Book Review: Girls Can't Hit by T.S. Easton

Title: Girls Can't Hit 

Author: T.S. Easton
Series:  n/a
Pages:  288
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Date of Publication: 20th April, 2017
Source: NetGalley*
Synopsis from Goodreads: Fleur Waters never takes anything seriously - until she turns up at her local boxing club one day, just to prove a point. She's the only girl there, and the warm-up alone is exhausting . . . but the workout gives her an escape from home and school, and when she lands her first uppercut on a punching bag she feels a rare glow of satisfaction.

So she goes back the next week, determined to improve. Fleur's overprotective mum can't abide the idea of her entering a boxing ring, why won't she join her pilates class instead? Her friends don't get it either and even her boyfriend, 'Prince' George, seems concerned by her growing muscles and appetite - but it's Fleur's body, Fleur's life, so she digs her heels in and carries on with her training.

My Thoughts:
I was a big fan of Tom's earlier book, Boys Don't Knit, so I was excited to read this title. It promised to be funny and feminist, and it was both of these things. I enjoyed it a lot, and made for fun down-time reading around my essays.

Anytime someone says girls can't do something, I'm the first to jump on the bandwagon that proves they can, so this was right up my street. I loved Fleur and her friend Blossom's determination to prove the stereotype wrong, and reading their feminist rants were great fun, even if at times they came across as a little bit info-dumpy. I can forgive that though cos they do make important points, haha.

I enjoyed reading about Fleur and her boxing, and all about her exercise and training.  I've never been that interested in sports so that surprised me a lot, but since I recently started going to the gym I could empathise with Fleur's struggle at first, and it gave me hope for the future as I saw how fit she was getting (I can get there too!). I've also never really considered boxing before, never really understood why you would want to punch each other, but I can kind of see now. Still don't think it'd be for me, though ;)

I really liked the supporting characters, particularly Fleur's friends Blossom and Pip.  I loved how they went to Battle and did reenactments every week, and the fun and silliness that that caused.  I also really liked the characters who were at boxing with Fleur, and how they developed from turning their nose up at Fleur at the beginning for being a girl but they came round to actually be pretty cool by the end.  The only problem I had was Fleur's boyfriend (whose name I have already forgotten) but I'm not sure I was meant to like him much so that's alright...

Overall, Girls Can't Hit is a really enjoyable read and I definitely recommend it if you're looking for something that's a little bit different and will make you laugh, with important themes of feminism and friendship, as well as plenty of silliness!



*I received this from Hot Key Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  In no way has this affected my opinion of the novel.