are. How easily we turn our eyes to other things to avoid the pain that's going on in front of us. How we let people down.

This book is the epitome of what is it to be a girl.

I enjoyed this book and it had a lot more depth than I expected from a YA mystery book. It covers a lot of deep and heavy topics that were handled very well in this book and I hope that it reaches the right audience because I think it could be so beneficial to many readers!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I really liked the parts of this book that I could hear. However, the audiobook didnt play each chapter so I'm unable to give a true review of this book.

This story started off REALLY strong and then kind of went off the rails a bit for me. I'm not sure listening to the audiobook was the best choice to try and absorb the storyline and it was all over the place at times.

I loved/hated Jo. She was the girl I wanted to be when I was IN high school, but as a 36 year old woman I would be embarrassed looking back now if I was Jo. I think that's why I didn't enjoy this as much as I should have.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. However, I struggled a bit with the storyline as I felt in went in several different directions and often veered so far from the main storyline that I almost forgot about it. It may have been easier to follow if I was reading a physical book instead of the audiobook. That being said, I really enjoyed the narrator. I would listen to other books she narrated.

Jo is ‘not like other girls,’ or at least that’s what everyone wants her to believe. After being ostracized after nude pictures of her were leaked – Jo’s grades are failing, she’s on academic probations, and only has one friend left. When her former friend goes missing, she finds herself falling down a rabbit hole of academic dishonesty and dark secrets.

Part coming of age, part true crime, part SA survivor story – this is a story that is so many things at once, without feeling bogged down. I was so invested in Jo and her story, it felt so real and nuanced. It tackles the incredible pressures and expectations put on teenage girls and the immense bravery it takes just to exist in that world.

Not Like Other Girls does not shy away from darker realities of teen life. I think this book is so beneficial for teens to read, as well as parents to understand the empathy required in difficult situations. Reading how Jo’s parents would not listen to what she was really saying really made my stomach drop. It really shows the importance of solid support systems!

Honestly a great read for fans of Mindy McGinnis and Tiffany D. Jackson – Not Like Other Girls is a stunning debut.

Jo is not like other girls. At least, she’s told that she’s not and she believes it. And in some ways, she’s not — she’s Jo — but she’s also just a teenage girl.

Part mystery, part first love, part coming of age, part healing journey, part broken friendships, part whodunnit and part crime ring, this book will have you glued to the pages (or in my case, the audio!)!

I loved Jo. I thought she was feisty, strong and flawed. She felt real and listening to the audio version, it felt like a friend telling me a story. There are so many layers to this book — from silly teen angst to SA, you are immersed in story. Like Shrek, this book is an onion, peeling away the layers of Jo right alongside her as she embarks on a journey of self-discovery and sleuthing.

**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!

5 ⭐️

Wow. Just wow. I honestly wasn’t totally sure what to expect from this book when I started it - a fake dating romance with a little side mystery? A mystery with a side of romance? It was both, the romance and the mystery shining equally at different times throughout the book. Plus, an entire story woven seamlessly between the romance and mystery of how Jo takes back her own power and life. What a debut from Meredith Adamo!

The romance between Jo and Hudson was the sweet first love of high schoolers. I loved their communication and easy openness with each other, even around what can be awkward topics like previous hookups and money.

The mystery was perfect. At no point before the epilogue did I see where the twists were going or how everything was coming together. Maybe I’m just bad at mysteries because I don’t read a lot of them, but I thought it was written phenomenally in the way it jerked around from one theory to the next. It kept me guessing who was lying and who was telling the truth all the way through.

Even more important than the romance and the mystery, though, was Jo’s transformation throughout the book. What starts as Jo shaming herself in the same way everyone else shamed her, turns into Jo coming to grips with her trauma and confronting the people who didn’t support her when she needed them the first time. Jo taking back her life by first believing herself was such a powerful message in not discounting what you know to be true just because other people skew the story from the outside. I also loved that Kathleen was a witness for her, never played the innocent bystander when she could step in, and made sure that Jo knew she wasn’t the problem. Too many times, young girls don’t have a friend like that, and it can make a hard situation harder because they’re suffering alone. The whole storyline of Jo’s growth was the true standout of this book, and it hit even harder after listening to Meredith’s afterword about writing Jo based on her own experiences. What a brave thing to do. I would’ve given the whole book 5 stars for this plot, even if I had figured out the mystery from page 1.

Narration of the audiobook was excellent! Georgina had the perfect voice for a high school girl who was constantly on the verge of breaking down or yelling for one reason or another. I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up another book of hers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review! I truly loved this one and will be listening again to see if I can pick up on all the clues that led to the ending.

I have been rendered speechless by this incredible, heart wrenching debut from Meredith Adamo. This story is very messy, complex, deeply emotional, but so important. Not Like Other Girls is a story about sexual assault and it amplifies survivors’ voices and stories while also calling out the friends, family, and systems that have failed them.

This book is heart wrenching on so many levels as it also touches on toxic relationships, emotional abuse, broken friendships, and slut shaming, BUT the inaction from the adults in the story made me truly want to scream. At the end of the book, I didn’t realize how much tension I was holding in my shoulders from being so angered by the adults and school administration for consistently failing to offer support to these girls and hold the abusers accountable. Adamo’s characters reflect how parts of society can be so cruel while blaming survivors of sexual violence - these individuals “seek out attention” and are “just asking for it.”

Jo is a character I won’t soon forget. Although she was broken, shamed, and silenced, she was incredibly strong and brave. My heart shattered as she worked to understand the depths of her trauma, to put words to how she was violated, and to recognize that despite what those around her said, she was a child and none of it was her fault. Witnessing Jo take her rage and share her story was so damn powerful.

The audiobook was fantastic and incredibly compelling. I think consuming either print or audio for this story will be emotional for the reader, but I was particularly moved by the audiobook experience, especially hearing Adamo read the author’s note and share her story of survival.

Thank you Meredith, for your powerful words and bravery in sharing not only Jo’s story but your own.

TW mention of SA.

I was lucky enough to read an ARC of this book! This book has left me in tears in a good way. This mystery thriller leaves you in the edge of your seat while also tugging at your heart. As someone who experienced this exact type of SA I was in tears because like Jo I also didn’t find out what had really happened to me until I started therapy. Even to this day it can be hard to wrap your head around. This story follows Jo whose ex best friend goes missing. The police say she has run away but Jo can’t let it go and begins to investigate with a guy who she ends up falling in love with. The twists and turns in this book were amazing. Must read.

This book is an absolutely searing debut from from Adamo. It is gripping, gut wrenching, heartfelt, funny, frustrating, and compelling all at once. No quite just a mystery, not quite just a coming of age, not quite a fake dating romance, I think this book turns tropes and genres on its head and gives us a remarkable story about a girl who is difficult, who is struggling, who is desperate to be seen. I read this book in a day, the pacing was so driving that I couldn't put it down.
My one complaint is really about the narrator's performance, which is a little bit of a spoiler. The choice made regarding one character's grating voice I think gave too much away to the reader from the jump. I wish the choice for this character's voice had been more neutral, so that the story could make me think that this character was trustworthy the same way Jo thought and Jo and the reader could experience the unravelling of that relationship together. Other than that it was an enjoyable performance, but that giveaway with the character put me off enough not to recommend this book on audio.

**4.25 stars**

Ouch.

I’ll admit that at first I had a difficult time connecting with both the main character, Jo-Lynn, and the mystery plot line. Although I can’t say that I ever became truly invested in the mystery, I did end up really loving the story because of all of the other elements.

Jo felt extremely real to me and although I couldn’t personally relate to the majority of her character/personality, I felt like I understood her. The feelings and discoveries that she experienced surrounding her trauma was portrayed so wonderfully and I ended up really connecting with it. I loved seeing her begin the path of healing too in all the various aspects of her life.

I also throughly enjoyed seeing Jo discover things about her sexuality in such an authentic way. I feel like character’s “first time” in most YA books is extremely romanticized, but this one felt very true to the character and her past experiences, and was more true-to-life than other’s I’ve read.

Overall, the mystery did pick up at the very end and I enjoyed the last 80% of the book’s mystery element, but that’s not why I enjoyed this story or why I would recommend it to others. Truly, I feel like the mystery is overshadowed by the self-discovery of Jo as she fumbles through growing up while being a high school girl with a strained family and repressed trauma. The journey Jo-Lynn goes through with her self, her family, her boyfriend, and her friends, are all what would be me 100% recommend reading this delightfully funny, yet extremely heartbreaking story.

I devoured this book. I finished it in just over 24 hours, even with a full time job. I just couldn’t put it down. It’s such a compelling story about a group of honestly traumatized teenagers. It catches your interest with the mystery then keeps your interest with a main character, Jo Hyphen Lynn, you really genuinely care about and root for. Very impressed with this debut!

(Check trigger warnings prior to reading.)

thank you to bloomsbury audio for the audiobook arc of "not like other girls".
⇢ 2.4 ★

the first half of this book was stellar. it had the same atmosphere of "i kissed shara wheeler" and "a good girl's guide to murder". however, the second half severely fell flat in my opinion. it dragged on, yet all of the plots and subplots left me with unanswered questions. there were times were the disappearance plot (the literal main focus of the storyline) got put on the backburner at some points for subplots that ended up being disjointed and convoluted too. the narrator embodied jo, the main character, exceptionally. she heightened the reading experience. the book tackles extremely important topics, but they were not executed effectively throughout the book the way i hoped.

i think my rating would have been a 3 or 4 had i been in high school when i read this. jo is the exact type of girl i wanted to be when i was in high school: sarcastic, edgy, gets along well with the guys. because i am a bit out of the target audience range, i think that affected my eading experience. this would be a great read for people between the ages of 13 and 17.

౨ৎ TRIGGER WARNINGS
* sexual assault / rape
* slut-shaming
* misogyny
* cyberbullying (nudes leaked)