ARC Book Review: The Female of The Species by Mindy McGinnis

My Rating: 3/5 Stars

Author: Jennifer Gilmore

Genre: Contemporary

Published: 2016

This story knocked me over. I came into expecting a story about a feminist and got bombarded with rape, sexism, and just overall the issues in today's society. Mindy McGinnis wove a story of pain and redemption and once you've read it there's no going back.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it. When her older sister, Anna, was murdered three years ago and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best. The language of violence.

While her crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people, even in her small hometown. She relegates herself to the shadows, a girl who goes unseen in plain sight, unremarkable in the high school hallways.

But Jack Fisher sees her. He’s the guy all other guys want to be: the star athlete gunning for valedictorian with the prom queen on his arm. Guilt over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered hasn’t let him forget Alex over the years, and now her green eyes amid a constellation of freckles have his attention. He doesn’t want to only see Alex Craft; he wants to know her.

So does Peekay, the preacher’s kid, a girl whose identity is entangled with her dad’s job, though that does not stop her from knowing the taste of beer or missing the touch of her ex-boyfriend. When Peekay and Alex start working together at the animal shelter, a friendship forms and Alex’s protective nature extends to more than just the dogs and cats they care for.

Circumstances bring Alex, Jack, and Peekay together as their senior year unfolds. While partying one night, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting the teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.

I'm not going to say a lot about this book. In my opinion you have to read it to fully understand it and I feel like if I were to write too much about it you'll decide not to read it. So just a few quick things. 

This story points out a lot of issues. The biggest being rape.  I applaud Mindy McGinnis for taking on such a sensitive subject. The word rape makes a lot of people uncomfortable. But in today's world it happens a lot more than you think. And it's something that people should be more aware of.

In the story our main character, Alex, is very careful with her words. The way you talk about someone or to someone can do a lot of damage. If you call someone something enough times they start to believe it. Actions speak louder than words but words stick around a lot longer than a bruise. 

I loved the part of the story where Alex tells Peekay that imagining something is much different from actually dong it. Like you can think about yelling and cussing that person out or pointing out all their faults or hitting them till they black out but if you were too actually do that the damage would be irreversible.


This is  a short review because to fully experience this book you have to read it. Slowly. This book opens your eyes to a lot of things that are commonly accepted today so I'm going to recommend it to everyone. I feel like it has something for everyone.