The Anti-Virginity Pact
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Average rating2.5
Preachers' daughters aren't supposed to be atheists. They're also not supposed to make pacts to lose their virginity by the end of the year, but high school senior Meredith Beaumont is sick of letting other people tell her who to be. Spending the last four years as Mute Mare, the girl so shy just thinking about boys could trigger panic attacks, Meredith knows exactly what it's like to be invisible. But when a vindictive mean girl gets her manicured claws on the anti-virginity pact and spreads it around the school-with Mare's signature at the bottom-Mare's not so invisible anymore. She just wishes she was. Now the girls mutter "slut" as they pass her in the hall, and the boys are lined up to help complete her checklist. When she meets a guy who knows nothing of the pact, their budding romance quickly transforms from a way to get her first time over with to a genuine connection. But when the pact threatens to destroy her new relationship and the fragile foundation of her seemingly perfect family, Mare has to decide what's more important: fixing her reputation and pleasing her parents, or standing up for the person she wants to be. The Anti-Virginity Pact is a part of a companion series. All books in The Pact series are standalones and can be read in any order.
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1 primary book#1 in The Pact
The Pact is a 1-book series first released in 2020 with contributions by Alex Villavasso and Katie Wismer.
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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
What started as a book about two friends making a pact about losing their virginity before college became so much more and I'm so happy I had the lucky opportunity to read it early.
Meredith Beaumont doesn't take risks and sometimes she wonders why she's friend with Johanna, who's the exact opposite of her. One night, the two girls, after a few drinks, sign an anti-virginity pact and that's where the troubles begin.
Johanna sets her mind on losing her virginity to their hot teacher, but don't worry, you won't get teacher-student romance (which I personally despise, so thank you Kate Wismer for that!). Meredith, on the other hand, finally convinces herself to start talking again to her childhood friend Sam.
I really liked the character of Meredith, except for some poor choices she made that had me screaming: “why, why, would you do that?” The description of her anxiety was well-done and on point and I'm grateful it's being talked about without being romanticized.
One of my favorite quotes of the book is:
“Because when you're quiet, you learn to speak in short, fast sentences, because you're not sure how long people will listen to you. You get the words out as quickly as you can - sometimes so quickly, they start to slur and trip over each other, just so you won't have to be the center of attention for too long.”
As an anxious mess myself, I can't count how many times people told me to slow down while I was speaking, because I was rushing to the end, because I believed that someone else was gonna take away my spotlight soon enough.
I thoroughly enjoyed how everything was wrapped up in the end and I highly recommend this to YA lovers and everyone who ever made a pact with themselves or a friend to experience more.
Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy!
I really wanted to like this book, unfortunately absolutely nothing about it worked for me. 3/4 of the plot points were so outlandish I couldn't suspend my disbelief even a little bit, and the ones that weren't were severely underwritten. The main characters were boring at best and unbearable at worst. This book also tried to undertake so many social issues over the span of 300 pages and didn't expand or delve into anything beyond a surface level with any of them. I've bumped this down to a one star because I honestly can't remember anything it did or that I liked about it to give it a two.
