An excellent book that is painfully difficult to read, Reality Boy tells the story of 17-year-old Gerald, completely walled off and consumed by anger stemming back to his horrific childhood -- a childhood made all the worse by the fact that it was broadcast on reality TV and lives on via YouTube to haunt him forever. Gerald is hopeless and isolated when we meet him, only somewhat joking when he refers to jail as his most likely future path, until he meets a girl who forces him to start coming out from behind his walls and inner worlds and start living in the now. 
 Reading about Gerald's childhood is awful and uncomfortable, and it's impossible to read this book and not feel angry on his behalf. Fortunately, we get to see growth and change over the course of the novel, so that even though it's bleak, things do look up by the end. 
 A. S. King's writing is powerful, and she has a gift for getting insider her characters' heads. Highly recommended. 
 Review copy courtesy of Little Brown via NetGalley. Visit Bookshelf Fantasies to read my full review.