Cracked Up to Be, Courtney Summers' debut novel, became one of my instant favorites - it made me laugh, made me cry, made me blush. It was awesome.
She's done it again with her second novel, Some Girls Are which is due out with St. Martin's Press January 5th 2010.
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.
After loving Cracked Up To Be, I was both excited and nervous to get my hands on Courtney Summers' next book. I had high expectations. Even with those high expectations, it blew me away.
I'm not going to go into too many details because I don't want to spoil a single moment of reading Some Girls Are for anyone, but Courtney Summers has such an amazing talent when it comes to emotional writing. I was fortunate enough to snag a copy of the ARC and have an evening to read it, and I was glued to the pages, sucked into Regina's world - and her life - and I laughed, cried, blushed, and even felt giddy and later a little nauseous at everything Regina faced.
The plot takes place during senior year over less than the course of a semester, and it starts just before the incident and takes readers through Regina's freeze out. I've already gushed over Regina and her voice, but the other characters shouldn't be ignored. Michael is a complex character whose feigned nonchalance at times hides a complex pattern of bitterness, depression, hope, and eventually acceptance. Even Anna, the queen of Hallowell, despite her moments of evil incarnate also has moments where you can actually identify with her (even if you really don't want to).
Written in the same minimalist style as Cracked Up To Be, Courtney delves into the gritty high school experiences with honesty and a painfully real edge. With her ability to crawl into the sometimes twisted, mean, brutal, and tormented space that is the mind of a teenage girl, she's cemented herself as one of my favorite writers.