Tag Archives: trauma

Review: The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,
The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep by Lauria Faria Stolarz

The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep
Laurie Faria Stolarz
Wednesday Books
Published March 16, 2021

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About The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep

Bestselling author Laurie Faria Stolarz returns with a thrilling novel where an eighteen-year-old girl’s search for answers lands her in one of the most terrifying situations imaginable.

Four days…
Trapped in a well, surrounded by dirt, scratching at the walls trying to find a way out.
Four days of a thirst so strong, that when it finally rains, I drink as much as possible from the dripping walls, not even caring how much dirt comes with it.

Six months…
Since my escape. Since no one believed I was taken to begin with – from my own bed, after a party, when no one else was home…
Six months of trying to find answers and being told instead that I made the whole incident up.

One month…
Since I logged on to the Jane Anonymous site for the first time and found a community of survivors who listen without judgment, provide advice, and console each other when needed.
A month of chatting with a survivor whose story eerily mirrors my own: a girl who’s been receiving triggering clues, just like me, and who could help me find the answers I’m searching for.

Three days…
Since she mysteriously disappears, and since I’m forced to ask the questions: will my chance to find out what happened to me vanish with her? And will I be next?

My Review

One of the things I really liked about this book is that there is no sexual trauma in it. I was nervous at first, picking it up, because I like this type of suspense, mystery, trauma recovery story, but I’m just really sensitive to sexual trauma, so I didn’t want to end up in over my head with this book. The good news is, I didn’t.

It’s an interesting story. For a long time, I felt unsure about Terra. It seemed plausible that what happened to her was in her head– not on purpose, but that it was the result of previous trauma. Even Terra herself sometimes doubted what she’d experienced. So I felt like the story kept a really good balance there, keeping me really uncertain where it was headed and what would be around the next bend, as a good suspenseful story should.

I also thought the timeline– some sections from the present and others from the past– added to the scattered feel of Terra’s mind. Her chat logs on the Jane Anonymous site added a lot, too, from giving her a safe space to share her feelings to also creating a strong support network.

I read THE LAST SECRET YOU’LL EVER KEEP pretty quickly, only stopping once (because I got food poisoning, gross). I think readers who enjoyed PAST PERFECT LIFE by Elizabeth Eulberg or THE LOST AND THE FOUND by Cat Clarke will enjoy this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are white or not described.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used just over a dozen times through the story.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Descriptions of kidnapping. Graphic descriptions of hunger and severe thirst.

Drug Content
Terra attends a college sorority party held by one of her friends’ older sisters and drinks punch, probably containing alcohol.

Note: I received a free copy of THE LAST SECRET YOU’LL EVER KEEP in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.

Review: Somebody Told Me by Mia Siegert

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Somebody Told Me
Mia Siegert
Carolrhoda Lab
Published April 7, 2020

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About Somebody Told Me

After an assault, bigender seventeen-year-old Aleks/Alexis is looking for a fresh start―so they voluntarily move in with their uncle, a Catholic priest. In their new bedroom, Aleks/Alexis discovers they can overhear parishioners in the church confessional. Moved by the struggles of these “sinners,” Aleks/Alexis decides to anonymously help them, finding solace in their secret identity: a guardian angel instead of a victim.

But then Aleks/Alexis overhears a confession of another priest admitting to sexually abusing a parishioner. As they try to uncover the priest’s identity before he hurts anyone again, Aleks/Alexis is also forced to confront their own abuser and come to terms with their past trauma.

My Review

I am really struggling to write this review, not because the book was bad. It was a difficult read because of the subject matter, but the story was really compelling.

One of the things I struggled with was Aleks/Alexis’ character.On the one hand, I really enjoyed reading a book with a bigender character and I felt like the story showed Aleks/Alexis’ identity really well. I loved that their parents were supportive and champions for them but that they also were willing to step back and let Aleks/Alexis fight their own battles.

I also thought the exploration of the cosplay and Comic Con scene was compelling. This is a story that does not shy away from some of the harmful behaviors that can happen at those events, and while that was dark, it raised some really necessary ideas.

There were things that I found difficult to like– Aleks/Alexis was really prickly. It sometimes felt like they jumped to some really negative conclusions about people very quickly and that kind of harsh judgmental response grated. Aleks/Alexis also battles an incredibly negative and shaming inner voice that sometimes was hard for me to read, too. It showed how deeply hurtful the misgendering or transphobic words could be because of being coupled with this inner voice, but it sometimes was very difficult to read.

On the other hand– it does make sense that someone still processing and recovering from a sexual assault would have strong feelings of anger and lash out at people around them, so I feel like it was not out of place or arbitrary. It just challenged me as a reader.

I loved that the story showed how personal a faith experience can be– that some characters practiced a peaceful, loving and accepting faith even if others used their faith as a way of controlling people or a route to victimizing others.

Over all, SOMEBODY TOLD ME is a dark story that takes an unflinching look at abuse within the church and the harmful objectification and abuse of cosplay characters in a complex way with an ultimate message of hope, acceptance, and recovery from trauma.

Please read the content below for more information on potential triggers in this book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Representation
Aleks/Alexis is bigender. At least two other characters identify as gay. Two others share kisses with a bigender character but don’t label themselves.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently until the end of the book, where there’s a more frequent use.

Romance/Sexual Content – Trigger Warning for sexual abuse, assault, and homophobic and transphobic comments.
Aleks/Alexis briefly describes their sexual history, including details about kissing and references to sex. Two boys kiss.

Aleks/Alexis has brief flashbacks to a toxic relationship and a sexual assault. Eventually the assault is described in more detail. (Details on the assault at the end of the review under Spoilers.)

A priest makes a somewhat vague confession about abusing a parishoner, saying he has given the person a “special Communion,” a code which the priest hearing the confession seems to understand means sexual abuse. Later, the priest makes overt statements about whom he abused and threatens to abuse someone else, grabbing them inappropriately.

The novel contains misgendering as well as several homophobic and transphobic comments as well.

Spiritual Content
Aleks/Alexis’ uncle is a Catholic priest who requires them to attend mass each week and hears confession of his parishoners. References to conversion camp.

Some characters in the story practice a rigid, fearful or harsh faith. Others practice a more loving, accepting faith that is still deeply important to them.

Violent Content
Police inspect the murder of a boy found strangled near the church. Brief descriptions of assault. Someone threatens to abuse a minor and brags about abusing others. A two teens are trapped inside a burning building.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of SOMEBODY TOLD ME in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

**Spoiler**

Aleks/Alexis experienced an assault at a comic con after a boyfriend pressured them to allow a crowd of 80 panel attendees to line up and, one at a time, pin them to the wall and kiss them for photos. It’s clear that Aleks/Alexis didn’t want or consent to this experience and that it as well as the toxic/abusive behavior of their boyfriend caused trauma.

Review: Accidental by Alex Richards

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Accidental
Alex Richards
Bloomsbury YA
Published July 7, 2020

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About Accidental

Johanna has had more than enough trauma in her life. She lost her mom in a car accident, and her father went AWOL when Johanna was just a baby. At sixteen, life is steady, boring . . . maybe even stifling, since she’s being raised by her grandparents who never talk about their daughter, her mother Mandy.

Then he comes back: Robert Newsome, Johanna’s father, bringing memories and pictures of Mandy. But that’s not all he shares. A tragic car accident didn’t kill Mandy–it was Johanna, who at two years old, accidentally shot her own mother with an unsecured gun.

Now Johanna has to sort through it all–the return of her absentee father, her grandparents’ lies, her part in her mother’s death. But no one, neither her loyal best friends nor her sweet new boyfriend, can help her forgive them. Most of all, can she ever find a way to forgive herself?

In a searing, ultimately uplifting story, debut author Alex Richards tackles a different side of the important issue that has galvanized teens across our country.

My Review

I did not anticipate how hard it would be to read a book like this while my stress level is already pretty high.

That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, though. Gun violence, and particularly a story about a toddler accidentally killing her mom, would always be a tough read. Johanna was two and a half when this happened. I have a child who’s two and a half right now, too, so it was hard to think about what it would be like for her to go through something like that, and then not have her mom there to comfort her. Ever again.

So yeah, ACCIDENTAL is a super emotional book. I liked Johanna a lot, though, and really identified with a lot of her emotions, from her frustration with her grandparents’ avoidance to her conflicting feelings about her dad, to her frustration with her best friend.

Packed on top of all of those things is Johanna’s first romantic experience. I thought the author did an amazing job balancing all the relationships and plot elements together, keeping them present but not letting them drown each other out or overwhelm the reader.

All in all, I think it’s really great to see a young adult book that focuses on this kind of gun violence and trauma. I think readers who enjoy books about characters facing down their trauma, such as WHAT UNBREAKABLE LOOKS LIKE, will enjoy ACCIDENTAL.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Gabby’s dad is Jamaican. Leah is Jewish and bisexual. (Both are Johanna’s best friends.) Johanna has been adopted and raised by her grandparents.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently. Also some crude comments.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. One scene briefly describes them removing clothes, implying and then later stating they’ve had sex. Brief references to a girl having had sex with a girl.

Spiritual Content
Johanna’s grandparents are faithful church attenders and expect Johanna to go with them. After she learns about the true cause of her mother’s death, Johanna only feels judged by God, and it ultimately results in her withdrawing from church.

Her dad also references a positive relationship with God through his pastor and church as part of his recovery from drug addiction. Johanna questions that relationship later when it appears to lead him to do hurtful things.

Violent Content – Trigger Warning for Bullying and Gun Violence
Descriptions of an accidental shooting and Johanna’s imaginings of what might have happened.

Kids at school say cruel things to her. In one instance, two boys demand that a teacher search Johanna’s bag “just in case” she’s carrying a gun. A doctored photo of Johanna shooting her mother appears online and at school.

One man punches another man in the face.

Drug Content
Johanna takes Xanax from someone else’s prescription. At a dinner party with her friend’s family, she gets drunk. She learns that her father became a drug addict in prison, and that he used to sell pot.

Note: I received a free copy of ACCIDENTAL in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

Review: Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Cracked Up to Be
Courtney Summers
Wednesday Books
Published (re-release) February 4, 2020

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Goodreads

About Cracked Up to Be

When “Perfect” Parker Fadley starts drinking at school and failing her classes, all of St. Peter’s High goes on alert. How has the cheerleading captain, girlfriend of the most popular guy in school, consummate teacher’s pet, and future valedictorian fallen so far from grace?

Parker doesn’t want to talk about it. She’d just like to be left alone, to disappear, to be ignored. But her parents have placed her on suicide watch and her conselors are demanding the truth. Worse, there’s a nice guy falling in love with her and he’s making her feel things again when she’d really rather not be feeling anything at all.

Nobody would have guessed she’d turn out like this. But nobody knows the truth.

Something horrible has happened, and it just might be her fault.

My Review

I’m a fan of Courtney Summers’ writing and the often heartbreaking stories she boldly tells of girls who are angry and sad and recovering from trauma.

It’s interesting to me that there’s so much emphasis on the characters as unlikeable. I totally see why people classify them that way. And there’s one of her books where I really struggled with liking the main character, but it’s definitely not this one.

Parker’s clearly a mess and in the midst of a pretty sharp downward spiral. There’s a constant tug of war in her over punishing herself for her past mistakes and yet still wanting to be loved despite them, even though she doesn’t feel like she deserves it.

I’m often really moved by the community element in the stories I read, and the community around Parker in CRACKED UP TO BE definitely moved me. Her friends and teachers aren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But they care about Parker, and in their sometimes weird, sometimes broken, sometimes imperfect ways, they continue to reach out to her and try to help her in her recovery. That really got to me. And in a way I thought it showed other sides of Parker than she wanted to show us in her version of her story.

I saw other readers comment that they were driven to know what had happened to Parker. It remains a mystery through most of the book, but it drove me forward. Her behavior convinced me that something terrible had happened, and I knew that either she would have to face it or be destroyed by it.

CRACKED UP TO BE is, at times, a difficult/dark read, but I spent every page rooting for Parker, hoping for her to find a breakthrough and be able to start healing. It’s a great book for fans of angsty stories like WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart and YOU’LL MISS ME WHEN I’M GONE by Rachel Lynn Solomon.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Most of the characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently. Some crude/sexual comments.

Romance/Sexual Content – Trigger Warning
Kissing between boy and girl. References to sex. Brief, disjointed description of a rape. It’s more a snapshot description of the scene and then the realization that it’s a rape.

Spiritual Content
Parker and her friends attend a private Catholic school. One scene takes place in the school’s chapel.

Violent Content – Trigger Warning
A couple very brief, violent moments. See romantic content. Also at one point a boy starts to attack a girl. References to two suicide attempts.

Drug Content
Several scenes show teens drinking alcohol. There’s some reference to taking pills as part of a suicide attempt.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog. I received a free copy of CRACKED UP TO BE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Vanishing Girls
Lauren Oliver
HarperCollins
March 10, 2015

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads | Book Depository

About VANISHING GIRLS

Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara’s beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged.

When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it’s too late.

My Review

I read VANISHING GIRLS in the middle of a suspense binge. I like that it blended suspense elements with psychological elements. Nick is a complex character. She wants to be close to her sister, but has a lot of feelings of guilt and resentment toward her.

Weirdly, VANISHING GIRLS is the second suspense book I read this summer where the main character works at a theme park. (The other is TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET in which Ellery works at a horror-themed park.) I had some parts of the plot related to the theme park figured out pretty quickly. Other things took me completely by surprise.

One big twist didn’t make sense to me. It’s one of those moments that turns your whole perception of the story on its head. I love those kinds of moments. I love looking back through the big moments earlier in the book to see how the new information changes what was really happening there. But one moment didn’t seem to fit with the new reality. So I got kind of caught up on that.

On the whole, I think VANISHING GIRLS is an interesting book, and some of the issues it deals with are big issues. I definitely appreciate that and think it’s awesome that this novel addresses an issue that most people don’t want to talk about. I think I like PANIC by Lauren Oliver better, but it ‘s a different kind of story– more community-oriented whereas so much of VANISHING GIRLS is about what’s happening in Nick’s head.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Characters are white and straight.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
A girl and boy kiss. References to sex. A girl and her boyfriend kiss while both are topless. He asks her to have sex with him, but she refuses.

References to child pornography. Someone finds an image of a teenage girl posing topless.

Spiritual Content
Dara and Nick’s aunt believes in energy and crystals and seances. The girls don’t buy into her beliefs.

Violent Content
Some brief descriptions of a violent car accident. A man threatens a teenage girl.

Drug Content 
Several scenes show teens drinking. Dara has a history of smoking pot and experimenting with other drugs like mushrooms and cocaine.

Note: This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing but which help support this blog.

Review: The Radius of Us by Marie Marquardt

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , , ,

The Radius of Us
Marie Marquardt
St. Martin’s Griffin
Available January 17, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Gretchen lives a small life. It started the night a man forced her to the ground and then told her to run, his own terror taking hold of her. Now she keeps to the small safe neighborhood surrounding her home, places where nothing bad can happen. And then she meets the boy who looks like him. Like the one who attacked her. When she meets Phoenix, though, she isn’t afraid. Something about the way he listens, the way he asks the right questions, the way he carries his own trauma and fear, makes her trust him. Soon she’s tangled up in his life and the desperate attempt to save him and his brother from death at the hand of gang members waiting for him back in Ilopango. To stay safe, he must be granted asylum in the US, a rare occurrence for El Salvadoran refugees.

On its face, this is a simple romance. Sad girl meets sadder boy. Both find that to love they must be brave and work toward healing. Underneath that simple story is a deeper, more heartrending one. This is the story of a boy whose home town gave him two choices: live by the gang or die by it. It’s the story of a small Atlanta suburb and the community thousands of miles from El Salvador still affected by the destruction of gang violence.

I feel like I’m not doing a very good job talking this book up because it’s such a serious topic. There are some light moments in which Phoenix and Gretchen joke around. At one point, she makes it her mission to find pupusas, a delicacy that Phoenix remembers from home and craves but can’t find in the US, and that whole adventure is fun and sweet. Phoenix meets a couple who own a tattoo shop (and also remove tattoos) and befriends them. Their quirky personalities brighten up several scenes, and they offer some timely wisdom.

This is a little darker than Marquardt’s first novel, but still definitely worth reading. It took me some time to acclimate to Phoenix’s voice, but other than that, I really enjoyed the story. Definitely add this one to your list if you’re looking for an unusual romance or book that explores social issues.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Cultural Elements
Phoenix and his brother are from El Salvador. He lives in the US during the story but vividly remembers events in his home in Ilopango.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency. The sections from Phoenix’s point-of-view contain a lot more profanity than the sections from Gretchen’s point-of-view.

Romance/Sexual Content
Some scenes show kissing between a boy and girl. At one point the two fall asleep together fully clothed. They briefly discuss waiting to have sex.

Phoenix lives under the guardianship of an older lesbian couple. Phoenix mentions seeing them kiss a couple of times.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Gretchen remembers being attacked (not sexually). Phoenix recalls some brutal gang violence and bullying. One boy shoots another from a car.

Drug Content
Gretchen’s (still underage) college boyfriend orders a beer with dinner. No one checks his ID.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

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