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Love Is in the Hair
A feminist coming-of-age comedy that follows the endless humiliations, unrequited obsessions, and all-consuming friendships of fifteen-year-old Evia Birtwhistle as she leads a body hair positive revolution at her school.
Fifteen-year-old Evia Birtwhistle can’t seem to catch a break. At home, she must deal with her free-spirited mom, and at school she’s the target of ridicule for stating basic truths: like that girls have body hair!
When her BFF Frankie—who has facial hair due to her PCOS—becomes the target of school bullies, Evia decides that enough is enough and creates the ‘Hairy Girls’ Club.’
Leading a feminist movement at school is not easy. Boys often look at Evia like she’s a total weirdo, and the self-proclaimed ‘smoothalicious’ girls start their own campaign in retaliation. As Evia struggles with feeling strong enough to lead, and questions how to be a good friend to Frankie, she falls back on the best thing she has—hope. Her message is simple: We CAN make this world a more accepting, less judgmental place for girls to live in…one hairy leg at a time!
Fifteen-year-old Evia Birtwhistle can’t seem to catch a break. At home, she must deal with her free-spirited mom, and at school she’s the target of ridicule for stating basic truths: like that girls have body hair!
When her BFF Frankie—who has facial hair due to her PCOS—becomes the target of school bullies, Evia decides that enough is enough and creates the ‘Hairy Girls’ Club.’
Leading a feminist movement at school is not easy. Boys often look at Evia like she’s a total weirdo, and the self-proclaimed ‘smoothalicious’ girls start their own campaign in retaliation. As Evia struggles with feeling strong enough to lead, and questions how to be a good friend to Frankie, she falls back on the best thing she has—hope. Her message is simple: We CAN make this world a more accepting, less judgmental place for girls to live in…one hairy leg at a time!
336 pages, Hardcover
First published August 27, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 2, 2024
PCOS and teens
This was a heartwarming story dealing with bullying and pcos in teens. I do wish there were more information provided to teens and addressing the bullying but I still enjoyed it!
This was a heartwarming story dealing with bullying and pcos in teens. I do wish there were more information provided to teens and addressing the bullying but I still enjoyed it!
January 2, 2024
A very touching and uplifting YA story introducing the fundamentals of feminism. It does an excellent job of capturing the confusion of high school, trying to figure out who you are and what you believe. What is wrong and what is right? It focuses heavily on the question of what is “normal” and popular vs not “normal”… and what is normal, anyway?
There was a charming little cast of characters who eventually all won me over - Even Frankie, who I disliked until the last few pages. I admire what her character stood for, however… showing fear and apprehension about standing up for yourself and others is definitely not always easy. The romance was cute and I love that there was a boy included who supported her mission from the start and was never ashamed to be with her. They are out there and I love love love that it was included here.
I like that this is a true YA story, innocent enough but with strong messages, and gosh those bullies were horrible? Even toned down for the target readers, they were frightening. I enjoyed the strength that the characters showed even while trying to deal with them.
If I were to criticize anything it would probably be that the main character was just a bit too quirky at times, but, I am literally over double her age and I probably would have enjoyed her mannerisms 15 years ago.
4.5 ⭐️! Quick read (about 3 hours or so) and great plot progression!
There was a charming little cast of characters who eventually all won me over - Even Frankie, who I disliked until the last few pages. I admire what her character stood for, however… showing fear and apprehension about standing up for yourself and others is definitely not always easy. The romance was cute and I love that there was a boy included who supported her mission from the start and was never ashamed to be with her. They are out there and I love love love that it was included here.
I like that this is a true YA story, innocent enough but with strong messages, and gosh those bullies were horrible? Even toned down for the target readers, they were frightening. I enjoyed the strength that the characters showed even while trying to deal with them.
If I were to criticize anything it would probably be that the main character was just a bit too quirky at times, but, I am literally over double her age and I probably would have enjoyed her mannerisms 15 years ago.
4.5 ⭐️! Quick read (about 3 hours or so) and great plot progression!
January 31, 2024
I was able to read an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. Working in a middle/high school I feel like a lot of students can connect to this book. Body hair is normal, but not everyone thinks the same and because of that bullying can happen. The main character's best friend experiences bullying and makes a club at school for students to embrace their bodies in response to this bullying. My only wish is that there was more development of the character who was bullied (Frankie). It felt like we were just thrown into the story and I wanted a bit more backstory.
September 9, 2024
Body image is a big and often frightening issue for teens, and social media/advertising certainly don't help. This book does a fine job of pulling the reader into a messy situation that begins when Evia's best friend who has polycystic ovary disease which causes excessive hair growth, is assaulted by a trio of mean girls in her own bedroom. They not only partially shave her head, but video it and post it online.
Evia is both outraged and intimidated. As the harassment and body shaming grow in frequency and intensity, she feels she has to do something so she and a few others start the Hairy Girls Club. What follows is ever escalating retaliation that includes some pretty nasty bullying in school and online (one has to wonder whether all the adults are zombified since they seem oblivious) It's a hard and painful journey to the members of the HG club getting a victory and following that path makes for a great read. Props to the author for making readers aware that the body hair issue isn't just a female one.
Libraries where body image issues are important would do well to have this in their collection.
Evia is both outraged and intimidated. As the harassment and body shaming grow in frequency and intensity, she feels she has to do something so she and a few others start the Hairy Girls Club. What follows is ever escalating retaliation that includes some pretty nasty bullying in school and online (one has to wonder whether all the adults are zombified since they seem oblivious) It's a hard and painful journey to the members of the HG club getting a victory and following that path makes for a great read. Props to the author for making readers aware that the body hair issue isn't just a female one.
Libraries where body image issues are important would do well to have this in their collection.
September 13, 2024
Great premise; less than stellar execution.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews