Revenge of the Sluts

Learned a lot about revenge porn in this book. It's nice to read about strong women who stand up for themselves. And learned how MA treats this sort of episode. There needs to be work done in some of these states....

The first thing that attracted me to this book was the title and cover. The title is very blunt and is what made me want to read the summary. The term slut and other degrading terms are used throughout the book so if you’re not a fan of this language, although the language is pretty accurate for the age group, you might want to skip this book. Looking at the cover overall, I get the idea of the girls, the 7 who had their pictures sent out, and then 2 more who I would assume are Eden and Ronnie. I liked the style choice to block out the girl's faces; however, the additional animation around the cover I wasn’t a big fan of. It just made it seem more like fan fiction, and while I know that’s what the Wattpad website mainly is, I would just think the cover should be a bit more professional looking. However, the cover intrigued me none the less.I found the main plot point very believable and something similar (on a much smaller level) happened at my own high school. The fact that the school was trying to cover up the incident fits in very well with what we see today, the school’s being ill-prepared to handle situations like this and thus trying to shove it under the rug.This book feels like a good conversation starter as there are a lot of aspects to look at. For instance, the fact that the story takes place in a state where revenge porn is not illegal, and the characters in the book are forced to deal with the consequences of no such law. The opinions of others are also looked at in this book. We see bits of opinions from different students and parents about their thoughts on the pictures which range from feeling empathy for the girls knowing they are victims to those that think they brought it upon themselves and shouldn’t have done it in the first place. The idea of double standards is also brought up with the character Luke, where the girls are sluts for having sex but guys do not experience the same backlash.Now, some things I disliked about the book. I felt like the ending was wrapped up rather quickly for the amount of time it took to get there. It just kind of felt like it was wrapped up and tied with a bow when that’s not how things would normally go. I just kind of wish there would’ve been more about the after-effects than the bits we got in the epilogue.I also felt like our main character, Eden, was a bit bland and flat. While the story wasn’t really about her and more about the situation with the 7 girls, I still wish I would’ve liked the main character more. At times it felt like she was very unsympathetic to the girls and while she is a reporter for their school newspaper, she is also classmates with all of the girls and at times I felt like she needed to chill out with the questions. She didn’t really have anything to do or relate to the girls besides being in the same year and having sent a nude photograph which wasn’t one that was leaked. It just felt like she was trying to make her job seem bigger than it was when really it had nothing to do with her.I think there were a couple of loose ends left that could’ve been wrapped up better had the ending not been a quick update in the epilogue.Some things I think could add some content to this book would be multiple POVs from the girls that were actually involved in the scandal. We only get Eden’s POV and it’s obvious as the story progresses that things are happening between the girls that Eden doesn’t know about so it would be interesting to see their POV. I also think a cool extra content could be the article that Eden and the others published. They continuously talk about the article as Eden’s entire personality is basically the fact that she works for the school paper, so I think it could’ve been cool to include excerpts from the paper.I really liked the concept of the book and I think the message and ideas throughout are important and need to be talked about, especially since reading other reader’s reviews. Many readers seemed to dislike the use of the word slut throughout as well as the idea of the intimate photos being released. It happens all the time and the point is to make the reader uncomfortable because we know there needs to be change. This honestly feels like something that would be created into a movie which wouldn’t be a terrible idea as this subject needs to be discussed more. This book was a solid 3/5 for me, it’s not one of my favorites or one that I feel like I need to revisit but I don’t regret reading it as it was a fairly quick read.

Eden is in class when she gets the email. When everyone gets the email. Someone has mailed an email to everyone at the high school an email with naked pictures of 7 different senior girls. The email was signed Eros, and it was sent to every student and staff and faculty member at St. Joe’s. Eden wasn’t one of the girls in the email, but as Executive Editor of the school newspaper, The Warrior Weekly, she knew that it would be a hot story to cover.At the newspaper meeting later, she and Editor-in-Chief Ronnie talk about the email and the story possibilities. They are able to put names to all the seniors in the photos and made plans to ask them all for interviews. Most of them don’t want to talk to the press, but Eden is able to talk to a couple of them. They are devastated by the betrayal and the embarrassment, and Eden is tasked with writing an article that sticks to the truth but also be sensitive to the pain these women are feeling.Meanwhile, the girls in the email decide to fight back. They meet together for support and form the Slut Squad, to show those who are trying to bully and shame them that they will not be silenced. While Eden admires them and wants this to be part of the story, she also wants to know what the administrators and local law enforcement are trying to do to help the girls and punish Eros.After they publish the first story about “Nudegate,” Ronnie and Eden find out exactly what the administrators want to do about what’s happening. They want to cover it up. The principal specifically tells them that they can’t publish any more stories about the email without getting her approval on it first. As for the police, all the seniors in the email were 18, and there are no local or state laws where they are against revenge porn, so law enforcement can’t help.It’s up to the Slut Squad and the reporters to figure it out, all by themselves. And Eden takes that role seriously. She refuses to let the story die until she writes it all the way to the end.Revenge of the Sluts looks at important issues of teenagers sending nude photos of themselves, of them having sex, of bullying, cyber bullying, and revenge porn. It also asks bigger questions about the double standard between how men and women are treated as sexual beings (especially in high school), and the repercussions of putting something so personal into the control of another person. The story is interesting, the characters are dynamic, and the questions of fairness and morality, of justice and trust, are blended into the story with craft, so it doesn’t read as a morality play.I really liked Revenge of the Sluts. I got carried away with the story, but it also gave me a lot to think about. I did feel like there could have been a wider focus, more action from the adults in the story, but when I found out that author Natalie Walton wrote this as an undergrad, just a few years out of high school herself, I understood. She’s a great writer already. The years in front of her will grant her that larger perspective, giving her future work a depth to match her strong style. I look forward to reading her next book.Egalleys for Revenge of the Sluts were provided by Wattpad Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Revenge of the Sluts should be read by just about everyone. The way we look at and treat girls and women needs to change at it can only be done by raising both our young men and women to be better. The book opens with an email, sent to an entire school. It includes nude pictures of 7 girls and a threat to do more. Eden becomes more and more determined to find out who sent the email and why. She wants to give the girls in the pictures justice when the school just wants to sweep it under the rug. Eden has to face her own actions and notions as well as get her classmates and school to do the same. The girls who sent the pictures to people they trusted should not be the bad guys. The trusted boys who decided to share them with others should not be held harmless.The book probes some very interesting questions about gender sexuality norms and body autonomy. It walks a line between when girls/women should be considered adults and when they are still children. The world wants that to be fluid so they can treat them according to their acceptance and obeying the rules put upon them. The "sluts" do fight back.I always read a book like this by coming up with motives for every character we meet. So, in that way, the culprit wasn't a real surprise. The motives either. However, is was just one of many scenarios I came up with and it made sense. There were some holes in logic (timeline issues at the very least) and some obvious solutions to problems that took the characters far too long to realize. Those were not enough to bring down the rating much, though. I look forward to this author writing more.