Title: Screwed
Author: Laurie Plissner
Published: April 18th 2013
Publisher: Merit Press
Pages: 304
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Source: Netgalley
Summary
“Flattered by the attentions of Nick, the cutest guy in school, seventeen-year-old Grace Warren, captain of the math team, lets down her guard and gets pregnant the night she loses her virginity. Hopeful that Nick will drop to one knee and propose when she breaks the baby news to him, Grace is heartbroken – Nick wants nothing to do with her. Her best friend, Jennifer, thinks she should get an abortion, but Grace is certain that her morally upright parents will insist that she keep the baby. After she comes clean to her super-religious, strait-laced parents, they surprise her by insisting that she terminate the pregnancy to avoid humiliating the family. But when she sees the fetus on the ultrasound, she decides she can’t get rid of it. Deciding to save the tiny life growing inside of her, Grace must face the consequences of being that girl – the good girl who got knocked up.”
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My thoughts
In general, I have to say that I did enjoy this book. I have read some reviews claiming that this book wasn’t good at all or complaining about a lot of things I didn’t think were that annoying.
I would have given the book 4 stars if there hadn’t been a few things that put me off a little.
So, to begin with, I think the original idea behind this book is a very good one. I am a sucker for contemporary fiction and Teenage Pregnancy isn’t a topic that’s all too famous in the book-world.
The plot is also good, although a little bit exaggerated maybe, as I couldn’t really imagine parents throwing treating their kids that way or a whole school making fun of a pregnant person (I’ve had pregnant girls at my school and almost everyone was always very supportive, understanding and friendly about it), but maybe that’s just because I am lucky enough not to have to deal with such problems. After all, hey, it’s a story, it needs a little dramatising and who knows, there surely are people as cruel as that somewhere out there. My prayers go out to those who have to deal with them.
It wasn’t like the plot was outstandingly exciting or full of action but that’s not what I expect when reading Contemporary, so that didn’t bother me at all.
The characters were… well. Some of them I quite liked, Grace towards the end for example, not really at the beginning, she was just a little bit too annoying for my taste, as she just kept going on about how miserable she was for losing all her senses just because Nick stuck his hands down her panties (Seriously, I don’t want to know, how often I’ve read this sentence in the book). Still, I think this might have been the authors intention, as you can witness a very clear character development as the story proceeds.
The other characters seemed to be a little bit stereotypical most of the time, like Nick, the perfect boy who just so happens to be arrogant and throws girls away like used condoms, or even Aunt Helen, who I liked, but come on, the also very perfect mother figure who sticks her nose into other people’s business but is still loved by anyone? Who, of course, presents a harsh contrast to the cruel, cruel parents who, in the end, turn out not to be ALL that cruel.
Jennifer was cool, but a little bit annoying as well. Why does she always have to know it better??
There was one thing, one thing that really, really drove me crazy. Switching the narrator is perfectly fine and would make sense for this story – but please please please do it through different chapters or something, don’t mess around with the perspective midsentence. I found it quite hard to follow and had to read several passages over and over before I understood who’s thoughts I was reading at that moment.
Overall, I would recommend giving this book a try if you like Contemporary. It was a really fun read and I found myself quite attatched to the characters at the end. The book certainly has its flaws and the great potential could have been worked with a little bit harder, but in the end, nobody’s perfect – as is very nicely shown in this book.
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