BOOK REVIEW: Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

This is a book review for Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers.

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.

Did you ever read one of those books that gave you a pit in the middle of your stomach after the first chapter because you just knew what was going to happen? Yeah, this was one of those books for me. And I don't mean to say that the book was predictable. It wasn't. But girls can be. The book starts with Regina and her friends at a party. Regina is the designated driver and everyone else is drunk. While Regina's best friend Anna is passed out, Anna's boyfriend tries to rape Regina. Regina makes the decision to keep this to herself because she is afraid Anna won't believe her. But then one of Regina's frenemies (Kara) tells Anna that Regina and Donnie had sex. Suddenly, one of the members of the Fearsome Fivesome is being frozen out.

This book was like a punch in the gut. All of the bitterness and hatred that Regina experienced was palpable. I could feel her pain, as well as her anger. Regina is not an easy character to like. Throughout the book, we learn a lot about Regina, mainly that she was a bully who dished out a lot of the same behavior that she is now suffering through. She is not a very likable character and part of me enjoyed that she was a bully who was now being bullied. But it says something about the author that I can feel so much sympathy for a girl who probably doesn't deserve a lot of it. She doesn't get sympathy from the kids she used to bully, kids she is now trying to ingratiate herself with because she doesn't like to be alone. I loved her relationship with Michael. As one of the people she bullied, he doesn't cut her any slack, yet he still sympathizes with all the hell she is being put through. Yes, a romance eventually develops but it is slow and steady, as it should be considering all she put him through. Regina is a girl who gives as good as she gets and the character growth in this book is as slow as the romance. There were parts of the book where I wanted to shake Regina and make her see that the stuff she is doing out of revenge is almost as bad as what the girls are doing to her. When the book ends, I want to believe that Regina realized what she was doing and realized all of her mistakes. But I am not sure that's the case. As Michael said, "Some girls are just fucked up."

Buy/Borrow/Skip: Buy! This is such an emotional and powerful book, definitely a must read.