What a story! Half way through, I couldn't read fast enough to see how things were going to turn out. All kind of emotions came up. The mean girls, the incident at the party, the dog fighting ring, Mere’s parents trying to ship her away...how’s this going to end! I loved how it did but I am hoping for a sequel. I can picture Sam and Mere living happily ever after with Squirt dressed up in the engagement photos!

Before I go into specifics, I want to say that this would be a great read for anyone who loves reading fast-paced addictive contemporary novels. This is the kind of book I read (or reread) whenever I'm in a reading slump.

Since I was lucky enough to read it before its release, I want to do a thorough non-spoiler review.
-Let's start with the writing. I think this is one of the strongest points of the book. It's the perfect writing for a YA contemporary. It fits the main character (it's written in the first person) and sounds very natural, which makes the reading experience very smooth. I can see people reading this in one sitting because of the writing and the pace.
-What about the characters? Well, I think Mare, our protagonist, is a very interesting character. She's definitely your average teen who is still trying to find out who she really is, which makes her very relatable. Also, the way her anxiety is described is a very good representation of it and very respectful. I feel like, often, writers include anxiety in their books as a character trait but without doing the proper research.
I adore the character of Johanna, Mare's best friend. I wish there were even more scenes with her.
Sam was also a character that I really liked. I enjoyed the way "his story" ended. I can't say much without going into spoilers, but I feel like it was the right move for his character.
My biggest complaint would be that we didn't get enough Harper. Mare's sister was really interesting as a character and I expected her story to be more relevant, especially during the conflict of the book.
-The plot was what convinced me to read the book. I don't normally read YA contemporary unless there is more to the story than just romance or something like that. So I appreciated the debate about religion a lot, even though I understand it can put some people off. This is fiction and obviously has been taken to an extreme, so it makes for a more interesting story, but fiction usually allows us to start conversations that are important. I also think it's very brave as an author to tackle this subject in a debut novel.
But there are more topics brought to the table. As I said, I liked the way anxiety is represented. But sexual assault and animal abuse are also mentioned throughout different parts of the story. They are not introduced in a cheap way, in my opinion, and it allows us to start those conversations too.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I look forward to reading other books by Katie, especially knowing that she is working in more than one genre. It will be interesting to follow her journey and to see which genre is the one where she shines the most.

~ Thank you NetGalley for the early copy~

The Anti-Virginity Pact is a hard hitting contemporary novel following Meredith and her bestfriend Johanna as they decide to make a pact to lose their virginity. I really loved the dynamic between Meredith and Johanna. Johanna is more of the rebellious friend and. I think I can see myself more in Meredith in that she is the more protective friend. Meredith also has a sister named Harper who can't come out and is struggling with that since their parents are extremely religious. Meredith herself is an atheist.. I will say if you're a hardcore Christian this might not be for you as it has more of the atheist points of view then anything. I also really enjoyed Sam and Merediths relationship. I liked how this book tried to cover different important topics and it didn't gloss over anything. I would definitely recommend everyone to pick it up!

My Rating: 4 stars

When I saw Kate was coming out with a new book I was so excited because I am an avid viewer of her youtube channel and I have followed her journey writing this book. I wasn't disappointed!

This book centres on a girl named Meredith - an all-around "good girl" with religious parents and a wallflower personality. Meredith's more extroverted friend Johanna makes what they call an anti-virginity pact, promising each other that they will both lose their virginity (I believe) before graduation. Although reluctant, Meredith signs this agreement, little does she know that it might come back to haunt her.

I have a wide array of thoughts for this book.
First of all, I was surprised at how much I was sucked in by Katie's writing. There was just enough vivid description and dialogue to make the book flow right without overuse of flowery language or dramatics.
I also loved Meredith's character. I related to her enough that her decisions were plausible and she seemed like the kind of girl I would want to hang out with. I think Sam and Johanna were also well explored too for secondary characters.
I was very interested in the religious parent perspective as this is something that has always fascinated me as I come from a very atheist household. I liked that Katie really highlighted her parent's religious beliefs without every other second throwing some scripture into the book as if her parents go around preaching. This is an issue I have found in other books though Katie avoids this well.

The only issue I had (which may not bother all) was that I felt it was a very slow start. Don't get me wrong, I liked where the book was going and I think without the pact 'getting out' for everyone to see, the book would be fine enough on its own. However, 50% in I had to double-check I was still reading the right book because up until then, this anti-virginity pact had only been mentioned less than a handful of times. It finally came back into play around 53% which I guess isn't much after but I just felt like I was expecting it to be a much bigger plotline that what I felt like it was.

Overall, a solid read as a debut from Katie. I would definitely recommend for an easy, enjoyable read. I can definitely see readers enjoying this book around a pool in the summertime.

4 stars.
I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.