LOVE IS IN THE HAIR

When a teen’s best friend is targeted for having body hair, she fights back by starting a body hair–positive campaign in this feminist coming-of-age tale.

Fifteen-year-old Evia Birtwhistle’s mother has always warned her about misleading beauty ads that target women’s insecurities, but that doesn’t stop Evia from routinely plucking, bleaching, waxing, trimming, and shaving the hair she inherited from her Greek biological father. Frankie Smith, Evia’s best friend, has thick facial hair caused by polycystic ovary syndrome. After she’s attacked by school bully Madison Cox, who cruelly shaves Frankie’s hair and livestreams the incident, a traumatized Frankie withdraws from school and considers transferring, a prospect that terrifies Evia. Desperate to help her friend and show the world that women’s body and facial hair is normal, Evia begins a campaign on social media and at school called the Hairy Girls’ Club, but soon a countermovement, the Normal Normas, starts up. Frankie isn’t sure she’s ready to be the public face of the Hairy Girls’ Club, leading to friction between the friends, though Evia remains determined that the message of the Hairy Girls’ Club will be heard. The nature of the central premise means that the story’s resolution is somewhat predictable, but it’s an entertaining and empowering journey all the same. Evia’s character has a strong voice and a big personality, and readers will root for her through both failure and triumph. Main characters read white; names cue ethnic diversity in the supporting cast.

Charming and ultimately hopeful.