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.
Tensions grow and the abuse worsens as the final days of senior year march toward an explosive conclusion in this dark new tale from the author of Cracked Up To Be.
Well, I’m torn on this one, that’s for sure. I don’t know how to rate it. On the one hand, I really really liked it. On the other hand a lot of the things that happened in the book annoyed me so much!! Ugh, what to do? What to do? How to rate?
By far this is one of the realist books on bullying that I’ve ever read. Actually, I can’t think of that many that I’ve read about bullying but this one stands out. These girls are MEAN. And not the funny mean, just cruel mean. And no one stands up for anybody. Sheesh, we have to teach our kids to stick together and be leaders, not followers!
I’m sorry to say that I was not a fan of Regina. I know that some people believe that she’d changed and redeemed herself (sort of) but I didn’t see it. I would have felt bad for what happened to her but still would have not liked her. She was mean. And she didn’t really change.
Her obsession with Anna was downright creepy. I find it crazy that the whole school feared her. I just didn’t get the need to impress Anna. She had flunkies for goodness sakes! She didn’t even do her own dirty work! You mean to tell me that two or three girls couldn’t have gotten together and gave Anna a good “talking to” *wink*?! She’s only that way because people let her be that way. Get a backbone people!
Anyway, for Regina, everything turned back to Anna. “Tell Anna the truth”, Anna this, Anna that. I need to speak to Anna. Anna, please, Anna, Anna, Anna. Blah, blah, blah. That irked me so much. She was supposed to be your best friend. If she was willing to go through those extremes and ditch you without even hearing your side, then she wasn’t really her friend in the first place. Why couldn’t Regina get that? I mean, I know she knew it, but why didn’t she realize it?
Sure, you can argue that Regina was scared, so that’s why she did it, but it doesn’t make it right and it was so very hard for me to feel bad for her. I understood why she couldn’t just outright apologize for what she did to folks, but at the same time I still think it was selfish of her not to. She could have at least explained why she couldn’t say sorry. Instead, she came off as still cruel and icy. I could only think that if the freeze out would have happened to anyone else, then Regina would have went right along with Anna. Maybe not gung-ho, but definitely not against it.
I also felt kinda (that’s a small kind of because she was cruel as well) bad for Kara. Even Regina admits that she would never apologize to her. Yeah, Regina might have been scared, but Kara was weak. I like (sarcasm) how Regina projected all of her anger to Kara (the weak one — who she helped make that way!) and that’s it. Way to ignore the rest of the people. Just goes to show what kind of person she is, goes after the weakest of the bunch. Maybe I had high hopes for the good in these people.
I liked Michael and Liz. I like the interaction between her and Liz. It was realistic and didn’t seem forced at all. Where they are at the end of the book also came off as realistic. I would’ve gotten mad if it had worked out any other way. Maybe. I still think Michael could do better. That’s too much stress right there.
I wasn’t satisfied with the end. After all that had happened, (long spoiler – right click to highlight and read) rubbing spoiled meat and dead animals in her locker, locking her in closets, throwing her books in the water, etc, I find it hard to believe that the threat of someone telling the principal would stop Anna. She wouldn’t just give up like that. And really, she had a trump card – pages from Michael’s journal – which is much more serious. I think the ending was unsatisfying and unfinished. Nothing was resolved.
Out of all the people that I felt needed to learn something, I was most disappointed in Donnie! I don’t see anything good happening in that boys life. I can see a few rape charges in his future..
In the end, I’d still recommend people read it. It brought out my emotions and even though I didn’t like how things played out, I also could not put it down. I was actually surprised when I reached the end! I’d recommend it to any young adult interested in the topic. It’s real, sad, hopeful, and maddening. Definitely worth reading! Be forewarned that these girls (and guys) can be evil. There’s also drug use, drug selling, language, sexual assault, fighting, underage drinking, and totally mean girls.