<b>"There's always talk about trust when we're sending photos and I get it. We should do private things only with people we trust to keep it private. But why should I have to demand privacy when it should be the natural human response?"</b>

2.5 stars, rounded up.

Mixed feelings on <i>Revenge of the Sluts</i>: I liked the concept, but the execution fell flat for me. The writing felt young--middle-grade-ish--and I could never quite find myself believing the story. I also never quite got over the use of the word "slut." Obviously, I knew it was coming with the title, but it still made me sad to hear young women described as sluts over and over.

Eden is a senior in wealthy, private high school. As an editor of the school newspaper, Eden is jazzed when a true scandal breaks. While she is disappointed at what happened, Eden can't wait to investigate and tell the story.

The scandal? An email went out to the entire school listserv containing nude photos of several students. No one knows who sent the email or what the motive is, but the young women who were included are upset and the school isn't taking appropriate action.

The students whose pictures were leaked band together to form the Slut Squad and take action where the school and authorities won't.

The good:
-I loved Sloane's character. She is painted as a girl who loves to have sex and isn't at all ashamed of it. I kept wanting more of her, wishing the story was told from her perspective.
-This book highlights how systems can fail victims, and what can happen when victims come together to raise awareness and make change.
-All the fiercest characters in the book are female.

The bad:
-As I mentioned, the writing isn't particularly good.
-I had a hard time believing that, in this day and age, a bunch of leaked nude photos would cause this level of commotion.
-Eden's character didn't work for me. She is naive, serious, and timid. Put together, I wasn't the biggest fan.
-I guessed the ending part-way through, and was disappointed to find I was right.

Favorite quotes:
"She had on distinctive deep purple lipstick that I rarely saw her without. School dress code generally prevented any sort of makeup that wasn't deemed 'natural' but they usually used that against the ones they believed were 'deviant,' people who wanted blue hair, Goths, those with a love non-nude eyeshadow. But despite Sloane's loose attitude toward sex, at least St. Joe's terms, the school let her pass because she was Sloane: wealthy, white, presumably 'normal' in their standards."

"'And what's incredible is that they people will go and call me a slut for doing exactly what they wanted me to do in the first place.'"

Girls fighting back against their oppressors? Sold. I love it when girls get together and stand up for themselves rather than the whole girls fighting each other. It's refreshing how friendship blossomed with this group of people having one thing in common, which, unfortunately, is having their nudes leaked. Now the whole idea of Eden, the protagonist, piecing together puzzle pieces in order to find out who's behind this is good. But I felt like it was lacking somewhat with the execution. I don't know some scenes felt rushed and when I read them I'm just lost. It was good overall, though. I just wished there were more exposions of the girls hanging out and forming camaraderie (because who else do they get to talk to about this?).

I'm giving it 3/5 stars. I'm looking forward to Walton's next books and how she will execute them then.

I really enjoyed this novel. Books like these are very eye opening because in some cases perception is everything. There are so many of these types of cases popping up because of social media and how easy it is to access someone's personal pictures. This story shows how quickly everything can be turned around and how quick people are to judge and attack you. In a time were privacy is almost nonexistent, I think every young person should read this book because it just goes to show that anything you sent isn't just going to be seen by that one person. I both loved this book for how realistic it was and disliked it because of how realistic it was.

This one was hard for me to get into. The writing was a bit dry and I had so much trouble connecting to the narrator.

With that being said, the topic is one that has affected me for years. Seeing a book that discusses the topic in such a raw manner, is refreshing. We deserve justice and in a small way, books like this get us closer to that.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy in exchange for my honest review.

I love a good Girl Power Revenge story, it makes me feel so pumped and ready to take over the world. This was a fun, fast read that had me cheering, laughing and crying as I rooted for the characters. I didn’t want it to end and had a great time reading it.

Honestly, I am not 100% sure how I feel about this one. I gave it a few days after finishing to see if my thoughts became clearer and it really didn't help. I feel there is a important message in the story, but it gets lost in the childish voice the story is told in. This is a heavy topic. but the narration didn't do the gravity of it justice. I feel like to much emphasis was given on the journalism angle of the story. It became a distraction rather than a means to move the story along.

Was a quality thriller/mystery. The writing was more formulaic then I expected, but given that the main character is a HS newspaper journalist, it makes sense. It really sheds light on such a toxic and horrific issue that girls face.

‘Revenge of the Sluts’ by Natalie Walton is a fascinating entry into the YA genre that explores many issues relating to revenge porn, victim shaming, sexuality, and lack of protection/privacy. Eden is a student at a private Catholic high school outside of Boston. She is a journalist for her school’s paper and has been tasked to cover a scandal involving multiple nude pictures of students that were sent anonymously to the entire school via e-mail. What I found most shocking was the lack of legal protection in Massachusetts for adult victims whose nude/pornographic photos/videos are leaked. It is not against the law for this content to be shared in some states, as long as the person in them is over 18.

The core of the story is the mystery of who sent out the pictures. We get to know the young women who were victimized and they form the “Slut Squad” to unify themselves. The Squad meets regularly to provide each other support, strength, and pursue avenues of justice. From Eden’s perspective, we learn of the myriad reactions to the scandal. Some blame the young women who were victimized for sending provocative pictures, some support them, and the Principal and School Board try to cover up the scandal. The book title and description are a little misleading as I expected more direct action, especially from the Slut Squad and the book is a little slow in the middle, where we don’t really learn anything new. Eventually, the mystery is solved giving an unexpected but satisfying conclusion. I really liked Eden’s persistence and how she came into her own during the investigation and taking on a leadership role at the newspaper. Sloane’s character also stood out to me for her self-possession and tenacious desire for justice. I highly recommend this thought-provoking novel.

Thank you Wattpad Books and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

First off, after reading the book, I find that the description isn't very accurate. Or at least my interpretration of it....

St. Joe's student body is sent an email with intimiate pictures of seven senior girls. While the story takes place in a high school, it touches on a lot of controversial/sensitive topics that we are now seeing in our society. And as if high school wasn't bad enough, girls can't seem to understand that there's no need to put each other down.

Eden and Ronnie, who run the school's newspaper, see the leak as an opportunity to write about a real story instead the frequent student profiles or sports articles. Eden is assigned to be the lead on the article and wants to give the girls a chance to talk about their experience but she hits a lot of hurdles. After publishing the first article, about the leak and some student quotes, St. Joe's administration isn't happy and decide to put a stop to the story.

As Eden continues her investigation and gets to know the seven girls, she finds herself sympathizing more and more with the situation the girls have to go through. And while she may not be part of the leak, her own experience sets something off in her and makes her want to give the girls their voices back even more.

Truth will out.

When it does, it's a bombshell and completely unexpected.

I came away feeling that girls should support one another instead of giving in to the pettiness that we tend to (or used to).

Revenge of the Sluts
by Natalie Walton
5/5 stars

-Netgalley Arc-

An email has been sent out to every student at St. Joes, containing explicit images of several different girls. Why would anyone want to do that? And why isn’t the school doing more to help these girls?
Eden works for the school newspaper, and despite everything going against her, she will continue to write and fight for the girls who were impacted until there is justice.

‘Imagine seeing that email and thinking you have the right to get mad at the girls’
‘These people will go and call me a slut for doing exactly what they wanted me to do in the first place’

This is a book that should be on everyone’s TBR, it is very much relatable in this day and age where social media is such a big and growing thing. Where girls are constantly being judge for what they post and being labeled as ‘sluts’
Even though these characters are fictional, it felt as though I was reading from every girl who has ever been a victim of having their private photos leaked
Highly recommend saving this one to your tbr for when it’s released in February!

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I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This book was on my TBR list for 2021 & was a Read now.

This book is written very well for a 1st time published author. If you hesitate to read another high school story, this book is more on the mature end of the scale in YA terms. Eden Jeong is a high school senior in a MA suburb near Boston and a high ranking editor of the school newspaper at a private Catholic school. Eden's parents are busy doctors who care about her & are supportive but not strict. The school newspaper is an impressive operation for a high school. I remember being a staff writer for high school and college newspapers but wasn't as involved as Eden, so when the Nudegate email is sent, Eden and her staff / friends jump on the story. 7 girls' topless photos get sent out to the entire school. The self imposed head of the "slut squad" as they refer to themselves, Sloane advocates for the truth of who Eros is, the name used for the email. Eden's investigation pushes her out of her comfort zone, as she's not the party going type and fell out after she broke up with Nick, a football player she didn't have much in common with.

At times, I felt like the Weekly Warrior was taken too seriously as a high school newspaper. But I could understand taking the choice to publish a news story against the school principal's direction to stand up for the girls. Finding out the identity to Eros allowed the story to go viral. Examining the double standards of how teen boys & girls are treated for having or withholding sex, nudes as well as the loophole in the law for revenge porn was a powerful theme of this book.

Students at St. Joseph’s High School will learn about the importance of privacy and relationships in a time where technology is at their fingertips. Photos have been sent around the school of girls in their most intimate poses, and Eden, journalist for the school’s newspaper Warriors Weekly, is on a mission to figure out who sent out the photos. Gaining a perspective of both sides to the story, Eden starts to learn that the victims will stop at nothing to fight back. Taking a work of fiction with realistic issues, Natalie Walton’s debut novel introduces young adults the importance of privacy and that actions can have consequences.

This is definitely for fans of YA whodunnit's such as One of Us is Lying. Journalism fans will also really enjoy it. It's from the perspective of an amateur high school journalist, who wants the story but is also aware of the sensitivity of the project. Throughout her investigations we are privy to many of the stereotypical high school characters. We also get an idea of the different reactions the victims have to the revenge porn that was shared school wide. This book wasn't really my favorite, but it really doesn't have to do with the book itself. I was just not interested in the investigative process. I think a lot of readers will be, especially given that it includes teenage drama!

Has this author ever spoken to a teenager or been to a high school? Because all I am reading is one stereotype and unrealistic plot point after another.

There is a LOT of time spent on the inner workings of the process of putting out a high school newspaper. I learned a lot about deadlines and section editors and how to determine if your story is lacking an "angle." Eden is constantly focused on how many stories they have ready to go and getting her "sources" (they're not actual human beings or victims, just sources to her) to trust her.

What I didn't learn is how to care about any of the characters or what they're doing. Eden is much more concerned with "featuring as many different perspectives as we could" and "well-rounded coverage" than with helping the girls who are victims. This book is about her, not them. And she is not a likeable character. She crashes a support meeting organized by the girls who were the victims that they made clear they didn't want her to know about. The author is trying way too hard to make her the "I'm not like other girls" girl ("I'd never really liked things.") and showing that she's "fighting the system." Eden is a one-dimensional caricature of Gen-Z's ideas of feminism-lite. (Please stop trying to "reclaim" sexist slurs.)

The real life girls who are victims of this kind of behavior deserved so much better than this book.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

This book is so timely and important. The views that teenage girls should not be shamed for who they are rings true. I know that not all will be thrilled of a story like this, but it is everyone's best interest that we look into slutshaming and the concept of revenge porn.

With that being said, Eden was a great main character. I enjoyed reading about how much she loves her position with her school paper. I will say that in the beginning, she annoyed me. I think that comes from me being an extreme empath and her not having others feelings in the forefront. Anyway, her growth throughout the book of becoming understanding of those who were in the email was one of my favorite parts.

Sloane was also a great side character, and one of my favorites. Sloan was definitely a give no leverage kind of person. I even felt for her when she hit her lowest point. All that being said, I would say that this book is an important addition to teen lives. It raises important questions about how we treat teenage girls and how boys respond to it. Whether or not you agree with what administration did or how the girls reacted, it's an important and captivating story.

I enjoyed this YA book. Not a typical genre I would seek out but I am very happy I did. This is a must read for any teenager in my opinion!!

This was a good book. It was particularly long and I felt some parts of the book could be left out. It deals with an issue that is prevalent right now. I think young teens would like the book especially the twist at the end. I would buy for someone.

Contemporary YA is not really my thing. I like cults, I like thrillers, I like mysteries, I like boarding schools and treatment clinics. So a book set in a normal high school with normal people doing normal things, isn’t REALLY where I hang out most of the time.

But I’m glad I did.

I won’t lie, it was the title that got me. And this book wasn’t what I expected. I wasn’t expecting a well written, mostly romance free, day-in-the-life story about an American teen who works on the newspaper for her private school. When an email filled with intimate pictures of seven high school girls is sent to the entire school population, Eden finds herself sucked in to fight on the side of the girls. As a newspaper reporter, the truth is important to her. When the school fights back with the argument of “well, they shouldn’t have sent the pictures in the first place, so it’s their own fault”, and refuses to let the newspaper tell the full story, Eden and the staff have to decide if standing up to something that is obviously wrong is worth potentially jeopardising their own futures.

There’s A LOT in this book. The school is atrocious - a response like that on such a topic is just awful, and what makes it worse is that it’s a situation that plays out regularly in the real world, not just in YA novels. I loved that the author not only acknowledged that the school was wrong, but also offered her characters (and thus us, as readers), the ability to find support and recourse from a different place. It’s super important that we don’t just tell our youth “yes, there are things you can do….” and tail off to nothing.

I also LOVE that the author doesn’t have the girls be ashamed of having taken the pictures in the first place. There is a strong sex positive vibe going on here (not from the school, obvi, but from a lot of the supporters). Helping teens to understand how to keep themselves safe is a much better, safer and more healthy tactic than simply casting blame after the fact. Sex is good. Nudes can be a fun part of a healthy sex life. Teens especially just need to understand that there are laws that can come into play (child pornography laws can apply to photos you take and send of YOURSELF, at least in the USA), and that once something has been sent, there is no way to make sure it stays with the intended recipient, and often no formal punishment if it doesn’t.

I can’t say much more about the plot. The writing was good, easy to read, flowed well. I felt we got to know the MC well, and a few of our secondary characters. I would have liked to see more of the rest of the Sluts (yes, they call themselves this, I’m not being judgemental), but I think with the book flowing the way it did, that may have felt like waffle and pointless noise.

Content warnings: sex, nudity (in the abstract not graphic for the most part), slut shaming, emotional abuse, unlawful sharing of nudes, bullying.
Overall Rating: 5 Stars

*this review will be published to my blog around a week before the release date

“Anyone can say anything. But writing it is different. It gives it power."

I used to be a Wattpad writer and even though its reputation is bad at the moment, if you look for it there is some really outstanding quality on there. But this is not a blogpost about Wattpad, this is about Revenge of the sluts. Its premise is really intriguing, but I wanted to see for myself if it was actually good. Today I'll tell you all about it!

Most of you won’t be surprised by my interest in this book. If I could be known for one thing, I’d wish that it was for something so powerful and important as feminism. I do admit I was a bit hesitant for this one since Wattpad books aren’t exactly known for their woman-friendly content.

The hesitation was a waste of my time though, because this book went far beyond my expectations! Natalie Walton has written an amazing story that just made my heart happy, gave me hope and might’ve made me scream YES out loud a few times…

Let’s start off with saying I really enjoyed the writing style. I flew through this book and it really captivated me, made possible by how well written it is! The book was also really realistic and I felt like it represented our society very well (which is sad because, well, there are some seriously disgusting people in here).

Character-wise I definitely fell in love with some characters. My absolute favourite was Sloane though, I feel like we’d get along well. Our main character Eden is also amazing in my opinion and a lot of other characters too! I really loved the dynamics between the characters, especially the slut squad.

Another theme of this book that I really liked was journalism. I’m into that stuff too so it made me relate to Eden a lot. I don’t know, it just never gets boring? Either way, Natalie Walton did an amazing job on it!

Lastly, as a proud feminist it was amazing to read this book! It has a lot of important lessons in it and now I just wanna force some people in my surroundings to read it. Seriously, if people just open their eyes and listened (or in this case read) we’d come such a long way! I honestly can’t put into words how happy this book made me, so I’m just gonna leave you by saying: READ IT.

I’m really surprised by how much I loved this! I’ve grown to care for these characters and I sincerely hope their voices will be heard. Seriously, don’t let this book become underrated, I’m begging you! I already can’t wait to read more by Natalie Walton, but her debut novel gets a 4/5 from me!.

Thank you to Wattpad books for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Love,
Alissa

First of all, if this a road Wattpad is taking now, I’m all in. This book tackles slut-shaming and revenge porn. It’s sole mission is to talk about it and discuss it pulling no stops and pocking its finger in uncomfortable places. I really appreciate that. The book has a message and carries it through with all its strenght. Sometimes other characters won’t get it as easily and the book goes and reprimands them for it. And this goes for our main protagonist sometimes.

At the end of the novel there’s this sort of twist where I thought we were falling a bit into girl-hate territory. Unfortunately, that scene turned the book in what it was denouncing. However, in that scene the fight actually leads to a character basically yelling at slut-shaming and why it’s wrong. That’s the thing about this book, even though sometimes the dialogue in this brand of stories can be very unrealistic, I’ve heard people say what some of these characters say. Even word for word, I’ve read people on Twitter say the things some of these characters say, as a spicy take, dishing out truth, when what the only thing they are doing is exposing the fact that they can’t stand the idea of women just existing. Some other interesting ideas were presented as well, like how one of the boys tries to spin the whole situation, completely not understanding, saying that it’s like boys aren’t allowed to casually have sex. This character missing entirely the point, made a strong point for the book.

Furthermore, the whole vibe of girls sticking up for each other was amazing. Yes, give me more. Keep doing that thing, thanks.

Secondly, even though on one hand I feel like I cannot talk a lot about the pacing because I sat down and finished the book in three hours, on the other hand I do think the middle chunk of the book was a bit slow for what it was trying to do. The investigation maybe got stuck, we were repeting information we, the readers, already knew. Maybe we were supposed to spend time with a lot of characters in order to get to know and develop them. However, that leads me to my next point.

Lastly, although it surprinsingly succeeds at dialogue and dynamics between characters, they feel very grounded, the book still lacks a lot of character-development. I cannot accurately describe any of them, and that may be on me, but also, it still could have been a lot better if we got to know these characters and really feel for them. The reader might leave invested, not for their love for the characters, but because of the message and how these characters are treated unfairly.

In conclusion, I would recommend this book despites its flaws. It has a lot going for. I love what it tires to do, despite me not fully loving the execution. I still think everyone should give it a try and question themselves. If there weren’t that much swear words, I would even say it would be cool for a high school class to read it.