The Regulars by Georgia Clark | Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

“She was a road trip without a map.” 

This... wasn't for me. To put it simply? Not my cup of tea. I wanted to like The Regulars. So. Much. Because, the plot is utterly unique and magical, it relies on societies view of what makes someone beautiful and the lengths women will go to just to feel pretty; Georgia Clark's prose is great and everything about the novel had potential.

The problem was that everything just fell short. While I did find myself relating to bits and pieces, highlighting various portions of the narration, I found everything else to just be missing something. None of the characters are especially likable, not even in the unlikable way that circles back around to 'likable' and there were so many layers to The Regulars that bordered on problematic instead of social commentary or satire. 

Which felt sloppy and not very enjoyable. I'm not typically the type of person who has secondhand embarrassment in literature but there were so many moments in this book where I felt awkward about something. For example, trying not to spoil it, there's a scene with a, uh, trophy, that was--well, err... awkward. Further, a lot of the so-called feminism in The Regulars didn't quite feel like feminism and instead was just... out of place.

There were so many things about this book that just rubbed me the wrong way and I am not able to look past for one reason or another. 

“We need role models who look like real girls.” Yes, there are a lot of things that need to be talked about in beauty and fashion. These unreachable goals, all the pressure. But we also need to not say things LIKE THAT. Because that only adds to the problem, in context and out of context. It invites people to, when they seem ultra thin girls or larger girls or whatever body type someone has, make unwanted comments about the physical attributes of our peers and opens an unwanted can of body shaming.

There are ways to address problems. There are ways to not.

While these flaws and elements could have been explored and, of course, redeemed, there wasn't much of that to be found by the end of the novel. We had Evie, Krista and Willow spend the entire novel essentially searching for themselves which could have provided an emotional depth to the novel but didn't.

One of the novels biggest problems, beyond its portrayal of beauty and feminism and self-love, was that it felt like it was trying to be upfront and raw. In its quest to be edgy, it felt awkward and utterly silly in the worst ways. I had a hard time getting through it which was an entirely different level of disappointment.

Overall, The Regulars could have been better. Not a single moment of this book was for me and I am still a bit annoyed with it for various reasons. However, I do have to give Georgia Clark a few props. The premise was nice. The writing wasn't bad. Somehow, combined, it was subpar and problematic.