"Well, you know what I say?" Damon chimed in, blowing out a stream of smoke. "As long as they're old enough to crawl, they're in the right position." 
 The right position as in....doggy-style. His 'jokey' comment is basically aimed at toddlers. The fact he made a jokey comment about raping toddlers, made me make a noise of revulsion. Seriously. With a full out body shudder. 
 Erika is also one of the stupidest female leads, I've had the misfortune to encounter in a while. Throughout the entire story, I found it hard to conjure up much sympathy for her, even when the threat of gang-rape loomed in the air. I know that makes me sound like a cold-hearted witch. But it goes to show, how much I was being alienated by how she being portrayed. She likes burning houses, and breaking people's skulls in when it suits her fine - but the moment, it's turned against her, she's crying like a little girl for Michael repeatedly. What's BEYOND exasperating, is then she is given a "mythical backbone" and instead of backing away from certain situations, she goes back towards it, saying something like, "I'm a strong woman, and I won't run away." I wasn't impressed. The strongest female is someone who is not afraid to make a tactical retreat when needed. Gather reinforcements. Erika had the sensitivity of a bull in a china shop, and bleated about being concerned for her mother, but conveniently forgot all about her, if there was promise of sex with Michael - who she's pretty sure is connected to the 'disappearance' of her mother!!! Or at least his friends, Damon and Will are. 
 Also there are some editing errors. 
 Dialogue not phrased properly at least once. A spelling error at least once. Erika mentions talking to her mother on the phone, and that it was just a threat from Damon after all....but then couple of pages letter, the call had never taken place. MAJOR plot-error. 
 Also I didn't know how to feel about Erika being used as therapy. 
 Oh, Kai's got sexual issues? 
 Let's bang Erika, it'll go away! 
 Another thing... 
 Kai... 
 He's there when Michael's performing cunnilingus. When Michael shags her for the 1st time, I almost expected the mask to come off and it to be Kai!!! And then he engages in some kinda threesome near the end of the book....stop screwing with my head.....when Damon kidnaps Erika, I half expected him to shag her for therapy too, and then Will to come along....and basically a free-for-all.... 
 I'm not averse to a menage scene, but god damn....I felt like I was reading sexual fantasy after sexual fantasy, rather than getting to the deep family matters, like Trevor orchestrating everybody, and Michael...man I don't think he apologized ONCE for all the things he and his mates did to Erika. I don't think he even felt that bad about it. When she confronts him at the party being held right after she lets them know they ruined her life for NOTHING, he looked pretty damn sure and confident of himself. And then he comes and has sex with Erika...and it's all A-FUCKING-OKAY.... 
 Oh my god. 
 Does it look like I despise this book? 
 No. 
 I don't despise it. I read all of it, didn't I? If this hadn't been mentioned by a friend in passing, and I'd stumbled across this randomly on the library shelf, I would've put it back at several points. But I didn't. Which meant there was a certain addictive quality to it. I admit in the early chapters - I even toyed about giving it 4 stars! Revenge story + Hana Dori Yango scenario - yes please! Erika killed it for me. How she reacted to most situations. Sometimes I had hope for her, but if it dies an early Death, it can't be brought back. Because I won't care if aforementioned character is about a millimeter away from being gang raped or murdered or whatever. I didn't want an HEA! Stories like these should end up bloody, with the body count high. Then maybe....I would've given this a 3. 
 For me, the age of consent never rankled that much - except the four boys kept mentioning she was underage A LOT. Here in England, the consent age is 16, so a 16-year-old could bugger off with a 70-year-old and the law can't say anything about it pretty much. I think it's different in America though. And the fact the underage thing was mentioned so many bleeding times, left an unsavory taste in my mouth. And when Michael made her dress up in school uniform? And Damon was charged with statutory rape? (His backstory was very interesting - however brief) - it all left a weird feeling. Although, technically I'm cool with 16-year-olds having sex with whomever they choose. 
 God, this turned into a long rant. 
 ....