What I loved: The writing style was expertly selected and employed in this book to provide all the context and information in a really visceral and emotional way. The style made the girls' feelings seem more raw and intense as the reader travels through the group in terms of perspectives. Their curiosity, pain, and anger really came through the scenes where it applied. When Wambach was playing for the youth team at the age of eighteen. A chance of playing against one of her idols fallen into her lap. That idol was Michelle Akers who is one of the world’s greatest soccer players. For the purpose of extra training in, she decided to play against Wambach’s team. That match changed Wambach’s idea of Akers permanently. The structure intrigued me with its multiple POVs, all in third person, except one poem, near the end which switches to first person. While reading I wondered, who is "we"? Who are these girls? Can I trust their voices? The book requires careful reading and I found piecing together the whole through multiple voices gave it a mystery-like quality which helps add to the unsettling sense of the girls' existence in their closed and controlled world. Gender equality… Even though this phenomenon seems improved as compared to the past, there are still things to do to make it better. After all those years, patriarchy still affects society and many women do nothing but obey those maxims of patriarchy. The stated maxims don’t let women become more powerful and freer than before.

Otterson, Joe (September 24, 2021). " 'Teen Wolf' Revival Movie Set at Paramount Plus as Creator Jeff Davis Inks MTV Entertainment Studios Overall Deal (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022 . Retrieved October 1, 2022. Chapters alternate between the POVs of the many girls (were there 7 or 8 of them...?) but I didn't get a sense of a distinct voice for each - this was okay since the writing was in third-person and felt more like a near-omniscient narrator anyway. The girls are all true believers in the cult, most having lived all (or almost all) of their lives there, so it's not a tired story of rebellious kids being cruelly repressed, even though the story does reveal hidden tensions in the commune under their utopic facade, and the girls are starting to get old enough to notice problems. The final reveal and resolution were not what I expected. Accordingly, women already have what they need for their living and they shouldn’t want more. Moreover, society tells women if they want to fight for more power, they should fight with other women. Basically, they say that women are not enough to fight with men to gain power; they should fight with each other. Given how much of her career and happiness has come about by her and other women’s refusal to do what society tells them to do, or stay on the designated path, Wambach now believes that all women should strive to be less like Little Red Riding Hood, and more like the wolf – powerful, courageous, and hungry for more.For we’ve learned something about ourselves, something we should have realized long ago: that while we are girls we are also wolves.” I liked the use of imagery connecting the names of the girls--Ivy, Fern, Daisy, Rose, Oleanna (spelled differently from the plant), Poppy, Violet, Laurel, Willow--to their personalities and appearances. Gradually, the team’s leadership structure became more democratic. Newbies like Alex Morgan gave Wambach tips on how to play better, players on the bench gave the starting players advice and even the team’s physiotherapists started to make suggestions. Also, not all the time you will score, but also your teammate will score, too. At that moment, you should join the celebration of hers right away. It doesn’t have to be in the game, in other areas of life another woman’s success should be enough to celebrate her achievement and praise her.

Edwards said that greatly distinguished them from the organized crime groups he wrote about decades ago that operated in a “geographic centre.” Maintaining the illusion of scarcity is how power keeps women competing for the singular seat at the table, instead of uniting and building a new, bigger table. p58 The writing is beautiful and the story is so engaging. There is a mystery that you are trying to solve right along with the girls. While Havenwood could definitely be labeled a cult, it is truly a credit to the author that she was able to make the characters relatable and also make readers understand why the members of the community would stay and find comfort in Havenwood. Bella Shepard as Blake Navarro, a rebellious high school student who was bitten by a werewolf during a forest fire stampede Bailey Stender as Phoebe Caldwell, a high school student who used to be friends with Blake, who survived the forest fire stampedeThen one of their own goes missing and they must untangle secrets to find out where she went and why. Overall enjoyed this book. I'd had it on the shelf since March. Felt compelled to #JustDoIt today. Glad I did. Felt a little like a sabbatical from books that usually take days. How glad I am to be proven wrong. AW delivers more than a rah rah yay team kind of pumped up pep talk, though in fact it is that too, in the best kind of way. Inspirational, yes, but with an immediacy you don't usually get from reading the biographies of famous women. Because she is authentic; because she knows from experience the importance of team spirit; because she is raring to go; and inviting us to champion each other and seize the moment.

When she saw how Akers wanted and got the ball, she realized her real talent’s source was not being afraid of resenting anyone, but craving for winning the game, motivating others to unleash their real power. She craved to win the game and eventually she made it, she was not afraid, she was not embarrassed and most importantly she was not a competitor against her teammates. Seeing Akers demand to be passed the ball that day, not just once, but four times, changed Wambach’s outlook forever. And I use triggered in the valid "reacting to something that brings forth an unhealthy reaction" as opposed to "I don't agree with your beliefs because they hurt my feelings or offend me."As she chose her own life, Wambach’s female role models chose their own way in life too. In fact, if it weren’t for the pioneer female soccer players that played before her, Wambach’s amazing sporting career couldn’t have happened. Because the pioneers refused to accept the idea that soccer is a man’s sport.

The story takes place in the commune that belongs to the cult. Brunskill made it clear that the group residing at Havenwood is a cult. Aspects of cult life, like control of Behaviors, Information, Thought, and Emotion, are evident (BITE model, Steven Hassan). Paired with communal living, in a way that is more subtle than other stories of cults (fictional or otherwise). I recommend this for fans of April Henry or readers looking for something mysterious. Of course, in soccer and in life, there are times when it won’t be you who scores. It will be the woman beside you. In these moments, it’s crucial that you start running in her direction, celebrating her achievement. After years of doing far more exercise than this, Wambach wondered, why was she suffering so much now? At the first 15 minutes of the match, everyone was relaxed, Akers was giving her younger opponents advice to do their best. It went on like that for a while. Except that, the match headed into its final 5 minutes and Akers’ team was three goals behind. They were losing.

For example, she dated boys when she was a teenager. Because every other girl was doing it that way. However, she was not sure about what she was going through while dating boys. During high school, she realized that she was homosexual. She was scared about what would her family say and she hid this fact and she couldn’t even confess to herself. What keeps the pay gap in existence is not just the entitlement of men. It's the gratitude of women. Our gratitude is how power uses tokenism of a few women to keep the rest of us in line. p37 For the most part, it is a cute story. It revolves around 4 adopted siblings who also happen to be wolf shifters. They are found in the woods by a park ranger after a fire kills the wolf parents. This story was very superficial. In other words, the descriptions, the world building, the characters - they were very top/surface level. There wasn't too much time spent on developing any of these things past the very top level. Recommended for readers who enjoy a more subtle, character-driven kind of mystery without car chase-type action.