Book Review: Some Girls Are

Courtney Summers, the author of YA novels like Cracked Up to Be, is, in my opinion, a rising star in the field. I definitely think she is the one to watch.

Not only does Courtney deal with timely and relevant tough subjects with empathy, her dialogue is spot on for teens, and her characters have depth.

What a welcome change from some of the shallow, two-dimensional novellas out there, with the stereotypical nerds, jocks, goths and the rest!

Teens, and parents of teens, will recognize within the pages of her works familiar faces and personalities from their own lives.

In her latest work, Some Girls Are, Courtney deals with the disturbing world of bullying and intimidation between teen girls desperately vying for popularity.

Regina Afton dreads the designated driver role when she goes to parties. No alcohol to deaden her ennui, and her friends' silliness gets wearisome to watch. But Regina has no clue just how bad it can get. When she turns, in tears, to an unlikely confidante after a nightmare encounter that's left her reeling, she learns just what it's like to be a victim of the exclusive, all-girl clique formerly known as the Fearsome Five--of which Regina was once a charter member.

Invisible to her former friends, Regina attempts to pull her life together amidst bullying and intimidation from the new Fearsome Foursome as she is "frozen out". Help comes in the form of an unlikely friendship with Michael Hayden, whose tragic past Regina once used as leverage in her own particular form of character assasination.

Viv's take:
Some Girls AreThis latest from rising star YA writer Courtney Summers is an experience not to be missed. Teens will love the realistic, in-depth characters, and parents can use this book as a "teachable moment" by talking about the plot with their teens. Warning: the cruelty in Some Girls Are, while scarily genuine, is just breath-taking in its scope and intensity, so I would not recommend this book for pre-teens. I would say the appropriate age group would be those about to enter, or enjoying their first year of high school.

I received a copy of this book from the great folks at Macmillan to aid in my review, with no other expectation than a fair and unbiased opinion.