REVIEW for Some Boys

Thank you to SourceBooks Fire for allowing me to read an e-galley of this book.

TITLE:               Some Boys

AUTHOR:          Patty Blount

GENRE:             YA

RATING:          

I very rarely give a book 5 stars, but this book blew me away.

Blount writes a hard and raw story of what date rape can do - not only to the victim, but also to the people around the "accused".  

From the opening paragraph, the voices of Grace and Ian are represented, but what makes this book unique is that while Grace is the victim, Ian is actually a friend of the boy who is accused of having raped her.  In fact, not only are they friends and Lacrosse team members, Ian was the one who found Grace after the rape.

While I am not usually a fan of the alternating voice style, it really works here - mainly because the book puts in clear view how one incident (and then a series of smaller ones) can be experienced by two different people who then interpret the incident in very different ways, each putting their own slants and bias on the event.

Of course, Grace is completely cast aside when she accuses one of the high school's most popular jocks of rape.  From then on, life becomes a nightmare for Grace, because she was drunk and because she dresses seductively and because and because and because.  

I found myself so mad - why was Grace treated so horribly by both adults and the YA in her life?  soooo frustrating and more so because this is the harsh reality  of many rape victims.  

I also found myself wanting to whack Ian in the head for being so wishy washy at times, it was sooooo annoying, but I think it also accurately represented the struggle he was going through trying to progressively find excuses for the horrid behaviour of his friend.

I think this book would have worked better if the "romance" aspect was removed, in fact, this story can easilly stand on his own without it.

I loved, loved, every word written and, if I did not always like Ian (and definitely hated Zac) Rachel was a star here.  Very well done.