Reviews

Girls of July by Alex Flinn

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thehawk72's review against another edition

3.0

Lol the last 20 pages were super childish and also I didn’t really get anything out of Kate’s character arc. But it was a decent read.

kjpollard71's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

I thought this was a cute idea, and I enjoyed most of the storylines; however, some of the plot points I thought were forced, and a bit unbelievable.

rin_varga's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book took me a while to get into—I'm not used to reading anything non-queer, so I was a bit worried if I would feel alienated from the characters or find the romance forced, but I was pleasantly surprised to get invested in all four of the girls, grandma Ruthie, and their storylines! This book is a perfect mid-summer story to pick up. I love these four girls who learn to create the kinds of memories you can only make when you're young while choosing the kinds of choices that can change a teenager's entire future: falling in love, learning to trust others, not giving up on yourself, realizing that the choices made today will create the precious days that make up your life, exploring different sides of yourself previously untouched, and writing your own story even when it feels like the whole future has already been laid out before you!

I found myself kicking my feet in delight, rolling my eyes at my inner teenager, aching for these girls and the pressure they've all had to put up with from the adults surrounding them, and cheering as they realize they have more power than they've been lead to believe. Cheer with me, won't you, for the girls of July!👏

I first got pulled into the story when the girls and the neighbor boy Harmon were trying to catch a bat that had gotten in the house. The way Harmon just can't resist thinking Meredith the brainiac is beautiful and snaps her picture as she releases it outside, then prints it out and gives it to her to ask her out...SO sweet!! I was super giddy and found myself gushing over what a little gentelman Harmon was to treat Meredith like she was a lady worthy of a summertime of romantic memories.

Kate the southern rich girl turned out to be such a strong young woman who wants to help more than her privileged, sheltered life has allowed her to before, and I was SO proud of her for taking the initiative to get involved with strangers obviously struggling to raise a little boy.

Britta and Spider's unlikely friendship brought back a lot of high-school memories of trying to befriend people unlike you when you already have a certain impression of them in your head, and it made me SO happy to see them working through their problems as Spider learned to open up and rely on Britta a little more. Their arc is a reminder that you can be an independent but still ask for help as a way for others to show they care for you (and show that you trust them by accepting the help they want to give).

But my absolute FAVORITE storyline was Spider and Britta putting the pieces together to find grandma Ruthie's <i>long-lost love, Janet??</i> Needless to say, I was bubbling over to get an adorable queer love story after all! I think a lot about people like Ruthie or Janet who are secretly queer or had a past lover who they had to give up because it was just too scary or hard to survive on their own without their family's support—how many of us have parents or grandparents who we never even suspected are/were queer and just needed more love, understanding & courage to live their truth instead of a lifetime of "what if"s?

bethalow's review against another edition

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3.0

What a fun and enjoyable story about several characters navigating big life changes and learning more about themselves and the world around them.

izzyb2009's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

thereadingsheep's review against another edition

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2.0

Thank you to Edelweiss for providing me with an eArc of this book. It has not affected my opinions or my review.

Unfortunately, this book is one that fell flat for me. I feel like the storylines of the four girls turned out to be stereotypical and cliche without enough depth to bring them to life, and the story revolved around the messages (too obvious) instead of the characters taking me on a journey to discover them along the way. We had: the overly studious girl who needed to learn to have fun; the rich girl who needed to break away from high society's expectations; the very chatty, dramatic, annoying girl; and a bitter girl who needed to learn how to not make her disability define who she was.

Don't get me wrong. If done well, these can make compelling stories. In general, though? The writing felt shallow, their personalities felt shallow. They didn't seem as intelligent as I thought seniors (and one junior) can be, and the way exclamation points were often used to try to push a point out or make the reader excited didn't help.

I also thought, from the synopsis, that this would be a book without a romance. However, it was still added in, and I didn't enjoy it. All it served to do was take away attention from the four girls together, when I felt a big point of the book was to show their growing relationship. In fact, the girls didn't spend as much time together as I would have liked, instead embarking on their own storylines (with the exception of one pair) but somehow still ending up close.

I do wish I could rate this higher. The message, yeah, is good in theory—but it's not a groundbreaking one, and its execution didn't satisfy me.