Not the Girls You're Looking For by Aminah Mae Safi

Summary: Lulu Saad doesn't need your advice, thank you very much. She's got her three best friends and nothing can stop her from conquering the known world. Sure, for half a minute she thought she’d nearly drowned a cute guy at a party, but he was totally faking it. And fine, yes, she caused a scene during Ramadan. It's all under control. Ish.

Except maybe this time she’s done a little more damage than she realizes. And if Lulu can't find her way out of this mess soon, she'll have to do more than repair friendships, family alliances, and wet clothing. She'll have to go looking for herself (Via Goodreads.com).

Pages: 336

Release Date: June 19th, 2018

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Review:

Not the Girls You're Looking For was one of my most highly anticipated releases of 2018. It follows, Lulu, a bi-racial teen who struggles with her identity and her friendships as she navigates high school. I had heard nothing but great things regarding the novel prior to its release; however, I was quite disappointed by it. While the novel did somewhat redeem itself towards the end, I found Lulu and her friends extremely annoying and two-dimensional and her love interest left much to be desired.

Obviously teens can be annoying. As one, I would know. Lulu, however, was extremely frustrating and irritating. She made it seem as though the world revolved around her and its no wonder that she drove her friends away. She could be extremely rude and self-centered. She made everything about her and treated her parents and friends like crap. I can understand lashing out when you had a rough day, but Lulu always seemed to have an attitude. She needed to take a couple deep breaths and process everything that was going on. Instead, she took no time to handle her frustrations and caused even bigger messes by allowing her anger to multiply. 

I also do not understand why her friends were so "great." They were all rather underdeveloped and two-dimensional. None of them were anything particularly notable or special. They all seemed to be like a clique of girls in a cheesy television show or movie based in high school. I read the novel a few months ago and honestly cannot tell you any of their names. They lacked luster and were not memorable. I am all about a girl-power novel, but this book definitely was not it. They were not that supportive of one another and they all seemed more like ships passing in the night than a tight-knit group of girls that would kill anyone if they broke their friend's heart. Not all female relationships necessarily need to go to that extent, but they all acted like they were each other's everything, but they did not seem to know each other that well.

The romance in the novel was fine, but it was rather cheesy and unnecessary. There were several male characters introduced at the beginning that seemed similar and I had a hard time determining which one was which for several chapters. I liked that Lulu was not necessarily ashamed of her sexuality, but the guys could have been further developed. I essentially pictured them all the same. None of the characters were particularly distinct, they felt like carbon copies of characters from cheesy teen movies.

Not the Girls You're Looking For was rather disappointing. I expected much more from the novel; however, it was rather lackluster. The characters were not notable and the story did not seem to be going anywhere. The problems could have easily been solved if Lulu took a step back and took a minute to process everything. I definitely would not recommend it, but if you do still want to read it then I recommend borrowing it from a local library.