Book review: Not That Kind of Girl, Siobhan Vivian

One thing I want to do this year is to read all the unread books in my shelf. I got this from NBS’s Book Binge Bazaar back in 2018, and I read it just now because I allowed myself to be distracted by other books and things that I thought were more interesting and worth my time. But to be fair, Not That Kind of Girl got me entertained.

Natalie is Ms. Perfect – both in the academics and, basically life in general. She’s never made a bad choice, and she always did the right decisions. She’s not like the other girls in her school, those teenagers who wore slutty clothes and threw themselves to boys. Until one day before she knew it, everything came crumbling down in front of her.

At one point in my life, I was Natalie. I was your average jeans and t-shirt girl, and nothing else mattered except being on the top. Talk about being an overachiever. I criticised girls who had polygamous relationships, and thought myself better than those who can’t be alone and constantly looking for companionship mostly from guys whose trustworthiness is highly questionable. Thankfully it didn’t take me a long time to realize that it wasn’t a happy thing. I started to think that, maybe, if these people are happy with their choices and as long as they aren’t hurting other people, then maybe it’s okay to try and experiment on things. Make mistakes and learn. Discern from experience.

Natalie’s under pressure, there’s no doubt about it. After all, your our responsibility becomes heavier when you’re the student council president and your favorite teacher speaks highly of you. When your best friend’s social life suffered throughout her high school life brought about by one stupid mistake at decision-making. When the girl you babysat a long time ago starts subjecting herself to objectification. Sure you need to be the better person, the bigger person. But then again, what did it mean to be better? Does it mean you have to constantly remind people of their mistakes to keep them from doing it again? Does it mean you should keep people from doing the things that make them feel empowered just because you think it’s stupid? No, I don’t think so.

Not That Kind Of Girl discussed a number of things worth pondering on. Self-empowerment can only be done if you truly know who you are, accept the way you are, and comfortable with what you are. While it’s true that reputation is important, at the end of the day, it’s yourself that you have to please and not the people around you. Making mistakes is part of growing up, as long as you’re learning from them and keep yourself from doing the same stupid things over and over. Life is too short not to be lived and celebrated.

If you’re into YA romance, then this is definitely for you. But it’s not unlike the other books you’ve probably read before – straight A girl suddenly falls in love with a semi-bad boy trope isn’t that uncommon. So yeah, if you’re into that, give this one a shot.

What books do you plan to read this year?

xo