I liked the book's cover right away. I kept closing the book to admire it when I was trying to decide whether I should continue reading it. Sometimes, the cartoon-style covers are simplistic and yet communicate a lot in the way of small details, as did this one. I misunderstood what this book was about when I placed it on hold, but decided to give it a shot anyway when it came in at the library. It still felt kind of like false advertising. This is a story about three girls who originally didn't like each other, but are grouped together at a tech summer camp so they need to work together, both on their project and to take down a predator. The book jacket kind of made it sound like they would all be fast friends despite their differences and that the book would approach topics in a different way than the writing actually did.

I didn't buy the girls' change from enemies to friends, when I was reading this. I didn't find any of them likeable. I didn't care about who they missed and why, nor about things at stake for them. The writing just wasn't there for me. The characters...weren't naive. Naive isn't the right word. They were operating with the information given to them about life who had lived it in very specific ways. None of these girls set themselves up an Option B if this didn't work out, and readers got to see things fall apart for Lucy. I disliked Lucy perhaps the most. Stereotypes don't exist in a vacuum, and the author, who has a stereotypically Ashkenaz Jewish last name, reached for some of the most harmful ones.

Sooo I've been through this before, and I'm going to make a snap judgment. Lori Goldstein doesn't come up during a two-second "Lori Goldstein ya author Jewish" search at all. Her book does, in a Kirkus Review. She might wail "But I'm Jewish!" if challenged on her portrayal of Lucy. I'm Jewish, too, lady, and I can question your choices. Lucy is a socialite whose mother is a high-powered woman in tech and whose father she only talks to once a year. IIRC, the author um, had him actually live in Israel. She is arrogant, uses flirting to get what she wants, is rude, overbearing, spoiled, classist, willfully ignorant, and will face no real consequences for her actions throughout life. Sure, she doesn't get into an exclusive school, but that's about it. I do not like when characters are portrayed like this. I did like the moment where she hesitates every single time to wear her Star of David, although author, would it have killed you to make it a chai symbol? Looks like a pi symbol, could have led to little math jokes. Anyway, the reluctance to wear her Star of David and the tucking it away on velvet fit very, very well with her character and was a choice I did not hate--I understood. When she finally does wear it, the scene is contrived and it happened at a point when I wanted the book to be over.

Lucy is also sexually harassed and preyed upon by the leader of the summer camp named Ryan, and her ex-boyfriend Gavin makes crude sex jokes about her. Gavin and she have terrible, terrible boundaries. They are teenagers but ugggghhh. Also, these are known, pervasive and horrid Jewish girl stereotypes, these especially. I did -not- appreciate having to sit through them on the page. And yet, I didn't -have- to, but I didn't feel like putting the book down quite yet. There's a moment that's supposed to be endearing with Lucy tossing out her nail polish and her roommates renaming the polish and giving them back to her, but it made my skin crawl. And I've worn nail polish without fail since age twelve. Mostly black, although I used a bottle of blue once very briefly, and had a red phase going in sophomore year of high school for a bit. But I should have related to the nail polish scenes and mentions. I did not.

Lots of mixed-to-negative feelings on every aspect of the story. Not happy, not engaged with much. I wasn't the intended audience, but I did live the real-life version of the story. Went to the right school program (ABA accredited and attorneys would sit up a little straighter when they heard me speak glowingly of it), didn't pick an option B (because paralegal was gonna be the career that finally stuck, dammit, and I was gonna rock at it), landed a competitive internship (I was one of the two people who got it for the seven-month period), worked hard. Everything pointed to me having a bright future and awesome career ahead of me. The actual result was that what few jobs I was able to land over the next five years always ended after four months, often much sooner and for stupid reasons. I live in a state where people can be fired for any reason or for no reason at all. Pay is higher than the minimum wage so the employer doesn't have to pay your healthcare. I wish I were exaggerating. The day I read this book, I had just gotten fired after working at a place for five days. I wondered a lot while reading the book if my opinion would have been different had I a more stable work history and a far less cynical and jaded outlook. ( )

I received a copy of this book for free as part of an Instagram book tour (Storygram Tours) I did to promote the book.

I was really excited to read this book since it takes place in the Silicon Valley and that is where I was born and raised.

The book started off on the slow side and it felt a little superficial. It read like a typical YA novel with high school drama and it dragged in parts because of that. However, once the main conflict happened, the book matured and picked up the pace. The empowering message finally managed to shine through.

The book’s greatest strength is its messages about female empowerment, female friendship, women in STEM, sexism, and sexual harassment. The book touched upon and explored all of these topics in a meaningful way. I was happy to see that the book did not shy away from the realities of the (predominantly male) tech world.

On the other hand, the book greatest’s weakness were the characters. I didn’t particularly love any of them because I didn’t feel an emotional attachment towards them.

I typically don’t talk about book covers in reviews, but I have to mention this book’s because the girls on the cover actually depict the girls in the story. They are an exact match, right down to their necklaces. I love that attention to detail!

Overall, if you’re looking for an empowering YA read or are interested in the tech world, consider picking this one up! ( )

This review is posted on both my personal account and the account for Crossroads Public Library.

It’s a good book. It’s a necessary book. It just wasn’t my favorite book that I’ve read about women in the tech industry. (Every time I read any statistics about it I get sad and mad all over again, so this book definitely serves its purpose in that aspect.) ( )