Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Tease by Amanda Maciel

18599901
4 Stars
 
Boy this little book sure sparked some strong opinions. Here’s the deal. It’s not an easy read. For a YA novel, Tease deals with some really serious issues. Suicide, slut shaming, bullying . . . just about everything nasty that can possibly come out of high school. And the kicker? It’s told from the bad guy’s perspective.

In order to lighten the mood and to confirm I’m sick in the head, I will be using the assistance of the Most Popular Girls in School in order to enhance this review.

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The synopsis of Tease is as follows: Sarah (and a couple of her peers) find themselves pending criminal charges after another classmate (Emma) commits suicide. The reason? THEY ARE HORRIBLE PEOPLE! Seriously.

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They’re awful. Like most high school bullies, Sarah’s hatred for Emma stems from simple jealousy.

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Sarah starts rumors about Emma being a whore because Sarah’s boyfriend opted to date pretty, nice, sweet Emma rather than her bitch-ass. Sarah and her friends do shit to Emma’s house. They play mean girl pranks on her at school. They accost her at parties. They seek her out in order to belittle her. And they have zero remorse while doing it.

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And at no time does Emma ever retaliate. As a reader, I wished there would be one moment of self-preservation for Emma where she just came back at these assholes and unleashed the fury . . .

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But since the outcome of the situation was given to me at the onset of the story, I was well aware that was not going to be the case.

Sarah assumes Emma’s lifestyle is something like this:

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When in all actuality, it was probably something a lot more like this:

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And never bothers to give her a chance or find out the truth.

Tease was a powerful debut and one that I would encourage teenaged girls to read. I look forward to what Amanda Maciel delivers next.

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