JESUS THIS WAS DARK. So very dark. If you love your ya with complex characters, How to Break a Boy is truly for you. There are so many issues touched on in this one: bullying, grief, alcoholism, relationships, revenge everything. Devore does an excellent job portraying small town life (no, really...her tiny South Carolina town description was so spot on) and the need to get out. These characters are heartbreaking and raw and honestly I don't know that I've read a contemporary quite this real in a long time. 
 READ IT.