I probably wasn't the right audience for this book. It's very slow in the beginning and I found it difficult to connect with the characters. I also feel like some of the plot lines were unnecessary.

I enjoyed my time with this story. It was interesting to see the social impacts that Mare faced with the other students in her school.

I enjoyed reading this YA book a lot! The cover caught my attention and I was not disappointed by the story. I adored the characters and was really sad, once the book ended. I would definitively recommend this book to anyone, who likes to read YA fiction!

i enjoyed this book and have def read other things by this author now. i have recommended this to so many peers that they have also recommended it to others.

I follow Katie Wismer on social media and when I saw she was releasing a book, I knew I had to take a chance and request an ARC! I'm so glad I did because I really ended up enjoying this read. I can't wait to see what she releases in the future because I will absolutely be reading whatever she writes!

I really, really, really wanted to love this book. I have loved Katie's videos for a very long time and I thought this would be a sex-positive, less annoyingly executed American Pie: Girls Rules that I have always been wanting. But alas, it just served me with a reminder as to why I so rarely read YA.

This book was even more gritty and hard-hitting than I expected. One of the main topics is abuse related to religion and my heart was breaking for Meredith and other kids and teenagers who have to go through stuff like this. Other content warnings include sexual assault, bullying, and animal cruelty.

One of my biggest problems was the pacing and the fact that especially in the second half, the main character was put through one traumatic situation after another at breakneck speed without any time for her (or the reader) to catch her breath. The way the family situation was resolved felt unsatisfying and quite jarring to me but I can't blame Meredith for not acting differently.

I found this book very impactful, I enjoyed the writing, and I'm looking forward to reading other Katie's books.

I found this to be an enjoyable read, keeping me on my toes throughout. The storyline was written well and flowed seamlessly. I look forward to reading more by this author!

<i>ARC acquired by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

<b>“All my life, I’d been the quiet one.”</b>

I really admire Katie for putting this book out into the world. With its heavy themes of religion and many trigger warnings, it definitely has found some unimpressed readers and that’s okay. It has also found a lot of readers who can relate with Meredith’s situation. Katie’s writing continues to impress me with each new project of hers.

Meredith Beaumont is tired of being the “good one.” She never gets in trouble or talks back and always attends church with her family. One night, Meredith and her best friend Johanna make a pact to lose their virginity by the end of their senior year of high school. They each pick a guy they like and set out on a mission to fulfill their pact. I enjoyed Meredith’s journey to discovering who she is and who she wants to be as an individual and not just the preacher’s daughter. And I especially liked the fact that, at the end, she doesn’t end up in a relationship with the love interest. It’s refreshing to see a character who decides she doesn’t a boyfriend to feel whole.

I found the balance between Christianity and Atheism very relatable. Growing up, one of my uncles (by marriage) was a preacher who thought he was putting the fear of God in all of us nieces and nephews, but in reality, all he did was make us resent the Church and not want to go study the word of God. He made us feel that if we didn’t go to his church, we were going to Hell. That same uncle has since been imprisoned for sexual abuse. He hid behind God for many years before the truth was revealed. All that to say, I understand where Meredith is coming from with her views on religion and I found it uplifting to see her stand her ground and speak up for her beliefs. I do think Katie went a little overboard with the aggressiveness of how Mere’s parents dealt with the situation, but it wasn’t hard to imagine that that’s how some people would behave in the heat of the moment.

Overall, I really enjoyed this first novel by Katie and I can’t wait to continue following her on her writing journey.

<b>“I. Don’t. Believe. And I don’t want to. There’s nothing you can say that’ll change that. I’m not just having doubts. It’s not a phase, or me being rebellious. I don’t care what the Bible tells us because that book—and that’s really all it is, a book—has made me feel terrible about myself all my life. I can see that believing in it helps you and comforts you and is true for you, but it’s not true for me. I have the right to choose what I believe, and if you loved me half as much as you claim to, then you’d respect that.”</b>

<i> The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication. </i>

The Anti-Verginity Pact is a story about self discovery and standing up for what you believe in and not caring what everyone else around you has to say. Meredith is a shy girl who is a preachers daughter and just wants to figure out who she actually is. When Mare and a friend make a pact to lose their virginities before high school is over the school finds out and begins to bully her. She is no longer ignored. A new guy moves into town and begins to build a connection with Mare, but she is afraid that the pact will reach him and ruin everything. She needs to decide is she wants to make her family happy and fix her reputation, or if she wants to stand up for herself and claim who she really wants to be. This story is perfect for anyone who feels lost and doesn’t know who they are because their entire life all they have done is cater to everyone else. I can’t wait to see what happens next in The Anti-Relationship Year!

Katie Wismer hit this out of the park once again. The pacing, characters, and writing was done so incredibly well done.

I think the book was great. I don’t really identify with the kids because I’m in my twenties but I can understand what they are going through since I was a teenager.

4 stars. There were times were this was really strong, but the main character and the odd subplots didn't work for me all the time. Review to come.

Due to being a high school teacher, I have been falling behind on reviews. Here are my initial thoughts.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This wasn't one of my favorite reads unfortunately. I found it hard to connect with Mere and wasn't all that interested in what happened to her.

I read this book because I love Katie and her youtube channel katiesbookdate.

Although contemporary YA novels are not what I mostly read, I did enjoy this book. The main character Meridith, and her best friend Johanna make a pact to lose their virginity before they graduate high school, and that is where the book starts off from. Meridith is a pastor's daughter and religion plays a big role in the plot.

Things I liked: the main character's love interest, Sam. I thought he was an overall good character with depth. The religious plot dynamic between Meridith and her parents. Harper, Meridith's sister, was a character that showed growth throughout the novel.

The main problems were: Meridith, she is 18 yrs old but reads more immature; the pacing, the novel starts very slow, but after the halfway point everything happens too fast; and lastly there were too many plot points attempted (and not resolved properly) which made the novel feel disjointed. Overall this book kept me reading and made me want to pick up more contemporary YA novels.

This was a book that I Really enjoyed this read and I would recommend to others easily, I will be looking out for other titles by this author.

This book took me by surprise. I had an idea in my head of what it was going to be. It wasn't like that at all, and I mean it in the best way. can't way for the companion novel to me out soon.

The Anti-Virginity Project had an interesting take on religion and how it can affect people. I felt like some parts of the book were well thought out but there were other parts that I felt just didn’t belong and could have been cut out.

4
Please read the trigger warnings beforehand. There are some rape/sexual occurrences that triggered me at least. I knew about the triggers beforehand, but I’ll read anything Katie puts out.
I really enjoyed this.
It left me in tears, but then again, everything Katie puts out leaves me in tears💛

Thank you NetGalley for the arc

Oh man, I really wanted to LOVE this bc I really like Kate as a person/booktuber, but this ended up being just okay for me. While I enjoyed the discussions brought up about religion as well as bing introverted vs. extroverted, the plot was kind of odd and disjointed IMO. I also felt like Kate was trying to tackle too many issues in one book. There just wasn't enough page time for all of that. The characters were also kind of bland and didn't have very distinctive personalities.

So overall I was entertained, but I did expect more from this book.