Disclaimer: This review reflects my viewpoints and does not reflect the viewpoints of the author. I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Synopsis:

“Anna has no family except her friends and the shelter dogs she walks. Rae-Rae communicates only through old rock-and-roll lyrics. Piper is terrified of her boyfriend. Sunny wants everyone happy but doesn’t know how. Dareen wants to battle the world into being a better place. Jade is so withdrawn she has all but disappeared. Charity keeps showing up to school black-and-blue. These teenage women could be your own friends. The difficulties they face are hauntingly familiar. With the shared strength that only true family of choice gift each other, they set out to take on bullies … only reluctantly recognizing that the worst bully of all is their teacher. This is their story of coming of age, of learning not to be powerless, and of healing each other’s hearts.”

Obaat is Alice Vachss’ debut novel that follows the lives of seven plus uniquely eclectic teens who equally want to make a difference in the lives of others, including themselves. The group consists of Anna, the narrator of the story, who is described as the leader of the group later in the story. Sunny is a girl who believes everyone should be happy, but is still ironing out the kinks on how to achieve overarching happiness for all. Rae-Rae, a woman of many high-level words who uses music as a way to express herself in a way people can understand. Dareen, quiet but impactful. Jade, withdrawn but secretly a loving person with a dark family story. Piper, a girl with a boyfriend that won’t quit. Charity, a quiet teen with bruises, who the group wants to help. The team of teens works together to solve a known problem on their campus, bullying. How do you stop bullying when your number one bully is a teacher, who in theory is supposed to support you and not tear you down? Can the team of teens actually make a difference in the school, or will they fail trying?

The story begins with us being introduced to Anna, a teen with a mission to start OBaat, One Bully at a Time, but gets a yes, then a no from a supporting teacher. The story then leads into the group meeting and discussion of the goals and premise of OBaaT. They iron out the details of the group, set a plan, and start to think about the first student they want to help. That is where Charity comes into play. Anna, the ring leader, uses her lawyer, you’ll find out later why she has a lawyer, to build trust and connect Charity to a group member she can relate to. A run-in with the cops leads Charity to the same group home as Anna, and they work together to build trust, and another member is added to their friend group. Then Ethan, their next OBaaT “target” is on their radar as they work to use him as the basis for the case against a cruel teacher who is set on attacking the weakest links. The group works together with the help of Anna’s lawyer to build a case, and the more they start digging, the more cruel things they uncover. You’ll have to read the book to see how well this group develops, gets closer to each other, and works to take down their biggest bully yet. Witnesses, lawyers, cruel words, and many secrets make this book a top read! 

In this debut novel, Alice Vachss does a wonderful job building the character development of each main character and providing details for the supporting characters that contribute to the overall story. The author builds upon important topics in this coming-of-age story, allowing the reader to gain a better understanding of prevalent and relatable issues. The book is written in a way that is easy to understand and break apart. Overall, this is a great coming-of-age story for teens and tweens that dives into relatable topics. I highly recommend this book for tweens and teens.