the femolution is here

Brynn Whittaker is a fixer. If you’ve been trying to text with your crush and made it awkward, she can fix it for you. She has a way of knowing just what to say to get things back on track, and get that person back on your side. It’s her side hustle, and she does well at her private school, where all her peers come from money. As a scholarship student, she is not that lucky, so she works hard to make things break her way. Until they don’t.

For Halloween, she dresses up in her favorite banana costume and goes to the big senior party with her boyfriend Otto. But he is paying more attention to the alcohol and his football friends than he is to her feelings, so she decides the time is right to break up with him. They leave the party, and it’s not until the next day that Brynn finds out that her world has turned upside down. Someone has posted a video of someone in a banana costume in a sexual moment with Duncan, the boyfriend of her ex-best friend Lenora.

And just like that, Brynn goes from the professional flirt to the class pariah. She tells everyone that she was not the banana in the video, but most people don’t believe her. They know that she and Lenora have been enemies for a long time, so they believe that she had done this to hurt her former friend. So Brynn has to figure out a way to fight back.

Her closest friends believe her and stick with her, and she finds new friends in twins Cadence and Charlie. Cadence is pregnant, so she’s a pariah at school too, and her brother is an artist who pushes the boundaries of the conservative bent to the school, so they can understand what Brynn is going through. And Cadence is the one who breaks into Duncan’s car to try to find evidence of his cheating. And while they find something, it’s not enough to figure out who he’s cheating with.

Brynn decides it’s time to pivot. She wants to get into Stanford, so it will take something special for her to get noticed, and to salvage what’s left of her senior year. So she and her friends decide to start a new club at school, Evolution of Feminism. It’s a chance for them to explore how women are treated in society, or anyone who has felt shamed for something they have done or worn or wanted. It gives her strength and helps her focus on her truth.

As Brynn focuses on her strengths and on her future, she finds that the support of her friends helps her through some dark moments. But it’s not until she learns to be honest with herself that she’s able to open herself to healing, to mending fences, to better relationships with her family, and to love.

Cancelled is a young adult novel about the challenges of today’s high school experience. The academic pressure is tough, but the social pressure is even more difficult, and this story explores all those themes with a character who is smart, strong, feisty, and willing to grow into a better person. Brynn makes mistakes along the way, but she is willing to own them and do what she can to fix them, and I thought that was so admirable.

I really enjoyed Cancelled. There are so many thoughtful twists to this story and sweet moments between Brynn and her friends. Watching this story unfold was lots of fun, seeing how Brynn took things in stride and tried to make choices that were good for her but also good for those around her was inspiring. Anyone fighting against cancel culture and shaming women into behaving in ways that old-fashioned culture norms look down on will enjoy Brynn’s journey through her senior year and ways this character makes strides toward a better future.

Egalleys for Cancelled were provided by Viking Books for Young Readers through NetGalley, with many thanks.