Not That Kind of Girl Paperback – August 1, 2014

This book was as beautiful as the cover. I loved it!"You see, the best thing about wrong decisions is that they don't prevent you from making the right decisions later on. It's harder, but it's not impossible."--The cover:I've been waiting to read this book from the moment I first saw the cover. Look at it. Isn't it beautiful? Not only the girl and the boy (they are cute), but that precise moment.In my opinion this is one of the best moments in life (not as great as for example, holding your baby in your arms for the first time, but anyways you get my point).It's one of those moments that fills your heart with joy and anticipation and in every cell of your body you feel that you are alive.Try to imagine that moment for a second... Try to go back in time before a first kiss (or imagine one), try to think about what would you feel in that moment.It is the insecurity that makes it perfect.. there are so many options from there, so many possibilities for things to happen (or not to happen), and not knowing what's next makes you take the risk. It's that second when you hold your breath and your heart skips a beat, and you feel that you are in the best possible place on Earth.--Now about the story:I think that the cover fits the story perfectly.1. Because the book is full of moments when things are about to change completely. Every now and then the story unfolds up to one point when you hold your breath waiting for the characters to make a decision and wondering what the consequences of their act might be...2. Because the story is also romantic, and Natalie and Connor seem to come back to the same moment when they are "a kiss way from each other", so close but in the same time so far away.After reading the reviews on GoodReads I thought that this book would be similar to The DUFF (not that this would've been a problem for me), but in fact I couldn't find many similarities between the 2 of them. Also this book was more about friendship and finding your way in life, than losing control (as I initially thought). Yes it got to that point near the ending, but the journey was the important part.I found the characters to be nicely defined (most of them anyways). I liked Natalie and of course Connor, but also I liked Autumn and Spencer a lot. They all believed in friendship, and even if there were lots of problems throwing them apart form time to time, they knew how to come back, to say "I'm sorry", to be a great friend when someone needed them.The love story between Natalie and Connor felt realistic too.It was nice that the author took the time to introduce us to Natalie first and her friends, and only after that she let us know Connor. In this way we knew exactly what Natalie thought about love and boys and responsibilities, and control (of course) and I could understand her actions, her feelings, her fears.--NatalieShe was one of those people that keeps for herself. She didn't have many friends, she didn't like to party (in fact she never even tried), she took school and other things way to serious and tried to be perfect.. but perfect for whom?It was strange to see her totally in control one moment and totally losing it in the next one. I even had a tiny problem with this because I don't think that having a boyfriend should've affected her so badly (not that she would accept that Connor was her boyfriend, but he kind of was).Trying to be in control she kept hiding her emotions and feelings, she kept seeing him at night, losing sleep, she kept thinking about him and their relationship affair and she only made it worse. It would have been better just to enjoy her romance for once and take the risk, but no, she wanted to have everything planned, and love wasn't on the list.I think that she has learned her lessons:- that there are also gray shades (not only black & white),- that sleeping with someone doesn't make you a slut,- that not having control doesn't make you weak,- that being in love doesn't make you stupid,- that having fun doesn't make you irresponsible ,- that having a different opinion doesn't make you a bad friend,- and so on...(and I don't really know if the lesson "sticking your nose in other people's business can get get you into big trouble" is something that she understood completely, but I think that she is now a little more familiar with it as well)--ConnorEven though we don't get to know him that well, I really liked him from the beginning.I liked his confidence.You know why?Because generally speaking, if you really think that you can do something you will always be able to achieve it not matter how hard it might seem to be; because it takes a lot of confidence to be the person you want to be and I appreciate those people who doesn't lose their way trying to be someone else.We don't know much about what he wants in life, but we know that he wants Natalie (I meant it in a good, romantic way, but yes - also in a physical way - it comes in the same package with sleeping in someone's arms, kissing and touching all night), and even if she thought that she was always in control he got straight to her heart (and he knew that).As a side note: You're never in control when you start to care about someone, but that doesn't mean that you have to feel bad about it... and after all, from time to time is good to lose it for a while and just enjoy your life without being scared.Also I liked the way he tried to get closer to Natalie step by step, breaking her guard, trying to understand her, trying to help her, trying to be there for her. It was not an easy task because she was damn difficult, and unpredictable (not in the best possible way), but he really tried and I give him credit for that.--AutumnI really got to care about her. She was the only one that had to suffer because of someone else's fault.If you think about it, she didn't do anything wrong, she fell in love and tried to take it easy. But that was just bruising someone else's ego and she got caught in the middle of a high-school drama without having a word in it. Also, being protected by her best friend was never a good choice, because she and Natalie didn't share the same dreams. They had different perspectives in live - Natalie wanted to be a good student, the president of the school council, Autumn wanted to have fun, she wanted people to forget about the incident and just let her be.I couldn't blame her for wanting to keep her distance from Natalie when she realized that she wanted more from life and it wasn't that hard to do it on her own.--SpencerShe is the opposite of Natalie in terms of actions, but they are so alike in so many other ways.If you want to put these 3 friends together and compare them, Autumn would stay in the middle and Natalie and Spencer on the opposite sides.Spencer was smart (even though she did quite some stupid mistakes) and she knew how to have fun all the time, and, of course, she also thought that she was always in control. She took another path (so different from Natalie's) but the result was the same: she had to learn her lesson in the hard way.But she was a good friend, and I liked the fact that she tries to help Natalie when she could (if it wasn't against her own believes)SO, all in one, messing up with someone is never a good thing to do, because every single time someone gets hurt.. and it hurts even more when you are the one. I think that if people would just mind their own business this world would be a better place.Also I think that we all need to love and be loved, but a little bit of pride won't hurt.You need to know what's really important in life, what defines you, and you need to be yourself (because, you know, everyone else is taken).It's hard sometime to be a teenager, but it is a beautiful time to remember.Happy midnight reading!

Natalie is the girl who knows what she wants: academic success, student council leadership, and avoidance of the male miscreants that run amok at her school and destroy girls' lives with one raucous laugh and joke. Her one friend was at the receiving end of one of these boys' cruelties in freshman year, and now, as seniors, Natalie has almost made it out home-free.Until the entrance of two very different people into her life throws her into disarray. Spencer, her former babysitting charge, is now a one-woman force, unafraid to play up her sexuality and toy with the boys, much to Natalie's chagrin. And Connor Hughes, quarterback and supposedly the biggest jerk of them all, surprises her with a side of him that she's never known...and his interest in her.Can Natalie deal with changing up her entire philosophy for success and feminism?NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL, Siobhan Vivian's third novel, succeeds where few other contemporary YAs do: it features a smart, determined, but not always nice or right female protagonist and a strong message of the different definitions of what female empowerment entails.Natalie is not a straightforwardly sympathetic protagonist. She's smart and has obviously accomplished much, yes, and her narration is delightful for the "over-read" YA reader: anguished and angsty, determined and stubborn, without being overly dramatic and annoying. However, we get the sense early on that, despite the seeming solidness of her feminist creed, she could stand to learn a lesson or two. Too often I feel like YA protagonists are always made out to either be ethically perfect in dealing with external problems, or else have an identity utterly wrapped up in a love interest. Thus, Natalie is a breath of fresh air--even if she may snap at you, and even slap you, for daring to objectify her as refreshing.There are a gratifying number of strong females in this novel--even if not all of them are "strong" in the best ways--but Spencer is probably the most admirable character of them all. She is the type of girl Natalie fears, though for all the wrong reasons. Spencer is confident, strong-willed, feminine, and, to Natalie's horror, not afraid to play up her feminine appeal to get her way. Spencer and Natalie come from different schools of feminism, and while there is no clear answer as to which of them is more correct--Spencer gets hurt more, but she also lives--they are excellent examples of the different manifestations of feminism...with a hearty dose of entertainment in their shenanigans and interactions, too.NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL focuses on the feminism aspect, on what it could mean for a female to be empowered, but it's hardly preachy, and not without a crackling romance as well (although Natalie's interactions with Connor was something I wish had been more fleshed out). Siobhan Vivian is a strong writer with a talent for character subtleties. This is my first book of hers, but it will certainly not be my last. Don't overlook this strong gem of a contemporary YA read!

There are some plot spoilers in this review.This book had so much potential - there is much to be said about sl*t shaming, the way that sexually active girls are treated compared to boys, and revenge porn. I kept thinking that the story was going to really go somewhere and have something to say, but it was so limp and toothless! I expected Natalie, the main character, to have a real journey where she deeply engages with the themes of the story, but she seems to sleepwalk through the book. She is fairly unlikeable, and I mistook this for a sign that she would undergo a true reckoning and come out a more fully realised character. Her attitude and behaviour warranted real criticism but she just meandered her way through the book having things happen to her, judging people, and ultimately deciding that it's okay to be a bit 'sl*tty'! She is robotic and difficult to empathise with.I found it frustrating that none of the consequences for the mistakes she makes seem to have any weight. She barely makes it to her SAT exam on time, and then sleeps through most of it - nothing ever comes of that! She stays out all night with her boyfriend, but she just tells her parents she was at a friend's house and it's all forgotten. She falls out with her best friend but then they're friends again not long after. Such unsatisfying storytelling.Autumn was the only fully rounded character. Spencer was a one-dimensional stand-in for a sexually liberated girl, and Natalie was the same but for a prude. We don't even get an explanation for why she believes that being "that kind of girl" is so bad. The romance between Natalie and Connor is completely unconvincing - they hook up a few times and then they're in love? This football-playing cardboard cutout is suddenly all about wanting her to like him for who he is? It was so disappointing that Ms Bee's whole arc is "I have high hopes for you, prudish student! - Oh wait, you're sexually active? You're dead to me." It honestly felt like a wooden, old fashioned morality play.Oh and in the epilogue it's like "Connor and Mike will probably never talk again" even though Connor was sticking by him in the previous chapter. ENGAGE WITH THIS STUFF! SHOW US! Teenage boys ending their friendship over revenge porn is something that's worth digging into.Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I was shocked to see Natalie describe Autumn's swimming as 'sp*stic' - here in the UK that's a slur, similar to the r-word.It's a short book too: I read some in bed, then on the bus in the morning and then on my break, and I was already halfway through. If the topics had been more deeply engaged with, it would have been a longer and much more satisfying read.

The confusion of growing up and being back at school was so cleverly shown in this book. I loved it.

This book is captivating and really interesting. It captures the reality of senior high really well. I would recomend it to any teenager! The only issue is that it isn't a series!

The characters were easily dislikable, lack of detail and depth. The message you were trying to put across was vague and too late into the book. Don’t recommend at all

I had very high hopes for this book because the blurb sounded really good and the cover looked amazing but I was disappointed with the content itself. The title says she's not that kind of girl when she very evidently is. Also there were conflicting themes within it as well.