Blog Tour: Bad Habits by Flynn Meaney

Goodreads Synopsis

Hilarious, bold, sparky and surprising, this is the funniest feminist book you’ll read all year.

Alex is a rebel from the tip of her purple fauxhawk to the toes of her biker boots. She’s tried everything she can think of to get expelled from her strict Catholic boarding school. Nothing has worked so far – but now, Alex has a new plan.

Tired of the sexism she sees in every corner of St Mary’s, Alex decides to stage the school’s first ever production of The Vagina Monologues. Which is going to be a challenge, as no one else at St Mary’s can even bear to say the word ‘vagina’ out loud . . .

Rating and Review

When I got the email from Dave at The Write Reads asking if I wanted to participate in the blog tour, I agreed as soon as I had seen the book cover and read the accompanying blurb.

Foremost, I must say, I had high expectations from this book thanks to the blurb.

Once I started reading the book, there were so many times I said to myself that that is not how a feminist must tackle issues and that that is not how a feminist must do but so went the main character botching everything up. She had an idea in her mind and she was not ready to accept anything else. When I say anything else, I mean that she was not willing to accept other people’s right to their own choices. This made me mad because in a way it propagates the idea that people do not know what is right or best for them. That people cannot think and decide for themselves.

Having stated that, I must also add that the book  talked about many issues that need to brought out in open and the taboo sticker needs to be removed from them to encourage discussions and solutions for many a problems out there that people face. I say people because that is what feminism is about. It talks of inclusivity and equality for everyone.

There were many times when I wanted to smack the main character on the head (I am not a violent person and I do not condone violence and you to treat this sentence in its metaphorical sense) for the way she dealt with situations as there were other ways that could have provided better results.

The best part, however, was that Alex’s learning curve was shown highlighting the fact that whoever you may be, whatever your ideals and beliefs, there is always room to learn and that how every person you meet teaches you something or the other. I likes that the story showed that our experiences change us. The changes may be subtle, but they are always there.

Lastly, the book is very light-hearted and brings you many laughs.

About the Author

Flynn Meaney is the author of The Boy Recession and Bloodthirsty. She studied marketing and French at the University of Notre Dame, where she barely survived the terrifying array of priests and nuns, campus ghosts, and bone-crushing athletes who inspired Bad Habits. Since completing a very practical MFA in Poetry, she works for a French company and travels often between New York (when she’s in the mood for bagels) and Paris (when she’s in the mood for croissants).