The Female of the Species

“The Female of the Species” is a YA with teenagers engaging in the realistic teenage activities that adults like to pretend aren’t happening, and does not sugarcoat or shy away from the ugliness and hypocrisy of “acceptable” societal actions and behaviors. Told through the alternating perspectives of Alex, her best friend “PK”/Claire and Jake, what seems like a book that will be a revenge thriller/sociopathic killer teen novel tells a more nuanced, emotional and compelling story.

After Alex’s sister is murdered, Alex embraces the violent side of her nature and murders the killer when he goes unpunished. When she realizes that she’s not sorry for her actions and that this dark, retributive part of herself is dangerous, she isolates herself from the world until a fellow classmate, Claire/PK begins to open her up to friendship and sisterhood. As their senior year moves forward, Alex tries to reconcile the anger and darkness within her with the levity and love that connecting with others and being a “normal” teenager offers her. However, the violence Alex has seen and done gives her a perspective, empathy and capacity that helps the women around her learn to call bullsh*t on the rape culture that permeates the world and allows for the causal acceptance of violence and assault against women.

The journey that Alex, Claire and Jake experience by the end of their senior year is life-changing, poignant and leaves ripples that forge the first steps to change. The book is not filled with action, drama or gore and simply follows three high school seniors as they live normal lives in a small town, but this simplicity is elegantly interwoven with harsh truths about human nature and what we turn a blind eye to and the ending is honest and brave, especially for a YA book. Read it.

Wow. Just…wow. I went into this book without much knowledge of what it was about, and came out the other end feeling devastated and unsettled but also understood.

This is a harsh book about realistic people. It shows the ugly underbelly of our darkest selves. It shows the ugliness within us, the darkest thoughts that everyone has but nobody admits to.

This is a book about how impossible it is to truly know another person, to understand what goes on in the parts of them that they choose to keep hidden.

Alex's striking voice hits you from the first page, with her matter-of-fact description of how she planned and executed the death of her sister's murderer. (this is not a spoiler btw, it’s literally on the first page) She’s got hella moral ambiguity and a sense of humor full of deadpan sarcasm, which makes her a fascinating and compelling narrator.

She’s also incredibly relatable. Every woman and girl can understand Alex's anger, her fury, at both what was done to her sister and what she sees happen around her each day. We all know what it's like to be reduced to the shape of our bodies, to be seen as an object to be possessed, to hear the catcalls and whistles in streets and school hallways and have to clench our fists and jaws and compress the raw anger we feel into the backs of our minds.

Except Alex doesn't do that. She doesn't brush these things off, she confronts them head-on, and while I'm not denying that what she does is messed up at times, it's also pretty empowering. Alex does the things that everyone knows they should do, but when it comes down to it they're too afraid to speak up. She stops an attempted rape, and calls out a girl she’s friends with for slut-shaming. Alex has a strong code of personal ethics that drive her desire to carry out her own justice, and it makes her both relatable and terrifying.

There were a few times—mostly towards the beginning—when I found Peekay pretty annoying, but she ended up having a pretty great character arc. I really enjoyed seeing her grow and learn to have confidence in herself without needing a guy to reinforce her self-image. She’s a good person, generally polite and honest, but not an unrealistic goody-two-shoes. She has ugly thoughts sometimes, too, and McGinnis doesn’t shy away from pointing that out.

Peekay is a solidly ordinary person. That makes her sound boring, I know, but she wasn’t. There’s something to be said for a writer who can make the ordinary seem unique and fascinating, and this book portrays the experience of being a teenager really well. The lust and love and insecurity and jealousy that the characters feel is raw and real.

I didn’t care about Jack quite as much, but his story still felt pretty strong to me. He’s your average, popular teenage guy, something that was made extremely clear in an early scene. On one of the first occasions that they meet, Alex gets into Jack’s car and the only things he can think of to say are a series of comments about her physical appearance. He does that typical guy thing where he gives repeated, unsolicited compliments that he thinks a girl should be grateful for—when in reality they just make us feel uncomfortable and annoyed. He doesn’t really have the same character development and growth that Alex and Peekay had, so his static perspective on a lot of the issues the book addresses made for an interesting contrast to the girls’ changing outlooks.

These three narrators’ stories combine in a way that portrays teenagers and relationships and social issues REALLY WELL. Dating and fighting and parties and confrontations are awkward and difficult in real life, and we often do things we’re ashamed of for reasons we can’t quite understand. Sexual assault and the general attitudes towards/treatment of women were both prominent subjects in this book. Both were handled really well and in ways that didn’t gloss over the acts themselves or their lasting impact on victims. In the case of sexual assault, there was definitely sensitivity towards reminding and reaffirming readers that it is never the victim's fault.

Overall, the representation of female relationships in this book was generally pretty fantastic. Girls supported other girls in a wide variety of situations, and when they didn't do so they learned to see the error of their ways.

The ending left me with ALL kinds of feelings, but I won’t go into details. This was a very twisted, very real book, and one of the most important contemporary books I’ve read in a long time.

Content warnings for: sexual assault, graphic violence, animal abuse

When Alex looks at her future, she sees nothing promising even though she’s on track to be class valedictorian. She’s reclusive, has no real friends and her home life is bleak. Her older sister was kidnapped, tortured and murdered three years ago, her father, the only person she felt any connection to, left shortly afterward and her mother lives in a perpetual blur fueled by scotch in large quantities.
When her sister’s killer got off, Alex gave in to the darkness that permeates her and exacted revenge rather graphically. She was never caught, but knows that darkness waits patiently inside, hence her having no plans for college or anything similar following graduation.
Despite her efforts to fly under the radar, two classmates find her intriguing. Jack Fisher, her only competition for top spot in their class, could have any girl he wants, and often does, but there’s something about Alex that makes him feel different and alive and despite her efforts to keep him at arms length, they both feel such a strong attraction that coming together is inevitable.
Then there’s Peekay, short for Preacher’s Kid, who ends up doing community service with Alex at the animal shelter. They bond over abandoned and neglected cats, dogs and even a rabbit.
As you read this book, you know something bad awaits, but Mindy does such a good job of pulling you in and getting you to care about all three teens, you also care about the peripheral players, especially Branley, the cheerleader Jack can’t seem to distance himself from. The twist at the end was a shocker for me and I expect it will be for many readers.
There are books you read casually, others you put down with reluctance when something needs to be done and there are a few that refuse to allow you to stop reading until the last page. This falls solidly into that last category. In the acknowledgments the author says she let the manuscript sit for 15 years. I’m ever so grateful she pulled it out and got it published. It’s gritty, has violence and strong language, but teens living hardscrabble lives or who love realistic fiction will devour this one.

This book wrecked me.

It takes a brutally honest look at rape culture. From the overt violence against women (and the ways society passively allows/encourages it) to the more subtle ones (like all the drawings of dicks graffitied everywhere- which was true during my pre-internet high school days and is certainly true today), rape culture is a background noise overlaying the plot. And while it's easy to say "that shouldn't happen", McGinnis uses her male supporting characters (primarily Jack) to show how it happens so easily, and the importance of everyone being vigilant about it (standing up to that violence, reporting it, and generally not allowing it to happen). She also uses the narrative to explore complicated female relationships, and how each of us handles that pervasive threat against us.

The MC is a killer, but she's coldly pragmatic and practical. Her life has an emotional detachment (and her relationship to her family is...complicated), because she's honest with herself about what she is. No wild vengeance, and no redemption arc- Alex is observant, and has a moral code, and also has no emotional connections. I don't think I've ever read an MC like her, and I was enthralled in her story from the first page.

Beyond making you think, this book makes you feel. Alex's voice is so alien, with Peekay's chapters carrying more of the emotional warmth and vulnerability. Somewhere between the two is Jack's voice. And as the three change, and change each other, there are instances of cruelty (toward animals as well as humans) that remind us that being detached, being stiffly pragmatic, even being a self-aware killer is less destructive than being casually cruel.

And lest you think this book is a triumphant anthem of girl power, it's far more subtle, gut-wrenching, and complex than that.

I highly recommend this for everyone. You need this journey, no matter how aware you are, no matter who you are. It will hurt, but it will be worth it.

This book is an examination of rape culture. What if you knew your sister or your friend had been sexually assaulted? What if there's not enough evidence for the police to do anything? Would you think about taking matters into your own hands to get revenge? That's what this book is. It's the wish fulfillment of avenging sex crimes.

There are 3 points of view in this book:

There's Alex, the girl who takes revenge. Who sees someone get roofied and throws the first punch. She's the anti-hero, the morally gray character extracting vigilante justice.

There's Jack, our example of the male gaze. The inside look at 'boys will be boys.' The one who starts to feel bad for that kind of behavior.

And then there's Peekay (P.K.), the rebellious preacher's daughter who doesn't think much about how she puts other girls down. Who doesn't think much about taking drinks from strangers.

While it might seem at first that this book is kind of crass, or slut-shaming, I quickly came to realize that we had to see those examples in order for the book to start making points about them. The way that each of these characters learn from each other was a really beautiful thing. One of the things I really loved about this book was that it showed how girls can be sexist toward each other just as much as men can be, and how we can internalize the things we've heard from society.

There are many examinations of what separates human-nature from animal-nature, the difference in violent thought versus violent behavior, and what makes something right or wrong? If you've read anything else by Mindy McGinnis, you are getting that same soul-wrenching examination of humanity.

Mindy is one of my favorite authors, and this book just further cemented that. She took on a few new things this time: Contemporary genre, multiple POVs, male POV, more romance than usual. And she SLAYED them.

I not only loved the writing and the characters, but how there was so much to unpack from this book. It gave me a lot to digest and think about beyond just the words on the page. I really enjoyed it and thought it was well crafted.

Some things worth noting, content wise: there are descriptions of sexual assault, animal injuries (the characters work in an animal clinic), and gore. Heads up if those are personal triggers.

Recommend: Hell yes!
I started this book around 11 p.m. and finished it at 5 a.m. I couldn't stop, I kept needing more and then I need closure and then I just needed to feel and cry.
Alex is the strong, damaged, fierce female character we all need, that we all need to understand we can be. Peekay (Claire) is the friend we all deserve, no matter who we are. Jack is the guy we all know, at least we think we do. Branley is the girl we all talk about, even though we know it's wrong. These characters are so real, so raw, and so believable that you can't help feeling their pain, rejoicing in heir growth, and celebrating their triumph.
Alex is damaged by the terrible, unexplainable loss of her older sister, and her own nature. She is Dangerous, she is an individual, she is not swayed by society's standards or views, and she wants to be good. She thinks she should be shuttered away for everyone's safety, but the truth is that everyone needs her.
Peekay (Claire) is the good girl who wants to break her mold, who wants to be more than who she is, but really she is the friend we all deserve and need. She is good down to her core, she is kind when everyone else would be mean, she is one of those people that you would try to not like but still end up loving.
Jack is the guy that we all wanted to be or date in school. He is perfect on paper, destined for great things, but he's also a mess. He wants more than what his small town can give him, but he also finds himself falling into its clutches and being the guy everyone wants him to be instead of who he really is.
Branley is the girl we all talked about and judged, but we all knew it was wrong. You can't help feeling bad for her because she perceives herself as nothing more than a tool to be used by men, that she has to be used before her beauty fades and it's terrible. She is the girl who was called beautiful before she was called smart, the girl that was told she'll make a great wife oneday instead of being told she'll make a great doctor. She plays her role well, but you see that she is good, that she is not the girl people say she is.
This book deals with what it's like to be a teenager who wants to party and hook up, who wants to enjoy their life, but it also deals with rape culture and its affects. This book talks about date rape bluntly, it talks about murder realistically, and it talks about how not doing anything can be more damaging than we want to believe.
"I live in a world where not being molested as a child is considered lucky." is a line that will strike you and leave you bloody because you have to face it as truth. And there are many more lines like it that will hit you and you know in your soul that you will never forget them, that one day you will pull them up and say them to someone because they belong in the world, because they needed to be said.
The ending left me raw and vulnerable, it left me crying and questioning, and it made me understand that in this world we need to do good, that we need to try. The ending is not what you would call happy, but at the same time it will leave you with hope, which is what makes it such an amazing book.
I think everyone should read this book, that everyone should absorb this story into their souls and spread it throughout the world.

I'm not a frequent reader of YA contemporary, but whatever this author writes, I read - her books are just that good. Always.

This novel is dark, intense, heart-wrenching, thought-provoking and difficult to read at times. The teenage characters drink, swear and have sex and there are some violent scenes. But this novel sends a powerful message about rape and sexism that needs to be talked about and shared.

When Alex decides to take care of things in her own way and turns into a vigilante, it's difficult to condemn her actions. With such horrific stories reported by the media, I think most people can identify with how she feels, but not everyone would follow through on what they'd like to do to the perpetrators. The three different POVs are integral to this story - being in Alex's head and seeing how her mind works and her struggles to act 'normal', learning how Jack deals with his conflicting feelings for her, and hearing Peekay's thoughts about her developing friendship with Alex.

The Female of the Species would make an excellent book club selection, but this is a book I'd recommend for the more mature YA crowd. Beautifully written, memorable, jarring, and highly recommended.

Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is probably one of my all-time favorite and not only because it was SO well written or because the PHENOMENAL characterization, or because of borderline genius use of the three alternative first person POV that takes an already fantastic story arc to another level. It's one of my all-time favorite because it's SO incredibly powerful, relevant and important!

This book's relevance is so undeniable global!

The MC, Alex, is strong, brave, and sharp. To me Alex is not a villain but an overdue vigilante for all us women of the world! We, women and girls of this world, need to be more like Alex!

I could quote the entire book. But I guess this is the one scene I want to send out to the world. This is what one of the characters wants to say to her friend that just saved her from being gang raped.

"That's..." I trail of. Aware that I was about to say 'crazy' along with words like "you shouldn't have done that". It's a reflex. Something that has been ingrained in me. 'Do no harm' 'Be nice' 'you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar'. But what if I don't want to catch a fly? [..] 'Thank you' I say instead.

This book is such a great message girls and for young women around the world! For all women in general!

All human females [that cover!] in this world should read this book!
Every sister should gift at least one copy of this book to another sister!
[because we are ALL sisters!]

Because 1 out of 3 girls will be sexually abused before they reach age 18
and 1 in 3 (35%) women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime

AND THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!
Let's NOT teach girls to be 'NICE' no matter what!!
let's teach them to be SAFE
Let's teach them to love themselves
Let's teach them to stop abuse
Let's teach them to protect themselves and others in need
Let’s teach them to be brave, loyal and supportive
Let's teach them to stop to slut-shaming, sexual bullying and victim blaming
and never insult other women and add their writing to the writing in the bathroom walls!
Let's teach them that "boys will be boys" is not an acceptable excuse for inappropriateness

Wow. I was totally expecting another punch in the feels from Mindy McGinnis. What I wasn't expecting was an insightful, agonizing look at what it takes to dismantle rape culture.

After Alex's sister is murdered, Alex hunts down and murders her killer in turn. That's a pretty bleak premise, but it sucked me in from the start. I loved that Alex was the kind of girl who simultaneously refused to fall victim to bystander syndrome, while also acknowledging that it isn't normal or well-adjusted to take action the way she does. The very short scene in which she draws the distinction between herself and a sociopath because she "feels too much" hurt my heart. Alex's volunteer work at the local animal shelter provided an excellent context for how her mind works and how her protective instincts work, although I would've loved to have seen more of her interacting with wounded dogs and stray cats.

I also appreciated that McGinnis avoided including an actual rape scene in the story, and that she wrote several different types of girls with different values--from Peekay, the preacher's kid to Branley, who sleeps around--without demonizing any of them. That said, my biggest complaint about THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES is how little Peekay's perspective added to the story as a whole. Her friendship with Alex was one of my favorite things about the book, but I would've been content to learn about her and watch her evolve without being inside her head.

Part of me also wishes that Alex had been given the opportunity to rejoin high school society without the encouragement of a boyfriend, or that she'd been a little more hesitant about getting involved with Jack in the first place. Don't get me wrong - I was glad that McGinnis chose to include a male POV in a book about sexual violence, and I was glad to see Jack unpacking some of his own misconceptions about rape and misogyny, but Alex was such a force of nature that I kind of hated to see her softened so much by their romance.

These are minor complaints, though, compared to how much this book made me feel and think. Nobody is a villain here EXCEPT the rapists, which was such an important distinction to draw. Because even though the rest of the characters make plenty of bad decisions, they're also the ones who can choose to be better. To speak out when their friends are in danger and call out their peers for normalizing sexual assault. If anything, THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES serves as an important reminder that it isn't rapists who promote rape culture. It's the rest of us. And for that, I'd recommend it to everyone.

As an avid reader, I'm always browsing online for books that have strongly impacted other readers and may have a strong affect on me as well. I heard about this book from the OwlCrate Instagram account I follow and was immediately intrigued. As a young woman, a lot of the issues addressed in this book are incredibly relevant and SO IMPORTANT. It perfectly captures what it's like to be a young woman living in a culture where they are victimized for their gender and sexuality. I could go on and on about the beautiful way Mindy McGinnis addresses these issues, but I really think you should read this book yourself.

Outside of those major themes, the story itself is beautifully written and very engaging. It transitions between three perspectives -- Alex, a highly intelligent young girl who inflicts vengeance on those who deserve it; Peekay, the "preacher's kid", who befriends Alex and learns not to fall into the pattern of blaming and bringing down other mean girls characters in this story; and Jack, who many would write off as a douche bag type of guy who gets whatever he wants, including girls, without any issue.

I honestly cannot say enough good things about this book. As a novel, it's well-written and captivating, but on a much larger level, it does a beautiful job of addressing what it's like to grow up as a young woman today. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Title: The Female of the Species

Author: Mindy McGinnis

Age Group: Teen/Young Adult

Genre: Horror/Mystery/Thriller

Series: N/A, standalone

Star Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

I borrowed this book from my local library and reviewed it.

What can I say about this book? Well, first of all, it's the first novel I've had the pleasure of reading by Mindy McGinnis. And let me tell you guys, what a doozy! Plus, really, what better book to read to get in the mood for Halloween? I've been nonstop excited about this book since hearing about it--I mean, a dark, messed-up antihero for a female main character, multiple first-person points of view, and searing prose that sounds like it's been written with a scalpel. Let me warn you guys, though: This book is dark. Dark as in, goes to the dark side and never returns. I freaking loved it, every searing, uncomfortable, emotionally charged moment of it.

The Female of the Species revolves around three people, mainly: Alex Craft, the young woman who lost her sister to a vicious killer, and who takes vengeance when she can in her small Ohio town, Jack, the young man who can't forget Alex, unable to let go of his guilt toward her and her deceased older sister, despite his best efforts, and Peekay, the preacher's kid, who forms a tentative relationship with Alex. The pacing of this novel was absolutely breakneck, and combined with the killer prose, I couldn't put it down, even though there were many times when I wanted to walk away from it. This book has got to be one of the best of the year--a searing, dark, and disturbing novel that brings rape culture to the forefront, through Alex's eyes.

This book is a dark, disturbing rabbit hole down into the brain of a killer, and the people who come to know and love her, despite her sins. There were times when I was disgusted, even nauseated. But this book has burrowed its way into my mind and heart, and I definitely won't be forgetting it any time soon. Despite the way it made me uncomfortable, I loved it, so much--it was such a riveting story! And that ending--absolutely killer. This is my first Mindy McGinnis novel and it certainly won't be my last! The bottom line: A searing, dark novel about how far we will go for revenge, The Female of the Species will be a story that I can't ever forget--absolutely amazing! One of my favorite books of 2016! Next on deck: Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova!

September 3, 2017 – Started Reading
Review A story told entirely from the perspective of three teenagers during their senior year in a very small town. I considered Alex the center of the story, but Claire and Jack probably get equal time in the book. Alex's family experienced an unimaginable tragedy 3 years prior, and she is forever changed because of it. Alex has closed herself off from everyone, living a rather monastic life of school, home, and running. In different ways, Claire and Jack manage to crack Alex's armor and they and we get to know her better. We also find out that she has some deep secrets and sides of herself that she will not allow her new friends see.

I probably haven't read a book completely from the perspective of a teenager since I myself was a teenager. As a mother of 1 former teen and 2 current teens, it was very interesting to jump into the brains of these characters. I was reminded about how excruciating high school can be, how their world is so insular and strangely inflexible socially. Everyone must play the roles their circle has assigned them, and deviating is rarely allowed.

Alex has never been the same since her older sister was murdered three years earlier. She finally started to feel something when her sister’s killer went free. Alex’s response to that was vengeance and murder and now Alex knows that she can’t ever leave the small town she has grown up in since it would not be safe for those around her. She just wants to go through the rest of her life with her head down and not be noticed. Inadvertently though, she starts to make a friend. Peekay, short for Preacher’s Kid, volunteers at the animal shelter with Alex and slowly they become friends. Peekay enjoys drinking and fooling around and brings Alex into a social group where she had never belonged before. Meanwhile, Jack is finding it impossible to keep Alex out of his head despite the attentions of another girl who uses him on the side of her own relationship. Still, Alex may have been better off isolated as her violence starts to emerge again.

Wowza. This book blew me away from the aspects of both content and writing. McGinnis writes with a beauty that is surprising and enticing. Her words capture emotions with an intensity that has the reader feeling them at a visceral level. Here is Alex in Chapter 11 describing losing her sister:

It swings from twine embedded so deeply that my aorta has grown around it. Blood pulses past rope in the chambers of my heart, dragging away tiny fibers until my whole body is suffused and pain is all I am and ever can be.

McGinnis keeps her writing filled with tension, desire, understanding and amazement. She recognizes the incredible need for connection that we have even as we destroy as well. This is humanity on the page in all of its complexity.

It is also feminism, a feminism that burns and blazes, one that looks beyond makeup and clothing to the women and girls underneath. It is a feminism that speaks to the anger inside that wants to fight and battle the darkness in society, the brutality against women and the dangers that surround girls. And because it speaks clearly to that anger, it is breathtaking in its audaciousness, in the actions that Alex takes, and the bravery and violence she embodies.

Violent and beautiful, this novel is about the complexities of being female and alive. Appropriate for ages 14-18.

And it has happened…….Mindy McGinnis has finally made me a true fan. I love this book! This may be a trigger for some, as it deals with issues such as: rape,sex, fanaticism, drugs/alcohol abuse, and violence. It took me mere hours to devour this book. I cringed through it. Not because I didn’t like it, but because this is a dark and gritty story that involves teens. I can’t get over how McGinnis just…..went there. I’ll just say it; this book needs to be passed around to teenagers everywhere. It’s not just about how “poverty breeds desperation”- as the preacher said in this book, that makes people do violent things. I’m not going to excuse someone’s actions just because they have had it bad. We are all human beings, and accountable for our actions. Females are always being slammed with criticism for dressing and acting a certain way. And here we have not only those issues, but 3 teens who become forever entwined by their experiences.

Alex: She once had a sister, Anna. Anna was murdered years ago, and her killer walked free. Alex has always appeared to be quiet. McGinnis takes what happened to Anna and gives us an example of how females have the instincts to be dangerous. To put it lightly, Alex let loose. She did it in such a way that it’s hard to swallow that this smart, kind girl can get violent. People see this girl going for runs, volunteering at the animal shelter, and is at the top of her class. But Alex knows herself. I’m not justifying anything that she did in this book, but I do like how the author portrays her. I’m all for the feminist movement, but I don’t condone retaliation for wrong-doing. Still, this is a damn good story!

Claire a.k.a Peekay (PK-Preacher’s Kid): The preacher’s kid who drinks and has sex. She doesn’t want her father’s profession to be her identity. I can’t even imagine being in her shoes. Society expects her to be this perfect girl, and she is far from it. When she starts volunteering at the animal shelter, she learns that there is more to Alex Craft than people realize. Alex tries to make Peekay understand that she is adding to the debasing of females by her words and actions against her ex’s girlfriend. Or to stop adhering to a nickname that you clearly don’t like. I like when they were getting to know each other. You know, girl power and all that jazz. Society is always slut-shaming girls about the clothes they wear, and if the girl is drunk then she is accountable for anything negative that happens to her. The obscene gestures that no one thinks are meant to be sexual, but are. We live in a world where it has only gotten worse as the decades roll by.

Jack: You can find him in any high school across the world. He’s the good looking guy that all the girls want to be seen with, and he is all too happy to oblige. When the search for Anna was underway 3 years ago, he was getting his freak on, only mere yards from where her body was found. To this day, he has felt guilty. He and Alex are both in the running for Valedictorian, but Alex is all too happy to give the title to him since she doesn’t have any desire to even leave town. He sees her now, and he wants to know more about her.

Alex starts forming relationships and is very protective. She is also very perceptive, and doing or saying the wrong thing to her has major consequences. Do all girls need to be more like her, in the ways of awareness and not standing for slut-shaming and inequality in the culture of rape? Yes, yes they do. This book will be detracting for some readers. It is dark and gritty and I couldn’t put it down until the last page. But I hope that this story gets read by all because it is so important to understand everything I mentioned above. This may be the best book McGinnis has written.

I highly recommend reading this book if you aren’t adverse to heavy topics. Once you start, you won’t want to put it down until the end; and then you will wonder what it is that you just read. In a good way, of course.

*I received a copy of this book, for free, from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*

The Female of the Species is a standalone YA contemporary book. It is definitely meant for a mature audience. The book is dark. This book is definitely not like anything I have read before.

The book has 3 narrators: Alex (girl), Jack (guy), and Peekay/P.K./Preacher's Kid (girl).

Alex, Jack, and Peekay are all starting their senior year of high school. Alex's older sister was murdered a few years before. Now Alex kills bad people.

Alex is the most unique and original character that I have read in a while. She has a bond with animals. She is super intelligent. She is aware of a lot, yet she has spent much of her life oblivious to those around her.

Jack is an athlete who is very smart. He can have any girl he wants. His family does not have a lot of money. I enjoyed his interactions with Alex.

Peekay is the Preacher's Kid. I enjoyed seeing her work at the animal shelter. And I liked seeing how she interacted with Alex.

This book was not exactly what I was expecting. I have never read a YA like this before. We have Alex who is so different. She is a killer. It is shocking and thrilling. But is this book a thriller, a mystery, a romance? It is definitely unique and interesting.

I was really into the book until around 90%. I'm not sure how to feel about the last part of the book. It didn't really work for me. I really liked the first 90% of this story. It was important and relevant. However, the ending is extremely important to me. It has a huge impact on my overall feelings towards the book. This made it very difficult for me to rate the book. Overall, Alex mesmerized me. She was fantastic and compelling and she made the book completely captivating. However, the ending just didn't feel right to me. Jack did something that did not work for me. And it left me unsatisfied. But Alex is definitely a character that everybody should meet. This book will make you think.

Thanks to edelweiss and Katherine Tegen Books for allowing me to read this book.

The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis is unlike any book you have ever read before. Alex Craft doesn’t need friends or anything else that doesn’t help her just get by, especially because when most people think of her they just see the girl with the murdered sister. But Alex knows how to kill. Peekay is the Preacher’s kid, it is where her nickname comes from. She is trying to be a good person while still getting away from the stereotypes of being a preacher’s kid. Jack Fisher is the star of the school, he is the star player of whatever sport is in season and is competing with Alex for valedictorian, which he needs to get a scholarship for college (which is his only way out of town). But when Peekay and Alex volunteer at the animal shelter together and grow on each other Alex is forced off of the path she is following and into the rest of the world, where she meets Jack Fisher. I loved this book, Alex is like no other character I have met before. You both love her and are afraid of her at the same time. This book also does a good job of addressing the issues of rape, it talks about it bluntly and to the point. I also loved how unpredictable this book was. I could kind of tell what was going to happen but was still surprised when it happened, I couldn’t put it down. I would recommend this book to everyone because of the way that it talks about rape, but also because of it’s unique set of characters. Although it is definitely for high school and up.

I feel I need to process everything that happened in this book.

But for now, I'll just say that McGinnis really looks at rape-culture and slut-shaming in a very clear perspective, and not to sound arrogant, but the right perspective, if there's even such a thing. She's never preachy. She just tells it how it is.

I understand Alex, and I love her relationship with Peekay (whose real name is so much more beautiful), and with Jack. These characters all feel so very real, and I feel like I know all of them personally.

McGinnis has some really perfect quotes in here, but I was a dummy and didn't mark down any of the page numbers to reference. But that ending, although sad and actually a bit depressing, somehow finds a bit of hope in all the dark, and that last scene is one that I will not be forgetting for a long time.

Please, please, please, PLEASE read this book. You won't regret it.

This work is concisely-written, accessible, and while having a clear message, it delivers that message in unpredictable ways. It's a great learning tool, for all kinds of readers but especially for teenagers, parents, and teachers. Most significantly, McGinnis does not deliver her messages directly. She still writes a fictional and interesting story in which all of her social commentary is both covertly and overtly conveyed. McGinnis does not waste a line of space, taking every opportunity to make a highlightable/discussable comment. While this is an extremely fast and action-packed read, you come out smarter and more enlightened when you get to the last page.

Sometimes, you’ll read a book that leaves an impact on you.

Whether it’s the characters, the storyline, or the writing, it sticks with you and changes how you think about something.

This is one of those books.

Mindy McGinnis knows how to give a character so much depth that it feels like you’re reading about people you know instead of characters in a book. She took ink and paper and turned it into flesh, blood, and bone. And she gave everyone their own distinct voices. In the past when I’ve read books that were written from the perspectives of multiple characters, often it would feel like they’d all blur together, like I was reading from one characters point of view throughout the book because the author had neglected to give them their own voice. But that is not the case with The Female of the Species.

She gave heart and humanity to characters that rarely have it, like our main character, Alex Craft. Alex is a 17-year-old girl who is trying to live after the disappearance and death of her older sister, Anna. When the lack of proof forces the local police force to let Anna’s killer walk free, Alex takes matters into her own hands. And I couldn’t help but root for her and her own personal brand of vigilante justice.

The way McGinnis portrayed Alex’s violent tendencies was different from anything I’d read before. Alex is violent, and a murderer, but she also volunteers at the county animal shelter and bottle feeds orphaned kittens. Instead of making her into some blood thirsty psychopath as many authors would, Alex is written as a flawed human being. She isn’t her violence, rather her violence is a part of her, and it has been since her childhood.

Alex meets Peekay (short for preacher’s kid) when they both volunteer at the local animal shelter. Peekay is there for her senior year essay, and Alex is there for reasons of her own. Peekay becomes Alex’s first friend, and they create a once in a lifetime bond. Peekay is friends with popular guy Jack Fisher, a basketball player that’s always had an interest in Alex, but he feels guilty for the role he played the night Anna’s body was found.

Alex and Jack become friends, and eventually a romance blooms between the two of them.

I didn’t like Jack right away. Some of his behavior seemed a little sketchy to me, like the way he spoke about Alex in some parts, almost romanticizing her, like he thought she belonged high up on a pedestal just because she’s beautiful and mysterious. But eventually I got past that and came to appreciate his character.

The way McGinnis writes female friendships was a breath of fresh air to me. Alex never pulls the “I’m not like other girls” schtick, which was something I feared would happen. In fact, Alex loves her female friends and is fiercely protective of them, which is something I wish was more common in young adult novels.

Even the girls who dislike each other eventually make amends. And while they’re not exactly friends, they don’t hate each other or tear each other down. They look out for each other, and even help one another when they can.

While this book is dark, it’s also very funny. I found myself laughing out loud more than once while reading this. McGinnis has a way of inserting humor into situations where you wouldn’t expect to find it, but it’s never awkward or out of place.

The Female of the Species is also a startling look at rape culture and how it affects society, and some of the blows McGinnis dealt on the subject made me put down my kindle and take a deep breath on more than one occasion.

I have never read something as compelling as this. I would promise myself I’d go to bed after one more chapter, and find myself still awake and reading an hour later. It hooked it’s claws into me and didn’t let go until after I’d finished it.

Mindy McGinnis crafts each word she writes into a punch to the gut, in only the best way, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

After a hugely successful dystopian trilogy and her standalone exploration of insanity in a historical setting, Mindy McGinnis delves into a new territory with The Female of the Species, which is perhaps best described as a hyper-realistic contemporary examination of teenage life, human resilience and revenge. It’s a bold, daring book that shoves hard realities right into our faces, making no effort to soften the blows or make us feel better along the way. Those who are a bit more sensitive to drugs and violence in young adult books might have a hard time reading it, but in truth, the pain and heartbreak, the shock and outrage are so worth your time and trouble with this book.

The Female of the Species is an exploration of humanity at its best and at its worst, with no hiding or sugarcoating whatsoever. McGinnis’ teens have sex, they cheat, bully and take drugs, they live with no thought for tomorrow or their own safety. Sexual violence, date-rapes and slut-shaming all happen on a daily basis, perhaps not always visible, but lurking under the surface nevertheless. McGinnis does a fantastic job of bringing to light things we’d like to keep hidden. As a policeman points out during a school assembly, one in three girls and one in six boys are sexually assaulted in high school, but the statistics mean nothing until we give them names and faces. McGinnis gives us names on both sides of the fence, she gives us characters to care about and exposes them to more than enough to incite our anger.

The female of the species is more deadly than the male. The female defends, she protects herself and others. When pushed to her limits, she becomes quietly deadly, a force that shows no mercy while fighting for those who can’t fight for themselves. This story is told from three perspectives: Jack, the popular boy; Peekay, the preacher’s kid, and Alex, the girl with the dead sister, the female of the species in the truest sense. Each of them somehow represents one conflicting, primal part in each of us. Peekay represents the kind, innocent part that still believes people are inherently good. Jack is that constant fight between right and wrong, he represents the choices each of us make daily trying to do what’s right. Alex is the most hidden part, the part that screams for justice and revenge, that violence that hides in everyone, tempered and suffocated by societal norms and expectations.

Make no mistake, this book will open your eyes and shatter your heart, and if you by any chance, have a preadolescent child like I do, it will leave you terrified of the future. This may be a gritty and grim portrayal of teenage life, but it’s painfully honest and necessary, designed to make us question gender stereotypes, the way we assign blame and the abnormal behaviors we take for granted.

The Female of the Species is a hard book to read, but a great one to absorb and take to heart. I have to applaud McGinnis for approaching these topics in a way that will surely stand out and remain vividly emblazoned in our minds, hopefully leaving us slightly more aware than we were before picking it up.

Wow, that was impressive. I definitely want to read more of this author. I can't fairly call it a feminist book--it was very, very white and I don't consider feminism complete if it's not intersectional. But it had a feminist bent to it that surprised me and that I appreciated. It did a really nice job of subverting the "girls hate on each other/are jealous of each other" trope.

Everything has pretty much been said.

I just have two things to add.

I did not understand the ending being there. I mean the ending itself, not anything in it. I wish there would have been a sequel to further develop the relations of these characters.

Also I didn't quite like Jack and Alex's relationship. It didn't seem real to me, but that's my perspective.

3.5 rounded up

Review copy

Plot: The Female of the Species was admittedly hard for me to read. By page 25, I was ready to DNF it solely because of how brutal it was. You wanna know how unmerciful this book was? Puppies die. That's how brutal it was.

Despite its puppy-killing ways, I managed to enjoy this book. The language is salty yet realistic, but it's the relationships that really sold me. McGinnis covers a lot of relevant topics such a drugs, rape, female friendships, and anger. For me, the beginning was a bit shaky because I didn't know what to expect, I loved the middle, and thought the ending was melodramatic. Despite its questionable ending, I thought that The Female of the Species has a lot of good dialogue that shouldn't be missed out on.

Characters: As you've read from the synopsis, Alex has killed someone. She is filled with an anger that she can't control and has decided to separate herself from other people. During her senior year of university, she comes in contact with Peekay (The Preacher's Kid), and Jack. The three of them have some major character growth before the end of the year, especially Alex who has her first real friend since...well ever. I adored this book for its characters and Alex's refusal to slut shame.

Worldbuilding: It's been less than a week since I've read this book and I can't remember the setting for the life of me. I'm sure it takes place in some small town. Despite that, the world felt real but have dealt with more diverse characters.

Short N Sweet: The Female of the Species doesn't pull any punches, but it needs to be read.

Midway through this book I was unsure where it was going and how I felt about the subject matter and how it was being handled. Omg...I'm so glad I stuck with this book. I think that the teenagers were a little more introspective than most teenagers are today but I can totally let that slide because it fed so well into the story as a whole. Also, this is the best use of multiple narrators I've seen in a long time. Just an overall fantastic read.

This book really disappointed me. I think after all the hype I was just expecting something different. Based on all the rave reviews I was expecting something moving and profound. What I got was an elaborate revenge fantasy. There's nothing wrong with that, it just wasn't what I came for and I wasn't very impressed. There were a few quotes that resonated and stood out from the story. But overall the story was rather weak. The characters had no depth, and were completely unlikable, even the ones we were supposed to be rooting for. The plot was disjointed, depressing, and far fetched. I also had an issue with all the parents being so blasé about all the poor, and sometimes dangerous (or deranged), choices their children were making. Yeah, there are parents out there who try to play it cool or simply don't care what their children are doing. But EVERY parent, or adult really, in the whole story is just cool with all these shenanigans? Seems about as believable as the rest of the plot.

I know that the topics the book dealt with were gritty and dark. And I do think it's important to address these topics. However, the tone of this book was so bitter and angry, it was difficult to get through. And after all that, there was no payoff. I mean that ending? What's the message here? "Abandon hope all ye who enter here"? I know real life can be horrible and not have a happy ending. However, this was clearly far from real life long before the ending. Would it have hurt to have some victory? Some character growth? Some positive change in the town? Some kind of small glimmer of hope somewhere in the story? I know there kind of sort of was a tiny bit, but it was so little that it only underscored how bleak everything was for me.

You will wonder if your moral compass is broken, you will contemplate why you feel the things you feel, and you will cheer this BADASS teen girl from beginning to end. You will cry, laugh, and I may have hugged this book once or twice. Not for the faint of heart, since it talks about trigger warning subjects, such as rape, animal cruelty and violence. It's now top 5 books for me of all time. Please read, you will be happy you did.

I cheered for Alex, I loved her character, she was different and she knew it. She was like her father, a father that she didn’t know. She knew she had control issues, but how she was going to deal with them was another issue for which she didn’t have the answer for. I felt as though Alex was proud that she was able to protect the people that she loved, even though how she accomplished this task was seen as extreme and vicious. She needed an adult, someone to talk to about the issues that were plaguing her mind but with her father gone and her mother being useless, Alex was alone. It was when she was finally bonding with some friends that the problems all began. Everyone needs friends and I loved the Emergency Girlfriend Pact that emerged between the girls.

The flow of this novel felt choppy to me as I read it. I understood the story as I read it but it felt clunky and very different from other novels. I had to stop many times and think about what I had just read and how that flowed into the previous section. The book itself was a disappointment to me as I felt I didn’t get as much out of it as I hoped to. I felt I worked a lot at reading it, putting it all together and there should have been more to it. I wanted it to be a five-star novel, I really did.

A thoroughly gripping book, one that I believe every teenager -- especially teen girls -- should read. The story is brutal, but all the feels for it. Having grown up in small town USA, the book especially struck a cord given its small town setting. Read IT!

A thoroughly gripping book, one that I believe every teenager -- especially teen girls -- should read. The story is brutal, but all the feels for it. Having grown up in small town USA, the book especially struck a cord given its small town setting. Read IT!