Practice Girl

By: Estelle Laure

Narrated by: Caitlin Kinnunen

"A powerful, poignant story about a girl rewriting her story on her own terms. Jo Beckett's journey of sexual and emotional agency is at once tender, painful, hilarious, and courageous."
—Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces

An emotional and empowering novel about reputation and double standards, perfect for fans of Katie Cotugno and Sarah Dessen.

Jo Beckett is looking for love. She's fallen for a few boys, but for some reason, they've never fallen for her. One night, at a party she didn't even want to go to, she finds out the truth. Those boys, who are on the wrestling team she manages, consider her just a “practice girl”—the popular term for girl who’s good enough to hook up with but not to date.

With this crushing revelation, Jo feels so many things--heartsick, ashamed, betrayed, and angry. But she refuses to let that label define her. In piecing her life back together, Jo is forced to unpack more uncomfortable truths about all her relationships--from her best friend to the boy she likes--that help her understand her real worth.

From the author of the acclaimed This Raging Light, Practice Girl is a heart-wrenching, relatable, and ultimately triumphant story about a girl who rejects her label and decides for herself who she is to the world.

Critic reviews

*"A must for teens who can handle sexually explicit material, and who are interested in . . . feminism and challenging stereotypes."
—SLJ (starred review)

"A powerful, poignant story about a girl rewriting her story on her own terms. Jo Beckett's journey of sexual and emotional agency is at once tender, painful, hilarious, and courageous."
—Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces

"Warm and funny and charming and smart."
—Katie Cotugno, New York Times bestselling author of 99 Days

"No one captures the complexities of teenage girldom like Estelle Laure. A deeply felt, unflinchingly relatable, and ultimately empowering novel about the unjust double standards and dehumanizing labels that girls and women are often forced to navigate. Readers will cheer for Jo!"
—Kerry Kletter, author of The First Time She Drowned

"Jo’s introspective, funny first-person narrative voice is alive with poignancy and...pulls no punches in its emotional honesty. A relationship-focused story told with intelligence and wit."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Through Jo's first-person narration, which often rings painfully true, Laure captures with painful precision one teen girl's journey to self-discovery and self-awareness. A contemplative and compelling look at female sexuality and the double standards that accompany it."
—Booklist

"Laure demonstrates a keen understanding of adolescent interactions, and not only romantic ones. Jo’s reflections on her relationships with family and friends—in particular her complicated feelings for Sam—are nuanced and insightful."
—The Horn Book

Great!

I listened because of Caitlin Kinnunen, but fell for the story. Great structure, not predictable and a great listen.

love

I started and couldn't stop and now I want more. I loved every part, the story, the characters, the moral, the empowerment, the view!! love

Loved this book and miss the characters

I stumbled upon this book, not my usual. So glad I did, I loved it! I loved the characters, the narrator, the story line. Now I miss the characters so much. This would be a great movie!

Radical Empathy

Practice Girl is great. Laure manages the magic trick of being of the moment while not being mired in the moment. So, while at first it seems that it is going to be a book chiefly about how a young woman is treated poorly by the young men around her, over the course of the book it becomes much more about what force she is able to bring to bear to even the playing field. It is the surprising nature of that “force” which was interesting to me. Laure obviously has great empathy for all of her characters, not just the protagonist, and it is this empathy that propels the book toward its conclusion. The reader is perfectly matched to the material. Do yourself a favor, listen to it.

Nothing happens

Nothing happens, and in a story like this where you don't care at all about the characters, that's the worst. I liked the messages to young girls but it felt like a PSA, not a novel.