From the Bookshelf of Addicted to YA…

The Female of the Species

Mindy McGinnis

Start date: May 1, 2017

Finish date: May 31, 2017

Discussion: Stand Alone

Why we're reading this: Won the poll for the stand alone BOTM
[close] Won the poll for the stand alone BOTM

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Stand Alone

* Stand Alone- Maybe Meant to Be
By Bailey · 3 posts · 29 views

last updated Aug 18, 2025 12:04PM

* Stand Alone- The Summer of Broken Rules
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What Members Thought

Jul 07, 2018 Susan rated it it was amazing

I've heard such wonderful things about this book and yet it never interested me. Then I was browsing my OverDrive account and it was there and available and I decided I would check it out. I let it sit there until I had 2 days left to read it and thought I should at least give it a go and WOW I was hooked from chapter 1.

Alex-she the MC in this book and she has a bit of a messed up mind but who wouldn't when your older sister is kidnapped, raped and mutilated and parts of her are spread out throu ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Sep 19, 2018 Aerika rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Wow!

2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 14, 2016 Desa rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, english, contemporary, kindle, read-in-2016

“I’m not fine, and I doubt I ever will be.
The books didn't help me find a word for myself; my father refused to accept the weight of it. And so I made my own.
I am vengeance.”

I’m not sure how to write this review or what to say (that’s why it’ll be brief) but what I know is that this book is important. It’s meaningful and relevant and talks about rape culture, misogyny and slut shaming as it is, so imbued in our society that sometimes we don’t even realize it, but it is. Every.Fucking.Day. And “I’m not fine, and I doubt I ever will be.
The books didn't help me find a word for myself; my father refused to accept the weight of it. And so I made my own.
I am vengeance.”

I’m not sure how to write this review or what to say (that’s why it’ll be brief) but what I know is that this book is important. It’s meaningful and relevant and talks about rape culture, misogyny and slut shaming as it is, so imbued in our society that sometimes we don’t even realize it, but it is. Every.Fucking.Day. And this book shows it, and only for that is amazing.

“But boys will be boys, our favorite phrase that excuses so many things, while the only thing we have for the opposite gender is women, said with disdain and punctuated with an eye roll.”

The Female of the Species is told from three different povs and it works extremely well. Alex, Jack and Peekay are different, complicated and well developed characters, and their relationships are so poignant. There were some things about them that I didn’t fully like, some thoughts and decisions, but that’s what made them all the more human and flawed.

I’m not gonna lie, this is a difficult book, it’s uncomfortable, dark and sometimes brutal. The MC, Alex…she takes the law into her own hands and even if that’s not right, you know what? You end up rooting for her, you understand why she does it, and maybe there’s something not entirely right with her, but that only makes her a more amazing character. She gave me lots of feelings.

I finished the book last night and I’ve barely slept. I just couldn’t stop thinking about it, and that says something. I’m not entirely sure that I’m ok with the ending but that doesn’t mean that it’s not a good one, only that it just ripped my heart out and left me in a puddle of feelings. So yeah, go grab and read this book asap.

”I’m living my life waiting for the man who comes for me like one did for Anna, with hungry eyes behind the wheel and rope in the trunk.
I’m ready.
But I don’t know how much longer I can wait”
...more

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