Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Not Here to be Liked 

Author: Michelle Quach

Year: 2021

Genre: YA fiction/feminism/crush-worthy/identity 

Queer shit: Feminism. I know the leads weren’t queer but I cannot for the life of me remember about side characters. I seriously got so sucked into the lead (which doesn’t usually happen) and forgot to pay attention to the other people…. 

Vibe Check: VIBES! My teenage self was cheering this entire book. I want this book to be required reading in high school English so people can analyze the characters and their decisions and then also have a feminist uprising and also all get matching sweaters and boba. I don’t even like boba and this book made me want to change my ways.  

Pile of Opinions: I honestly ordered this book because an author I like recommended pre-ordering because they knew the author and this was Michelle’s first book. I was not prepared for this book to be everything I didn’t know that I needed. It starts off with our lead (female) having paid her dues and done her time and excelled on the school paper but when it comes time to elect the new head of the paper for senior year, she loses the spot to a boy who only joined the paper this year because he had an injury that took him out of the sport he was playing. Discussions of being likable, being pretty, does she deserve the position more than him (yes.)? Understanding complexities of feminism as well as maneuvering senior year. I want to go back in time to my high school years and hand me this book. I needed it. This book is on my list to reread this year (2022), join me?