This... was hard to read. At the beginning, I just couldn't get into it. Later on, it was a little better, but not by much. Colasanti's narrative lines kept jumping from place to place, as if Noelle (the MC) was unable to have any consistent thought at one time. The subject matter of the novel is very heavy and quite depressing. Noelle is bullied, harassed, physically abused, and verbally abused by her peers and her mother. Honestly, though one may feel pity of Noelle throughout the novel, it's really hard to connect with her. Maybe it's 'cause of her random thoughts or just the character or the writing, but something was off enough for me not to really connect at all. I really liked the characters that weren't Noelle... like Simon and Sherae. Julian was cool too. But Noelle, it just didn't work right.

Some parts weren't quite believable and others occurred out of the blue. I just wasn't feeling this novel.

Although I appreciate Colasanti's attempt to address the matter, one would have to get through the novel in order to really understand the concept of bullying, suicide, etc. It's a heavy subject matter and in order for it to be read, one must be able to connect to the character, connect to the story, be enthralled with the novel to really get it's full message. Right now, it's hard to get through it...

Plot: 3.5/5
Characters: 3.5/5
Writing: 4/5
Overall: 3.5/5
GoodReads Rating: 3.80/5

-review by Between Printed Pages