Stephen King describes this book as "A hard story to read and an even harder one to put down."

Believe all the hype. This is honestly one of the best debuts I've ever read. The psychological of this book is unlike any I've come across before. The reader is fully immersed in Vanessa mind and is privy to the manipulation and warped justification her abuser makes. I've been in too many conversations trying to understand sexual abuse from the abuser's point of view and the psychology of the abuser, trying to work out if it's an illness that should be treated or a crime that should be punished. What I love about this book is that it's all about Vanessa and the victims of abuse. It's all about her mental and physical health and the things she had been led to believe about herself. It tackles the mess of social media in sexual abuse cases and the responsibility that continues to be heaped on the victim, whether about the crime of bringing the accused to justice.

There's a point in the book where Vanessa says she HAD to believe it was a love story. Urgh that got me.

This book made me feel icky and it broke my heart but it's a book I encourage everyone to read and hope will be on high school and university reading lists one day.