Some Girls Are Review

TITLE Some Girls Are
AUTHOR Courtney Summers
PUBLICATION January 5th 2010 by St. Martin's Griffin
READ August 19 - 21, 2012

Climbing to the top of the social ladder is hard--falling from it is even harder. Regina Afton used to be a member of the Fearsome Fivesome, an all-girl clique both feared and revered by the students at Hallowell High... until vicious rumors about her and her best friend's boyfriend start going around. Now Regina's been "frozen out" and her ex-best friends are out for revenge. If Regina was guilty, it would be one thing, but the rumors are far from the terrifying truth and the bullying is getting more intense by the day. She takes solace in the company of Michael Hayden, a misfit with a tragic past who she herself used to bully. Friendship doesn't come easily for these onetime enemies, and as Regina works hard to make amends for her past, she realizes Michael could be more than just a friend... if threats from the Fearsome Foursome don't break them both first.

Tensions grow and the abuse worsens as the final days of senior year march toward an explosive conclusion in this dark new tale from the author of Cracked Up To Be.

"You're Anna Morrison's right hand. That's the lowest form of life on the highest part of the social ladder. There's not much to you."

I sent out a tweet one afternoon looking for recommendations for a book that was gritty & raw, one that would make me uncomfortable while reading it because it was just so real. One of the first answers was Some Girls Are, so I got it for my Kindle and dug right in. I got what I wanted. This novel felt like a punch in the gut, upon finishing it I felt like I needed a stiff drink and a nap. Some Girls Are isn't pretty, it isn't sweet, what it is, is so real that it almost hurts to read it. It's the story of Regina, who is a part of the Fearsome Fivesome, she is among the queen bees of her school, the mean girls if you will. Now, these are not nice girls and Regina relishes being in with the "in-crowd", they make people's lives hell and feel damn good about it. One night Regina finds herself almost raped by Anna Morrison's boyfriend, and with no one to turn to in a house full of drunk & high teenagers, she runs and finds solace in the wrong place. In Kara, a girl who Regina has ruined. Kara seizes the opportunity to ruin Regina and tells Anna that Regina slept with her boyfriend. Low and behold, Regina finds herself turned into the in-crowds latest victim, and they won't stop until they've ruined her.

Regina, our MC, was not a nice person. Through her memories we see that her past is full of black marks and they are slowly revealed as the story goes on. At the beginning I was certain that there was no way I would have any empathy for her, I was disgusted by what she had done. But something changes throughout the novel, we get to see her fall apart, hit rock bottom, and attempt to pick up the pieces. I truly felt that, in the end, she was remorseful and I actually ended up rooting for her. She finally finds something good in her life in Micheal, whom she had previously ruined. Micheal was a GREAT character, he was sweet and funny in a very dry way. He didn't make things easy on Regina, and rightfully so. But Micheal is not the only person Regina has wronged in her past, there's Liz & Kara, they are all characters with immense layers that I found myself feeling terrible for.

"In high school, you don't get to change. You only get to walk variations of the same lines everyone has already drawn for you."

There is a lot to make you feel uncomfortable in this novel. These people are mean, they are jaw droppingly vicious to one another but it was so real. It didn't gloss over the fighting with fakeness and teachers getting involved. And that's precisely how it was in high school, I sometimes look back and wonder if the teachers thought that if they just ignored it, it would go away. The physical, online and emotional abuse in this novel is treacherous. If you are looking for a book that is going to make you sit there with a disgusted look on your face as you think to yourself "man I really want to punch this person in the face" then this is for you. It is an emotionally charged, incredibly well written tale that showcases the darkest parts of high school.