Published: January 2010 by St. Martin's Griffin
Format: Paperback, 246 pages
Buy: Barnes & Noble//Books-A-Million//Amazon//Book Depository
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Climbing to the top of the social ladder is hard—falling from it is even harder.
Regina Afton used to be a member of the Fearsome Fivesome, an all-girl clique both feared and revered by the students at Hallowell High... until vicious rumors about her and her best friend's boyfriend start going around. Now Regina's been "frozen out" and her ex-best friends are out for revenge. If Regina was guilty, it would be one thing, but the rumors are far from the terrifying truth and the bullying is getting more intense by the day. She takes solace in the company of Michael Hayden, a misfit with a tragic past who she herself used to bully. Friendship doesn't come easily for these onetime enemies, and as Regina works hard to make amends for her past, she realizes Michael could be more than just a friend... if threats from the Fearsome Foursome don't break them both first.
Rating: 5/5
There's a knot in my gut and now I can't eat. Courtney Summers did this to me. It's not like I shouldn't have expected it. I mean, have you ever read Courtney Summers? If you haven't, I swear to all things holy that we cannot not even be acquaintances until you go pick up one of her books. Start with the first one if you can't decide, Cracked Up to Be.
I'm trying to form my thoughts as I type. I read this in two and a half hours--according to my friend; I didn't even notice the time. I could have missed work because of this book and I wouldn't have even noticed--and the whole time there was a ever-growing mass in my stomach that worked its way up into my chest. Before I knew who Courtney Summers was, I had seen this book, read the description a few times, but never wanted to read it because I worried it bordered on chicklit, which I do not care for. I had convinced myself it would be nothing but a petty mean girl story. But once I started reading Courtney Summers, and after countless reader friends were like, READ THIS NOW, I thought, What in the world am I thinking waiting to read this?
Petty mean girls my ass. These girls, including Regina, stripped back a few layers of my emotion shield. They were so intense, so raw, and just...good god. I could attempt descriptions, but I don't feel my words would come off well. I would make them sound unrealistic, over-the-top, because from the outside looking in, that's what it seems like, but Courtney Summers blew me away with how real these characters felt. They did and said and thought things that in another book by another writer, I would have been like, "Um...are you kidding? You're joking. This...no." With this, I had the same thoughts, but they went more like this, "Oh my god! Are you fucking kidding me?! I can't believe...oh my god. Just...no way. No. Oh my god."
All. The. Feels.
While I had a few moments of wishful thinking when it came to the ending and Regina's parents, Summers had me from the beginning, twisted my organs and then shook me by the spine and said, "I'm going to torture you with feelings of all feels." On one hand, I was hating Regina for things she did before the beginning of the story, and hell, even for things during it. I had the moments of feeling she deserved many of the things that happened to her, but on the other hand, Summers had me feeling so torn and hurt for her. She showed so incredibly well how someone can be so dependent, so cowardly, so...so...screwed up, without a valid reason. Without an excuse. Regina just was. Some girls are.
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