Review

Named a Michael L. Printz Honor Book by the American Librarians Association

A School Library Journal Best Book

A New York Public Library Best Book

A Bustle Best YA Book

"Try to be brave, grown-ups. O'Neill's second novel may be scary, but it is riveting and essential. Teenagers will recognize its difficult truth and devour it--behind your backs, if need be . . . You may be staggered by Emma's inability to make a self-respecting decision, even as her story goes international. But you'll be lit up with pain and rage on her behalf, and grateful for the few who stand by her."
―Jeff Giles, The New York Times

"You won't come away from [Asking For It] feeling happy, but you will come away from it feeling angry and anger is a healthier emotion than despair. If, like me, you're a parent, I might advise you to buy it for your daughters, but actually it would do more good if I begged you to buy it for your sons. . .Young women already know what's between the pages of this book. It's the other people in that room who need to read it."
―LitReactor

"Who is Louise O'Neill? You better brush up, because everyone's about to start talking about her . . . The feisty, funny, and feminist author . . . we've been waiting for, that might actually change something."
―Bustle

"A harrowing novel on the issue of sexual consent . . . This is brave and clever writing."
―Sarah Gilmartin, Irish Times

"O'Neill's writing infects, inches its way under your skin, assaults you with tiny, relentless pinpricks."
―The F Word

"Any piece of writing that deals with rape is going to be affecting. What makes Irish author Louise O'Neill's latest work of fiction so traumatic and infuriating is that the writing was motivated by multiple real-life cases of sexual assault."
―Broadly, Vice

"A must-read in today's rape culture, this novel is a follow-up to O'Neill's first (also wonderfully feminist) novel, Only Ever Yours."
―HelloGiggles

"After reading last year's Only Ever Yours, Louise O'Neill is one of my absolute favorite new writers . . . The title enough should help you see where the story goes from there, and it's going to make you furious, but that's why it's so important."
―Bustle

"This harrowing examination of sex and sexual assault for teens and young adults . . . deserves the broadest possible audience, and to be widely discussed by teens, parents, and educators. With the precision of a scalpel, O'Neill delicately carves out the subtlest ways Emma learns that beauty is supreme, and with equal accuracy hammers home the double standard that still applies to both women and men. The images are haunting, the topic is difficult, and the ending is frustrating yet sadly all too believable."
―Common Sense Media (5 Star Review)

About the Author

Louise O'Neill is the author of Only Ever Yours, which won the YA Book Prize, among other distinctions. She was born in west Cork in 1985. She studied English at Trinity College Dublin and has worked for the senior style director of American Elle magazine. She is currently working as a freelance journalist and YA author.