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Available now from St Martins Griffin

Source: Purchased Copy.

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. 

Sadly I’m nearly at the end of my “Courtney Summers catch up” with only one book to go now, and with “Some Girls Are” this authors place on my must read list has headed way up to somewhere near the top.

I’ve long been fascinated by the whole “High School Popularity Hierarchy” thing, which completely passed me by as I drifted through secondary school here in the UK, where things are similar yet very different and in “Some Girls Are” Ms Summers brings the whole social structure that can exist in that bubble into razor sharp and often quite frightening focus. A commentary on how absolutely cruel human beings, and most especially teenager’s, can be to each other, this was a gripping and riveting read that I went through in record time even for me, due to my complete inability to put it down.

Regina is a bitch. No getting around that – on her way to becoming Queen of the school Anna’s right hand girl, she has bullied and villified many others, never once missing a step. When the tables are turned and she finds herself on the wrong end of such intimidation, the only people she can hope to find solace with are the very ones she has hurt in the past. As she struggles to cope in a very different environment and starts to examine her own responsibilities and attitudes, it is compelling, addictive and captivating reading.

Ms Summer’s writing style is frank, realistic and doesnt pull punches – it has a way of drawing you right to the heart of the matter in record time and boy, does she ever give you something to think about. Highly emotive and yet extremely down to earth, the characters once more pop off the page and eat into your soul. I could not bring myself to like Regina much even as she is suffering – the question as to whether or not she deserves everything she gets is cleverly constructed and intelligently embedded into the narrative and the actions (and inactions) of every character is oh so terribly likely and quite often breathtakingly vicious. But hey Some Girls Are….and don’t go thinking that the boys get a pass here, the title could  easily have been very different.

The relationship between all of  the characters is stunningly drawn – casual cruelty interspersed with seemingly just as casual acts of kindness, the whole thing has a flow and depth to it that I havent found done so well in any other YA fiction I’ve read – and the fact that is is all based in blunt simple life reality makes it all the more emotional and thought provoking. Redemption is never easy – and there is no magic button here, no happy or unhappy ending, it just is what it is. A fictional story that could absolutely be nothing more nor less than someones truth. Once more I am undone.

Clever clever astute writing. Never have I been so sure about saying “Highly Recommended”.

Happy Reading Folks!