BOOKED THIS WEEKEND: Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

You know when you hear something negative about a book or movie or TV show and you've just got to check it out to see what the fuss is? That's how I discovered Moxie.

While obsessively checking randomly browsing Twitter a few months back, I noticed a lot of conversation about this book called Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu. I recognized Jen as the author of The Truth About Alice and thought, "I haven't heard of Moxie, but anything by her is worth paying attention to."

Then I saw a lot of people were FREAKING OUT (seriously, like, going absolutely nuts) about a less-than-kind book review for Moxie from a really well known book review journal. Let's just say a lot of people (basically everyone on Twitter) didn't agree with the criticism in that review. Naturally, I thought "I MUST READ THIS FOR MYSELF."

I was fortunate enough to get an advanced copy of it and WHOA MIND BLOWN.

Here's the official summary:

"MOXIE GIRLS FIGHT BACK!

Vivian Carter is fed up. Fed up with a school administration at her small-town Texas high school that thinks the football team can do no wrong. Fed up with sexist dress codes, hallway harassment, and gross comments from guys during class. But most of all, Viv Carter is fed up with always following the rules.

Viv's mom was a tough-as-nails, punk rock Riot Grrrl in the '90s, and now Viv takes a page from her mother's past and creates a feminist zine that she distributes anonymously to her classmates. She's just blowing off steam, but other girls respond. As Viv forges friendships with other young women across the divides of cliques and popularity rankings, she realizes that what she has started is nothing short of a girl revolution.

Moxie is a book about high school life that will make you wanna riot!"

I downloaded Moxie to my Kindle, tore through it in about a day or two, and couldn't have loved it more. Moxie is an amazing, empowering read that should basically be required reading.


Jen Mathieu's book will make you angry, and it should.

It will make you feel empowered, and it should. 

It will make you want to stand up for what is right, and you should.

It will make you want to riot, and you should (figuratively, not literally. Please don't throw trashcans through windows or anything.)

We're all familiar with the "teenage girl starts a revolution" trope in YA books (see: Katniss Everdeen). But this is way different because Moxie is about things that are really happening and affect people's everyday lives. Maybe this book will inspire someone to kickstart a revolution of their own.