This was a mixed bag for me. Whilst I did appreciate what it was trying to do and the presentation style, it wasn't for me. I found the chapter headings confusing and was still unsure after a period when they switched to names whether the anxious one and the stoner were the same person as in many cases the narrative voice sounded pretty much identical for all the girls. The topics discussed inside are important but this wasn't the book that explored them the best in my opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was surprised by how much I loved this book, I felt a lot for the characters and thought everything was so well written.

This book follows a girl in high school who accuses her boyfriend of hitting her. She decides to tell the principal of the high school so everyone in the school starts taking sides, as you would expect. Some people believe her, some don't, she doesn't know what she wants, just that she wanted it to stop.

It was all very emotional and I liked the best friend's perspective, especially the anxiety representation.

And yes, the book is a bit confusing at first as you don't get the name of the characters you're following for a while but it all makes sense eventually.

Highly recommend this book and will probably check out more by the author!

School ‘golden boy’ Mike Parker has been accused of abusing his girlfriend. This deals with the aftermath of her speaking out about it and the rumour mill that ensues afterwards.

Phew, what a read! I see these kind of kids every day in my job and I must say Alyssa has it spot on. It tackles, victim blaming, self harm, drugs, eating disorders and being a teen in the #metoo world.

Told in dual points of view, Mia, the victim and June, her best friend. It deals with a lot of heavy subjects, like abuse (evidently), the sides to it, those that turn a blind eye, those that play devil's advocate, those that are cruel to MeToo and abuse victims. It deals with self-harm, in the form of eating disorder. It's a heavy book but good for those willing to tackle it

This book centres around the experiences of girls; the anxious girl, the bulimic girl, the popular girl, the activist, and more. After one girl reveals that her boyfriend Mike has been abusing her, these girls all collide and the whole school has to decide who to believe, and where the lines will be drawn.

This book has a bit of a mystery to it, by not revealing the names of the girls until you are very far into the story and I really loved that. It allows you to understand the story and then put names to their stories. This book made me mad with the subject matter, but I think this is a very important book and especially important for high-schoolers to read.

As you begin to put the pieces together you start to read other sides of stories, from other girls who don't know the whole story, but have stories of their own. This is a heavy book, but one that is sadly true for many people.

What Kind of Girl is a tough book. It tackles issues of victim blaming, of the emotional decision to speak up, and the ripples within the community. This book doesn't only focus on the rhetoric of those around her, but also our own internalized messaging. The ways we wonder if we were weak, how the words and expectations swirling around us filter down into our own consciousness. What Kind of Girl is even more emotional as it turns out Mike Parker is the Golden Boy - track star and beloved by all.

What Kind of Girl is incredibly emotional and, at times, hard to read. By the end of Part One I was hooked and there are all sorts of clever writing elements. Reading was a bodily experience as I could feel the dread at the pit of my stomach. It's so spot on to the rhetoric we hear everyday, to the fear victims have of speaking out, that it made me rush to finish so I could find out what happens at the end. What Kind of Girl examines our perceptions of both the victim and the abuser. We hear thoughts of, "What kind of girl stays?" while characters also struggle with matching their images of Mike and someone who is an abuser.

Mike Parker's girlfriend has accused him of hitting her. The problem? No one believes the "golden boy" capable. It's not that they think his girlfriend is a liar, but he obviously loves her, everyone can see that. Plus, what kind of girl allows her boyfriend to hit her? Told in a writing and formatting that twists itself around the question and label of "what kind of girl". This is a story that delves into the stereotype and labels that are placed on people. While the name of Mike Parker's girlfriend is not stated for the first third, and is written in varied perspectives through labels, this book is not about Mike Parker. It is about his girlfriend, who has started a chain reaction through her school with this accusation.

I think Sheinmel has a powerful voice in What Kind of Girl. She does not hold back from topics, who some would find to be off limits. I think speaking about abuse, bulimia, mental illness, etc is so important for our teens. If we talk about these topics they will no longer be taboo, and we can all feel freer about talking about them too. This book is about labels, and how they are forced on people, which can lead to others perceptions to be twisted by them, and even how we see ourselves.

"And yes, that's part of who I am. It always will be.
But it's not all I am."

Mike's girlfriend and her fellow classmates struggle to see past these labels, and they struggle to release themselves from these labels as well. The tough topics in this story are handled well, and I feel this is a book that teens should read.

What Kind of Girl was provided to me as an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes used are subject to change.

When Mike Parker's girlfriend shows up to school with a black eye, she gets everyone talking. Mike Parker is the star of the track team at school, all set to go to college on a running scholarship. He's a good guy, so how could he ever do something to hurt the girl that he loved? Some of the student body believes her, some of the student body doesn't. After all, why did she wait so long to report him, if he was hurting her? What really went on behind closed doors?

As more of the story starts to come to light, everyone in the school takes sides. Some want to rally for Mike's expulsion; others want to protect him. All the girls involved have different investments in the story. But how will it all end? 

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for an early copy of this book to review! I was lucky enough to review A Danger to Herself and Others back when it came out, and I was super excited to review this book. And it didn't disappoint! It's a timely topic, done in a way that I haven't seen before.

This book is slightly difficult to summarize due to the way it's written. There are two main narrators, but you don't learn their names until halfway into the book. In the beginning, they're defined by titles, like "the activist," "the worrier," "the popular girl," etc. At first, it's a bit difficult to follow, but once you learn the voice of each of the characters, it's actually quite a clever way to tell this story. Since a lot of women are reduced to these titles when these kinds of stories are told in the news, it's great commentary on these issues.

Sheinmel's book speaks to the complexity surrounding these issues as well. How women in abuse situations are viewed and how we deal with them in a high school setting, especially. This subject isn't always breached in YA books, and I'm glad that she did. It needs to be talked about as well.

There are also good discussions about putting too much pressure on teens, mental health, and best ways to deal with these things. There's so much to like about this book; I'll definitely be recommending it when it comes out in February.

4.5/5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this novel!

So, from the blurb that I read this was meant to be a book about a girl who gets abused by her boyfriend and then speaks up about it and the repercussions this action has in her schook life. It's an interesting take on the subject because there are many YA books about sexual assault but not about abuse (in my opinion) and it's important that abuse is explored from all the different angles.

But like I said: this was meant to be a book about that - it did not feel like it. There are a few issues that I had with the book but the first would be the narrative style. There are two protagonists, Maya and Junie, which struck me as odd because the story was meant to focus on Maya and her story as the book centers on her abuse. However, as we read the book, and even though it is a dual narrative, I can't help but feel that a lot of attention is put on Junie and her story which I genuinely believe could have had it's own novel rather than trying to fit in two big stories. There was also the chapter headings such as "the burnout," "the girlfriend", "the bulimic" - I found these unnecessary especially because they a) turn out to be the same person and b) it really had nothing to contribute to the story.

The writing: there was room for so much more of Maya's story but it got overshadowed by Junie's. Maya's character wasn't strong enough for me to root for and I didn't feel personally invested. The chapters were at times too long and served very little to no purpose.

The timeline: everything happens in a week and by the end of it, it's not even resolved. There wasn't enough to happen over the span of a week and this drastically reduced the quality of the novel.

Saying all this, I did find the concept interesting - it was just poorly executed.

3.5 This book dealt with difficult issues told by multiple POVs: the abused girlfriend, popular girl, pothead, and bulimic. The reader is left to figure out the connection. The structure is clever and the writer does a good job of building tension and character development. I don’t think I’ll add this to my middle school library, although we have books that deal with woof these important topics, because of some of the “how to” descriptions, which in my mind bump it up to high school a bit more.

I didn't love how the chapters were titled and all seemingly told by the same person (or few people) with those different lenses- but I did really like this book. I would give it to a teen looking for books on mental health or spotting unhealthy relationships. Overall, a satisfying book with strong messages.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this early in exchange for an honest review.

Before I get into the review, please be aware that there is a heavy trigger warning atthe beginning of the book. This book deals with self harm, abuse, eating disorders and abuse.

The book is based around a high school girl who's boyfriend has been abusing her, and the aftermath of coming forward about it.

What Kind of Girl gives a really raw perspective of what it's like to be a teen in a difficult situation. It really did a beautiful job portraying the reality of what abuse victims may go through. It covers the doubt of if she's telling the truth, how it will affect HIS future, but not how her future may look now. It also deals with what a lot of teens go through - eating disorders, anxiety, pressures to fit in and be the most popular and self harm.

Well this was a hard read 💔 I'd previously read "A Danger to Herself and Others" by Alyssa and that book blew me away so I had high hopes for this and yup. My heart was stomped on and I was self reflecting throughout the book again 🙃

** TRIGGER WARNING: Eating disorders, drug abuse, self harm, domestic violence, unclear consent. **

What Kind of Girl is a story of the struggles young women endure with a reflection into different mental health and eating disorders and a catalyst of relationship violence starting the spiral into the storyline.

It's heartbreaking, bittersweet, raw, real and honest. ❤ I'm a mental health warrior and unfortunately these characters were soul crushingly relateable but I seriously appreciate the thought put into these women and the poignant strength imbued into them.

I found the middle of the book quite hard to read as there is graphic details into self harm and I found this quite triggering as a recovering self harmer😢. One particular character was way too close for comfort and it was incredibly difficult to feel so understood but also to read about such a hard part of my world in a book and relate to someone struggling so deeply 😞

When our opposing storylines are joined up for the last part of the novel it picks up and really takes off and that's my favorite part of the book 😊 we see characters from each others eyes and the truth of the situation starts to unravel and you find yourself cheering the characters on amongst the heart ache 😫

Alyssa is BRILLIANT at weaving together different perspectives and identities to build very human characters that could be anyone in your life ❤ she's also very good at leaving hints strewn across perspectives to progress characterisation and plot movement 🙈 sometimes you won't even realize until you go back over and it suddenly becomes so clear and I love that you can reread her work and pick up on all sorts of different things each time you read.

Overall, despite a very tough and potentially triggering storyline this a well written book with relateable characters and a strong plot line that will linger with you long after you finish the last page ❤

Instagram and facebook review will be live December 17th.

A strong handling of important issues, particularly domestic violence and mental illness, and especially the ambiguities surrounding doing "the right thing" in such situations, and how those choices not only don't automatically fix things but can instead make them more complicated. A little light on characterization, particularly for the secondary characters, but even for Maya and Junie - I don't know how well-served they were by the gimmicky opening section. Although "we each contain multitudes" and "people too easily label and categorize others" are interesting messages, and I was a bit surprised by the ending of the first section, I felt as if the book might have been stronger if it simply introduced characters in their multifaceted natures instead of trying to use particular profiles to remind us not to profile people.

When Mike Parker's girlfriend says that he hit her the students have questions. Why did she go to the principal and not the polcie? Why did she stay so long if he was hurting her? Fantastic read!

The multiple POVs in this story made the narrative hard to follow at first; I also didn't personally love that the characters were named with stereotypical descriptors (I.e. the popular girl). The writing in the story was well done and the story itself was well crafted. a solid read that deals with difficult topics.

This review will go live on my blog, The Library Lane, on January 15, 2020.

Wow, I am completely blown away. This was not an easy book to read whatsoever. What Kind of Girl broke my heart and made my blood boil, but it also gave me so much hope. These characters and their stories will stay with me for a long time. This book deserves all the praise but I’ll admit, nothing I write in this review will do it enough justice.

I was a little overwhelmed in the beginning of the book. There were so many POVs and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to keep all of them straight. After part one was over though, everything clicked and it all made complete sense. I kind of had an *OMG* moment when I realized what the author was doing. I don’t want to go into detail, but Alyssa Sheinmel put a twist on the way the story was told.

In What Kind of Girl, the main characters face some pretty heavy stuff. We follow one character who was in an abusive relationship. We see the reality of what it’s like before and after reporting the abuse. The character struggles with victim blaming, fear and guilt. She is constantly worried that any and every move she makes will be misconstrued. It was infuriating to read what all she went through. We also follow another character who has anxiety/OCD & self harms. She is really just trying to cope. There are many things going on in her life and she feels that the only way to not hurt anymore is to cut. We get to see what lead her to that point and how easy it is to resort to other unhealthy ways of coping.

The author did a fantastic job making these characters and their stories so accurate and realistic. My heart truly hurt for them, but seeing how much they learn and grow by the end of the book was beautiful.

I really appreciate that these issues were discussed in a Young Adult novel. I feel like we never think that something like dating abuse can happen to teenagers. Unfortunately though, it does. It probably happens more than anyone really knows. The same goes for self harm. I hope that when this book is released it will help & give hope to those who need it.

I really enjoyed a great many things about this book. Characters were fleshed out and the plot was well spaced. Some of the secondary storylines could've used a bit more page space but all in all an enjoyable read!

What Kind of Girl tells an unfortunately increasingly familiar story of a girl with an abusive boyfriend. When Mike Parker's girlfriend shows up in the principal's office with a black eye, everyone in the school starts taking sides. While many want to believe the victim, Mike's popularity and the couple's seemingly good relationship make it harder for people to believe that he could do something like that.

While I feel like there can't ever be too many stories about dating abuse, I didn't think this was the best one. The changing perspectives in the first couple sections didn't have the intended affect, and instead made the story more confusing.

I definitely enjoyed this book. It dealt with a lot of really important topics at the adolescent age. With that being said, I did think that the overall plot was a little weak and needed some more developments. I did think it was cool how the narrative was structured throughout the book, and how we didn't learn the two main characters' names until about halfway through the book. Overall, this book is very important, and I thin a lot of what is in this book needs to be said, as the occurrences in this book happen so often.