REVIEW: Doing It!

DOING IT!
by Hannah Witton

Pages: 320 paperback

Publisher: Wren & Rook

Publication Date: April 6th 2017

ISBN: 9781526360038
Received From:  Wren & Rook/Hachette Children's Books

Summary 

Figuring out how to build and maintain healthy relationships - with your family, friends, romantically and with yourself - is a crucial part of being a teen. It's not easy though, particularly in a digital age where information and advice are so forthcoming it can be hard to know who or what to believe or trust. Porn is everywhere, sexting is the norm and messages about body image are highly mixed. Hannah combats this by tackling subjects ranging from masturbation and puberty to slut shaming and consent in an accessible, relatable and extremely honest way. She is unembarrassed about bringing little-discussed topics into the open, and as such empowers teens to have the confidence to conduct relationships on their terms, and in a way that they feel comfortable with. 

Review

This is a little different to my usual reads as it is actually a nonfiction - I know not like me right? But Doing It! has been the talk of the twitterverse for a while now and something about it was calling to me. So fast forward to the day I managed to get my hands on a review copy and it is everything I hoped it would be.

Doing It! is a book about sex with chapters on everything from healthy relationships and losing your virginity to sex shame and porn. It talks about the subject a lot of people are still too scared or ashamed to talk about (even though its 2017!!). Hannah has a writing style that I love, it is very chatty, informal and personal making it an enjoyable experience reading her book. When it comes to talking about sex I think the most important thing is to NOT feel like you are reading straight out of a pamphlet! Doing It! is like reading a conversation, it flows and feels like you are getting an honest opinion on all things sex related. It isn't a book you have to read in any particular order, there are parts you might find interesting and things you probably already know. But as a whole it is well thought out, there was insights from other authors/youtubers and it is wonderfully designed.

I like to think I know a fair amount about sex, I come from a very open background where with my friends and my family nothing is off the table when it comes to talking about sex (although sometimes I really wish they were with my parents). However, there were parts of this book that took me by surprised, for example the part on asexual's, as I think I had an idea what that meant that wasn't exactly correct. It challenged some of my misconceptions about certain topics and made me really think. This is one of those books, much like Juno Dawson's This Book Is Gay, that delves into a subject that we think we talk enough about but in reality don't.

Overall I thought that this was an interesting read and would recommend it to anyone and everyone. It is one of those books that answers all the questions you might be too afraid to ask. Whether you have no sexual experience or thing of yourself as a bit of a sex god this book might just teach you someone you don't know and answer a question you might not have enough known you had.

**I received this book as an ARC from Wren & Rook/ Hachette Children's Books to read & review. This is a 100% honest review.**