A review by turnaboutcafe
Not Here to Be Liked by Michelle Quach

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

0.25

OKAY THIS BOOK MADE ME SO MAD FOR SO MANY REASONS OH MY GOD. as a woman who's very vocal about gender equality, the introduction of feminism excited me. then it fell so hard.


  • author just took all available feminist buzzwords from tumblr or smtn and threw it into this book, and then mixed it around hoping something would stick
  • eliza pissed me off to no end. despite claiming to be feminist and all that, she's so obtusely (??) misogynistic — like i get it's supposed to be about internal misogyny that we learn from a young age but she genuinely does not grow out of the internalized misogyny?? she still judges people for wearing make-up and caring about appearances, and somehow the author's idea of a redemption is having her use lipstick like once at a party
  • the other characters are even worse
  • JUST BECAUSE YOU LOSE SOMETHING TO A MAN DOESN'T MEAN SEXISM IS AT PLAY
    • she is quite literally a condescending bitch throughout her time at the bugle, of course she wouldn't win an election. sure, len is barely qualified, but her speech is so incredibly self centered that it's not a shock that len was voted above her
  • this was advertised as academic rivals to lovers. IT WAS NOT ACADEMIC RIVALS TO LOVERS
    • it's only academic rivals if the rivalry goes both ways, and if both sides respect each other as rivals. len does absolutely nothing for the entire book, doesn't really respect eliza as a rival, and they work on TWO articles together before that plot point is removed completely
  • ALSO WHY IS LEN CALLED THE FACE OF THE PATRIARCHY?? HES EASILY THE LEAST SEXIST CHARACTER IN THE ENTIRE BOOK
  • booktok lied to me, i shouldn't have finished this book <3