{Review} All the Rage by Courtney Summers

Posted by Donna
Release Date: January 28th, 2016
Finished Date: January 7th, 2016

Publishers: Macmillan Children's Books
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Mystery
Source: For Review
Format: Paperback

Pages: 257
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / Book Depo 

 

Kellan Turner is not the golden boy everyone thinks he is and Romy Grey knows that for a fact. But when she speaks up, she is branded a liar. Telling the truth has cost her everything, because no one wants to believe a girl from the wrong side of town.

But when news of Kellan assaulting another girl gets out, the cost of staying silent might be more than Romy can bear.
 
All The Rage examines the shame and silence inflicted upon young women in a culture that refuses to protect them.

The Review: This is some serious reading right here! I never know what to expect whenever I head into a Courtney Summers books but I know one thing, I'm always left thinking about the books after I've read them. They certainly leave an impression and All the Rage didn't fail to disappoint with it's powerful and emotional story about the effects on a  teenage girl who was raped and having no-one to turn to because no-one believes her. 

For me it was certainly hard to like the main character Romy but I think that’s the whole point of the story. How do you like a girl who hates herself? You can't. She’s a young girl with the world against her while struggling to come to terms with what’s happened to her. So I definitely see why she was such an unlikable character but I really truly did feel sorry for and also very angry for her. She lost her best friend. The community she lives in is ruled by the wealthy family and the boy who raped her is the son of the police officer. I could understand why Romy would want to shut out the world. The world she lives in is a horrible place. The only bright spot in her life was her Mother and Mother’s boyfriend along with Leon, a boy she works with. Leon and Romy’s relationship is rocky from the start. She can’t be honest with him and is always telling lies to keep her secret and in her eyes to keep Leon from seeing the real her. I liked Leon but I don’t think the romance brought anything to story, especially with how things turn out. 

The disappearance of Romy’s ex-best friend came as a shock to me. I wasn’t expecting anything else to come from this story other than the rape aspect but to see Summers’ tackle more than one serious issue within the story proves how talented she is. It added so much to the story and it was really hard to figure out what had happened.

I think the only disappointment from the story for me was I was expecting for Kellan Turner to be in the story more than he was. So even though I hate him, I think the story needed for him to be involved with the story more. And I would have liked to have had more closure for Romy, but still All the Rage turned out to a pretty damn good read! 

Thank you to Macmillian Childrens Books for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.