Because feminism, contrary to popular belief, isn’t about hating on guys like me. It’s all about all of us working toward equality, together.”

Not Here To Be Liked is the YA contemporary I needed! It follows Eliza Quan the hard-working managing director of her school's newspaper running for the post of editor-in-chief. And she's the perfect choice, until Len, the ex baseball star runs against her and wins. What follows is the start of a feminist movement in her school, questioning the sexist behaviour prevalent. first of all, this book felt like it would give good enemies to lovers banter but the banter was so boring throughout the book, and look... i’m a pretty romantic person. so it’s easy to give me butterflies... but this book was so cliche that i felt bored af. i'm over the public displays of affection like public speeches in school microphones or tv, everyyybody caring about the main character’s EVERY move (this makes the story artificial because everyone knows 100% this does not happen in real life), the miscommunication trope, and neither did i feel the couple had much chemistry. The last draft I have belongs to Natalie Weinberg, another sophomore. I scan the room to see if she’s here yet, and I spot her approaching Len’s corner. Which is a little odd.

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But my shoulders are tensed up with possibility, the way they get when I’m about to clinch a triple-letter score in Scrabble, and I’m busy typing out my response to James: We follow Eliza, a Chinese-Vietnamese-American teen who is the managing editor of her high school newspaper. She's not here to be liked and doesn't need to (spoiler: we like her anyway or maybe because of it). She knows she will be voted as next year's editor in chief, not only because there's no one better for the job, but there's also no one running against her. Until there is.

A brilliant look at feminism, what it means to be a feminist, and that not everything is straightforward, there are many grey areas and intricacies when it comes to being a feminist, some of which we see Eliza face. You heard Winona—Eliza would never be into Len. He stands for everything we’re fighting against." men? Len didn't even do anything wrong! Maybe she'll apologize in the end, as I said I only made it to 88% of this book. I was so sure I could've finished it even if I wasn't enjoying it, but then the last straw for me was when Eliza had this long ass monolog about how she feels disappointed and disgusted with herself for wearing make up to a party. I have to admit, I choose this story because the British publisher is Usborne (Hideous Beauty, Ace of Spades, The Outrage, The Guilded Ones). Their choice of books is always spot on. Solid writing, interesting topics, diverse characters. I scrunch up my face—one eye squinted, nose wrinkled, tongue lolled out sideways. “You don’t think I’m pretty?” I joke, trying to talk and hold the expression at the same time.

The worst thing was that even after hooking up and after Eliza starts feeling bad for making him the evil one, she never apologizes and still treats Len like shit in public. Sure, she gives him a heads-up about the walk out she planned to protest against him, but that's it. No, Sorry everyone hates you because I told them you are a misogynistic ass, which is obviously a lie! I ignore her and get into the passenger seat, drawing the door shut with one hand so I can keep texting with the other.

The whole feminism movement at their school starts when Len (a guy) wins an election for the chief editor or something like that over the mc (a girl).

Featured Reviews

I loved the discussions of double standards, of the internalised misogyny—slut shaming, how a girl and guy can wear the same clothing but get judged for it differently, girl-girl hate—of the stigma and stereotypes existing in our society. The entire story starts off with Len, an inexperienced candidate being voted for the position of the editor-in-chief, simply because he seemed more like a leader from his speech. All the while Eliza, very qualified and experienced, was criticised for “not being too nice”, for “trying too hard” or “being overly critical” when she was just doing her job as a journalist and editor and even being just as intense, critical and with high standards as her male coworkers. A smart romance with heart and guts and all the intoxicating feelings in between.” —Maureen Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of 13 Little Blue Envelopes since when is feminism about blaming men for a woman’s failure? if you lost, accept it, don’t blame it on Len for winning! he wasn't the one who voted against you. I also loved Eliza’s friends Winnona and Serena. Unlikely friendship is one of my favourite things to witness in a book and seeing these three together, who’re actually so different from one another was amazing!