This book has quieted me in a way that is really rare. Usually when I finish a book I feel this strongly about I want to shout at everyone about it, but this one has really shut me up. This one feels bigger than anything I can say about it, important and special and so difficult, so brutal. A stark look at the way girls--in particular, one girl who was raped--are treated, by authority figures and men and boys and mothers and each other, at the ghosts that they carry and the defenses they build. All of the female characters in this book are breathtaking, flawed and full. Some of Summers' best, and all of Summers' girls are so great. The writing, too, is some of the best I've read from her or from anyone, as tense and urgent as the content, beautiful and heartbreaking ("And then I'm ready"; "You should have believed me"). 
 I read Romy's story in a little over five hours and then I fell asleep thinking about her and then I woke up thinking about her and I'm still thinking about her and I won't stop. She and her story are powerful and aching and vital. She's worth the time.