As someone who has followed Florence Given on social media for quite a while, I was super excited to read her debut fiction novel.

But: I am not sure this is for me! I usually finish every single book I start, especially if I receive a free review copy, but this might be the first one in a while where I am deciding to put it down… at least for a while. I managed to make it to 32% in the eBook for now, and I have to say my feelings about this are all over the place.

The one part of this I like, and that has kept me going so far, is the aspect of social media in the book. I am assuming it is inspired by Given’s own rise to fame on social media, and the potential benefits and downsides that come with this, and Girlcrush explores this in an interesting way.

What is making it hard for me to like this book are certain aspects of how it explores sexuality, gender etc. There have already been a number of statements throughout the book that don’t sit right with me (right in the first chapter: ‚They never even had to come out as gay or nonbinary – the way they would recline into chairs with their legs wide open did that for them.‘ - WHAT??)

One of the main things why I am struggling with this book though is the writing style that is simply not for me. It makes it quite difficult for me to immerse myself in the story and it takes me ages to just read a short chapter. (However, based on a couple of other reviews I have seen, some people LOVE the style, so please don’t let that stop you from reading this if the topic interests you!!)

I think I might try finishing this in the future, as I am intrigued to see where the social media story might go, but for now I am putting it down!

Giving it 2 stars rather than 1 just for the interesting social media aspect!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

I liked the idea of this book, love the cover and really enjoyed the start. But I quickly stopped enjoying the main characters escapades and actually started to really dislike her at times. And the ending seemed rushed.

Overall, this book was both engaging and insightful into the impacts of a world controlled my being ‘online’. The author executed their purpose well while delivering an entertaining and addicting story. I really enjoyed the format of the book including social media posts and directors notes.

I sadly didn’t like this one at all. I tried to get through it but it lost me when the whole plot was only about social media, I wish the focus was more on discovering your sexuality and finally living your life true to yourself.

“𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫.“

Girlcrush by Florence Given

My rating: 2/5

This book was really captivating but also quite chaotic? It‘s hard to describe but I think the easiest way to rate this book is to separate it in two halfs. The first half was about sexual awakening and the way Eartha discovers her bisexuality because her boyfriend of 6 years cheated on her and she finally understood why she‘s been so unhappy all the time, making excuses for him and not being her true self. Drunk and happy, she posts about her new discovered sexuality on her wonderland account — and this is the moment where she went viral and where the second half of the book starts. The second half is almost completely about social media and the negative effects it can have on you and how consuming it can be.

I really enjoyed the first half of the book but I found it very disappointing to see that the topic of discovering a new sexuality is just gone in the second half of the book. Like everything that was build up in the first half didn’t matter in the second half because it was all about that social media topic. In between you read about “director‘s notes“ which was really confusing and I didn‘t think worked that well. All together I really wanted to like this book and it really does have a lot of potential but everything felt so messy and not properly thought through. It feels like the book was a bit confused about what it wanted to do, almost like two books in one. I wouldn‘t recommend it at the moment, because it just doesn‘t feel finished to me.

*thanks a lot NetGalley for this arc in exchange for a honest review.

I wanted to love this book, i really really really did! And I do not like giving bad reviews , because I know authors poor their heart an soul into their work and are so proud of themselves! So instead of naming everything that was just so not right with this book, I am going to highlight a few positives - I love the Rose is a non-binary lesbian, and from the first moment they spoke of Rose as they/them, my heart skipped a beat an I had the biggest smile on my face! 2.) there were plenty of laugh out loud moments which were just down right hilarious, if there were more of those , I might have even gave an extra star or two. 3,) I did highly enjoy Eartha as a character! 4,) I enjoyed the dark satire on the social media end though

But overall , I was left just feeling unsure what the authors was really trying to do with this book. maybe this was just a set up for a book 2, and then it will all come together an make sense an I’ll be the one left feeling silly; like, well DUH I should have known that!

given's writing is not good. her prose is trying hard to be snappy a fleabag or like those countless of other 'disaster women' books (luster, pizza girl, etc) but she just can't pull it off. the dialogues were cringe, the storyline ridiculous, and the exploration of the mc's sexuality was paltry.

Thank you to NetGalley and Smith Publicity for the ARC!

Eartha is in an abusive and unhealthy relationship with her boyfriend, Matt. She is questioning her sexuality and thinking of leaving him, when she learns he cheated on her. How does she learn this info? She runs into a hot girl on the street wearing her shirt that he borrowed the night before. She then goes on to dump him and develop feelings for the hot girl.

In a drunken and emotional state, Eartha posts a video to Wonderland, a social media website, about her wanting to explore her bisexuality. The video blows up over night and she becomes an internet sensation. She then hires E.V. to help her handle her internet fame, but things go south when Eartha has an encounter with E.V.'s ex-husband, the head of Wonderland. From there, Eartha soon learns that being internet famous is not so easy afterall and loses herself along the way.

I wanted to like this book so much. It started off so strong and relatable with Eartha and her friend Rose, her non-binary best friend. I would say about 40% of the book was good and then it just went downhill. Eartha's encounter with Dylan seems to be what spirals her into a breakdown, but we don't really know what happens with him until the end of the book (although we do suspect). The rest of the book is basically Eartha just losing her mind (and followers) following the assault. However, it seems like Eartha's hate comments are what make her spiral. It is a very confusing plot line and just kind of all over the place. I think the author could have done so much with this story, but chose the wrong path to focus on. Additionally, while the addition of a non-binary character is always great, the author messes up their pronouns several times throughout the book, which is just a lazy editing error.

This book definitely has potential, but it just missed the mark for me. I gave it 3 stars because the first half was strong and relatable.

I wanted to love this book because I've enjoyed Given's other work in the past. However, this book fell flat for me. I wasn't invested in the storylines of each character and that made it hard to get through the book. I also wasn't quite sure what the overarching message of the book was. Might be a great read for some but just didn't capture me like I hoped it would!

Girlcrush by Florence Given centers around Eartha, a woman that has just embarked upon a journey to come out publicly as bisexual and whose "online" persona keeps gaining more and more notoriety the more she shares. This leads her to really attempt to capitalize on this online attention, but will she lose her offline life in the process?

Eartha is one of the messiest characters I have ever read. I don't say this in a bad way. I am sure we can all relate to parts of Eartha, but she is W-I-L-D. I knew the blurb about this being a "dark, feminist retelling of Jekyll & Hyde" should have tipped me off that a lot would be going on, but I was shocked by just how Hyde Eartha could be.

I liked the idea of this dystopian future where everyone is entirely too plugged into Wonderland and their online presences, and the novel read like a cautionary tale for losing yourself in that online life. It definitely read like it had underlying social commentary, and I was anxious to find out where all of this would lead our main character.

In the end, you might think you know where the story will end up, but I bet you have no idea!

I found the book to be quite superficial. I loved Women Don't Owe You Pretty, but I found the protagonist's POV to be frustrating unfortunately.

I DNFed this book around the 40% mark. As a longtime fan of Florence and an advocate of her first book (I have a signed special edition, and gave at least one copy away), I was very disappointed by the quality of this one. For one, the eARC I was provided had so many words that had been run together without spaces that it was nearly unreadable.

On top of that, the book itself is extremely heavy handed, the metaphors are shallow, and it really just seems like a very lightly fictionalized self-insert of Florence’s own life. I found myself dreading going back to it.

I still believe that Florence has potential and could be a very good author some day, but this book needed more development and editing. I hope to see more from her in the future.

This paperback is like $20. Don’t buy it.

This was completely not what I thought it was going to be. And in a disappointing way. I thought it was going to be about self discovery and self love and the journey of a woman discovering her sexuality. This was straight up depressing. I get the whole point that social media can be really detrimental mentally and emotionally. This book was the completely opposite of a feel good read. I kept holding on hoping for a reassuring ending. Alas, so many loose ends. 18+ explicit activity. Some parts are really cringe-y. “Resolution” was barely existent. Like that last 10 minutes of the book.

I thought the beginning was really intriguing. I was almost excited to follow along with Eartha’s journey. Things went downhill fast and the closure this book needed was not there to balance out the extensive depressing parts.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Mobius for this digital ARC.

This book is marketed as a retelling of Jekyll and Hyde, but that's not at all the impression I was left with. I really wanted to love this book after reading the premise, but it felt really disorganized and missed the mark. The book was written by an influencer in her early twenties, and that's exactly what it reads like.

I would give Given another shot if she tries her hand at fiction again, because the first chapters were promising! However, Girl Crush was neither hot, nor dark as it was promised to be and I found it to be underdeveloped and pretty bumpy in nearly every way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Smith Publicity for the opportunity to read a copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

1.5

This book was a mess. On paper, it should have been really compelling. Using modern social media as a way to explore the Jekyll and Hyde themes of duality, public life vs. private life, and addiction while also talking about what it's like to come into bisexuality "later" in life, like on paper this should have been a great story.

However, the writing was choppy and hard to read. The plot holes and pacing were all over the place, like I get that Eartha went viral but then the amount of followers she was gaining and/or losing per week and the "perks of influencer life" she was receiving in the amount of time that seemed to pass made no sense. And I couldn't tell if Given was meant to be poking fun at the "all men are trash" feminists or what, but man vs. woman language made me really uncomfortable and it sort of felt like Rose using they/them pronouns was just thrown in to soften the "all men are trash, women are best" language. Like people perform gender in all sorts of ways but Rose very much felt written as a butch lesbian who's pronouns got changed at the last minute.

Also, this book is being marketed as a "dark feminist comedy" but there was nothing comedic about it. And the summary says we follow Eartha "as she commences life as an openly bisexual woman" but she is very quickly told that she needs to "choose a side", so while the text does acknowledge that biphobia, it's misleading to say she's living as an openly bisexual woman.

Overall, I feel like this book tried to do too much and as a result all of its discussion felt very surface level. The themes it tackled best were related to the fakeness of social media but in 2022 don't we all already know that?

ARC provided by Netgalley and Smith Publicity.

The MC Eartha and her coming of age journey felt chaotic and messy. This was different than anything I’ve read with the story switching between the MC’s thoughts, text messages, social media comments and the story itself. It made it challenging for me to connect deeply with the MC.

I see all the negative reviews of the book and I get it.

Yes, the book was completely different than advertised. For a book advertised as a sexy story about a bisexual girl finding herself, there wasn't much of any of that at all. Yes, the book read as an amateur debut novel. Yes, the book took a sharp turn into psychological thriller territory like 50% into the book. Yes, the main characters that we loved in the first half were pretty much abandoned by the second half of the book and never brought up again. Yes, the main character showed very little character development. Yes, the Director's Cuts were silly and unnecessary.

But I could not put this book down. It was so entertaining and I actually enjoyed the turn the book made and how the main character sort of turned into an unreliable narrator.

However, near the end of the book, I sort of had some suspicions that Eartha WAS E.V. and that E.V. didn't even exist. This wasn't the case at all. Instead, E.V. is working with her ex-husband, Dylan, to abuse women who become influencers on Wonderland, and is covering the fact that Dylan sexually assaulted Eartha? The SA plotline was terribly underdeveloped for me, and I don't know why it was hinted at that Dylan SA'd Eartha and not just shared flat-out.

Overall, the book was messy and I'm sure looking back I'll find a shit tonne of plotholes and questions and cringe-worthiness that everyone else sees. Eartha was basically a self-insert of Florence and says all of the things that you can hear in Florence's podcast. And I think Florence tried to do a bit too much by exploring sexuality, cancel culture, sexual assault, and abuse of celebrities behind the scenes. But it really entertained me and I would definitely read more from Florence. I honestly don't think it was THAT bad.

Loved the themes that were explored in this book and really liked the pacing of it. However, I did find the writing a bit cringe at times and almost as if the author was trying too hard to be funny/relatable.

Thank you to Netgalley and Smith Publicity for sending me an advanced copy

after writing a feminist non fiction, our Florence tried herself into romance and it is not bad. It’s actually good. As we expected it is centered around social themed and explore the confusing of discovering that you are queer. I found the bi-rep really good. eartha was a really relatable character and her struggles were grounded in reality. I liked this book, I can’t wait to see what miss Florence has in store

I'm going to start off by saying that in the beginning I felt like Eartha was SUPER relatable and I absolutely loved all of the feminism she was serving ! I loved that she really embraced changing her life when she found out about her boyfriend of 6 years cheating on her. But Eartha embraced living her life and being her "true self" not only IRL but online on a social site known as Wonderland. Eventually it takes over her life.

Finishing up the story I did feel really bad for Eartha, she just wanted to come out as bi sexual and live her life and live for the new experiences but it was all majorly publicized. Being made out like you're the crazy one is something I can only imagine as being quite difficult but I didn't like that Eartha lost control so easily. Overall it was an enjoyable read and I'd give it 3.5 stars if we could leave a half but we can't. Thanks netgalley for the ARC