Review: Girls Like Me by Lola StVil

Fifteen-year-old Shay Summers is trying to cope with the death of her father, being overweight, and threats from a girl bully in school.  When she falls in love with Blake, a mysterious boy online, insecure Shay doesn't want to tell him who she is.   But with the help of her two best friends, as well as an assist by Kermit and Miss Piggy, ultimately Shay and Blake’s love prevails. 
     Girls Like Me is a fun and fresh poetic take on teen angst, social media and online anonymity, and high school romance.

Review: I had never heard of this book before, but it was featured in my library and I saw that it was written in a mixture of verse, emails and text messages and so I was intrigued. I'll also admit that the cover drew me in too, i really love that cover. I like the simplicity and I like the fact that we have shay texting right there on the cover, letting the reader know the kind of thing they are in for. 

Because this book is written in verse and texts, it is obviously a very quick read. This is a, sit down one afternoon and read it, kind of book and I liked that I could devour the whole story in one. Despite the fact that it is written in this way and therefore makes for quite a short read, this book is very definitely a complete story. One of the things that struck me about the storyline was really how much I identified with it. I could definitely feel myself in shay's shoes, getting involved with something via email and text, not really knowing who they are but already having strong feeling with them and them having the power to brighten up a bad day. I also get the insecurities that come across in this book, not wanting to reveal to someone what you look like, in case they just suddenly stop speaking to you!

Shay was interesting as a character. She wasn't the most like able character, but as I have already said, she was definitely someone who was easy to identify with. She has a great couple of friends who are very diverse. One of her friends is very ill and the other is gay but hasn't yet come out to his dad. I liked that her friends were this diverse but I think it was maybe just one step too far when something happens to one of them, it almost felt like that particular part of the storyline was just being put in for diversity's sake and not because it would actually happen to that character. 

I thought the writing style was interesting. I've seen some reviews of this book that say they think that this author was just following the trend for things being written in a different way, but I like the fact that it made for a slightly quicker read. I think that email and text interactions give us a better insight into a character that just reading a description of them or an interaction with another character. I think the texts between Shay and her mystery man were on point and I really enjoyed the way the book was written. 

This book deals with a lot of issues including bullying which spans everyday school life and cyber bullying. We also have the LGBTQ issues, the issues of being a teenager that doesn't fit 'the norm' and dealing with a friend who has a terminal condition. This seems like maybe a little too many issues all in one short book, but this is the reality of what some people have to go through as they are growing up and so it seems relevant to me. i thought he issues were dealt with well and I enjoyed the book as a whole!

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