carolesrandomlife

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

I really ended up enjoying this book! This was a review book that completely slipped through the cracks and was left to sit somewhat forgotten. By the time I pulled it out of the pile, I didn't completely remember why I had been drawn to it in the first place. I wasn't too far into the book when I realized just how good this story really was and I had a fantastic time with it.

It has been a long time since I was a teenager or went to high school. A very long time. My youngest daughter is currently finishing up her final year of high school and my oldest is a young adult so I have lived with teenagers for quite a few years so I feel like I know what they are like and I thought that this book was filled with realistic teenagers which is one of the things that I really really enjoyed about it.

I wish that the things that happen at Vivian's high school during the course of this book didn't happen. I know that they happened when I was in school and I don't think it is too much of a stretch to think that they still happen quite often in certain areas. I was mad. I was disappointed. And I was disappointed. How could the adults let these things happen and not speak up? How was it that none of the parents of daughters from the school were demanding change? The one thing that I would have loved to see happen in this book would be for Vivian, or one of her friends, to tell the adult in their life exactly what was going on. 

These girls didn't let others fight their battles though. Vivian sparks a movement that eventually works its way across her school. I was so happy to see these girls stand up and fight the things that were wrong together. It was a very uplifting message about how change can happen if you get enough people to stand up with you. 

I listened to the audiobook version of this book which turned out to be a fantastic choice because Suzy Jackson did a wonderful job with the story. She really was the voice of Vivian and I thought that she did was able to bring this story to life. All of the character voices were really well done and I had no problems listening to this book for hours at a time.

I would recommend this book to others. I had a great time watching this wonderful group of characters fight for a cause that was easy to get behind. I look forward to reading more of Jennifer Mathieu's work in the future.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group via NetGalley and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library.

Initial Thoughts
Such a good story! This was a story about girls standing up for themselves, for what is right, and for each other. It makes me mad that we live in a world where treating certain people differently than others still happens but I love the fact that people are working to make a change. I listened to the audiobook and thought that the narrator did a fantastic job with the story.