The author said Black lives matter! It's minor, and it's only one sentence, and it's the bare minimum, but I wasn't expecting that. It made me smile. That was pretty cool.

Very good book. I don't have any experiences with cults but as someone who was raised in a religion and fell out of it as a pre-teen for reasons like doubt and questioning, it didn't take me reading the author's note to know this was written from a very personal experience. And that is such a strength of the book. It's not something that feels cold, like it was researched case by different case, with examples being mashed together to form some sort of out of touch mockery of a similar story. No, it really feels like someone's true heart and mind reflecting on their inner turmoil finally put to page. With a topic this serious, explaining the details of the this and the that for shock value never do it for me. But this book is so very intimate, and so very vulnerable; so very clearly told through the eyes of a vulnerable teen who just wanted to make the world a better brighter place. It's not her fault she was hurt and lied to, it's not her fault the circumstances of how she found out, and later on she chose how to tell her story on her own terms. Or, at the very least, a story close enough to how she was feeling. And it's amazing. Certainly a book I would recommend!