Definitely on the stronger side of 4. I would have given it 5 stars, but I'm a dialogue person so with the lack of it I was a little thrown off. But honestly an excellent book. My heart completely broke for Melinda. Through all 200 pages she obviously she had so much to say and was just too terrified to say it. She was a scared 13/14 year old girl that just didn't know where to turn, who to go to. Her parents were never there for her unless it was to yell at her about how she was screwing up, her friends abandoned her so they wouldn't be labeled as the kind of people that are friends with the "weirdo/geek/tattletale", and her teachers were morons that didn't notice a kid in trouble. It was an intricately woven story about growing up to fast and not saying what should be said and what people need to hear. Happy I read this one.