Find my reviews on Blogger ~ Reviews by Bookish Sarah 
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 2.5 stars 
 This book is from the POV of four different teens. Two sisters and two brothers. 
 The brothers: They live in Philly with their stripper mother. Their father committed suicide years before. The older brother, Alex, is a complete mess. He blames his mother for his father's death and takes it out on everyone around him. He treats his mother with no respect, and beats on his little brother. He disrespects females in general and brings girl after girl home just to use them for sex and send them on their way. Meanwhile, the younger brother, Kyle, is about as spineless as they come. He sits back and watches all these things happen with silent detachment. He goes through his days like a statue and dreads seeing his brother when he gets home from school. 
 The sisters: They live in a small town called Cherry Hill, NJ. They have both parents, but neither one of them is the best parent around. The older sister, Katie, is the most popular girl in school. She's the Pyramid Girl for the cheerleading squad and dating the point guard for the basketball team. Life couldn't be better for her. One night, all of that changes. While drunk at a party, Katie's life is changed forever. She is left floating through life as a shell, waiting, waiting.. waiting. Meanwhile, her younger sister, Julie, is hating her more and more each day. Their mother has always treated her like she isn't good enough, like she could never measure up to Katie. She's not pretty enough, not skinny enough, just not enough. She never stops trying though, trying to gain her mother's love. Where's their father? Sitting back, letting it all happen. Oblivious. 
 Pretty soon, all four teens are counting down the days 'til summer. Summer is when they all get to vacation at the lake house, parent free. They stay with their grandparents in a bungalow village where they can forget about their lives at home. Little do they know, but this is about to change. This summer changes everything. 
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 This book is hard for me to review, but here goes.. 
 Dislikes: 
 * Adult content. This book is packed with things I would NEVER consider putting in a Young Adult novel. This is NOT for teens younger than 17. There is a multitude of cursing and derogatory terms. I can't think of even one curse word that wasn't used in this book. If I had a young teen, I would never let them read this. Not only is there insanely bad language on every single page, but the sexual content is much too graphic and gritty for young teens to be reading. I don't even think they would fully grasp some of what went on in this novel. It was just packed with sex, cursing, and adult themes. It was too much. 
 * For all of the nitty-gritty, down and dirty things in this book, I expected something to happen to change it. To change how sexist and disgusting Alex was. It was disturbing and just terrible to read from his POV. It made me sick to my stomach. In the end, he never ever changed. I understand that his hate and lewd, crude behavior is supposed to be because his mom is a stripper and cheated on his father, drove him away to kill himself.. but at least he could have gotten help or something, changed his ways, right? No. It was like all that nasty, offensive behavior was for nothing. For shock value, I guess. 
 * I don't find this story very realistic. I know some, if not all, of these things happen in real life, but this was overkill. 
 Likes: 
 * The writing. I enjoyed the writing style very much, and even though this story was angry, sad, and depressing.. the writing was very much moving. 
 * A+ for drama. I think the extreme dramatics of this book is why I read it in just 5 hours. It kept me going, and I admit, I did want to know what fate these four teens would end up with. This book was never boring. Hard to read, but entertaining none the less. 
 Overall: 
 This book is tough. It's a ball of pain and sadness, anger and hopelessness. You will read the whole book, waiting, just waiting for these disturbed kids to get better. To end up with something better, to get help. You need to know, it doesn't have a happy ending. There's a pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel, but not all parties involved in this gritty tale get to bask in that light. It's full of drama, and there is a life lesson here. You have to dig, and dig deep to find it, but it is there. I don't recommend this to people who can't stomach the lewd and crude. Don't read this if you are a feminist, no no. You'll get offended from page one and put it down. I also don't think anyone under 17 years of age should read this. If it was a movie, it'd be rated R, no doubt. If you decide to give this book a shot, do not tread lightly. 
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 Book source: NetGalley 
 Publisher: Flux Books