Shout-out to my awesome librarians who let me read the ARCs they get! Also, disclaimer: quotes are taken from the ARC and may change in the final publication.

4/5 stars

I make my way to the seat, wondering the whole time why this woman told me to move instead of telling that man to shut up.

Chelsea says, "Leidy, chocolate is never, ever cliché."

Jasmine and Chelsea are best friends and high school juniors living in New York. Jasmine's dad has just been told he has four months to live. Chelsea struggles with insecurity and wonders if, as much as she wants to, she can really consider herself a feminist when she is so worried about her appearance. Jasmine deals with racism, and both deal with casual sexism on a daily basis in a school that supposedly values social justice. They want to change that.

The Message:

I feel like I have to start here because this was by far the strongest aspect of this book. It is full of beautiful feminism that's for everyone: men and women, people of all races, people of all sexualities and gender identities. I loved reading the articles, poems, declarations that comprised Jasmine and Chelsea's Write Like a Girl blog, and the ideas they and their friends Nadine and Isaac come up with to resist are amazing.

I also appreciate that Jasmine and Chelsea aren't treated as complete harbingers of truth. Like all teens, they are flawed, and they get called out on it:
"Chelsea, I love to cook, so that's why I make dinner. And as for a husband, I'm married to a woman, so that's not an issue for me." She smiles at both of us. "I think you still have some things to learn about women's rights, huh?"

Characters:

The story is told from the POVs of Jasmine and Chelsea, two very different people who see the world in very different ways, but are friends in spite of an because of it. I also like the characters of Nadine and Isaac, although I feel like Nadine could have been developed more.

I don't think the romance(s) were entirely necessary, but they didn't take over the entire plot, so ultimately I think it worked. James really got on my nerves, but I loved the way his situation was handled in the end.

Principal Hayes and Meg both irritated me, as they were intended to, but nobody was portrayed as completely irredeemable, especially Meg. (Expect for Jacob, which I am completely fine with. Jacob is a jerk.)

Setting:

Do high schools that require participation in social justice clubs actually exist (even if they are hypocritical about it)? This is one of the reasons I love reading so much: because I learn so much about the world by coming across regional or urban/rural differences like this. I've attended schools in the Midwest and the South, and it's hard to imagine that ever happening there. It gives me hope that it's happening somewhere.

So anyway, despite this being one of the MANY contemporaries taking place in NYC, I still found the setting interesting because the high school was so different than what I'm used to. Although I did groan when it turned out they had a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) lab class. From the engineering perspective, we nearly unanimously agree that art has nothing to do with STEM and shouldn't be in the middle of the word (someone please explain this to me if I'm missing something). It's nice to know that from the art perspective, Chelsea completed agreed.

Plot:

A defined plot really wasn't a major part of this book, which I was okay with. There was enough (external and internal) conflict and events to make the story interesting, but the time frame of the story wasn't really defined by it. The powerful feminism is really what made this book, to a point that an action-packed plot wasn't necessary.

Recommendations:

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi: If you loved the feminism and social justice and are okay with more romance, give this one a try.

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney: It's been awhile since I read this one, but if you loved Watch Us Rise's student-led social justice, you may enjoy reading about Themis Academy's secret vigilante society that deals justice when the admin don't.

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia: This is a beautiful feminist fantasy (review coming soon) that applied many of the messages portrayed by Watch Us Rise in a very different setting.