Tori and her friends aren't exactly being bullied. But they are not very high on the list with the popular girls. It's more like they're invisible. But when a new girl arrives at school the popular girls begin to make her life miserable. Tori is stuck between ignoring what she sees happening or risk being put in the category with the girl being bullied. Can she come up with a plan to stop the taunts and save her class project or will everything fall down around her?

This book was extremely well written. Sadly I could really relate, so it was also a bit painful to read. The author did a great job of not only telling the story, but showing ways to combat the bullying. Young girls will be able not only feel like someone understands, but will be left with solutions and tactics they can use to help get rid of the bullies in their school. While the subject matter is heavy, the author has inserted elements of humor that makes the story fun to read as well. I would highly recommend this book to any young girl about to enter middle school.

I received this book free of charge from Harper Collins in exchange for my honest review.

If you are living and breathing then you've probably encountered bullying in some way. The time has come for us to begin to fight back against the mean girls!

Nancy Rue has written an amazing trilogy that addresses the topic of bullying in a unique way. Each of the three books will look at the topic of buyllying from a different perspective. The first book So Not Okay, centers around shy sixth grader Tori Taylor. Tori represents what it is like to be a bystander to bullying.

Tori is sweet and just wants to stay out of the limelight. She is no match for the overbearing Kylie. In fact she goes out of her way to avoid conflict with Kylie. When Ginger comes along and draws Kylie's fire, Tori is caught in a dilemma that too many of our girls face each day.

I have long been a fan of Nancy's writing, and I have to say this is some of her finest work. She does an amazing job of giving voice and emotion to this pervasive topic. Every tween or young teen girl should read this. Yes it is a work of fiction but I'm sure you will immediately see the powerful message of these fictional girls. The damage of bullying can be long lasting and we need to do whatever we can to put a stop to it.

The next two books in the series will address bullying from the perspectives of victim and bully. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the story. I hope you will join myself and others in declaring that bullying is #SoNotOkay!

I received a copy of this book to facilitate my review.

The Pack was there before. That wasn't what had changed. It was just that Tori didn't use to be their target.

Kylie and her friends- the Pack, as Tori calls them - are the girls in sixth grade who decide what's cool. And apparently the new girl Ginger is not. Will it just "go away", as some people say, or should Tori do something? And if she will - what will it cost her?

Bullying isn't a joke. It's real and it's out there. So Not Okay deals more with the word-bullying than the hit-and-punch bullying. The type of bullying that leaves you feeling like a looser and a nerd. The type that calls a girl "gingerbread" of doesn't let her go to her locker or laughs when she reads her essay. The type that's hard to pin point and that's easy to miss for the adults. But is still there.

So Not Okay is Nancy Rue's first book in the anti-bullying series. It is told from the bystander's point of view. Tori learns that there is no such thing as "neutral" and that something can-and should- be done. There is also discussion on WHAT can be done.

If you want some great fiction with an even greater message, you just might enjoy this book. The second one -You Can't Sit With Us- is told from the bullied girl's point of view and the last one from the bully's point-of-view.

~Review written by Sofia Marie of the Teens Live for Jesus blog~

The Pack was there before. That wasn't what had changed. It was just that Tori didn't use to be their target.

Kylie and her friends- the Pack, as Tori calls them - are the girls in sixth grade who decide what's cool. And apparently the new girl Ginger is not. Will it just "go away", as some people say, or should Tori do something? And if she will - what will it cost her?

Bullying isn't a joke. It's real and it's out there. So Not Okay deals more with the word-bullying than the hit-and-punch bullying. The type of bullying that leaves you feeling like a looser and a nerd. The type that calls a girl "gingerbread" of doesn't let her go to her locker or laughs when she reads her essay. The type that's hard to pin point and that's easy to miss for the adults. But is still there.

So Not Okay is Nancy Rue's first book in the anti-bullying series. It is told from the bystander's point of view. Tori learns that there is no such thing as "neutral" and that something can-and should- be done. There is also discussion on WHAT can be done.

If you want some great fiction with an even greater message, you just might enjoy this book. The second one -You Can't Sit With Us- is told from the bullied girl's point of view and the last one from the bully's point-of-view.

~Review written by Sofia Marie of the Teens Live for Jesus blog~

Yeah, youre a gang. Mitch the Witch, Winnie the Ninny, Gingerbread, and Victoria my pet.

Youre breaking everybodys heart by even showing up at school. You reek like moldy gingerbread.

Anybody who likes Gingerbread has to be blind. Or stupid.

I think theres something wrong with you.

I told you youre dead.

Scientists and psychologists dont know anything about what goes in a middle school. If they did, they wouldnt call what we do bullying.

Book: So Not Okay by Nancy Rue, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2014

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Target Audience: Girls 11-15

Subjects: Bullying, Friendship

Summary: The Wolf Pack rules the school. Everyone knows it and just accepts it. As long as you lay low and blend in to the surroundings they wont bother you too much. Sure theyre make fun of you sometimes, but nothing too severe, nothing overly prolonged. No one told Ginger that secret to survival though. So she makes an effort to befriend the girls when she starts school at Gold Country Middle School. Of course that only makes it worse and soon theres an actual hate club with lists about why everyone should hate Ginger. Smashed together for a research project in Science, Tori, Ophelia, Mitch, Winnie and Ginger are faced with a question: Why does bullying occur and what (if anything) can be done to stop it? The question goes far beyond a homework assignment. They need to find answers for the sake of their very survival!

Notes: So NOT Okay, the first in the Mean Girls Makeover trilogy, Nancy Rue addresses the issue of bullying from the perspective of the bystander. The next two books address it from the issue of the bullied and the bully. In this first book, the bullying situation is set up and the bystanders become the bullied as they support the one who was the primary target for the bullies. A sort of mentor tells the girls that You cant stay neutral and expect this to just go away. If you do nothing youre partly responsible for the consequences.

The spiritual elements are surprisingly less in this story than in others from this author. The mentor is portrayed as a Christian and makes a comment about prayer a couple of times and at the end of the story tells Tori that all the methods they developed for dealing with the bullies came straight from the Bible. The author has said that the story is building up towards a stronger spiritual emphasis.

This book is part of an entire anti-bullying movement that the author is leading. Please visit her website for more information and to join the movement.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 2/5

Overall Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Esther 4:14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.