Thank you Netgalley for this chance to read and review this book!

It is hard to give feedback on what is essentially an art book when the file provided to me was as bad as it was. I haven't seen such badly compressed images since before the age of flat computer screens. This included odd pixelation and discoloration. But, considering this was an Netgalley ARC read I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and kindly ignore that part.

That being said, this was a fun little non-fiction animal book aimed toward kids. Dividing the animals into groups such as "long necked" and "architects". Something that would have sparked curiosity and delights to myself as a kid.

I'm not sure what I feel about the endangered part which features several pages of endangered animals that was depicted as crying. Raising awareness of this from young is important and I understand the message but it turned what was at first a whimsical and fun little book to something a little more sad (Why did they have to be crying?).

In a field where there are countless similar animal books aimed at children, this one didn't stand out that much. I enjoyed it, but I'm not so sure I'd buy it as a gift to an young family member.

I do not have words for how much I adored this book. I am not eloquent enough for it I think.

I've never experienced the inspiration of this, The Outsiders I mean. And I cannot say anything about how close, or how loyal of an adaption this is. For me, this was Grease. If Grease started off with someone getting killed and friendships so fiercely loyal and close it could blind the sun.

One of the things I loved about this book was that Connie was fiercely loyal toward her own girls. Often the leader of such Clicks, or Queen Bees as I call them, are often quite mean toward their own friends and yet are fawned upon by them. It was mentioned that Connie could be mean. But it was never showed toward her own group. I had my own Queen Bees during my teenage years and that made it more relatable. I never understood the cliché of staying close with someone who was mean to them.

I also loved the way the author made feminism the core subject of this book without making me feel stifled by it. Don't misunderstand me, the book bleeds feminism. But viewed through an much older lens where women lived with much stricter gender roles and had a lot less options than we do today. I loved that Evie was young and discovering herself and didn't know the words to put into feeling what she wanted. Which, if you haven't read it, is feminism. She wanted freedom, and the idea of having to marry right after high school was suffocating. So she did the only thing she could think of: She joined the Bad Girls, and the other unreputable crowd of teenagers that adults called trouble because they were the only ones that seemingly seemed to be fighting against rules and expectations.

But more than anything, I loved the fierce friendship that spawned between Evie and Diana. Or maybe just Evie as a person. The entire book takes time across maybe two weeks and yet this friendship was one of the legends.

Which, as someone who often grows easily attached to people I shouldn't, I felt myself seen in. It was the platonic version of a whirlwind romance.

I also really applaud the decision to put disclaimers, and contact information for various organizations one could contact or call if any of the themes in the book was something you found triggering or experienced yourself. For there were many. From

Spoiler

attempted sexual assault, to police brutality, to alcoholic guardians, and neglect and abuse from parents

I loved this. I really did. Might need to pick up this The Outsider book/movie and give it a twirl.

This is one of those stories where the story interested me enough where I wished there was just a little less sex.

I also kind of thought that was a corgi on the cover and was one of the reasons I picked the book up so I was mildly disappointed to find out her child was just a regular old wolf pup.

If that dog does not end up being some kind of supernatural creature in hiding (or something) I'm going to be peeved.

I know I'm mostly a cat person but I refuse to believe a dog can be this intelligent and understand so much without training.

I was a little disappointed at the third entry of this series. It felt a little like the authors had forgotten some of what they had previously written.

The book kicks off with no mention of how much time had passed (which is minor, but they did this in book 2 and book 2 kind of ended with an proclamation at an event was going to happen so book 3 starting off with no mention of it was a little odd.)

But, still. Minor minor.
We then went on to finally admitting the Dog wasn't normal. (we're watching you!)
But then we had a scene of an FMC being very surprised that a certain someone knew Monty Python. And mentioning how this makes her love them just a little bit more.
... which the FMC already knew? In fact, it was one of the first moments she realized he wasn't so bad because he completed a seemingly famous monthy python saying with her. (Which if monthy python is such a big deal to her you'd think she'd remember)

Added that to the minor scene where, for some odd reason, the FMC decide to standing a burning building and argue about how she isn't a lady like that somehow offended her when I'm pretty sure she first snubbed Connor by saying men didn't touch ladies without permission in London in book 1.

Oh, and her proclaiming she had "heard all the bunny puns" when the very first bunny pun that the werebear gave her in the last book was one she hadn't heard?

All very minor details but it makes me really worry about the next book and another potential drop in quality.