I tried really hard to read this book, I really did. But the advanced reader ebook had the world ADVANCED READER COPY NOT FINAL COPY spread throughout the entire book one word at a time in the middle of sentences. There were about 3 or more interruptions a page and it just messed with the flow of reading, which was very upsetting because I was really looking forward to reading this book. I only got about a chapter in before I couldn't deal with it anymore. The random word inserted in the middle of the sentences threw off my focus and my comprehension of what I was actually reading. I will try to read once the book is released.

DNF @ 40%

This review is based on an ARC of Kens which I received courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher (Penguin Random House Canada/Penguin Teen).

I can't make myself read another page of this disgusting fetish porn. I am so disappointed! I was thrilled to be granted this ARC and carried such high hopes for Kens! At first I thought I would really enjoy this book and actually found myself laughing out loud a few times. That said, once we got to drag queen Sandy Hooker (with a necklace of bullets to boot) and the part about eating jizz-covered crackers, you lost me.

Kens is just too much; too disgusting, too crude, too offensive. I get what the humor is supposed to be, and maybe I'm just being an oversensitive, bleeding-heart prude and a party pooper, but this is really just awful and not worth another minute of my time.

I can't believe this is supposed to be a Mean Girls parallel. At least Mean Girls had a point (as well as actually funny jokes). And maybe there is a point to this book. I don't know, I never will know, I don't care to find out. At this point in the story I don't see where this is going and I really don't want to. On top of this, the characters are empty. This book relies heavily on its so-called humor and the devotion of readers who want and expect a "Heathers meets Mean Girls" story with gay guys.

I am always sorry to DNF an ARC as it feels disrespectful to the people who have given me this opportunity, however, based on my own feelings and after reading numerous other reviews of Kens by those who have finished and also disliked the book, I feel like this is the right decision for me.

Overall i did not enjoy this book. i found the characters superficial and could not connect with them. i ended up not finishing the book

I was really excited to read Kens because it was described as a cross between Heathers and Mean Girls, but with a cast of gay characters. This book was neither of those things, however, and I was left feeling disappointed and frankly, disgusted.

I'm not even entirely sure what Razier Reid was going for here. I understand satire and I understand subversive writing, but I don't think that Reid found that balance here. Instead of managing to skewer society's collective obsession with social media, image, popularity and the competitiveness of staying relevant, this book makes a complete mockery of homosexuality, gay culture, suicide, cyberbullying, bullying in real life, fat shaming, slut shaming, school shootings, drug use, binge drinking, Black Lives Matter and more. It's truly baffling to me that any editor read this and thought it was okay to publish. I can appreciate and recognize when something is satirical and makes us reflect on the absurdities that we as a collective people experience, but that is not what is going on with this book. This is not satire. This is appalling. I'd like to stress again that I haven't missed the point here, rather, the author has.

Aside from the fact that I had strong feelings about the content, this is sloppily written. There is no character development at all, which is sort of important at least concerning the 'main' protagonist, Tommy. If we are to believe that he is the hero at the end of this story, it would have been nice to see some sort of actual growth in him. Plot lines move at lightning speed and are quickly abandoned once another shocking revelation has occurred. It's not clear when this is set in and it's also unclear how much of this is supposed to read as science fiction or fantasy, which is confusing.

If this book truly had been Heathers and Mean Girls then I would have probably enjoyed it. But it's false marketing and is going to end up tricking a lot of people and leaving them disappointed.

I received this ARC as a courtesy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I would recommend this more for older teens/YA/adults over younger teen readers, as the content is highly entertaining, but risqué. To me, this was reminiscent of Heathers, where everything is a caricature of reality: big, bold, and darkly humorous. The community of Willows is insular, and unapologetically shallow, and the hierarchy of society is inverted: adults hero-worship the Kens, and the Kens rule without consequence. For fans of Heathers, with a pinch of Mean Girls, this would be a good read.

I recognize that ARCs often have pending formatting changes, but it was distracting to have ADVANCE COPY ART TEXT NOT FINAL breaking up words and blocks of text on every page.