Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

Those who have read my review of Cracked Up to Be might remember me saying that wasn't the book which made me fall in love with Summers' writing. That honour belongs to this book right here.

Some Girls Are is not an easy book to read but trust me, it is so, so worth it. It's gritty, it's powerful, it's so ugly at times that it can drive you into despair but there's something beautiful about the emotional punch it packs. Essentially, this tells the story of a queen bee's fall from grace and it holds nothing back. This is bullying at its very worst. Does it cross the line into unrealistic? I really, really hope so. I don't want to believe that the stuff in this book actually happens on a regular basis.

The hardest thing to read though is the ending. Why? Because there's no satisfying revenge! Throughout the whole novel I was screaming for Regina to retaliate, do something to bring them down. And to be fair she does, it just isn't nearly enough. Then again though, this also adds to the realism of the book. Sometimes people do get away with terrible stuff.

The ending was annoying for another reason too in that it didn't quite satisfy me. In some ways, an open ending was the perfect way to end it but at the same time some closure would have been nice. This is clearly a feature of Summers' writing though in general, given I had the same feeling after finishing Cracked Up to Be and This is Not a Test. Another feature of Summers' writing is great minor characters. Every person in this book feels like they could be real and it's wonderful to read a book with such depth.

Personally, I think this is a book that every girl (if not everyone) should read at some point in their lives. It's difficult to say that I enjoyed reading it because it is fairly brutal but I definitely loved it. Any book which can promote such strong emotions without resorting to cheap methods deserves credit.

Overall Score:

.5