Review Detail

I was a bit nervous going into this book. The fact that it was so blatant that Regan was a bully right from the synopsis made me worry I wouldn’t be able to connect with her or feel too sorry for her. The first few chapters put my fears to rest. I thought the way the author introduced Regan was smart. Show her vulnerable and changed right away and then flash back to before it all started.

The Regan introduced in the prologue I had an instant like for and felt for as she struggled to talk about what had happened to her. The Regan in the first chapter, three months before, almost seemed like a completely different person at first. I found myself wanting to know what had happened to make her go from how she acted in the first chapter compared to the prologue. Regan as a bully was not a likeable character but I wouldn’t say she was completely unlikeable either. She was a girl making some horrible decisions in order to keep her secrets and achieve what she needed to get her mother off her back. It never came across as justified excuses for her bullying, which I liked. After her e-mails and texts and every bullying message she’d left was exposed, it was hard watching Regan get torn down by people she considered friends. It just got worse from there and what she had to endure at that school, no one should have to go through. She was slowly changing because of it, which was great to see, and I really like the person she discovered she was. In some ways, Regan reminded me a lot of Blair from Gossip Girl, especially at the beginning.

The writing was fantastic. I found there was a specific vibe that I would feel in the writing when something bad was going to happen soon, which got my nerves worked up wondering what it would be and how much more could Regan possibly take. Regan’s anxiety attacks were so well written. Just reading them made my own chest hurt in sympathy.

I thought there was a lot said in this book that needed to be said and it was powerful. Regan was forced to see just how much words can hurt, both from getting words flung at her and the ones she’d said about others. She saw how easily people will turn on you just to save themselves from becoming a target. She experienced it, she fought to survive it, and she wanted to change it when too many people stay silent.

A very rewarding book that will hopefully make people who read it think twice before they say something about someone because words do hurt.