Loud was an incredible introduction to not only Drew, but the issues that matter most to her. As a follower of Drew, it was fascinating to see someone who keeps their cards close to their chest on their public platform open up in such a raw way through their book. You can tell that this was not only a love letter to her audience, but a love letter to all those in her family and inner circle.

Firstly, this memoir was incredibly accessible. I think a lot of the issues Drew touches on (internalized misogyny, body-image, the patriarchy, etc.) are discussed in a way that anyone, no matter their age, can take something away from it. Personally, I think if high school me had this book, I would have thought a lot differently about myself and how I engage with the world. Sometimes authors of memoirs can get caught up in proving themselves to their audience, but I think Drew does an incredible job of combining her own life story and a comprehensive guide to confidence all in the story. You can also really feel her personality throughout the entirety of it, which was so pleasant for someone who has watched Drew since she started posting online.

The only thing I found taking me out of the experience was the organization of the chapters. I think some concepts could have been combined to make it flow better for the reader, but this was not something consistent throughout the entirety of the book. I noticed it at some points and not at others.

Overall, I think this book did what it needed to do! We learned more about Drew's personal life and her experience in her content creation niche, what her advice is on becoming the most confident version of yourself, and so much more. Great first book!

drew afualo, the woman you are.

If I had a physical copy of this book, it would look beat-up, and full of highlights and notes. And not in a cute way.</p>

drew writes so well, formal yet informal, I felt like I was having a conversation with her. I felt that I was having a conversation with a big sister, someone who was forcefully, yet lovingly, reminded me I deserve better. I cannot recommend this book enough. she also includes her own experiences, and brought tears to my eyes. she is such a bright light in this world.

some of my favorite quotes from this (without making this review ten pages long)

"Now repeat after me: "No, I cannot fix him." And: "No it is not my job to.""
"The word "no" is a complete sentence."
"You are worth all the love and respect you put out into the world, and you are destined to receive it."

I can't wait to buy a physical copy and I too, will be thinking of Drew when I stand up for myself, sitting up straighter, shoulders back, chin up.

thank you netgalley, the publisher, and drew afualo

I really enjoyed Drew’s book! I am honestly excited to listen to the audiobook version, I am hoping she is the narrator. I feel like the audiobook version would be the best experience to really hear Drew talk in her voice and tell her stories. Overall this book was fun and inspiring. I would recommend to friends.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC. Firstly i want to say i love this cover with all the colors coming together and the big letters with a selfie its very cute. I will say one day i was scrolling on tiktok and Drew came on my fyp and i just started watching her videos because she had me cackling down and i love what she stands for and how she defends the gay community as well as so many others. This book definitely was a novel i wanted to read because Drew is hilarious and always authentically herself and thats why i wanted to read it. This book feels like drew is speaking to the reader on important topics that need to be discussed regarding the patriarchy and alot of different topics that maybe the reader will be like oh wow ive done this before maybe i shouldnt be doing this etc and i love how each chapter was a different topic and also explained how the topic also effected her during growing up etc and how she had to unlearn somethings as well. I really hope alot of people that read this also learn some things as well if they see themselves in the chapters and topics. This book had good funny moments as well. I love how drew always claps back and it's definitely needed with all the hate that social media has we need a queen like drew to shut it down on her platform! The gays love you queen. This was a quick read and a great novel its usually not my usual genre that i read but i loved the little advice elements and part memoir because i didnt know much about drew but now i do and i loved all the talk about her culture and her family and family members and growing up and telling us the family dynamic it was really wholesome! Good job drew! Cant wait for all your supporters to read this novel!

I am a fan of Drew Afualo and enjoy her tiktok content. I was very excited to be approved for an ARC of Loud. I enjoyed reading what seemed like the memoir portions of this book. The motivational aspects were very inspiring and left me with quite a bit to think about/reflect on.
This book is a great guide on how to advocate for and stand up for yourself. I really enjoyed it and will happily recommend to all!

As a previous fan of Drew Afualo from tiktok, I was excited to see that she had a book coming out! With her confidence and wisdom, it seems like the perfect match to write a self help book. Her direct tell it like it is style translated well and it was a good mix of giving people the confidence to ask for nothing but the best from life, and a manifesto about working hard and taking oppertunities wherever they come. A wonderful companion to her current content.

Loud by Drew Afualo is part autobiography, part-self help. The book is written well, you can almost hear Drew narrating it with her infectious personality!

I overall felt this book was solid, and would highly recommend especially to teens-early twenties people who want a good way to get into feminist reading.

The main reason I haven’t scored it higher was that it didn’t flow seamlessly. At times it felt a bit like jumping from one thing to the next. However, a good book debut.

I love love love Drew Afualo. And I loved her book just as much. It was funny, thoughtful, motivational, and emotional at times.

Drew was thoughtful in what she shared in this book. I got more glimpses of her and it made me understand how she got to be this confident/beautiful person. The chapter about body neutrality was a tough one as I am a plus-size girl and have such a difficult time even thinking about my body.

I would highly recommend this book to those who (like myself) are trying to learn how to shut out the loud, obnoxious voices that make it difficult to love themselves.

I was so exited to get an ARC of this book. I follow Drew on TikTok and I love her content. This book is funny like her videos, but also tackles a lot of serious topics. From the failed 2000s “Body Positivity” movement, to unlearning all manner of internalized misogyny, Drew’s takes are inspiring and helpful. The only real complaint I have about this book is that many of the sections go on long after she’s made her point. It almost feels like she wrote out all her thoughts on the topic, and then never went back to pare down repetitive thinking. But other than this, I had a great time. Drew’s voice is SO clear in this. I can even hear her laugh sometimes as I read. I hope it haunts the dreams of all those horrible men.

As a long time follower of Drew on tiktok I was excited to see if her book would have a similar message and feel. Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I wish I’d had this to read 20 years ago. I will definitely be recommending this to some younger people in my life once it’s released.

I love Drew and I think this book has a lot of really great messaging. It feels like it is targeting a younger generation though, as none of the takeaways were that ground breaking for me as a fully developed adult woman.

I will start this off by saying I absolutely love Drew and I enjoy following her on social media and listening to her podcast. I was excited to pick this up and learn more about her. While I do feel like I have a better insight to some of her life and where she comes from, I felt like this book came across a little preacher than I would have liked. I agree with all of her points and love the way she empowers herself and other women, but I think maybe this book might be for a younger audience — readers who might be new to these concepts and learning about them for the first time. The points became repetitive after a while.

But that being said — Drew is inspiring and has such a great sense of humor and perspective on the world and I think especially young girls need to hear from a woman like her.

As a 30 year old I felt that this was something I needed to read 10 years ago. This book will be *life-changing* for many people, however myself like Drew have learned these lessons over the course of our 20’s so most of the book felt more of a reminder to me personally. I absolutely love love loved the space where Drew addresses her feelings towards motherhood. Her traumatic experience that helped her come to that realization made ME search deeper internally. Do need something like that to validate my feelings? Probably not. Thankful these words are on paper (figuratively) because like I stated I really think this book will change lives and teach lessons so many of us learned the harder way.

Thank you again to the Author & NetGalley.com for this Advanced Reader Copy 🫶🏼

I’ve followed Drew Afualo’s career for a couple years now, and this book feels like an extended cut of one of her videos. It is funny, personal, and inspiring. All those traits that make her a great content creator and woman to follow, you can hear this book in her voice with her laugh throughout. A very impactful read for fans of hers and anybody who believes in solidarity and diversity!

5/5 STARS!!!
Drew, this is an amazing debut book, the perfect blend of memoir and educational handbook. Normally, I binge a book in a day. While I wanted to do this SO badly, it was after the first chapter that I knew that this was a book that I needed to read chapter by chapter with breaks to reflect on what I discovered.

This book helped me discover pre-existing beliefs that I had so deeply rooted and suppressed in myself. I also (unfortunately) recognized many instances in my life where my friends and family, men and women, have displayed misogynistic behavior that I never would’ve identified before. While it hurts to process these emotions now, it is something that I am proud to have learned.

I would’ve always called myself a feminist, but now, I feel that I can behave fully like a feminist. In Chapter 11, Drew shares a quote from a friend, Tefi, that at times when they don’t want to speak up for themselves, they imagine that Drew is doing it. This is a similar sentiment to my newfound confidence where Drew has truly inspired me to stand up for myself and be confident in my actions.

From this point forward, I want to join her in saying that “I. Said. Something.” I will no longer let these disgusting men and patriarchal societal expectations lead and have a hold on my life. I urge you to pick up this book when it is released in late July!

As per usual, here are some of my favorite quotes:
→ Chapter 5:
“There aren't just insensitive comments we hear once or twice a year from right-wing family members at Thanksgiving dinner. These are beliefs each one of us is forced to endure on a daily basis, and all of this messaging has a compounding effect, weighing behavior on our self-worth with each passing year on this earth."

→ Chapter 7:
“Masculine, feminine, it's all a complete hoax, because gender isn't real. It's a man-made invention, a by-product of colonization and religion, washed into our culture so that people coming up in society would be taught to hate themselves if they even dared to step foot outside of the very specifically curated gender binary that was imposed on all of us. Capitalism feeds off of that ideology as well.”

→ Chapter 8:
“You can talk all day to a terrible man, but you can’t make him see you as a human.”

“This man is describing basic human decency, but it’s being weaponized as a reason that women should settle.” (Drew’s thoughts on “nice guys”)

I think this book is so beneficial to every woman out there. It's a blend of a self help-ish book and memoir. There was really only one or two new to me moments as a deep fan of Drew's for years now! I loved getting insight to her life and her culture. I can't wait for it to come out on audiobook so I can hear her intonation and iconic laugh.

As a black, queer woman I have been aligned on the messages conveyed for almost a decade now. Not exactly super helpful to my everyday life reading this as I may be past the target audience, but absolutely truthful and potentially life changing for someone who does not know Drew and her content that she makes or just knows it in passing or might need a reminder on their self worth. She is not a professional in any of these topics so I feel like there are lots of other books I've read that might be able to articulate more if that's something someone is interested in, but definitely a good dip in the water. Intersectional feminism is actual feminism! All hail Queen Drew 🫶🏾

This is a bit of everything and oh my, Drew, you KILLED it. Just like you kill the egos of these crappy men (they deserve stronger descriptions). I can't wait to have a physical copy of this in my hands to go back and annotate. Part comedy, part memoir, part Drew Talk. I HIGHLY recommend picking this up!

ive been watching drew on tiktok since before she has 20k followers and her opinions never fail me so this book was a must for me. truly the voice of a generation of women who arent going to allow society to force us into a box. i loved this book and will be recommending it for book club

Unequivocally & utterly Drew. For those that follow Drew Afualo on social media, or who have watched her tiktok's--this book feels like a longer extension of her videos. i read this, but i could hear Drew saying the words aloud inside my head. Hard-hitting, honest, & impactful; Drew's writing has the ability to benefit any and every woman, no matter her age or point in her life. Part self help, part memoir--Drew writes about her family & her lived experiences and uses them to show the lessons she's learned, sprinkling in bits of wisdom throughout. she's careful to respect the privacy of her family & friends while still giving us a detailed, accurate background. my only qualms are with the way the story flows together (not smoothly, in my opinion) and the somewhat abrupt-feeling ending. oh, and I couldn't gone without the six mentions of being a Virgo she used to describe her personality & lifestyle.

thanks to Drew, Netgalley, & Farrar, Straus, Giroux Publishing for allowing me an advanced reader copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalleyARC. I didn't know too much about the author prior to reading this book but I definitely feel like I know more about her now and that I understand her better. I've enjoyed seeing her on social media and figured I would give this book a try, I'm glad I did. I appreciate the honesty and feelings behind the author's words and I finished reading it feeling empowered.