Week 18 Review: The Luis Ortega Survival Club

From Goodreads:

From the bestselling author of the National Book Award Finalist The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School comes a revenge story told with nuance, heart, and the possibility of healing.

Ariana Ruiz wants to be noticed. But as an autistic girl who never talks, she goes largely ignored by her peers-despite her bold fashion choices. So when cute, popular Luis starts to pay attention to her, Ari finally feels seen.

Luis's attention soon turns to something more, and they have sex at a party-while Ari didn't say no, she definitely didn't say yes. Before she has a chance to process what happened and decide if she even has the right to be mad at Luis, the rumor mill begins churning-thanks, she's sure, to Luis's ex-girlfriend, Shawni. Boys at school now see Ari as an easy target, someone who won't say no.

Then Ari finds a mysterious note in her locker that eventually leads her to a group of students determined to expose Luis for the predator he is. To her surprise, she finds genuine friendship among the group, including her growing feelings for the very last girl she expected to fall for. But in order to take Luis down, she'll have to come to terms with the truth of what he did to her that night-and risk everything to see justice done.

My Review:
I had such a great time reading this book! I loved seeing the story of these girls who had to deal with this awful boy. That he could've gotten away with such bad treatment, if they hadn't stood up against him, is a scary thought! 

Sexual assault is not an easy topic, and it shouldn't be, it harms, and at this point, the common defenses, including, oh, but he has such a bright future, are just aggravating. I know females can assault males, but this book is about a guy predator. Does anyone remember that one video from a couple years ago, where a british narrator, I believe, used the metaphor of drinking tea as sex to illustrate consent. This book gave the same feeling, like duh, no, these actions are not good! 

I felt badly for Ari, to want to be noticed, but not because of sex, but with her selective mutism, she didn't have the voice to say no, and now that's out there, and there are those that might take advantage of that. While it sucks that there was a group of people that Luis had hurt, since they were, they were a great group of people to support one another with their shared experiences.

Knowing that puretrators don't really get served with justice, I wasn't sure how things would resolve. I had confidence that they would, because he can't keep getting away with hurting people. But in the end, this book was more about Ari and the friends she made, which is more important!

This was a really fantastic read and I can't wait to read more by Sonora Reyes! 

Author: Sonora Reyes
Read: April 29th, 2023
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Sounded really great, and it's a SAC 2023 Book and Sophomore Challenge Book! 
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/Harper Teen
Expected Publication: May 23rd 2023

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars