“Hey, look. It’s that girl. That rape girl, right?”I shut my eyes. That rape girl.This book is a short, quick read but don’t let that fool you. In this short amount of pages, we get real depth and emotion. The story transitions back and forth from before Valerie was raped to after. When news breaks out about what happened, people do not believe that Adam, a Mormon with plans to become a missionary, would do such a thing and that Valerie is lying. The aftermath of this event causes Valerie to have so many mixed feelings of shame, disgust, self-doubt, and sadness.“I was pathetic. Stupid. I always ruin everything and my life is complete shit. What a dumbass.”I enjoyed this book and felt like the writing and the reactions to the situation were very truthful. We see just who is there to support Valerie, who turns their back on her and who surprisingly befriends her. I don't want to give away too much since it is a short book but I will say that her journey through this isn’t easy nor do the results end as how we hope. But life goes on and we get a glimpse of her recovery towards the end. We can only hope that this character continues making progress in the future.I applaud this author for her debut novel. I give her much credit for what she shares in her Acknowledgements and what she reveals in her bio: http://www.alinabklein.com/p/bio.html This takes a lot of courage and I can’t help but to wonder how much of this book reflects her real life. I look forward to reading more from this author.3.5 Stars
