Customer Reviews

Sexy Girls: How Hot Is Too Hot?

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Hayley! (if you read these...)

This is Brianna you probably don't remember me but you prayed with me at the Women of Faith conference in Hartford. You spoke about Mean Girls and you gave me a copy when I told you I didn't have the money. Even if you don't remember, I want you to know that I remember you listening to my mean girl stories and the help you gave me. I also remember you were very kind to me when everyone around wanted your autograph but you ignored them to listen to me. I want you to know that I also remember you suggesting the girls might be being mean to me for how I dressed. And you were righting a book on that to.

Well, I got that book last week and even though I never really took your suggestion seriously before I know now what I've been doing is wrong. I loved the book even tho it was hard to face the truth. I looked in the mirror and saw "how I was marketing myself" and I didn't like it one bit. So I broke up with my boyfriend and told my mom I wanted to burn my clothes. Drastic I know!! I just didn't like the memories they had and didn't want some one else to repeat what I did.

So anyways, even if you don't remember me, ill always remember you.

Bri from Hartford

Most girls want to look good and be attractive to the opposite sex. And many girls, in their quest to attract guys, fail to consider what they are advertising with their clothes, make-up, body art, body piercing and behavior.

Sexy Girls: How Hot is Too Hot? by Hayley DiMarco will help young women understand their bodies and how guys look at them. It will also help them understand their sexuality and how it impacts guys.

DiMarco begins her book by asking girls to respond to questions about who they are, their style, what they think people see when looking at them, what is their spiritual life, their social life, how sexy they think they are and what do guys see when they look at them.

Through thoughtful narrative, quizzes, tips and techniques and biblical references, DiMarco offers a logical perspective on positive and negative image. She invites girls to develop their perfect image; one that they can be proud of, and one that God will approve of.

Armchair Interviews says: Parents, run, don't walk to the bookstore and pick up Sexy Girls: How Hot is Too Hot? for your daughters. It may change how they view themselves and they may emotionally, spiritually and physically make powerful decisions to present a better, more pleasing image to God and the guys.

Are you wondering why worldly guys act interested in you, but the really godly guys don't? Is your daughter struggling over how to fit in with her friends while not making you and her dad go ballistic? Are you looking for material to help the girls in your youth group understand their responsibility to the guys around them when it comes to clothing? Hayley DiMarco's Sexy Girls may be just what you need.

Don't let the cover turn you off. It's a sexy girl in a halter (at least I think it's still called a halter) top and low-cut jeans with lots of skin showing. DiMarco's take on the issues of modesty and our feminine responsibility to God and the men around are much overdue.

DiMarco's goal is to "help you figure out your image--who you are, who you want to be, and who you want others to thing you are." (13) To do that, she starts with what seeing lots of female skin does to guys, even icky guys, even old guys. She recommends humility over self-esteem and developing character by losing weight through exercise and diet rather than liposuction. She tries to get girls to understand the dangers of alcohol and of bad friends based on the Bible. She then encourages them with ideas for forming a fashionable affordable wardrobe.

DiMarco writes in a frank, hip, conversational style that should appeal to young readers, but she doesn't play fast and loose with the Scripture. She includes quotations, startling statistics on alcohol, liposuction, and male vs. female items in bathrooms. She also provides letters from young readers and her answers. Certain sections of the book provide working areas for the readers to respond to her questions. DiMarco, the author of Mean Girls and Dateable and the founder of a think tank called Hungry Planet, seeks "to give practical answers for life's problems and encourage girls to form stronger spiritual lives." (141)

Her approach to the problem of immodesty impressed me. I disagreed with only one small section of what she wrote. "Modesty is about looking normal. Not drawing tons of attention to yourself so that you shock people or cause them to stumble." (117) She spends the majority of the book letting girls know about the importance of not showing too much skin. Yet in some settings, such as on a beach, "looking normal" could mean showing lots of skin. This statement weakened her argument in my mind.

Would I recommend Sexy Girls to young women? Oh, yes, I already have some in mind! - Debbie W. Wilson, Christian Book Previews.com

"Sexy Girls" by Hayley DiMarco is one of those books that you wish you had back when you were a teen. Instead of fuddy-duddy puritanical "tho shalt not be sexy" preaching, Ms. DiMarco uses common sense, culture savvy advice as her first line argument then backs it up with scripture.

The book was just the entry into my daughter's closet she (and I) needed. Being a single mom, it's hard to pick your battles, especially when it comes to clothes. But after just getting back from a trip to the mall with my daughter, she's already on a first name basis with the author telling me, "Hayley would ask me 'how am I marketing myself with this swimsuit?'"

I about cried.

An excellent message in a hip package. And to those that have a problem with the cover, I doubt you're spending equal time crusading against porn than against a mild cover on a treasure of a book.

I'm heartily recommend this book to any mother (or father) that needs help reaching their teen with an honest lesson regarding immodesty.

For a book all about "advertising the content, not advertising the packaging" I have to say the publisher of this book may want to rethink its presentation.

First, let me commend the author and say the content is good. I'm about 2/3 of the way through the book and I think Hayley Dimarco is right on target. She doesn't pull any punches and tells it like it is in a very hip and approachable manner (exactly right for the trendy teens who need to read the book in the first place).

But the photos in the book, black and white historical pinups, are distracting at best, disturbing at worst. Was it really necessary to include the photos of a chemise clad woman (pg 34), the midrif barring Marilyn look-alike (70) or the belly-dance bra lady (on pg 94)? They seem very sexually charged - just the kind of thing Dimarco is warning against. As a female reader it's distracting. Woe to the poor dad that tries to read this book along with his daughter.

The paper - shiny, stiff and hard to flip - doesn't endear me to the book either. Some of the parapraph layouts inside are too tight to read comfortably, though as a graphic designer I appreciate the non-traditional grid system and the creative attempt to push the envelope.

Unfortunate, because as a mentor to young teen girls, this book is 100% on the mark - exactly the words I would want to say. I only hope the packaging doesn't hinder the message.

Thank you, Hayley, for the message; I urge the publisher to re-issue with different packaging.

"Sexy Girls: How How Is Too Hot?" was just what my husband and I needed to break through to my 17 year old daughter. Her dressing habits had been inching away from the modest choices she had been making the last few years. We think it was her getting ready to go to college and feeling some independence coming, and Hayley's book gave her a much-needed course correction when our exhortations fell on deaf ears (and midriffs.)

The book is written in an engaging style and beautifully designed, showing photos of women over history trying to look sexy (there is nothing new under the sun.) Her message, "how are you marketing yourself?" is one that struck home for my daughter and she now says that out loud when looking in the mirror every morning before leaving for her summer job.

In doing research on Hayley DiMarco before buying this book for my daughter, I was pleased to find she knows teens inside and out from working with shoe giant Nike to running the teen book division at the largest christian publisher around. Her insights and instincts are right on. While the packaging might not connect with some adults (read: hyper-legalistic or tragically un-hip), the book squarely hit my daughter right between the eyes and she actually loves Hayley for it. Talk about a win-win!

I heartily recommend this book to any parent needing a tool to teach a stubborn teenage girl the difference between modesty and immodesty and why modest dress is beneficial for the girl and the guys around her. Five stars.

Hi my name is Steph and if you scroll down you'll find my friend Margret's review. I'm one of the girls that works with her at Parable Christian Store (she's old :-) jk Margret!) She told me about her posting a reivew of "Sexy Girls" and some of the negative reviews on here so I had to check it out.

Wow. I can't believe some of the posts in the past 24 hours from people that haven't even read the book. The last commenter said she was a mother of two young boys and wouldn't want the book lying around the house. Neither would I since my brothers don't have a problem with dressing sexy!

And for her theory that these five star ratings are the work of a publisher, guess what, me and margret are real AND WE'VE READ THE BOOK. As for why all the positive comments, maybe it's because the book is on the youth BESTSELLER LIST AND PEOPLE WANT TO SUPPORT IT FOR HELPING THEM!!

Also, we just got our issue of Plugged In magazine from FOCUS ON THE FAMILY and Hayley's Sexy Girls article is in there too!!

You negative people's arguments are just ignorant and nonsensical. "Doesn't practice what she preaches!" Gimme a break. You think that's Hayley on the cover? The title is "how hot is too hot?" Why would you put a picture of a girl that isn't hot on the cover? My friends would instantly say to some modest girl on the cover "well, she's not hot at all" and write off that the author didn't know what she was talking about.

One other thing, does anyone else notice that the negative reviewers are all saying the same thing (sinful cover) but not ansewring any of the points raised by the positive ones? THAT'S BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT TO THINK!

To the woman that doesn't have any girls at home that hates this book (and didn't read it), save it. And to the other so called reviewers that are posting negative reviews based on a jpeg emailed to them, don't think you're slowing sales of the book, you're just encouraging me and my store mates to push it more.

As my store manager said to a customer that complained about the cover yesterday, "do you agree that modesty is no where in today's society?" (her answer was yes) "well, this is a book that will change the way girls think about modesty, that's why I have it in the FRONT of the store to do MY part. Because, frankly, there are no other books that girls will read on the subject."

And besides, if controversy does anything, it raises awareness. All you non-reading negative reviewers are going to do is make more people hear about the book and more people like me rise to defend it.

As GW says, "BRING IT ON!"

I don't write reviews or whatever, but my mom drags me into the Christian bookstore and wants to buy me books to fix me (youknowwhatimean)

Anyways, she always forces these books on me and I just leave em on my nightstand because theyre just what she wants me to do. When I saw Sexy Girls I told my mom I'd read that one. It didn't look like it was written by some shriveled up old lady. Anyways, my mom can tell you I never read and I read this book in three hours. I seriously didn't get how guys looked at me until reading it. Or how other girls looked at me to.

So whatever, ill let you ladies fight out whether to give a good book that girls will actually read and convince them to change the way they dress on their own just because a girl thats not showing anything with that black bar across her belly is on the cover.

Grown ups are stupid some times. Wheres the love?!

PEace be with yous. Oh and I'm so getting her next book Technical Virgin.

I am not under 13 but I just didn't want to register.... so about the book, it is a really good book that I think all teenagers should read because I really felt like Hayley was talking to me!!! She just said some things that really made me feel like I WAS worthy of god's love and not some boys love that won't mean anything 5 or 10 years down the road... also it talked about how low-cut shirts, when guys see a little bit of cleavage they think, "hey I wonder what is beneath that shirt..." so it just made me feel like I never want to wear a lower cut shirt again because I don't want guys thinking and talking about me that way... Thank you Hayley DiMarco for writing this awesome book and I really appreciate it.

Sexy Girls: How Hot is Too Hot? by Hayley Dimarco with Bible quotations throughout is written for the Christian teenage girl, and every parent of one will be so happy it has been written in down-to-earth teen language by a young woman who is good-looking and very successful and has BEEN THERE, so she understands what is going on with girl's and women's fashions of today. She explains how what a girl wears screams to the world how she is marketing herself! She explains in plain language what showing flesh in certain areas does to the males that see it. "They are turned on by what they see...Showing off more than you are willing to give is what we call false advertising." Dimarco discusses how males react and what they expect from the way girls dress; what tatoos, belly button rings, tongue piercings, cleavage, and low-rise pants and high-rise underwear of today's fashion scream to men, and how girls, because they have no testerone on the rampage, are clueless of what their attire is saying about them. The book offers excellent self analysis of wardrobe and self-concept and great suggestions of how to put together a look that is complimentary and stylish and gives the real ideas of who you are. The book is an EXCELLENT and much needed guide through the minefield of today's popularity for teenage girls, as well as adult females!