November's Monthly Recap

Here's the recap for November!

On the blog:


November was Sex in Teen Lit Month II! Seeing as there was a schedule for the whole month which I added links to, I'm just going to point you in the direction of that post, rather than replicate it. I really enjoyed the event! It was great getting to discuss all these books either in reviews or discussion, and interviewing the authors or having them write guest posts. A really fantastic month, with at least one post per day! Do check it out if you've yet to read any of the posts, I think you'll find it interesting!

Elsewhere online:

There have been some really brilliant posts and articles online this month. There's some really great reading for you ahead if you've missed any of thses.

• Adam Silvera wrote a incredibly brave post, Happiness Isn't Just an Outside Thing, about his suicidal thoughts. It's a hard read, but it's an important one.
• On a related note, The School Library Journal has a fantastic post on Tackling Mental Health Through YA Lit. The post is for librarians, but still a really interesting read with great mental health in YA recommendations.
• 14th - 20th November was Transgender Awareness Week, and Gay YA had a series of fascinating posts, starting with Introduction to Transgender Awareness Week Series.
• The New York Public Library has a post, Telling the Stories of Trans Communities, recommending YA novels with transgender characters - Dahlia Adler, who tweeted the post, also recommends Cam Girl by Leah Raeder (NA), If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo, and Bad Boy by Leah Raeder (out 2016) (NA).
• And you might want to check out this great thread of tweets from John Hansen on trans YA novels by trans authors.
• Nicole at Feed Your Fiction Addiction has a great post on How to Keep Yourself Motivated and Organized for Reading Challenges.
• There's a wonderful post over on Parade, where 23 Bestselling YA Authors Share 'The Book I'm Most Thankful For...'. And the bloggers of Barnes & Noble share the 11 books they're thankful for.
• There was some uproar towards the end of the month over comments made my Scott Bergstrom in a Publisher's Weekly article about his self-published book being bought and an interview with The Pen Muse. Lots of people had a lot to say about Bergstrom and his comments.
• There has been some really fantastic responses to this on Twitter, from people like Dahlia Adler (no thread, but you need to follow her anyway), Tess Sharpe (again, no thread, but follow), and Heidi Heigel, which you should check out.
• You should also check out the #MorallyComplicatedYA hashtag.
• And this blog post from Victoria Aveyard, where she answers the question, What Are Your Thoughts on Scott Bergstrom and His Thoughts on YA?
• And Adrianne Russel's post This Isn't Complicated At All .
• Zakiya Jamal on Buzfeed Books shared 17 YA Novels That Are Definitely Morally Complicated.
• Katherine Locke started Our Walled Garden, which is full of recommendations for #MorallyComplicatedYA.
• On the School Library Journal Site, Kelly Jensen posts, Do We Honor Girls' Stories? The Double Standard of YA Lit.

Now, how was your month? Did you read anything interesting online? Let me know!

Sex in Teen Lit Month II Wrap Up & Giveaway Winners

And so it ends! Sex in Teen Lit Month II is now over! I hope you guys have enjoyed reading all the posts and reviews as much as I have had putting it together. It's been awesome, and it shows just how important the topic of sex in YA still is, six years on from the first event.

I have a lot of thank you's to make. Thank you to all the people who got involved with Sex in Teen Lit Month II (names and links are at the bottom of this post); the bloggers who wrote really insightful guest posts, and the authors who took the time to either answer my questions or write guest posts, giving the topic the seriousness it deserves and such thought-provoking answers.

I also want to thank the authors who wrote the books I read for this event, those I didn't get to, and those that authors are continuing to write and will release in the future. This really is a topic that I feel is really important, and I will keep reading these books and highlighting how wonderful they are.

Also, I want to thank those who are writing and publishing books on sex crimes. There have been a few that have come out over the past six years, but it's a topic that seems to be in the spotlight quite a bit right now in the publishing world, what with three books published on rape and rape culture in the last year. Thank you for continuing to highlight this serious topic, and raising your voices in an effort to make a change. You're all completely wonderful, and I'm in such awe of you.

Thank you to everyone who read the posts for the event, commented on them, re/tweeted them, and discussed them with me on Twitter. Getting a conversation on the subject was one of my aims of the event - the other being to bring these fantastic books to your attention. To new readers and followers who have started reading Once Upon a Bookcase because of Sex in Teen Lit Month II, I hope you stick around for my future posts.

And now, the giveaway winners! The winner of the Sex in Teen Lit Month II bundle is:

Angela K!
And the winners of a Easy and Breakable by Tammara Webber are:

Tracy H & Sally C!
Thank you for entering, and bad luck to those who didn't win. To those who did win, you have 48 hours to respond to my emails with your details to send the prizes to you, or new winners will be picked. I hope you enjoy the books they've won - I do hope you'll stop by and let me know what you thought of them once you've read them!

I don't know when I'll be doing another blog event, but I'm going to have a break for a while and not even think about it. Get back to reading whatever books I want whenever I want to. But Sex in Teen Lit Month II has been really awesome and a lot of fun! Thank you for joining me during this event.

Contributors:

Tom Ellen & Lucy Ivison / Non Pratt / Judith Tewes / Lauren James / Jenn Bennett / Hayley Sprout / Donna Freitas / Carrie Mesrobian / Daria Snadowsky / Alice Nuttall / Kirsty Eagar / Tammara Webber / Courtney Summers / Louise O'Neill / Robin York

Review: Asking For It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture and What We Can Do About It by Kate Harding

Asking For It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture and What We Can Do About It by Kate Harding (proof) - Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s arrest. Congressman Todd Akin’s "legitimate" gaffe. The alleged rape crew of Steubenville, Ohio. Sexual violence has been so prominent in recent years that the feminist term "rape culture" has finally entered the mainstream. But what, exactly, is it? And how do we change it?

In Asking for It, Kate Harding answers those questions in the same blunt, bullshit-free voice that’s made her a powerhouse feminist blogger. Combining in-depth research with practical knowledge, Asking for It makes the case that twenty-first century America—where it’s estimated that out of every 100 rapes only 5 result in felony convictions—supports rapists more effectively than victims. Harding offers ideas and suggestions for addressing how we as a culture can take rape much more seriously without compromising the rights of the accused. From Goodreads.

Asking For It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture and What We Can Do About It by Kate Harding, is, as you can probably tell, non-fiction. It's not YA non-fiction either. Technically, it doesn't work for Sex in Teen Lit Month II, but seeing as the last week and a half has been focused on sex crimes in YA, rape in particular, I thought this was an ideal time to review it.

This book. This. Book. I cannot even begin to tell you how incredible it is. With all the YA novels on rape and rape culture I've been reading recently, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on what constitutes rape, but I had my eyes opened by Asking For It in so many ways.

Before reading, I was slightly worried Asking For It would be quite an academic text, and one I would struggle to get my head round. But it's not, it's so accessible, I had no problem understanding anything Harding explained. Considering people tend not to understand exactly what constitutes as rape and who is at fault, Asking For It being so accessible is fantastic, because you're left without any doubt whatsoever. Harding tells us, "These are the facts, these are the figures, this is the law - this is rape," with a voice that is angry, using sarcasm to illustrate her points.

Harding talks us through the seven different rape myths that are behind rape culture, and throughout the book we are shown how these myths have formed part of society's consciousness, and have, time and again, caused us to lay blame for so many rapes and sexual assaults at the feet of the victims. We're shown actual cases and how they were dealt with by the police, by defence attorneys, in court rooms. Harding even covers how American  pro-life politicians have discussed rape and just how badly they have got it wrong, as well as false accusations, how we tell women to protect themselves to protect rape and sexual assault but don't tell men not to rape, how TV shows, the media and pop culture talk about or represent rape and sexual assault, and even trolls and Gamergate.

I can't review this book with any kind of justice. Not only because I have a proof I'm unable to quote, but also because I just want to discuss every aspect of this book, and you're better off just buying it and reading it yourself. This is a book that really should be read by everyone; men and women; teenagers and adults; police, lawyers, judges; those who might some day be sitting on the jury for a rape/sexual assault (i.e. again, everyone), journalists, TV and movie writers. Everyone. If we all read this book, if we all understood exactly what constitutes as rape, if we understood how and why society shouts down the victims almost every time a rape is reported, if we understood why so few victims report rape, why so few of the rapes reported are convicted, perhaps this would all change.

Asking For It is just one book (and Harding does discuss others on rape and sexual assault), but it's a book I feel really could create change. You really should read this book. Rape and sexual assault survivors need you to.

Thank you to Da Capo Lifelong Books for the reading copy.



Buy from:




Published: 27th June 2015
Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
Kate Harding's Website

Sex in Teen Lit Month II - Interview with Robin York

Today, I am so excited to have author Robin York dropping by the blog to talk about her debut NA novel Deeper and revenge porn.

What inspired you to write Deeper?

The idea actually came from my publisher, Random House, who asked me to consider writing a New Adult romance (a romance whose protagonists are in the 18-25 age range) for the Bantam imprint. I’d been following the rise of New Adult and was interested in trying my hand in it, but I didn't have a story in mind immediately. I did know that I wanted to write a New Adult romance set at a small liberal arts college. It wasn't until I read an article online about revenge porn — and then stumbled into reading the comments, which were appalling — that I found the story I wanted to tell.

One of the primary focuses of Deeper is revenge pornography. Can you tell us what this is, and why you were moved to write about it?

Revenge porn — also called “non-consensual pornography” — involves a perpetrator sharing photographs and videos of the target in a public forum (usually on the Internet) without the target’s consent. In the stereotypical case, a man will publish intimate pictures of his ex-girlfriend or ex-fiancée on one of a number of websites that exist for this purpose, and then a bunch of other guys will view them, comment on the woman’s appearance, smear her morals, and share the pictures all over the place. These sites often also publish women’s social media details — Facebook page, Twitter handle, and so forth — so that the men who see the pictures can take their hateful comments to those pages, as well.

As I mentioned above, I first located the story for Deeper in the comments of an online article about revenge porn. What I noticed immediately was how hurtful and victim blaming so many of these comments were. So many of them said the same thing: She shouldn't have shared those pictures if she didn't want this to happen to her. These girls should be more careful. They shouldn't trust people who don’t deserve it. They should know better -- everything that goes on the Internet is forever. The comments made me so angry, because it seemed so obvious to me that revenge porn is a breach of trust and an act of emotional violence -- and the person who is responsible for this act isn't the person whose body appears in the photographs and videos but the person who publishes them.

I wondered what kind of effects comments like these might have on a college-age woman who had been the target of revenge porn. How would she feel about herself, her sexuality, her reputation, her future? How would she carry on, and how would the experience change her? Particularly if this young woman was smart, with a bright future, and so many of the comments suggested that she’d been “stupid” to trust the man who published her pictures — stupid to let him take the pictures in the first place, and stupid to think she deserved anything but for those images to follow her around for the rest of her life.

Revenge porn has such devastating effects for the victim. Trust is betrayed, the victims feel violated and exposed, people are looking at them differently, and complete strangers leave disgusting comments online. And the internet being what it is, it's very easier for such photos to suddenly go viral. Yet, as Deeper shows, revenge pornography is not a crime.

Right — not most places. In the United States, it’s not a federal crime. Several states (including my own, Wisconsin) have enacted legislation that imposes penalties for sharing intimate photographs online without consent, however, and it’s starting to look as though this is a trend that will continue. I know there’s been some movement in Israel, a law proposed in the UK, and some other positive steps in this direction. I'm hopeful that in five or ten years, revenge porn will be a prosecutable offense in most parts of the world.

Although what happens to Caroline is awful, I feel Deeper is less about the terrible and more about beating it and moving forward. That although it's a disgusting thing to have happened to her, it doesn't have to ruin or be the sole focus of her life. Was it important to you to show this?

Definitely. I wanted to write about a young woman whose experiences with revenge porn — and with love — begin to transform her sense of self, helping her find her way into a more adult and fully actualized version of herself. Caroline is never a passive victim, but at the beginning of the story she accepts a lot of the blame that has been directed at her. Over the course of the story, she begins to understand that the only person who can decide how she should feel about the pictures that were published of her is herself; that she’s in charge of her own future; and that she’s done nothing to be ashamed of.

The only other novel I know of that covers a similar topic as Deeper is Good Girls by Laura Ruby, which was released in 2006. Why do you think there is such a lack of discussion about non-consensual pornography, when it's something we hear a lot more of now?

Certainly, discussion of non-consensual pornography has picked up since I began working on Deeper, but it’s still limited primarily to Internet media. I haven’t seen any other fictional approaches to the topic.

I would argue that this is because of sexism. Sexism frames our entire public conversation about non-consensual pornography. Sexism was behind all of those online comments that so enraged me — the sexist assumption that female sexuality is a problem, that women should be ashamed of their bodies, of their sexual activity, of themselves.

Running into this, there’s also the (sexist) assumption that we only want to read novels about girls and women who are admirable, and that a woman who is the target of revenge porn necessarily is not a “heroine.”

I've read you say that the victims of revenge porn are often seen as the ones to blame for having the photos taken, rather than the person who uploaded those compromising photos. I find it absolutely incredible that people would blame the victim for doing something private and personal – never meant for anyone else’s eyes – with someone they trusted and possibly loved. It doesn't seem far from the “asking for it” excuse people throw out for rape.

Exactly. This is my point exactly. And again, this is sexism — the “asking for it” argument is inherently sexist, victim-blaming, and it’s insidious. It finds new guises for itself all the time. These are battles that we have to keep fighting again and again, every time in a new venue.

What research did you do for Deeper? Was there anything that surprised you?

I read a lot online in news media, on activist websites, and on the revenge porn websites themselves. I also spoke to several current college students about what they knew about revenge porn, whether it had happened to anyone they knew, how they would feel if it happened to them, how they thought they would handle it. I think the thing that surprised me most was that the young women I talked to kept telling me they would blame themselves. The reason for this is, I'm guessing, partially the fault of messages teenagers receive these days about how they use the Internet. Be careful, they’re told repeatedly. The Internet spreads pictures and embarrassing information so quickly. Watch what you post. Watch how you behave. Watch what you do. And I understand where these messages are coming from, but I think the risk is that they also mean that when a young woman who tries to follow the rules, to be good, is exposed online due to photographs that she consented to, she’s going to feel like she did something wrong — that she wasn't careful enough.

What do you think about how teen fiction deals with sex, generally?

I guess I’d say that teen fiction is as variably successful in dealing with success as our society at large is. There are books that do amazing and wonderful things — books that reinforce hurtful attitudes — and everything in between. Overall, though, I’d argue that teens have access to more information all the time, which has both positive consequences (easier to get questions answered about embarrassing or sensitive questions surrounding sex) and negative ones (ubiquity of porn affects early sexual experiences in a lot of bad ways) but is probably, on the whole, a good thing for teens today.

Anything else you would like to add?

I think you covered a lot of important bases! Thanks so much for asking me to participate in this important conversation.

Thank you, Robin, for such an amazing interview! Such an important topic! What are your thoughts on the issue of revenge porn?

Check out my review of Deeper, and be sure to visit Robin's website.

Bookish Spinsters: Revenge Porn/Non-Consensual Pornography

Bookish Spinsters is a weekly link-up where we discuss feminism based on a topic/question/prompt, and other feminist book bloggers and book tubers join in with their response. Feel free to join in at any time, I just ask that you link back to Bookish Spinsters. For more info and the list of future Bookish Spinsters topics, go to the Bookish Spinsters page.

This week's topic is Revenge Porn/Non-Consensual Pornography.

This is something that gets me so mad. So mad. Because, again, it's another way for people to blame women.

First up, what is revenge porn/non-consensual pornography? According to Gov.uk and The Ministry of Justice's Be Aware B4 You Share campaign, it's "the sharing of private, sexual materials, either photos or videos, of another person without their consent and with the purpose of causing embarrassment or distress."

Imagine the situation. You are in a happy sexual relationship, one in which you trust your partner. For the fun and thrill of it, and to excite your partner, you send them sexy, intimate, private photos, or perhaps you take sexy, intimate, private photos together. Several months down the line, things in your relationship go awry, and you split up. In anger or jealously or spite, or god knows why, your partner posts your intimate photos online - along with your name, your address, your social media profiles. This person you loved and trusted enough to be intimate with has betrayed that love and trust, and left you exposed to the world. Thousands of people can now see your photos if they wanted. Disgusting comments - even threatening, aggressive, frightening comments - are left on your photos, and to your social media pages. And you are blamed for being "stupid" enough for taking those photos or allowing them to be taken in the first place.

Because we're obviously not going to blame the ex who put those private photos that they were trusted with online. And we're not going to blame the awful people who write such disgusting things in the comments of those photos. Nope. The fault is with the person who's photos have been shared, for taking those photos in the first place, because there is really only one outcome when you do such a thing.

You might have noticed that I've worded the above scenario without giving gender to either "you" or the ex, because this could happen to anyone. But I have only ever heard about it happening to women. I don't know why this is. Has it happened to men? Or are women not so vengeful? Or are people not so bothered about spitting out hate in the comments of guys' photos? I'm not going to rule out that it happens to guys, but what I have heard about - the women who's photos have been shared, the women who get such vile comments - is all based in misogyny; the hatred of women. Why else would such disgusting threats be made to women who are sexual beings? However, I will state that it's not just men who share non-consensual pornography: today it was reported in The Independent that a woman - the first woman - has been jailed for revenge porn.

What's worse, is that these photos posted online are so hard to get rid of. They can be copied by others and posted elsewhere. The sites they're posted on could be in another country, and might refuse to take them down or ignore them. These photos could be around for years. They affect the victim's life for years. What if employers decide to do a quick Google search? Or potential dates? Or, in the future, simply because they're young and they think it would be fun, your children? Once those photos are posted online, they can haunt you.

But I won't to go back to the idea of the victim being stupid enought to take those photos/allow those photos be taken. Why were they taken? Because the victim trusted their partner. Isn't society really saying, then, that people shouldn't trust their partners? Which is absurd. I'm pretty sure no person who takes or allows these photos to be taken believes that the person they're with will actually share their private photos. Most of the time, if there was any real doubt, they wouldn't be taken. There's this idea that if a woman - yes, I'm saying a woman, because guys simply do not get the same crap - take these photos, even if they aren't shared, that woman is doing something wrong. Because it's not really an issue about a woman being stupid enough to trust her partner, because society still has this idea of it being wrong, or the woman being *insert any insult for a promiscuous woman here*. It's more sex-shaming. It's disgust at a woman owning her sexuality and enjoying sex. And it's simply not on.

I'd like to add that some of the time, these photos aren't taken because the woman wants to. Some times, they're taken because the woman cajoled or pressured into taking photos, which is awful. An unhealthy, controlling relationship, and obviously a partner that shouldn't be trusted, but controlling realtionships can be difficult to get out of. What I also haven't touched on are the number of young people who are sharing sexual photos in an effort to be liked or seen as cool, or unsolicited sexual photos people are sent. All of these things, things that upset or anger me, are topics for another time.

I'd like to end to say that it's fantastic that there is now a new law in England and Ireland that means those who post revenge porn can face up to two years in prison. It's awesome that this is being taken so seriously.

Stop by tomorrow when I'll have an interview with Robin York, author of NA novel Deeper, in which the main character is a victim of revenge porn, where she will be discussing this topic further with me.

And now it's time for you to share your responses to this week's topic! Join the link-up below with the URL to your Bookish Spinsters post/video, along with your name and your email address. Then check out other people's posts and lets get talking!

Review: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma (review copy) - She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But... they are brother and sister.

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending. From Goodreads.

WARNING! To review this book the way I want to, I need to include some slight spoilers. Please read no further if you're planning on reading this book and don't want it spoilt for you.

Most of the books I'm covered for the Sex Crimes part of Sex in Teen Lit Month are related to sexual assault, rape, and revenge porn, so this is a slight deviation from what you've been reading about. But it is a crime for family members to have sexual relationships with each other (well, except cousins, at least in the UK), so I thought this would be a good book to cover for the event. I knew it was going to be a difficult read, and it was. Sadly, it didn't amaze me like I hoped it would, but it's still a pretty good, though disturbing, story.

Maya and Lochan have it hard. Their dad left five years ago, and their mother is a selfish, neglectful alcoholic who is hardly ever around, so it's down to them to care for their younger siblings, Kit, Tiffin and Willa. They have to get them to school, pick them up, feed them, bath them, help with with their homework, play with them and sort out bedtimes, and do the household chores, as well as get to school themselves. They're desperate to keep social services from finding out, and only have each other to rely on. A bond has formed between them, stronger than that of any other brother and sister. Their bond develops into feelings siblings shouldn't have for each other, but Maya and Lochan find it difficult to resist the attraction between them. They want to express their love for each other, but how can they? It's against the law, it's incest.

Given it's subject matter, I've wanted to read Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma for quite a while, but also because of it's subject matter, I have been wary of it. It's not really something anyone wants to think about, is it? I am firmly in the "it's wrong!" camp, so I wasn't sure how I would react to reading this book. It made me quite uncomfortable, but because of their home life, I could understand it. The only person each has to rely on is the other. Their mother is abusive through her neglect, and having to deal with everything for five years - since Lochan was 12 and Maya was 11 - has brought the two closer, and, in my opinion, had a psychological affect on them - I don't believe they fell in love like any other couple would. I don't know if this is actually the case, I'm not a psychologist; I'm not sure if it's my own way of trying to justify and understand what happened, because I'm unable to accept or stomach the idea of two siblings falling in love that the actual truth for this story. I just found it really difficult to accept what they were doing; I felt sorry for them, but I had a problem with what they were doing. I really didn't like it when they were kissing, but when things went further, I wished they'd go back to kissing as it felt "safer", easier for me to deal with.

There's a point where Lochan has done some research into incest, which I found fascinating, but also, in my opinion, hints towards their psychological issues; he and Maya are different because of their home situation.

'There is actually precious little information to be found on consensual incest, though there is plenty on the non-consensual kind, which seems to be the only type most people think exists. I have thoroughly searched for online testimonies but found only two that had actually made it into the public domain - neither of them in the UK and both between siblings who met again as adults after being separated at birth.' (p335)

It wasn't just the fact that they were siblings that made me uncomfortable. Even if they weren't related, I'd still have serious problems with their relationship. It's so unhealthy! It's desperate and bordering on obsessive. Several times they try to keep away from each other in the romantic sense, but they struggle so much with it, they're so deeply unhappy they're almost like zombies, and it affects their health; Lochan has a panic attack when he tries to deal with staying away from Maya. This is not healthy! If this is not evidence that I'm kind of right, that there's some serious psychological issues going on with them... I don't know. It just made me so uncomfortable to read how desperately they wanted to be with each other - not sexually necessarily, just as a couple. There was no melodramatic, "I'll die without you!", but it had that kind of feel. They really just couldn't cope without each other.

Despite how uncomfortable the story made me, and my opinions of their relationship, as the book is told from the alternating points of view of both Maya and Lochan, I couldn't help but see where they were coming from. I felt for them, I felt sorry for them - again, because of problems I thought they had - but I still couldn't condone it, or root for them. Yet it still made me think, and question a few things.

'So many superficial liaisons surround me, so many guys just looking for sex, for another conquest to add to their brag-list before swiftly moving on. One might struggle to understand why anyone would embark on relationships that lack any real, meaningful emotion, yet nobody judges them for it. They are 'young', 'just having a good time', and sure, if that's what they want, why shouldn't they? But then why is it so terrible for me to be with the girl I love? Everyone else is permitted to have what they want, express their love as they please, without fear of harassment, ostracism, persecution or even the law. Even emotionally abusive, adulterous relationships are often tolerated, despite the harm they cause others. In our progressive, permissive society, all these harmful, unhealthy types of 'love' are allowed - but not ours. I can think of no other kind of love that is so totally rejected, even though ours is so deep, passionate, caring and strong that forcing us apart would cause us unimaginable pain. We are being punished by the world for just one simple reason: for having been produced by the same woman.' (p340-341)

There are a couple of sex scenes in Forbidden, though only one of actual penetration. Most of the sexual encounters are glossed over; you get the gist of what they're doing, but it's not so detailed as to know who's doing what to whom. The penetrative sex scene, however, is on the page. It's not too graphic, but you're told exactly what is going on. I have never felt so ill at ease while reading a sex scene. I was horrified, really, with every step, internally begging them to stop, to not go there, to not cross that line. I couldn't bear it. As a sex scene in a YA novel in general, it's pretty good; it's not gratuitous, and it's pretty realistic and honest. But because of the circumstances, I was just so disturbed by the whole thing, I wanted it to stop. I wanted them to stop. But there's no way this book could omit or gloss over the penetrative sex scene; it's needed for this story, it's needed for the reader's reaction.

Forbidden also has something to say about sexual abuse and the sexist ideas people have about it, and the discussion Lochan and Maya have is really interesting. Lochan and Maya know what they're doing is illegal, but, as shown in the following excerpt narrated by Maya, Lochan thinks people will believe that, rather than a consensual sexual relationship, what they have is abuse.

'"Abuse?" I exclaim in astonishment. "But who would be abusing who? In abuse, there's an attacker and a victim. How could we be seen as both abusers and abusees?"
[...]
"Maya, come on, think about it. I'd be automatically seen as the abuser and you the victim."
"Why?"
"How many cases of younger sisters sexually abusing older brothers have you read about? Come to think of it, how many female rapists and female paedophiles are there?"
"But that's crazy!" I exclaim. "I could have been the one to force you into a sexual relationship! Not physically, but by - I dunno - bribes, blackmail, threats, whatever! Are you saying that even if I'd abused you, people would still assume I was the victim just because I'm a girl and one year younger?"
Lochan nods slowly [...]. "Unless there was some really strong evidence to the contrary - an admission of guilt on your part, witnesses or something - then, yes."
"But that's so sexist, so unfair!" (p331)

I do wish their home situation was dealt with and worked out. As I've said, I think Lochan and Maya had issues that needed to be solved, and their issues at home solved - long before things got this far. They kept thinking that if social services found out about their mum's neglect, they would getting involved and put them into care. They were so sure that this would be a bad thing because they believed they would be split up, but I think that would have been better for everyone. I know the foster care system gets a lot of flack, but there are people out there who really care. My nan was a foster carer, so I know the difference a safe and secure home and being looked after by someone who genuinely cares can make. And even if they were split up, they would still get to see each other quite regularly. Going into care and getting to parents, and for the kids to see their older brother and sister as exactly that rather than as care-givers would have been better for their relationships. By the end of this book, I think everyone is so emotionally scarred by the situation they've been in for the past five years because of their mother. I would have liked to see this situation resolved, instead of just where things went for Maya and Lochan

There were some things about this book that just didn't sit right with me when it came to realism; I sometimes I had trouble believing Maya and Lochan as characters, they were just a bit too unrealistic sometimes. There were a lot of exclamation marks in this book, exclaiming things that didn't need to be and no-one talks like that. I "hear" dialogue when I read, so "hearing" them talk be so excited or tense or some other emotional extreme all the time, including when they were having just a normal conversation rather than an intense one about them, was so jarring. There were also things they said that teenagers just don't say. Maya, who is 16, would call Lochan "my love", and they would both refer to the younger children as "the little ones", all the time. An adult might say that, but definitely not a teenager - and even an adult wouldn't say it so often.

The ending was both surprising and unsurprising. A while throughout the book I wondered if it would end like it did in one way or another, but as I got closer to the end, I thought it must not, so when it did, I was a little shocked by it. Leading up to that, I finally started feeling really upset for Maya and Lochan. Despite everything I felt about them, in this moment, you can't help the anguish you feel for them, because of what you know they believe. It does get emotional, and I was moved. I wish there had been a different ending. I truly believe there was a different path their story could have taken, so I was so sad it went the way it did.

Although there were parts of the book I had trouble with, Forbidden is a really good book. It's disturbing and thought-provoking in turn, and a story you won't forget in a while.

Thank you to Definitions at Random House for the review copy.



Buy from:




Published: 27th May 2010
Publisher: Definitions
Tabitha Suzuma's Website

Sex in Teen Lit Month II - Discussion: Paul & Emma's Scene in Asking For It by Louise O'Neill

WARNING! There is a scene in Asking For It by Louise O'Neill that I am going to discuss in some detail. If you have yet to read the book and don't want it spoilt for you, please read no further.

After reading Louise O'Neill's Asking For It, people talk about the gang rape of Emma. We don't see this rape as Emma, our narrator, is unconcious when it happens and has no recollection. But there is another rape, one that is on the page, that happens minutes before the gang rape. Except it doesn't seem to occur to a lot of people that this scene is rape, or when the conversation is brought up about the first rape scene, they deny it is rape.

Louise O'Neill has discussed how people see this scene - how some have even related to it, but don't see it as rape. Louise relays to Stuff that she has been told by people about their own experiences, "It wasn't rape, but it wasn't right."

I've even had a discussion about this very topic. And so I thought I would share with you why I instictively saw this scene as rape. Before we get into it, if you have a copy of Asking For It, dig it out and re-read pages 106-107 and refresh your memory of this scene. Done? Now look at this.

'"Maybe we should..." I try and swallow, but my mouth is too dry. "Paul, maybe we should go back to the party."
"Don't be silly," he says. (I brought him in here. This was my idea.) "Don't be a fucking cock-tease."
"Wait," I try and say. "Wait, I don't feel..."
But he pushes me back down, yanking my underwear aside, and he's inside me, and I'm not ready and it hurts...' (p107)

There are few things I want to point out about the above extract:

1. By his very response, we know he doubts she wants to go through with this.
2. She says "Wait". She tells him to wait.
3. He doesn't wait. He doesn't let her finish her sentence. He doesn't give her the chance to withdraw her inital consent before he's pushed her down and forced himself inside her. And yes, I say "forced" because she's not ready - she's not turned on and lubricated enough, but she's also not ready because she said "Wait."

Emma doesn't react to being raped how you might expect her too; she doesn't thrash, she's not frozen. But I'd like to point out that there's no correct way to react. The text becomes run on sentences which show her panic and, I believe, her shock. Which is why she's thinking about condoms, and thinking about a boy in the photo. Her moan - her fake moan - might seem problematic but again: there is no correct way to react. She just wants him to stop, and she thinks moaning will make it end sooner. You might say Paul is not a mind reader and doesn't know what's going on in Emma's head, but he already knows she doesn't want this, because his belief that she doesn't is what prompted him to say "Don't be a fucking cock-tease,", but also because she said "Wait."

Yes, she did bring him in there, it was her idea, but she still said "wait" and was ignored. "Wait" might not be No, or Stop, or I don't want to, but it's a clear indication of not wanting to go forward with having sex right now. And yes, not right now might mean later, but it still means not now. And he goes ahead anyway. If a guy/woman has any doubt that someone doesn't want to go forward and having sex, they should not go forward with having sex themselves without first finding out if they have permission to. If they do doubt someone wants to go forward, and they go forward anyway, they are a rapist.

If you discount the gang rape that happens after - imagine it didn't and focus on this scene alone: Paul raped Emma. This is rape.

Talk to me. How did you initally react to this scene? If you didn't originally think Paul was raping Emma here, has this post changed your mind? Or do you still have the same opinion? Let's discuss!

Sex in Teen Lit Month II: Interview with Louise O'Neill

Today, we are extremely lucky to have the completely brilliant Louise O'Neill stopping by, who has been incredibly busy lately (she's been at events in Ireland, the UK, the US, and Canada, all in a matter of months!) due to the success of her two novels. She's here to discuss her latest novel Asking For It and to talk about rape culture.

Asking For It is such a deeply affecting and eye-opening novel. What prompted you to write it?

There were a few different reasons. I was finishing Only Ever Yours in 2012 when Todd Aiken, a politician who was running for senate in the US, made a comment about how the female body had ways of ‘shutting down’ a pregnancy if it was a ‘legitimate rape.’ I wanted to include that idea of ‘legitimate rape’ or ‘rape rape’ in Only Ever Yours but it seemed too important an issue to shoe-horn in to the narrative.


The Steubenville case and the Maryville case in the U.S both horrified and fascinated me but it was after the Slane Girl incident here in Ireland (in which a teenage girl was caught on camera performing oral sex on a number of men at a music concert and was vilified by the media) that I knew I wanted to write about this topic. Although the Slane Girl case wasn’t about rape, it just highlighted for me the disparity between how we view male and female sexuality and how misogynistic that was.

We normally think of sex as a loving and/or fun thing. Can you tell us what it's like for Emma when she realises what happened to her, that sex was used to hurt her? Not remembering, but seeing those photos?

Emma’s initial reaction is utter panic, not at that fact that she’s been raped but because of how humiliated she feels. The shaming that she receives from her peers and her community is actually far more damaging to her than the act of sexual violence. Of course this wouldn’t be the same for all victims but for Emma, a girl who has been brought up to believe that how she is perceived is far more important than her own internal feelings, this is soul destroying.

Asking For It isn’t just the story of Emma’s rape, but also of how she’s treated afterwards, how she’s affected by rape culture and victim blaming. It was astonishing and heart breaking to see just who sided with the rapists – and even how people changed and treated her differently, even if they didn’t come right out and blame Emma.

None of us exists in a vacuum. We have been brought up in a deeply patriarchal society in which men and the male voice are given much more authority than the female. Because of this, (And studies on unconscious bias would corroborate this) most people are much more inclined to believe that men are the truth tellers because they are logical and rational. Women, in comparison, are seen as over emotional, too sensitive, likely to overreact. Is it any wonder then that women are so often doubted when they say that they have been raped?

Women are also held up to much higher moral standards than men and nowhere is this more obvious than when it comes to sex. Boys will be boys, we are told, they just can’t help themselves. Women must be the gatekeepers, they must protect their modesty and their virtue.

It’s all complete bullshit, of course, but when you’ve been fed this narrative time and time again since birth, it’s difficult to reject.

I was amazed by the comments from strangers - who heard about "the Ballinatoom Case" through TV/radio/newspapers - who blamed Emma,  even though they didn't have the full details. And the excuses – she was drinking, she was on drugs, she was wearing a short, low-cut dress – she was asking for it. The sympathy from these people - people so far removed from it all - for the rapists whose lives were being "ruined" was astonishing.

This is rape culture. The rush to protect the perpetrators and to heap blame on the victim is abhorrent but it happens all the time. Some of this is because I think many people simply don’t want to believe that such a horrific crime has happened and are hoping that the victim may be ‘confused’. The rape prevention programs that have focused on measures women need to take to protect themselves also play a part. Although trying to help, they have reinforced the idea that women need to be the ones to prevent rape from happening. The natural extension of that is the idea that if and when rape does occur, there must have been something that the victim could have done to prevent it.

How does rape culture and victim blaming make Emma feel about sex and her own sexuality?

Emma has always viewed sex and her own sexuality as a way of controlling how other people see her, particularly men. Sex is a performance for her, she is more concerned with how she looks and if her partner is having a good time, she never stops to consider her own pleasure.

I finished this book feeling angry, scared, and so upset. But I also felt the urge to do something, to fight back. Is there anything you would suggest the average person can do to fight against rape culture and victim blaming?

We need to share our stories. So many people have been the victims of sexual assault or unwanted touching but we have been too ashamed to speak out for fear of being shamed. The more we talk about it, the more we will realise that we are not alone, that this problem is epidemic and that we NEED to work together to fix it.

Also, if a friend tells you about their experience of sexual violence – believe them, unequivocally.

What research did you do for Asking For It? Was there anything that surprised you?

I visited the Rape Crisis Centre in Cork, I spoke to victims of sexual violence, I read memoirs and first person accounts of survivors. I spoke to people working in education and in law, I asked a barrister who specialises in these type of cases to read a proof of the book to ensure I hadn’t made any glaring errors.

The things that surprised me the most were to do with the Irish legal system which seemed to me to be designed to ensure that a victim would rarely if ever find justice.

What do you hope readers get from Asking For It?

I want the reader to finish this book and to be absolutely FURIOUS. I believe that this anger is the only way we will enact any real change.

What do you think about how teen fiction deals with sex, generally? And sex crimes in particular?

I know it’s a bit hypocritical of me to say but I want more teen fiction where sex is enjoyable and the participants don’t endure any horrific consequences. We also need to see more masturbation – particularly with teenage girls! (I, Jo, wrote about the lack of positive scenes of female masturbation in YA for Sex in Teen Lit Month II!)

Thank you, Louise, for such fantastic answers! What do you think of the points Louise has brought up? What did you think of Asking For It, and the light it shines on rape culture?

Be sure to check out Louise's website, and my review of Asking For It.

Also: Louise said we need to share our stories. I did this back in May; Don't Dismiss Your Pain: On Sexual Assault and Rape. I'm putting out a call for any sexual violence survivors who feel comfortable enough, to write on their blog about their experience, and tweet me or post a link to your post in the comments. Let's raise our voices and speak up.

Sex in Teen Lit Month II - Discussion: YA on Rape, Sexual Assault and Sexual/Child Abuse: Different Narrators, Different Circumstances

So far, the books on rape and sexual assault that have been covered have been narrated by the victim, an acquaintance of both the victim and those accused, and someone falsely accused of rape, but there are other books that focus on rape and sexual assault narrated by other characters, as well as books on sexual/child abuse. I thought I would highlight a few of them here. All links go to Goodreads unless otherwise stated.

Narrated by sister of accused and brother of victim:
You Against Me by Jenny Downham - If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right?

If your brother's accused of a terrible crime but says he didn't do it, you defend him, don't you?

When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her, his world begins to fall apart.

When Ellie's brother is charged with the offence, her world begins to unravel.

When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide.

This is a brave and unflinching novel from the bestselling author of Before I Die. It's a book about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all it's a book about love. From Goodreads.

This book is brilliant because it really gets you thinking: what if it was someone close to you who was raped? What if someone close to you was raped? How would you react then? From what I remember, this book doesn't focus on rape culture, but you can think about rape culture from these perspectives. Would you blame your sister for getting drunk and wearing revealing clothes? Would you be on your brother's side if he denied it was rape, that she was asking for it? I don't think these particular questions are asked in this book, but it's something to think about. Change the people involved to people you love, then what's your view? Read my review of You Against Me.

Narrated by the boyfriend of the victim:
Fault Line by C. Desir - Ben could date anyone he wants, but he only has eyes for the new girl — sarcastic free-spirit, Ani. Luckily for Ben, Ani wants him too. She’s everything Ben could ever imagine. Everything he could ever want.

But that all changes after the party. The one Ben misses. The one Ani goes to alone.

Now Ani isn’t the girl she used to be, and Ben can’t sort out the truth from the lies. What really happened, and who is to blame?

Ben wants to help her, but she refuses to be helped. The more she pushes Ben away, the more he wonders if there’s anything he can do to save the girl he loves. From Goodreads.

I've not yet read this book, but I do have it waiting for me to read. I'm sure it will have a similar feel to Mikey's narration in You Against Me, seeing as it's someone the narrator loves who's been raped. But it looks like here he questions what the truth is, instead of being on Ani's side automatically. I think that would be a really interesting perspective; imagine being a guy and your girlfriend telling you she was raped, but others saying she cheated on you. That's going to throw up a lot of questions, depending on your level of trust. Seems slightly similar to Eastenders and the position Mick was in; Linda says Dean raped her, Dean says it was consensual - but he believes Linda right off the bat. I think this will be an interesting read.

Narrated by the rapist:
Inexcusable by Chris Lynch - "I am a good guy. Good guys don't do bad things. Good guys understand that no means no, and so I could not have done this because I understand."

Keir Sarafian knows many things about himself. He is a talented football player, a loyal friend, a devoted son and brother. Most of all, he is a good guy.

And yet the love of his life thinks otherwise. Gigi says Keir has done something awful. Something unforgivable.

Keir doesn't understand. He loves Gigi. He would never do anything to hurt her. So Keir carefully recounts the events leading up to that one fateful night, in order to uncover the truth. Clearly, there has been a mistake.

But what has happened is, indeed, something inexcusable. From Goodreads.

Again, another book I have but am yet to read. I am really worried about this one, quite wary. But still, I think it might be interesting to see how someone might convince themselves they haven't done anything wrong. There are rapists who truly believe they're innocent - again, like Dean in Eastenders, who has somehow convinced himself it wasn't rape - so it could be interesting to see how Keir tells himself he didn't do anything wrong, that he didn't rape his girlfriend. But I'm still very nervous about how I'll cope with this one.

On homophobic sexual assault/male sexual assault:
Don't Let Me Go by J. H. Trumble - Some people spend their whole lives looking for the right partner. Nate Schaper found his in high school. In the eight months since their cautious flirting became a real, honest, tell-the-parents relationship, Nate and Adam have been inseparable. Even when local kids take their homophobia to brutal levels, Nate is undaunted. He and Adam are rock solid. Two parts of a whole. Yin and yang.

But when Adam graduates and takes an Off-Broadway job in New York—at Nate’s insistence—that certainty begins to flicker. Nate starts a blog to vent his frustrations and becomes the center of a school controversy, drawing ire and support in equal amounts. But it is the attention of a new boy who is looking for more than guidance that forces him to confront who and what he really wants.

J.H. Trumble’s debut, DON’T LET ME GO, is a witty, beautifully written novel that is both a sweet story of love and long-distance relationships, and a timely discourse about bullying, bigotry, and hate in high schools. From Goodreads.

This book was absolutely incredible. Seriously, it's unbelievable. The way Nate comes to terms with and deals with his attack, and becomes even more open and blatant about his sexuality in response to the homophobic attack is brilliant, but seeing the flashbacks of him during the days and weeks just after the attack is so upsetting. Read my review of Don't Let Me Go.

On sexual/child abuse by family member:
Such a Pretty Girl by Laure Wiess - They promised Meredith nine years of safety, but only gave her three.

Her father was supposed to be locked up until Meredith turned eighteen. She thought she had time to grow up, get out, and start a new life. But Meredith is only fifteen, and today her father is coming home from prison.

Today her time has run out. From Goodreads.

Not a book I've read nor own, but one that sounds amazing, in a really horrific kind of way. I don't even know how I would begin to cope with this one. But there are a few rave reviews on Goodreads, so I'll give it a go at some point, but I admit I'm scared to.


On sexual/child abuse by a stranger:
Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott - Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared.

Once upon a time, my name was not Alice.

Once upon a time, I didn't know how lucky I was.

When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends -- her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over.

Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.

This is Alice's story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget. From Goodreads.

Another I've not read nor own. This one scares the hell out of me. In a few reviews, I read what I think Ray has in mind for her now, and oh my god, it already makes me feel sick to my stomach. This is another one that's got rave reviews, so one I'll try and read at some point, but again, I don't think I'd cope well with it.


On student-teacher relationships:
Something Happened by Greg Logsted - "All around me I see people laughing, joking, and walking around with these huge, goofy smiles plastered on their faces. I've begun to wonder how they do it, and more important, will I ever be able to be like that again?"

Five months after his dad's unexpected death, Billy Romero is still struggling with the loss. Billy's mom spends more time talking to her Bluetooth than to him, and his best friend, Ziggy, just doesn't get it. There's no one who understands how alone Billy feels...except his new English teacher, the young and beautiful Miss Gate.

Miss Gate offers support and friendship, even giving Billy extra help with his writing outside of school. Billy isn't really sure how he feels about spending so much time with his teacher. It's a little weird, but it's also kind of exciting that someone like Miss Gate wants to hang out with him. But the closer they get, the more Billy wonders what kind of friendship this really is... From Goodreads.

Where You Are by J.H. Trumble - Robert Westfall's life is falling apart--everywhere but in math class. That's the one place where problems always have a solution. But in the world beyond high school, his father is terminally ill, his mother is squabbling with his interfering aunts, his boyfriend is unsupportive, and the career path that's been planned for him feels less appealing by the day.

Robert's math teacher, Andrew McNelin, watches his best student floundering, concerned but wary of crossing the line between professional and personal. Gradually, Andrew becomes Robert's friend, then his confidante. As the year progresses, their relationship--in school and out of it--deepens and changes. And as hard as he tries to resist, Andrew knows that he and Robert are edging into territory that holds incalculable risks for both of them.

J.H. Trumble, author of the acclaimed 'Don't Let Me Go,' explores a controversial subject with extraordinary sensitivity and grace, creating a deeply human and honest story of love, longing, and unexpected connection. From Goodreads.

I haven't read nor own either book. I don't know how these books portray the student-teacher relationships - whether as romance or as something sinister - but it's illegal. Sex with a minor and abusing a position of trust is illegal, whether there's consent or not. I think I'd like to give both a go to see how it's dealt with (especially Trumble's because she's just brilliant!), but this topic was brilliantly covered in Melvin Burgess' Doing It (link goes to my review). There are other books I know of on student-teacher relationships - Me and Mr J by Rachel McIntyre (female student, male teacher) and Read Me Like a Book by Liz Kessler (female student, female teacher) - but I don't know whether they become actual relationships or just student infatuation, so I'm not highlighting them here.

-----------
Some of these books I first discovered on Wrapped Up In Books' Sexual Assault, Rape and Dating Violence in YA Novels Booklist and Claire Hennessy's article in the Irish Times, Speaking Up: A Brief History of Rape Culture in Young Adult Fiction. There's also the Sexual Violence in YA Lit Project over on Teen Librarian Toolbox, which has a lot of book reviews, discussions, and panels. Do check out all links for other suggestions, they're brilliant, and there are so many books to discover.

Do you know of any other titles that would fit into these categories? Know of any other novels about male sexual assault, by either gender? How about books in categories I haven't listed? How about novels about teens raped by strangers? Pretty much all the ones covered have acquaintances as rapists, which is really scary. Let me know in the comments!

Review: Modern Monsters by Kelley York

Modern Monsters by Kelley York - Vic Howard never wanted to go to the party. He’s the Invisible Guy at school, a special kind of hell for quiet, nice guys. But because his best friend is as popular as Vic is ignored, he went...

And wished he hadn’t.

Because something happened to a girl that night. Something terrible, unimaginable, and Callie Wheeler’s life will never be the same. Plus, now Callie has told the police that Vic is responsible. Suddenly, Invisible Vic is painfully visible, on trial both literally, with the police, and figuratively, with the angry kids at school. As the whispers and violence escalate, he becomes determined to clear his name, even if it means an uneasy alliance with Callie's best friend, the beautiful but aloof Autumn Dixon.

But as Autumn and Vic slowly peel back the layers of what happened at the party, they realize that while the truth can set Vic free, it can also shatter everything he thought he knew about his life... From Goodreads.

I bought Modern Monsters by Kelley York a few months back, and actually forgot certain details mentioned in the description; I thought it was about a girl making a false rape claim, when it's not that book at all. Despite not being what I expected, I was still hoping Modern Monsters would be a great book. Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed.

Vic is the nice, quiet guy. The guy with a conscience. When, at a party he didn't want to go to, he sees a highly intoxicated Callie throwing up outside, barely able to hold herself up, he can't just leave her to it. He helps her inside, takes her up to an empty bedroom, helps her into bed and puts a bin by the bed in case she needs to be sick again. Then he leaves. A few days later, Vic is arrested for rape. Callie was attacked at the party after Vic left, but Vic is the last person she remembers seeing - in the bedroom. When news gets out that Vic is the prime suspect, suddenly everyone knows who he is, hurling abuse and threats of violence his way, in and out of school. Vic knows he didn't do it, someone else did, and Callie needs justice just as much as he needs his name cleared. A tentative alliance if formed between him and Callie's best friend Autumn, and together they're determined to find the truth - and for Autumn, that's even if it is Vic. But as clues come to light, the two find that the truth might be even harder to believe.

Most of the books I've read for Sex in Teen Lit Month II covering rape and rape culture have been about disbelieving the victim about her attack and glorifying the accused, so I thought it would be interesting to look at a book where the accused didn't actually rape anyone. What is it like to be accused of rape, but be completely innocent of the crime? Vic is such a great character, because he really is a great guy. He is astounded when he's arrested for Callie's rape, but he doesn't just worry about what this means for him, he worries about Callie; she's been through this terrible ordeal, which is bad enough, but he knows they're going after the wrong guy. It's not just the fact that he might go down for it that upsets him, it's that if he does, Callie could walk right past her actual rapist and not know it, and they get off scot-free. I'd say he's more concerned for Callie and what she's going through than he is for himself, and that really made me warm to him, as is shown here when he undergoes an examination before being questioned by the police:

'Is this where they brought Callie, then? Did they shove her into one of these uncomfortable gowns and subject her to being prodded at. My chest constricts at the thought. How does someone even begin to process being violated and then having to spread her legs to let a doctor poke around?' (p20)

What I found interesting about Modern Monsters, in comparison to the other books on rape I've read for the event, is that most people tend to believe her. There's some victim blaming, but they generally tend to believe that Vic did do it. I suppose the fact that he's quiet and unpopular makes it "easier" to believe he did it than it would for star football players, but other than his best friend Brett, Brett's parents, and his boss Amjad, no-one believes he's innocent. Even his mother thinks he's guilty. It's terrible to see the violence suffered and the worse violence that is threatened. It really gets kind of sinister in places, a group of guys waiting for him outside his workplace, it's quite scary. However, the focus of the story is less on what he suffers, but on finding out the truth with Autumn, and the relationship between them as the story progresses.

And that's where I had to suspend disbelief. I don't understand how a girl who believes a guy raped her best friend could then go and looking for the "truth" with that guy. So we as readers know Vic didn't do it, but at the beginning, Autumn believes he does. If you have that belief, why are you even allowing him to be anywhere near you?! There's a point when Callie starts getting some other memories, nothing clear, but something that makes her think perhaps Vic didn't rape her, but she's not positive of that, and Vic isn't officially cleared from the investigation until the end of the book, so I just don't understand how Autumn would put herself at such risk. Sure, she comes to believe he didn't do it, but that's only through spending time with him and looking for who might have. She still fully believed he did it when they first start looking into things. And I can't understand her thinking. I really can't. But putting that disbelief aside and just forgetting about it, I really enjoyed Autumn and Vic together. Autumn is strong and feisty, such a great friend, and so determined to find out the truth. She's so different from Vic, and her boldness with Vic's shyness was just really sweet. She's also pretty smart in some ways too, but at times I just wish they went to the police. I don't know if the outcome would have turned out the same if it did, but I feel they took some huge risks that were potentially dangerous.

I worked out who Callie's actual rapist was fairly early on - or at least suspected before being positive. And when we get the big reveal is where I have my main problem with this story. I can't talk about it without spoiling the story, so don't click below if you've yet to read this book and don't want it spoiled for you.

So we find out the rapist is Brett. Vic has confronted him, and we find out that Patrick, who was in on it has gone to the police. Unable to deal with the fact that his best friend did this, was willing to let him go down for it, and that Brett's lawyer father, who was defending Vic, knew the truth and chose to protect his son, Vic leaves. And later, he finds out that Brett botches a suicide attempt and is left in a coma. WHAT THE HELL?! I was so, SO mad at York for doing this. Sure, Brett had a bright future ahead of him and he worked so hard for it, and he couldn't face that all going wrong for him because of a "drunken mistake", but what?! In real life, conviction rates for rape are SO low, and those who actually come forward and report that they have been raped is actually just a small percentage of those who are actually raped. So York has written this story where the rape has been reported, and the truth has come out... and the rapist STILL gets out of serving time by trying to commit suicide. It just felt so cruel and unfair to me that, with conviction rates so low generally, York wrote her rapist out of serving for his crime. He should have gone down. He would have gone down. And I think it would have been good for people to see that, to read it, even for rape survivors - sometimes they do get justice. Sure, perhaps Modern Monsters does have a potentially realistic ending, but it also had the potential to give readers some hope. And, in my opinion, it dashed that. And I'm so disappointed.

Despite my problems with the end of this book, overall, it's not a bad book. I would have liked to have seen more of how Vic suffered due to other people believing he did it, and maybe Autumn being a little smarter, but it was still mostly an enjoyable read. But the ending just ruined it for me, sadly.

Have you read Modern Monsters? What did you think of the book as a whole, and the ending?



Buy from:




Published: 2nd June 2015
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Kelley York on Twitter

Sex in Teen Lit Month II - Interview with Courtney Summers

I am absolutely thrilled to have the wonderful Courtney Summers stop by the blog for Sex in Teen Lit Month II today! Courtney has been super busy lately, so we're really lucky she agreed to a short interview to discuss rape culture and All the Rage.

All the Rage is such a hard-hitting and emotional. What prompted you to write it?

Sometimes I write about things that make me angry as a way of processing them and rape culture makes me furious. I wanted to explore how dangerous it is and how devastating the consequences of it are.

We normally think of sex as a loving and/or fun thing. Can you tell us what it's like for Romy after she’s raped, not only having been so violated, but also having her whole community turn against her, to call her a liar?

Romy’s way of coping with her trauma is to separate herself from it. She thinks of her rape as something that happened to an entirely different girl, just to keep her head above the water. When her reality gets too close, she panics. To re-centre herself, she has a ritual of painting her nails and lips red and thinks of it as armour. Her community has failed her so dramatically, she is only able to process what she’s gone through in pieces, if at all.

How does rape culture and victim blaming make Romy feel about sex and her own sexuality?

“I wish I didn’t have a body,” is something of a mantra for Romy throughout the book, and I think that speaks to the devastation she’s experienced and the lack of ownership and control over her own body it has left her with.

What research did you do for All the Rage? Was there anything that surprised you?

I did a lot of research about rape culture for All the Rage. I read extensively about trauma, PTSD, rape cases, rape culture and the justice system. It was often overwhelming and difficult to read about. Nothing surprised me per se, but I was continually disheartened to read articles about rape cases and get to their comments section, where commenters would express disinterest and disbelief about and cruelty toward victims and survivors of sexual violence. How do we get to that point of not caring? It’s horrible and it’s heartbreaking.

What do you hope readers get from All the Rage?

I hope it makes them angry about rape culture. I hope it inspires them to speak out against it and to advocate for victims and survivors.

What do you think about how teen fiction deals with sex, generally? And sex crimes in particular?

I think there’s a lot of incredible, feminist YA fiction out there now that explores the topics of sex and sexual violence conscientiously and realistically. I think when you’re writing about these kind of subjects, you want to make sure that what you’re writing contributes to a larger conversation and doesn’t undermine it or do harm to it. I think teen fiction tends to explore these kinds of stories with the care and respect they deserve and I’m glad for that.

Anything else you would like to add?

Thank you for having me on your blog!

Thank you, Courtney, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer my questions! Check out my review of All the Rage, which comes out in the UK on 28th January 2016!

Review: All the Rage by Courtney Summers

All the Rage by Courtney Summers (e-Proof) - When it was announced that All the Rage by Courtney Summers is going to be released in the UK in January 2016, I was so glad to hear it! More books seem to be coming out that are tackling this important subject of rape and rape culture, and the conversation they're creating is brilliant. Macmillan Children's Books have allowed me to review All the Rage two months early to include it in the Sex Crimes Week of Sex in Teen Lit Month II, and it's such a fantastic story!

I'm not using the summary on Goodreads, because it contains minor spoilers, but also because, for the most part, it doesn't really tackle the main plot of the story. So this time round, I'm including just my own summary.

Last year, Romy was raped by Kellan Turner, son of important influential people; the Sheriff of the town and the founder of a successful national auto supply chain. No-one believes her. Even her best friend Penny turned her back on her. She was drunk, she was wearing provocative clothing, she fancied Kellan, she wanted it, and there's no way the son of the sheriff would even dream of raping someone. She's an attention seeker. She's lying. Only she's not, and no-one cares.

When Romy wakes up the morning after a party on the the side of a highway, she has no idea how she got there. Nor does she understand why her shirt is open, her bra undone, and the words "rape me" are written on her stomach in lipstick. She can't remember anything from the party, but she knows she would never have drunk alcohol. So why is she there? What's worse, Penny has also disappeared, and has yet to be found. What happened to Penny? Are the two linked? It's hard to face each day when there's no news, especially when the people who hate you, hate you even more for being the one who was found.

All the Rage is such a brilliant story, but it's a hard one. It's emotionally draining, in the best way. Romy has spent so long having to deal with the crap she's getting from people. She was the one who was violated, yet she's the one who's the pariah. It's disgusting and so upsetting, and completely awful to read.

Kellan is the older brother of Penny's boyfriend, Alek. He's also the sheriff's son - who made it quite clear that Romy'll be torn to pieces if she reports her lies about his son. Her best friend turned on her, and with Penny and Alek being popular, and with Kellan being loved by all, so did everyone else, the whole community. No-one believes her, especially as she fancied Kellan, and actually thought she wanted to sleep with him before she was attacked - an email about which Penny gave to Sheriff Turner - and she now has jokes made about her rape at school.

The only good thing in her life is Leon, a guy who starts work at the diner she works at. He's from the neighbouring town, and so he doesn't know what happened to Romy, and as he doesn't know, he doesn't have an opinion on it. And he likes Romy; he sees her and he likes her, when most people can't stand her. Romy likes how Leon sees her, and wants to be that girl.

Because she doesn't like who she is now - a girl who was raped. Doesn't want to be this "dead girl". And as Leon doesn't know she's been raped, she gets to be the old her, a girl who is "alive". She tries so hard to keep her past from him, telling so many lies to keep it a secret, desperately trying to hold on to who he sees, how he makes her feel, because she can feel the "dead girl" starting to take over. She's really not coping with what happened to her, or how she's being treated, so seeing her try so hard to cling to who Leon sees is so heartbreaking. It's eating her up, and she just wants something good.

Romy also has issues with her body because of what was done to her, to it. There are so many upsetting moments where she talks about her body, how wishes she didn't have one, about who she is. It's like she can't find her identity any more, her sense of self. It's like she is, to herself, the Raped Girl, and can't seem to define herself outside of that. She is obsessed with having perfectly painted red nails and lips; it's how she presents herself to the world, her armour - she cannot be seen chipped or smudged. I never really understood that completely, but it's something she fixates on; she's not ready until they're perfect, and she can't function until they're ready. She almost has panic attacks at the thought that she smudged her lipstick, or she might chip her nail varnish. I think it's part of her trying to find her own self. She wants to be the girl with perfect red nails and red lipstick. Without it, she's just the girl who was raped.

The disappearance of Penny is huge to the town, but also to Romy personally. What happened to her? What happened that night? Why hasn't she been found? She's desperate for good news, but also doesn't want it to come too soon, because while everyone's talking about Penny, they're not talking about her. But because Romy went missing the same night and was found, there's talk of the wrong girl being found, of how the police looking for her might have found Penny if they weren't. It's terrible to hear, such derision, how little people care about Romt, but also for Romy to think about. Would Penny have been found if she hadn't wound up, however she did, on that highway? But she also thinks how if the tables were turned, the town wouldn't care; if Penny was found but she wasn't, no-one would be interested in finding her. There wouldn't be heartbreak at the school, the community wouldn't pull together to search for her. She simply doesn't matter.

I need to talk about the relationship between Romy and her mum and her mum's boyfriend, Todd. The relationship isn't perfect - they don't talk like they should, her mum and Todd don't really know the best way to help her, and mistakes are made - but they don't doubt her. They aren't ashamed of her. They love her, and are there for her. Sure, I could talk about how they should have done this and they should have done that, but her mum was so lost with how to help her, her drunk of a father disappeared on them, and they tried their best. When thinking about how Emma's parents reacted in Louise O'Neill's Asking For It, Romy's mum and Todd are such better parents, even if they get things wrong. They're behind her and support her. I just wish they had someone to help them help Romy.

All the Rage is an incredible novel, and the ending is so... painful. When everything comes together, and we have our answers, it's unbelievable. Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. But also a measure of hope. All the Rage is a tragic novel in so many different ways, but it's a perfect story for all it shows us. And I'm so thankful we're getting, slowly but surely, more novels talking about this.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Books via NetGalley for the e-Proof.



Buy from:




Published: 28th January 2016
Publisher: Macmillan's Children's Books
Courtney Summers' Website

Sex in Teen Lit Month II - Interview with Tammara Webber & Giveaway

Today, I am super excited to have the wonderful NA Bestselling author of Easy, Breakable and the Between the Lines Series, Tammara Webber on the blog to discuss Easy and sex crimes for Sex in Teen Lit Month II.

Easy is such a powerful and important book. What prompted you to write it?

I began hearing Jacqueline’s story, as if she was telling it to me. I resisted, because I saw myself – see myself – as a romance writer. I didn’t want to write an “issues” book – certainly not about the topic of sexual assault. As a rape survivor, I’d spent years dodging anything concerning the topic in books or film – let alone my own writing. I credit this story to my fictional character, because she would not let up. I finally felt I had to write the story for readers like myself who were never going to willingly pick up an issues book about sexual assault, even if we needed to – and I wrote what I knew how to write:a romance novel. My only “message” was for survivors: It wasn’t your fault. I received and continue to receive emails, notes and messages from readers, thanking me for helping them see that one truth. I know I did the right thing in writing it.

We normally think of sex as a loving and/or fun thing. When it comes to teen fiction, we see very little of sex being used as a weapon or a way to hurt someone. Can you tell us what it's like for Jacqueline when sex - or more accurately, non-consensual sex - suddenly becomes something to fear, a very real danger?

Like me, I don’t think Jacqueline thought about rape as something that could be perpetrated by an acquaintance – a friend. Most of us think we can judge other people’s characters, but the truth is, we aren’t always correct. Her first instinct was disbelief. This isn’t happening. I can talk him out of it. And then fear. This IS happening. This person I thought I knew isn’t responding to my resistance. In my own head, I didn’t label my rapist a rapist until years later. How do you report something or tell someone when you think it was your fault in some way? People like Buck prey on people in situations where they’ll blame themselves. It’s how they get away with it – which is truly terrifying.

I feel Easy isn't just important because it brings such a big issue to readers' attention, but also because of how Jacqueline deals with her experiences, how she moves forward, being the very real heroine of the story by saving herself.

I went into the story knowing that Jacqueline would escape being raped in that first chapter because that would go toward her trying to shrug it off. If he’d have succeeded – if Lucas hadn’t shown up – she’d have been more likely to report. At the least, she’d have told Erin. She had also experienced a recent, devastating breakup of a long-time relationship. She focused on that loss because she could blame her depression on it more easily – it was, after all, the thing everyone knew about. She had to come around to understanding that she was more aware than she’d realized that Kennedy was wrong for her. She had to face how affected she was by her fear of Buck and the comprehension that he was spreading rumours about her to get back at Kennedy – his fraternity rival. Lucas might have saved her from being raped, but he couldn’t make her stronger and more self-aware. She had to do that for herself. Her personal transformation began with admitting to Erin that she’d been assaulted, strengthened with her agreement to attend self-defence classes and lend her support to Erin’s sorority sister, and culminated with her resolution concerning the relationship she wanted – as well as the one she no longer wanted.

I found it interesting what happened at the meeting with the sorority, all the different views/opinions on the girls' experiences. It's really hard to believe that people, even friends, would think ignoring the issue is the best way to deal with it.

Women can be very judgmental of each other, and that can go in multiple directions. We can also believe that someone else’s experience is personally skewed, or outright lies, or the consequence of their own actions – and therefore, we don’t feel motivated to help. It wasn’t so much ignoring the issue (in that meeting) as it was deciding whether or not it was an issue. The truth is, we don’t like to admit that someone we know (in this case, for these girls – that would be Buck) could do something that seems out of character. In a widely publicized (RL) rape case from a number of years ago, a woman did what we’re “supposed” to do – she reported it immediately. There was physical evidence, so the guy claimed it was consensual. Her sexual character was picked apart publicly – she was wearing sexy clothing that night, she’d had sex with dates before, etc. People actually said, “He’s rich and good-looking – he doesn’t have to rape someone.” This guy was acquitted… despite the fact that there were three other women willing to testify to prior sexual assault by him. It was a wide-scale ignoring of the issue – a decision not to face the fact that rape is about power, not sex.

You were originally a very successful self-published author, but I read you went down the traditional publishing route because of how important Easy was to you.

I attempted the traditional route before Easy – querying and pitching to agents – with my first book (Between the Lines). I couldn’t find an agent willing to represent me. The main characters were celebrities rather than college students, but they were in that 17-22 age range, and publishers had determined that no one wanted to read stories about people in that age range. I figured that there had to be a niche market for stories like mine. That first book did better than I’d ever dreamed, once I self-published it. I had a solid following by the time I published Easy – my fourth self-pubbed book - but the response shocked me. I knew there were hands I couldn’t get it into by myself – readers in libraries and readers who shunned digital books for whatever reason. I wanted it to be widely available, and to do that, traditional publishing was needed.

What research did you do for Easy? Was there anything that surprised you?

I actually did less research for Easy than any book I’ve written. I worked on a university campus as an undergraduate advisor. My oldest child was a recent college grad, and another was a current university student at the time. I was familiar with course schedules, dorms, campus organizations and how professors thought, behaved and worked. I patterned Dr. Heller on professors/instructors I worked with and knew – including the one I live with (my husband is an adjunct finance professor).

When I was initially in college myself, I worked 2-3 jobs at any given time – so that feeling of class-work-study-sleep-repeat was ingrained. For two semesters, I was the tutor for a macroeconomics course I’d aced the year before. While writing Easy, I chatted with a couple of my daughter’s friends –a sorority member and a music education major – to make sure I got those facts right.

What do you hope readers get from Easy?

I didn’t write Easy with an agenda, other than to take the subject Jacqueline wanted me to talk about – her story – and tell it as well as I could. What I think Jacqueline and Lucas want readers to take from their story – other than a few enjoyable hours spent reading, is this: If someone hurt you, it was not your fault. It you couldn’t save someone from being hurt, it was not your fault. Take that self-blame and lay it down.

What do you think about how teen fiction deals with sex, generally? And sex crimes in particular?

I think teen fiction has become more realistic in some ways, less in others. Many teens are sexually active, and I think it’s right to portray that – not as ‘you should be doing this – everyone else is,’ but as an acknowledgment of the personal choices we begin to make in our teens. I’ll be the first to admit that most teen relationships don’t last. People grow apart, or find out their partners aren’t who they thought. The protagonists in my stories fall in love. Do they stay there? I don’t know. Yes, I think teen fiction portrays sex crimes more realistically than the general public understands, and yes, that should scare the hell out of everyone. Jacqueline didn’t tell. Neither did I. Neither did any of the girls/women I knew who were raped by an acquaintance. Be angry about that – but please, be angry at the perpetrator of the crime, not the victim who is becoming a survivor.

Anything else you would like to add?

I’ve received countless emails and messages from survivors since the day I published Easy in May 2012. The stories are all different, and all the same. One sentence stands out over and over – ‘I didn’t realize that what happened to me wasn’t my fault.’ The age range has been huge – from 13-year-olds to one woman in her 70s. Every one of these women (I know there are male survivors, but I’ve only heard from female survivors, except in two cases) was living with guilt she had no need to bear, and almost all of them were drawn to Easy because it was a romance novel. Easy isn’t going to fix the issue of acquaintance sex crimes – I have no delusions there, and I never did. It’s just one more little spotlight on it. The more spotlights we can shine on it, the better – and those spotlights should come from every direction.

Thank you, Tammara, for such a fantastic and important interview! What do you think about the things Tammara's discusses? Do you think YA portrays crimes more realistically than the general public understands, like Tammara said?

Check out my reviews of Easy and it's companion novel told from Lucas' point of view, Breakable. And be sure to visit Tammara's website. If you haven't read Easy yet, it's definitely a must read! And thanks to Tammara, two lucky readers will win a signed and dedicated set of both books!.

Rules/Details:

• Enter to win one of two copies of Easy and Breakable by Tammara Webber by filling in the Rafflecopter form below.
• Open internationally.
• Two winners will receive a copy of Easy and Breakable each.
• Giveaway will close on 30th November at 12.00am.
• The winners will be chosen by Rafflecopter and will be announced in this post. They will also be announced in my wrap up post.
• The winners will have 48 hours to provide their mailing address, or a new winner will be chosen.
• Winners' mailing addresses will be passed on to Tammara Webber, who will sign, dedicate and send out the prizes.
• Please read my Privacy & Contest Policies.

a Rafflecopter giveaway