A mystery about a missing high school girl. Jo, her neighbor and former best friend until something changed their friendship forever, doesn't believe she ran away like everyone else thinks happened. This has mature content including drinking, sex, and sexual violence, making it a solidly high school book. I never fully embraced the story but readers who like realistic teen mysteries should like it. I read an ARC of this book with no formatting so that might have hindered my reading experience.

A lot going makes this story a little hard to follow. The undercurrent behind what Jo is dealing overwhelms the story. Sexual assault, scandal and high school drama all packaged together was too complicated for me.

How hard would you try looking for someone who fucked you over, especially when everyone else thinks she ran away? In Not Like Other Girls by Meredith Adamo, Jo-Lynn knows something is up with Maddie and that she definitely didn’t run away. Too many things don’t add up. The only one who believes her is Hudson. Jo-Lynn had become a social pariah after someone leaked her nudes so fake dating Hudson is the perfect way to get back into people’s good graces. Along the way, Jo-Lynn makes more allies (and many enemies). But her goal stays the same: figuring out what happened to Maddie.
This book had literally everything I love: fake dating, a missing girl, social issues, humor, fucked up families, and sleuthing. As much as I loved every single plot point, I feel like it was maybe a little too jam packed. That’s my only complaint is that it had just a little bit too much going on but I honestly do think that every plot point played into the bigger picture so it’s also hard to figure out what should have been cut.
Not Like Other Girls got 4.5 ⭐️ from me and that’s a hard feat to achieve! It publishes April 30!!
Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS is a very important YA book. It should be added to every high school library and classroom and placed in the hands of every teen you meet. It seems like just another fun YA mystery novel on the surface, but it is about so much more. It's about being 15 and wanting, no NEEDING to be taken seriously because you don't feel like a little kid anymore. It's about being 15 and vulnerable, taking those first steps into the adult world and not even knowing you need some allies to hold your hand. It's about getting betrayed by those supposed allies and having your literal most private moments and experiences shared without consent. It's about trauma and friendship and first love.

I loved how Adamo laid out all of these complicated emotions and situations. She peeled everything back layer by layer, letting us find out what happened at the same time the main character, Jo-Lynn (Jo), is processing and realizing how messed up what happened to her was. I loved Jo and I wish I could give her a BIG hug. NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS grapples with a lot of heavy subject material, but it's also somehow very funny and relatable. You can't help but reflect back on your own teen years and think about who you met along the way to your path to adulthood. Did you have the allies you needed to hold your hand? I hope you did. I wish Jo had too.

Seriously, get this for the teens in your life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury YA/Children's Publishing for the ARC of this book. Much appreciated.

Jo-Lynn Kirby is a seventeen-year-old junior in high school. Her former best friend, Maddie Price, disappears after asking Jo for help. Jo has been an outcast ever since her private photos were leaked, so she doesn’t know why Maddie would go to her for help. The police decide that Maddie has just run away on her own, but Jo suspects there’s more to her disappearance. She joins together with her former fling, Hudson, to figure out what happened to Maddie, but she ends uncovering her own secrets as well.

This was such an intense YA thriller. It was so hard to put down. I think readers who love awesome thriller writers like Karen M. McManus and Holly Jackson will love this debut thriller!

Thank you Bloomsbury Books US and Bookinfluencers.com for providing a copy of this book for part of a sponsored campaign.

Content warnings: sexual assault, rape, gaslighting

Not Like Other Girls is, on the surface, a mystery about a girl searching for the truth of what happened to her missing ex best friend. Beneath that, though, is the far more gripping and emotional story of a girl searching to understand the truth of what happened to herself.

Read this for:
-a complex, troubled yet relatable narrator and her powerful emotional arc
-the raw, nuanced and intelligent social commentary exploring what it's like to be a teenage girl and what it really means when you're "not like other girls"
-a mystery that will keep you turning the pages with a surprising end
-a fun fake dating romance that makes consent hot!!

I absolutely adored this book. More than that, it SPOKE to me in ways I didn’t know I needed. This needs to be read by every teenage girl and every former teenage girl on earth, as soon as possible.

I read this book as part of my work on an YA award committee, so, unfortunately, I am unable to give a review due to the rules of the committee.

I will be giving this book 5 stars because that is the standard rating I am giving for all books I read for the committee.

I do want to thank the publisher for this copy of the book. Please know that I did read it and consider it for my work on this committee. I will be sharing this book in my job with my students and promoting it in my library!

This book is about so much more than a missing girl. It’s about how hard relationships with parents, peers, teachers, and friends are when you’re a teenage. I read the book as fast as I could. I read in the car, I read while eating my meals, I read on my breaks at work. I read every second I could because I loved Jo Hyphen Lynn so much. She stuck with me even when I set the book down. Thank you Netgalley and Bloomsbury YA for the advanced ebook copy of this book.

This YA book was so good! 🙌 It's got a bit of everything - thriller, mystery, and romance - which kept me engaged the whole time and even though it is YA, it didn't feel YA, like it had way more grit to it!

🩶 Jo-Lynn was involved in a scandal, causing her to lose most of her friends. One day, her ex-best friend Maddie says that she needs her help - but before Jo-Lynn can find out why Maddie disappears. Worried that Maddie is in trouble, Jo-Lynn and another old friend, Hudson, plan to uncover where Maddie is.

🩶 Throughout this coming-of-age book, we watch Jo-Lynn evolve - in her friendships and relationships. I absolutely loved Jo-Lynn's character, and the narrator, Georgina Sadler, was amazing - their voice was a perfect fit.

Thank you Netgalley and Bloomsbury Boooks for my #gifted copy to read and review! #ad #sponsored

⚠️ Trigger warnings: SA

As a mystery writer, I was especially drawn to this book. Come for the mystery and stay for the important discussions and revelations about consent that encompass everything from sexting to acquaintance rape, from being seen as "easy" to happily agreeing to a much-welcomed sexual relationship. A mystery with an important message.

Synopsis:
When Jo-Lynn Kirby 's former best friend-pretty, nice Maddie Price-comes to her claiming to be in trouble, Jo assumes it's some kind of joke. After all, Jo has been an outcast ever since her nude photos were leaked-and since everyone decided she deserved it. There's no way Maddie would actually come to her for help.

But then Maddie is gone.

Everyone is quick to write off Maddie as a runaway, but Jo can't shake the feeling there's more to the story. To find out the truth, Jo needs to get back in with the people who left her behind-and the only way back in is through Hudson Harper-Moore. An old fling of Jo's with his own reasons for wanting to find Maddie, Hudson hatches a fake dating scheme to get Jo back into their clique. But being back on the inside means Jo must confront everything she'd rather forget: the boys who betrayed her, the whispers that she had it coming, and the secrets that tore her and Maddie apart. As Jo digs deeper into Maddie's disappearance, she's left to wonder who she's really searching for: Maddie, or the girl she used to be.

Not Like Other Girls is a stunning debut that takes a hard look at how we treat young women and their trauma, through the lens of a missing girl and a girl trying to find herself again.

What I really loved:
- It was bingeable - I read it in two sittings and just couldn’t stop.
- Reading this kind of fiction is hard. But it’s important. Adamo does such a phenomenal job of capturing the spiral and journey that is coming to terms with trauma.
- I loved the main character. She reminded me so much of Kat from 10 Things I Hate About You. Brilliant and unapologetic.
- I loved the fake dating and mystery aspect to the whole story. There were multiple plot lines running through the book and I think that also helped balance out the really hard to read stuff with the “fun to read” stuff. It’s a heavy book with heavy themes and I think the other plots kept me from feeling so utterly depressed right alongside Jo.
- I love that this book faced all the hard conversations head on. These are important stories. And for the girls that don’t know where to turn or who to talked to or what to say, there’s a book that now exists that might help them to better understand. And for everyone else that doesn’t fall into that group, I hope this book allows empathy to grow.

What I didn’t love:
- There were a few points that felt a little less believable than others (in regards to the larger mystery plot), but I think it adds lots of drama and intrigue for YA readers, so I can’t really complain about that when I’m not exactly the intended target audience.
- This felt like a really mature “Speak” to me. It had a lot more layers and a lot more mature moments - and maybe I’m delusional in what the normal high school experience is (maybe this IS it?), but to me it felt more like an early college experience in regard to mature content. I hope the girls who need to read it will be able to (in light of our current climate).

Overall:
This is one of the best YA+ realistic fiction debuts I’ve read in a while. Wonderfully written and an incredibly impressive first novel! I imagine that this one will still stick with me for quite a while.

Thank you to both Bloomsbury YA and Netgalley for allowing me to read an early review copy!

**Trigger warning for SA on this review**

I’m gonna go a little heavy on this review. I very much enjoyed this books thriller premise. You go on a journey with Jo as she tries to figure out what happened to her missing friend. Along the way, she begins to discover that some things that happened to her are in fact not ok or acceptable. I effing LOVED seeing her learn to accept that and heal and take her power back.

One of the biggest parts of this book that impacted me was the authors note. One of the hardest struggles of SA for me was acceptance. That it happened, that it wasn’t my fault, that it’s ok that I’m still effed up from it after all these years. I want to thank Meredith for using this as an outlet and a way to open up discussion on r*pe.

Fantastic and exciting story! I loved reading it along with the audiobook - the narrator has a very pleasant voice and I enjoyed both versions!

🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

An immersive look at a troubled teen, seemingly tough but inwardly fragile, an ostracized social pariah, and her turbulent journey to self-awareness and acceptance.

Based in Rochester NY, amongst the incredibly competitive senior-year students of a crowded authoritarian high school, JoLynn Kirby, the first person narrator of this book, is seventeen years old and has come to recognize that she is not like other girls. For one thing, Jo has recently found herself considered an outsider, with plummeting grades and baggy clothes, and her tendency towards wild and reckless behavior she just can’t seem to control. With her successful and former beauty queen mom, a superstar athlete of an older brother, and a kindly dad who just can’t seem to really see her, JoLynn’s desperate downward spiral is captured perfectly here, between the pages, as we, the reader, share in her clumsy bravado in the face of peer-group inflicted bullying, and her resulting dubious decisioning, all of which seem to trip her up even further.

Jo’s world, and in particular, her tangled and tortured interactions with her peers, is written with an authenticity that does justice to both teenage sexes, so much so that this reader could not help but find herself cringing along with Jo in this brutally cruel world of teen power dynamics.

When Jo’s former best friend, Maddie, (now a member of a tight clique of girls whose mean-girl delight in shunning Jo is palpable), disappears suddenly and mysteriously, Jo takes it upon herself to investigate. Aided by an undeniably hot male classmate, Hudson Harper-Moore, (with reasons of his own for needing to get to the bottom of things) Jo’s story now begins to unfold in layers, with dangling loose ends appearing with alacrity, intertwining her traumatized past, her fractured family dynamics, and her disastrous history with her peer group. All of which slowly coalesces into a coherent sequence, illuminating both the mystery and Jo's oppressive alienation from her world and her self.

An interesting and engrossing read with a flawed and deeply engaging heroine, I enjoyed this book, its plotting and the character-driven labyrinth of slowly revealed twists and turns, all leading to an ending this reader found satisfying and thoughtful.

A great big thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

This one was just not for me. I did not like Jo, and could not find myself rooting for her. It was also felt really slow.

Typically, when I read a book, my brain automatically assigns a word to it. A “describe this book in one word” kind of thing. But my brain could not pick just one word for this book, so I give you three: raw, visceral, and poignant. This book took my heart and ripped it right out of my chest. Even the author’s note had me in tears (you’ll understand when you read it). I wanted to reach into the book and pull Jo out and wrap her in a giant blanket and protect her from the rest of the world and show her all the love she deserves. And I will fight anyone who calls Jo an unlikable main character. She is messy and she is angry, yes, but she is also tired and lonely and traumatized and so so hurt. And she has spent her whole life being told who she is and that she is unlikable. That was probably my favorite part of the book, watching her unlearn everything she was told and become her own true self and learn to show herself love and empathy. It was absolutely amazing development that had me sobbing from pride. I cannot overstate how much I loved Jo. I also loved the Birds and Tess. They were amazing side characters and helped Jo so much in her journey. As for the mystery plot, I also really enjoyed it. It was very well written in relation to the character development, stimulating Jo’s journery in the beginning then taking more of a back seat to allow for all the growth before picking back up at the end for a strong and exciting conclusion. Overall, I loved this book so much and highly recommend it (but check the trigger warnings first).

If you ever wanted a book that was the lyrics of Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘the grudge’ meets the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s ‘Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve, look no further than Not Like Other Girls. This book is a combination of many things — it’s a slow-burn mystery, a fake dating romance, and a intricate coming of age story. Most importantly, though, it’s about the complexities of girlhood and trying to find strength in yourself — and coming to terms with what happened to you — after sexual assault. Recovery from rape is different for everyone, and we see that with Jo’s experience. For most of the book, Jo didn’t realize what happened to her was rape. Her assault isn’t actually revealed until later into the story, but it’s clear from her thoughts that something happened to her. There are many heartbreaking moments throughout this book, and admittedly, sometimes I paused reading to hug my Kindle.

Meredith Adamo has crafted a masterpiece with Not Like Other Girls. It’s characters are ones that I’ll remember for a long time. I’m not one to reread books, but this is the type of book I would reread over and over again. Easiest five stars I’ve ever given out. I would read everything Adamo ever writes.


full review to be posted nearer to release day!

A gripping novel told from the perspective of a girl in the midst of a meltdown. Jo's former best friend Maddie goes missing and Jo is one of the last people to see her. Why did Maddie disappear and what is the true backstory? As the layers peel back, Jo learns more about herself and about why her friend's attitude towards her changed so suddenly. While the book can be read as a thriller or a teen coming-of-age novel, it can best be appreciated by its raw and uncomfortable truths about the relative value we put on boys vs girls and all the ways girls pay for the misdeeds of boys and men.

Not Like Other Girls is a gripping page-turner that packs quite the emotional punch. Jo is a flawed main character with skeletons in her closet that she refuses to deal with and prickly skin that deters most people from wanting to be in her orbit. All except Hudson, one of the best love interests I've read in a long time. His banter with Jo and his obvious affection for her makes it difficult not to fall in love with him.

To uncover what happened to her missing ex-friend, Maddie Price, Jo must infiltrate the popular clique to see what she can find out. Being that they're not her biggest fan, she enlists Hudson's help. Playing with the fake relationship trope, Adamo does a brilliant job with their "enemies to lovers" dynamic, and you find yourself rooting for them from the very start. Delivering a story that rings true to the darker side of high school, grit and all, Not Like Other Girls will tug at the heartstrings as Jo and Hudson delve deep into the mystery of Maddie's disappearance. I highly recommend reading this book.

Not like Other Girls was a story I honestly wasn't expecting when I read the synopsis, but one I really liked nonetheless. Reading the synopsis one would expect a thrilling mystery on where Maddie Price went, and why and finding her etc etc. But to me the story really focused on Jo and what happened to her to make her the shell of a girl she used to be.

I kept a really open mind when I started the book because I thought that whatever we learned second hand from people at the start wouldn't really be who Jo was and I was very right. People assumed and thought the worst of her based on one of the worst things to ever happen to her and didn't give it a second thought because they didn't care enough about the damage it was doing to a very real human being. They just thought it was another thing to gossip and talk about. Its sad that this is a very real thing that happens in schools every day and it was heartbreaking to unravel Jo's past and figure out everything that happened to her and then see her fully come to terms with it when she'd spent so long suppressing it instead. That along with the fact of realizing that every single adult in her life failed her, and props to Tess for actually saying it out loud. Tess was a great character and I liked that she was one of the only adults who really saw and took an interest in Jo beyond her troubled (and very undeserved) reputation. I really liked Jo as a main character, she is loud, sarcastic, and funny and smarter than she gets credit for and I enjoyed her character development. Hudson had his faults but I liked him too, nobody is 100% perfect. I didn't love Maddie, I think she was a really shitty person and just because she had bad things happen to her doesn't change that. I liked that the book didn't try and give her a redemption arc too because I would've rolled my eyes lmao.

I got a little overwhelmed with the amount of things happening sometimes and it made it hard to follow the story and keep it straight so I wish that there wasn't quite so much going on at times. It got really confusing a couple times there I had to back up and regroup lol. I also had a few things I wanted to know more about and things I still didn't understand fully but nothing that hindered my enjoyment of the story all that much. If you pick this one up I strongly suggest you check the content warnings because theres some heavy stuff in here that might not fit with everybody. But overall I enjoyed this one and highly recommend it because it is an important story that Im glad is out there for anybody who may need it. Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the ARC copy, all opinions are my own.