I will not be giving public feedback for this book because of the homophobic slurs in this book. It is 2020, please have the author do better. I waiting until now so not to be entered in the contest to win this book.

I thought this book would've been better than it was. I was a bit disappointed by it and don't really recommend it to anyone, I can't see anything that's worth going crazy for.

Even though this book has kind of a Superbad premise to it, it's nothing like it. First, we have two young women who want to lose their virginity before graduation. And that's basically the only similarity. Second, one of the characters has insanely religious parents. So much so, that eventually something happens that make the parents, to me, completely unforgiveable. But I won't spoil you, because this book is worth it. It has love, high school, high emotions, and even a cute, little dog that you might love instantly. I definitely did.

Some of the books I pick on Netgalley are kind of random, and may or may not be decent. This one was one I picked randomly, and I lucked out. The Anti-Virginity Pact is worth the read. Not just because of the title and maybe obviousness, but because it's a story about growth and independence. It's a little bit beautiful too.

4.5/5 Stars

I was really happy to receive a copy of this book. At first it took me a little bit to get into the story, but then I felt like it started to pick up and I was really into the story but somehow at the end it felt flat to me. Overall I felt like the author tried to include too many different topics but none of them where truly explored in the novel. It went from one thing to the next. I would have loved to the see the theme of religion being more explored.

To sum up, I really enjoyed the writing style but it felt overly ambitiuous. Still I would recommend it specially for the way religion was handled. And I would definitely read more from this author.

I never got a chance to read The Anti-Virginity Pact, by Katie Wisner. It never ended up on my kindle.

I have to preface my review by saying that I adore this author's YouTube channel, especially her vlogs. Getting to see her working on this book for the last year or so, and now getting to read it, has been so much fun.

Overall though, I feel pretty "meh" about this book. I liked what it had to say about religion and family pressure/expectations. Even though Mare's opinion about religion is pretty obviously in the negative, I think Katie was still very respectful and didn't slander Christianity at all (I'm not religious at all, but that's still my view). I also thought the romance was cute, and though I won't say why, because spoilers, I liked where it left off in the end. It was very refreshing to see!

What I didn't like, primarily, was the girl hate. Mare and her friend Jo didn't necessarily label themselves as "not like other girls" but oh boy, did they hate they pretty, popular girls. They can't talk enough about how much Ashley and her friends wear cute outfits, high heels, and makeup to school. They call the girls "The Pretty Committee" and so much of the book is spend on Mare and Jo hating those girls. I will say, Ashley is horrible to them, but I wish Katie had left all of the girl hate out. We get way too much of that in YA as it is; we don't need any more.

On a more positive note, I really enjoyed Katie's writing! It wasn't super flowery, but it flowed really well, and I really liked all of her descriptions. I will definitely pick up Katie's future novels!

Trigger warnings in this book for parental abuse, sexual assault/rape, animal abuse

*Thanks so much to the publisher for providing me with the book in exchange for an honest review!*

Dnf’d at 150 page mark. Wasn’t for me. I appreciate the novel itself just not the type I enjoy reading.

Thanks to netgalley for an early review of this book.
There are parts of this book that I really liked, so let’s talk about those first. I loved the growth of the friendship between Mare and Johanna. At the start of the book, when Johanna got mad at Mare for not supporting her crush on a teacher, I rolled my eyes. Thinking what an in mature thing to do on Johanna’s part. But after the friends got over that, because Mare apologized, their friendship grew stronger throughout the book. Every-time Mare got herself into another incident, she could always go to Johanna and she would be there for Mare to lean on. Johanna was a great listener and helped Mare whenever and however she could. Another thing I enjoyed about this book, was the relationship between the MC and her sister. Halfway through the book, Mare and her sister had a very rocky relationship. But, once we were reaching the end, Harper and Mare’s relationship really grew.
Other parts of the book that I didn’t enjoy were a couple of topics that were brought up in the book but we never got a conclusion. For example, Harper’s sexuality came up in the first part of the book. She was getting bullied at school over it. But other then that, was never brought up in the book again. Another example is when Mare and Harper’s dad started a petition to get sex Ed canceled at the girls school. That was never wrapped up either.
It felt to me that some of the issues brought up in the book, were put there to make the book more inclusive. But because of them not getting a conclusion or mentioned again, it didn’t work for me. Also the dog abuse in the book, I could of gone without that. It didn’t bring anything to the book at all. It was purely disgusting and not needed for the plot of this book.
All in all, I thought this book was ok.

3.5 stars

This is a book that will no doubt be controversial due to the array of topics that are included in the story. There were moments when I was reading that I thought that there may be a little TOO much controversial topics for one novel but I understand how it was all integrated and the novel was done well. I will say that it's a very unique and different story--one that definitely has not been written before.

I don't even know the genre in which this novel would be categorized. At first, I thought I was going to be reading a suspense/thriller, then I thought it was going to be a contemporary. Turns out it wasn't really any of the above.

I really enjoyed this author's writing style and look forward to reading more novels written by her in the future.

***Thank you to the author for supplying me with an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

I think this book tried to do too much and ended up doing too little. It had a lot of potential but didn't reach it.
It was hard to keep up with it. The storyline, the characters and the relationships between characters were not well developed.
However, I really enjoyed the writing style and it did hold my attention. I loved how it explored controversial topics but those topics should've deeply explored.
I really liked the concept of the book and I'm definitely readimg more of this author.

I was excited to read Katie’s first novel having seen her videos online for a little while now, but unfortunately, it turns out that YA is just not my genre anymore.

I truly did enjoy Katie’s writing style, however, I found myself not connecting with any of the characters because of their age—graduating seniors in high school. In addition to their age, I felt like they got themselves into some pretty unbelievably situations trying to get into almost too many hard-hitting topics (see book details for trigger words) to talk about in this book.

I decided on 3/5 stars because YA just isn’t my genre and I believe it heavily influenced my experience reading it.

🤢

*Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with a copy of this book for review, all opinions are my own*

This book tried very hard to be current and talked about topics like sexuality, religion, friendship between girls, slut-shaming, harassment and dogs fights (trigger warning for everything I just mention) but in my opinion, it ended up being a book that failed to develop any of the topics proposed very well and it ended up sounding a lot with a book written in 2014, where the issues are interesting but handle or done very well.
And because the book tries to talk about so much at the same time, the plot got confused and with everything happening at the same time it gets to the point that you don't believe in anything that is happening because everything seems too unreal.
It’s a quick book to read but I hated it, I don't recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley for approving my request to review The Anti-Virginity Pact.

The Anti-Virginity Pact is a thoughtfully plotted young adult book that isn't afraid to tackle the controversial issues of religion, sex, sexuality, bullying, and animal abuse. Each subject was handled respectfully and with realistic thoughts, feelings, and emotions but if any of these are triggering for you, please do some research before reading to see if it is something you're able to read.
I felt this book was well written with relatable characters and a solid plot. I typically mimic the emotions of the characters if they are written effectively, and that was definitely not an exception for this book. If you are, or have been a teenager, you know that it can be an emotional time. Sitting between childhood and adulthood can leave you feeling lost and unsure. I felt the emotions of every character in this book as they navigated these tough issues. I felt protective when they were vulnerable; I felt cried when a heart broke; I felt happy when things worked out.
For me, the measure of an outstanding book is in the way it makes me feel. And I had a lot of feelings while reading this book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the genre, but who is also seeking a well-written book that takes you on a journey.

2.5 stars rounded up - this fell a little short for me. I struggled to like the characters, friendships, and central romance and the conflict felt overall a bit weak.

i found myself liking this more than i was expecting to for some reason, but i think it's a really solid debut. there are some aspects that i really liked, but then there are others that i didn't like.

firstly, i think the two biggest things i liked in this novel was the discussion surrounding religion, and seeing Mare's struggle with anxiety and being labeled "the quiet girl". religion is obviously such a huge part of this book, as Mare's father is a preacher, and i think it was done really well. Mare's reasons for not believing in the Christian faith were so relatable, and I loved the discussion of how she felt suffocated by her parent's faith. i also really related to Mare's struggle with anxiety. how it seemed like every little thing made her anxious, and how she misses out on a lot of things because of it. i think these two things are what really allowed me to connect with Mare, and i saw a lot of my teenage self in her.

i think the biggest flaw of this book is the fact that it tried to deal with so many different dark topics. some were dealt with well, but then quite a couple were brushed aside and dealt with in just a few paragraphs. to name some, the homophobia, the animal abuse, the substance abuse, and the having sex with a teacher. the homophobia and animal abuse plot lines were really unnecessary, i think, and just acted as filler. i get wanting to address homophobia while dealing with religion, but it was covered in one chapter and then forgotten about. the animal abuse was also such an unnecessary part of the book, and it covered the last 20% or so. substance abuse was mentioned in like a sentence or two and that was that. the "wanting to have sex with a teacher" was a complicated plot line. it was addressed as being bad by Mare, but it wasn't really explained why it was bad other than he might lose his job. i might be wrong, but i don't think it addressed how it could affect Jo too, such as her being suspended or affecting her future at college, and things along that nature.

overall, again, i think this was a solid debut. i've loved Katie's poetry and now her debut novel, so i'm very interested in what she will put out in the future!

Not exactly my thing, but I see who the target audience is! I just didn't really connect to the MC, but if you're in HS you may enjoy this....

This wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I thought it would be serious and made of substance, but it just felt like a daytime drama, too light and fluffy. It was unrealistic and I wanted to feel for these characters, but I just felt, well nothing at all. This had so much potential to discuss so many serious issues , but it chose not to.
Unfortunately this wasn’t for me at all

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

So I went into this book expecting one thing, and got something completely different, and I’m not mad at it! The storyline is very relevant to the world we live in. It tackled a variety of important and hard hitting issues, with such honesty. The writing was great! The story was well paced. I never felt like it was rushed or dragging on at all. The characters are so relatable. I related to the main character Mare in so many ways. I highly recommend you pick up this book! Thank you so much to Netgalley and the author Katie Wismer for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Katie is one of my favorite booktubers, so I really wanted to love The Anti-Virginity Pact. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case. The plot was unrealistic and ridiculous, the characters had no personality, were way too immature for their age, and made some very silly decisions, and the pacing was totally off, too slow at the beginning and then everything was happening at once.

The thing that bothered me the most, though, was the plot. Ah, I expected something dark and gritty but, instead, I got a teen soap opera with a stereotypical 'bad girl' character as our main antagonist. Also, the pact becomes public information around halfway through the book while, from the synopsis, you get the idea that this was supposed to be the main plot point.

I won’t get started with the characters because I want to keep this review short, but let me tell you that some of their decisions infuriated me because they made no sense whatsoever. I could put up with the characters’ generic YA personalities but I couldn’t deal with their poor decision-making that was used as a device to move the plot forward.

On a positive note, the writing was promising, and the topic about religion was handled with care and honesty which I really appreciated.

I received this arc from NetGalley for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

This hurt in the best way

The Anti-Virginity pact is a hard-hitting novel that covers a handful of really difficult topics. Be mindful of the content warnings which include Bullying, sexual assault, religion and sexuality, animal abuse, substance abuse (mentioned), religion, anxiety, and trauma.

I really enjoyed this book, and a special thank you for the ARC. This book is about Meredith Beaumont, a very shy high school senior who is the daughter of a local adored preacher. Meredith and her friend make a pact to lose their virginities by the time they graduate high school, and as the pact gets out, Meredith’s mostly comfortable life starts to fall apart. This book deals with some really important things.

I adored the characters. They all felt so realistic and relatable to me, and I was almost immediately invested in their lives and their stories. They are complex and make believable mistakes. I think that if I had read this as a teenager, it would have genuinely changed my life (because my own relationship with religion was very tumultuous). I also really enjoyed that this book did not shy away from the hard moments. The hardest moments hit and hurt because it is written so unabashedly which I have so much respect for.

The only thing I wasn’t sold on was one of the subplots that had to do with the dogs which just felt kind of strange against the backdrop of the rest of the story, but other than that, I really loved it.