Customer Reviews

Some Girls Are

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Three words: (some girls are) very very mean

I really wish I could write an intellectual, well thought out, comprehensive review, that could do an exceptional book justice. Because if a book ever deserved that type of review it would be Some Girls Are.

I honestly don't know how Courtney does it. How can she write a character that is a b****, in all essence of the word.... and make me like her.... feel sorry for her even! I should hate her, hate all that she stands for, for all those b****es in high school that thought they were.... well that's another story for a different day.

That's who Regina is- a b****, and yet, I empathized with her. I felt sorry for her. I found myself nodding in agreement, with her conniving plans to get back at the girls that were making her life a living hell. Who brainwashed me into feeling this way... Courtney Summers did, that's who. She manipulated me with her words! She used her amazing talent to deconstruct my view of something that had always been black and white, b**** and non-b**** and made it... GRAY! How dare you!? Now I'm wondering... do b****es have feelings too....? Do b****es deserve second chances. Do b****es deserve the sweetest guy on the planet?

Speaking of sweetest guys on the planet.... was anyone else feeling that tension between those two, or was it just me. I know it couldn't possibly be just me... but I just wanted to scream..KISS HER ALREADY! I know you hate her, but give her a big ole' I hate you kiss!

I really wanted to do intellectual, but it's obviously not happening.

Seriously though... I can't say enough good things about this book. Courtney has a very distinct style, and I really enjoy reading her books. She has great characterization, the plot is just insane... when you think these girls couldn't be more mean, well they can and they Are.

I could not put this book down, and yet.. it was hard to read. I literally picked it up hoping to get a few chapters in and ended up reading the whole thing through.

The realistic portrayal of these girls is absolutely disturbing, in a grossly addicting way. You don't want to see what horrible things they do next... yet you do. How is that possible... am I just a masochist like that?

And here I raise my glass... to Courtney Summers... the queen of mean. Not that I'm saying Courtney is mean, she is in fact very sweet, but damn, she knows how to write some mean ass girls.

I'm ready for book three, NOW.

So I apparently march to a different drummer, or maybe you could say I crunk to a different bagpipe, considering how different my opinion is and that I gave 'Some Girls Are' just two stars. Those two stars are because Courtney Summers has a great voice and a gift for storytelling. I read the book in one sitting.

The thing is, EVERYONE (or everyone not home schooled) knows what high school was/is like. I felt that Summers' characters weren't well developed. I know others have said the opposite, but I think what Summers did was to perfectly capture every TYPE of kid you come across in a high school. But as for being fully developed, I have no idea why any of the characters act like they do. I don't know what most of them look like, beyond Anna's auburn hair and Michael's brown hair and blue eyes. I wanted to know WHY Regina was so afraid of everything. I wanted to know what made Anna the 'it' girl, why she decided certain kids needed to be picked on - even if it was just because the whim hit her. Things like Liz's story are just left hanging. Frankly, at one point I thought Regina was going to turn out to be gay because there was mention of a 'girl crush' on Liz and then Liz got banned from the circle of friends. There was just something vapid about the relationships and interactions between people.


Spoiler Alert Spoiler Alert Spoiler Alert






My other main problem with Some Girls Are is frankly, it came across as a tad over the top. I've attended schools of a similar size, and I've attended large schools with serious problems, like gangs and drugs. But everything that went on in Some Girls Are just seemed a bit much. I get that Regina's parents aren't attentive, but did they have to be so bone-crushingly stupid? And honestly, full blown drunkfests at various houses with no parents, no ADULT EVER noticing... I simply can't buy into that. I mean, even bad parents notice things. I also had trouble swallowing how the entire school was in awe/terror of Anna. I went to school where guys from opposing gangs carried GUNS and not everyone was that afraid of them. Because there's ALWAYS someone bigger and badder. Always. There were 'it' girls in my school, mean girls, really really dangerously mean girls... but teachers DID actually catch them on occasion, and believe it or not, they DID actually get punished. Things like how Regina always got caught in the halls, or in the bathroom, and got reprimanded, while her enemies miraculously snuck POUNDS of rotten meat into the school, got into her locker and left it all for her to find - WITHOUT getting seen by one, just ONE person, adult or kid who would say something are what ruined the book for me. And while I did like Michael's character, I had waaay too many emo friends for me to really get into him because beyond the stereotypical writer with a journal, there wasn't much emo about him. And the emos I know never said they wanted to kill anyone. Ever. All in all, I found Some Girls Are to be a very frustrating book. It was well written, but depressing, and, for me, unrealistically dramatically awful. I HATED high school, I was one of those oddballs who didn't fit in with any group, who got talked about and sometimes laughed at. But I had friends, I wasn't afraid of everything in the world, and no matter how bad it was, it just wasn't THAT bad. Oh, and the only people in school who cussed like these girls were the ladies pimping with the boys in various gangs. The 'it' girls didn't want to sound anything like trash... So I'd read more from Courtney Summers, she's a snappy writer and a great storyteller. I just wouldn't recommend Some Girls Are to any girl who has self esteem issues, or fears of school. They might end up thinking that the real world is really that hopeless, and it simply isn't.

At first glance at the synopsis of Some Girls Are, I completely passed it up. It sounded like your average popular girl bullies loser girl story. But after noticing the extremely high ranking on Goodreads and extreme praises of my blogger friends, I decided to give it a try. I could smack myself for not picking it up sooner.

Some Girls Are is a demented combination of Mean Girls and Sarah Dessen's Just Listen. The bullying, pranks and humiliation in this novel are so intense. The things these girls do to Regina are just unthinkable. Inhumane, even. Though it's contemporary, I found myself shivering more than I've done with legit horror novels.

Courtney Summers writes incredible characters. I didn't want to like Regina. She was just as much of a bitch as any of the other girls in the Fearsome Fivesome. But I did like her, because her emotions were so well written that I couldn't help but feel pity for her. Also, the developing relationship between Regina and Michael was another thing I loved. In the beginning, I wanted Michael to jump into another novel and fall in love with some other literary character more deserving of his attention. Courtney Summers wrote me out of that as well.

Overall, Some Girls Are had me appreciating that I went to a decent high school with decent human beings. With raw emotions, an authentic teenage voice and morbid shenanigans, this is definitely a novel you should check out!

While I was itching to click on four stars instead of three, there were a few elements of this book that really fell flat for me. Courtney Summers nails "the mean girl" thing, without a question and the narrative is spot on. She also nails the internal conflict between doing what's right and doing what's expected. That being said, I found more than a few characters a little two-dimensional and some scene were simply not plausible. Bottom line, I ached giving this three stars, but felt it necessary.

The story begins with Regina Afton, one of the popular "Fearsome Five", at a party with her best buds and their boyfriends. When Anna's boyfriend Donnie attempts to rape Regina, she runs from the party and finds herself at the house of her arch-nemesis Kara (one of the Fearsome Five who was not at the party) and spills the beans about the event. Chaos ensues come Monday when Regina discovers that, instead of keeping her mouth shut, Kara has convinced Anna (top dog) that Regina and Donnie slept together. So far this is all very plausible. Even if we don't personally know someone with that kind of power hungry motivation, it's still an entirely believable scenario. Kara uses the ousting of Regina to position herself as second in command, Regina's former spot, right beside Anna.

The torture Regina suffers from this disgraceful act is gut-wrenching and ripped right from the pages of today's headlines. Books tossed in the swimming pool, rotten meat in the locker, horrible rumors, "whore" spray painted on her locker, etc. Wherever Regina turns, she finds an unwelcoming face. Then Regina finds an unlikely ally in Michael, himself the subject of Anna's torturous tactics, and a friendship slowly begins to develop. But when friendship turns to romance, Anna goes straight for Michael and Regina sacrifices herself for Michael's sake, abruptly ending their relationship.

So here's what didn't work so well for me. At no point, anywhere in this entire book, does an adult enter the picture and ask what's going on. With a hate campaign as far reaching as the one Anna launches, it simply isn't believable that not a single person is clued into it. But I was willing even to suspend belief with this and press forward until I got to the scene with Donnie's car. Michael, after hearing that she was locked in a closet with Donnie (who again tries to attack her), steals Donnie's car so Regina can wreck it? Huh? That so isn't the Michael Courtney Summers wrote. At first I thought perhaps this was a test. That Michael, still uncertain whether or not Regina was truly a mean girl, was testing her to see if good would prevail and she would walk away. When that didn't happen, I thought perhaps it would be an opportunity for Regina to have a light bulb moment and say "hey, two wrongs don't make a right" but that didn't happen either. Instead she gleefully trashes the car.

There were other moments like that, where Regina could have, should have, done the right thing and instead got sucked into the war with Anna. After a point I stopped feeling sorry for her and wanted to close the book. At the end, yes, she does turn things around and does the right thing but it left me thinking "for how long?" and I never got the impression that she truly learned her lesson. The motivation for Regina's actions seemed more about loneliness than integrity and while the author tried to embed balance by means of the character's acknowledgments of wrong doing, it wasn't enough to override the wrongs she was committing. Regina's longing to have a real friendship was almost always overshadowed by her desire to get even and it's hard to empathize with a character like that. At the end of the book, I didn't feel anything for anyone other than Michael and I wished that Regina was given more of an opportunity to truly grow as a human being, it just didn't happen.

Again, Courtney Summers is a talented writer, I just think she missed the mark with this one.

* This book contains drug use, underage drinking, sex and many an expletive. May not be suitable for younger teens. *

I read this book in a few hours. I wanted to know what happened, and I couldn't put it down, because I kept waiting for it to get better...for something to change.

I did like it, but not as much as I wanted to. There was too much stuff that was way too out there for me, and I remember HS for the most part, and I don't remember it being THAT cruel! And I even got into a big fight where my friends turned against me (ha it was even over that I made out with a guy, and he was denying it because he lied to me about being in a relationship and then his gf found out and he lied to her and said I was lying...thankfully she knew who to believe!) Anyway, I'm not saying some of it couldn't have happened, but the fact that NO teachers or even adults noticed...really?

And I wanted to know more about Liz. There was a line in the book where to me it seemed like Liz was saying she helped create their group, but I wanted to know how! It seemed like she use to be part of their group, yet when did Kara become part then? Because Anna said it was time for Liz to go. I wanted to know why they chose the certain people they did. Also, I felt a lot of it was predictable. I knew what was going to happen before Regina did with Michael at the end.



SPOILERS!!!




I felt that a lot of the mean stuff was too much. I can see the spray paint of "whore" on the locker and no one getting caught, but when the meat was put in the locker, and not even the principal got involved, come on. That was TOO out there. Somehow someone was always pushed down the stairs and the teachers all thought they fell? In HS teachers aren't THAT oblivious about things. It even said something about how the gym teacher began to catch on, yet nothing.
Also, Regina was always able to get away with skipping. Even in the middle of class. Like in gym, when she was suppose to get the net and she and Anna never came back with it, nothing was said except she stayed in there, and left about 330.
And Anna saying Regina was going to pretend to be friends again, and how Regina just went right along with it! I honestly, do not think that would have happened. Then how Regina was DD at the party at the end, yet then Anna drives home one of the girls and leaves Kara there? If she was really top dog she would've made Kara drive the other home and she would've stayed. Then the next Monday Regina just gets in the car with them, KNOWING they are planning something. And then just hands over the shoes and lets them beat her up and STILL goes to school? If there was THAT much bullying in that school, esp since it was suppose to be so small, SOMEONE would notice. They made it so obvious that it was them. In my school there were 3000+ kids, and even when there was bullying like that, the teachers caught on and kids were in the principals office.
And what happened with Josh? He believed Regina after it happened, yet then nothing is said at the party afterwards. Does he just stay with Anna laughing with her about it even though he knows the truth? It was obvious that Michael's journal was going to get taken, but I felt that he wouldn't have left it in his car, ever. Esp after taking Donnie's car. With Donnie, he was painted as a bad bf and drunk. Yet no teachers noticed he was suppose to be drunk all the time? Really? I also don't believe he would've attacked her like that AGAIN in the closet. I don't think he would've tried to rape her AGAIN after what happened the first time (although, yeah who would believe Regina?) I could see him wanting to hit her and such, but not trying to force himself on her again. Plus, when I went to school, there was only one incident that I remember where a guy EVER hit a girl. Whereas in this book, it seemed like all the guys just wanted to punch Regina.
And Kara. How is it she wouldn't see what Anna was doing...or having her do? I mean she had Regina go and do her dirty work and then Kara is now doing it. Wouldn't she see what was going on? The characters were too extreme in this book.
The ending is what got me. I did like how Liz told the principal about it, but why wouldn't Regina EVER think of that? Esp since she knew Anna's fears.
Regina was painted as a coward and that she wasn't as strong as I felt she should've been. Yes she tried to make up for what she did to a few people, but I feel she would've or should've tried clearing her name more. I don't think she would've just walked away from Josh in his driveway, I don't think she would've only tried twice to tell Anna what really happened, and I don't think she would've avoided Anna the whole weekend after it happened. I think she would've told SOMEONE other than Kara that night, or when that weekend. and I really think she would've told Anna that night or next morning esp since she was so upset about it.


I have mixed feelings about the book. I liked it, but it was too extreme in a lot of senses. HS was never like that for me, nor anyone I know. I wanted to like it more than I did, but I just couldn't give it more than 2 stars.

This book does teenagers such a disservice. Now, I'm almost double the age of the characters in this book, but I was seventeen once, and in the years since I've worked with many teenagers. I can honestly say I have never, ever encountered someone who behaves the way every single student in this school does.

At seventeen you can join the military, you can drive, and you're almost old enough to get married and vote. In only a few years you'll be old enough to be TEACHING seventeen year old students! You are - for all intents and purposes - already an adult. The characters in this book not only behaved like people I knew acted at twelve or thirteen, but they behaved in ways that were criminal, and that a year later would land them in prison.

I can definitely see the appeal of this story for younger readers. The popular kids get their comeuppance! Regina was princess bitch to the Anna's queen, and then in one moment one night everything changes. She's ostracised, not only by her clique, but also by all her victims from over the years. Her reluctant saviour comes in the form of Michael, someone whose life Regina made a misery in the past.
Regina was one of my biggest issues with this book: she was a horrible person who didn't deserve much, as far as I am concerned. It's hard to like a book when you despise its so-called heroine.

I did like Michael - he saved this book from a one star rating. In fact I would have enjoyed the book more if it had been written from his perspective.

It wasn't only the popular kids who were nasty either - it was the protagonist, and all the bystanders from all walks of life. I was shocked by the relentless cruelty and immaturity of every single character in this book, and I know that if I'd been seventeen when I read it, I would have been extremely insulted by the misrepresentation of the final years of adolescence. If, indeed, this is the way senior high schoolers act these days, then I'm afraid for the future, but I refuse to believe so much has changed in a decade and a half. I wanted more balance in this book.

The ever-popular way of dealing with young adult stories is present here: the absent adults. Nobody's parents are ever even home, let alone aware of anything that's going on with their kids. The teachers see the violence unfold right in front of them and don't do a single thing about it. The PE teacher is incompetent and the maths teacher is practically a paedophile. It was over the top, and it isn't the way things really are. Even when teens think their behaviour is going unnoticed, it very rarely is in actual fact.

The Kindle formatting for this book was pretty awful. There's even one point where the author's full name pops up in the middle of a sentence - it took me a while to figure out what was going on!

This wasn't a terribly-written book, and it had that train wreck effect of compelling me to put everything else down and keep reading to the end. I had to know how much worse things would get before they got better. I would check out other books by this author, because she has talent there.
However, I finished SOME GIRLS ARE thoroughly disgusted with pretty much every person in it, insulted on the behalf of teenagers, and horrified that someone could think the level of criminal abuse on all parts in this book is the norm, and should therefore be taken for granted.

I basically agree with some other reviews. There was alot left unsaid in the story that was needed to make it more developed. Spoiler alert..... Why was Liz chosen to be picked on and how would that have helped Regina according to queenie....forgot her name. Plus I agree that all of that abuse could not have gone unnoticed by all the adults. I do think there is that cruel group mentality of some teens over others but this seemed a little much. All of them could not have been that soulless. really? laughing in the bathroom after you took place in the beating of another student and left them stranded?
I think more likely you had to be scared that you would get caught because logically you would think Regina would go to the authorities or parents at the very least. I did find the story interesting but mostly unbelievable.

I won't give away the plot because, personally, I HATE it when people do that. Also, I am not the intended audience for this novel, being a 30-something woman reading a work of young adult literature. With that disclaimer, here goes.

The author was able to really capture the duality of humans. People are rarely all good or all bad. One character may be weak, which causes her to bully, but it doesn't mean that she isn't capable of regretting and feeling bad for her actions. A really good person can be really broken and is not always ready to take the high road and let bygones be bygones. Summers really illustrated the fact that people are various shades of gray...for the most part. Two main characters excepted, of course.

Now, while the one healthy, romantic relationship in the novel was fun and interesting, I think that so much more should have been written about their development as a couple. The speed with which the two characters move from despising one another to loving one another is really unbelievable. Even for a teen romance.

The book should have been twice as long as it was. So much attention was focused on the graphic details of the physical abuse and the wounds left behind, and just not enough on developing the couple and so much more should have been included about the character of Liz.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to teens, but the three stars comes from the lack of depth and the details that seemed to be missing.

Overall this book was okay. It did it's job by making me want to finish it and know what happens in the end (even though it is kind of predictable). Not bad, but not great.

Pros: Courtney Summers wrote this novel. Her use of diction is raw and can make you laugh out loud. It will keep your attention.

Cons: There were corny sayings such as the "Fearsome Fivesome" that really made this novel seem immature and at times unbelievable. I also thought the idea that one girl (Anna) can make or break your high school life to seem almost cliche. I am not saying this doesn't happen, however, a more unique idea of humiliation in high school would have been much appreciated.

Cracked Up To Be was clearly better for a multitude of reasons. Obviously, the story line was just plain stronger. But I felt as a character Parker was more likable because she had more depth. She was multidimensional and full of attitude. In Some Girls Are, Regina feels flat. She would rather have popular girls' friendship than stick up for the people she cares about. I would have loved to have seen her progress throughout the novel starting out as a complete coward and become someone who stopped caring what people thought and became okay with sticking it out on her own.

There are good things, and bad things, about this book.

The main good thing: it kept me entertained. There is nothing I enjoy more than a book that I can't put down. That in itself is enough for me to say that I liked this book.

However, it kept me entertained for all the wrong reasons. It started out well enough: a girl, at the top of the food chain, falls to the bottom when rumors fly about what happened one night with her best friend's boyfriend. Sadly, I've read about this before in at least one different location: Just Listen by Sarah Dessen.

Then comes the loner with a bad reputation, who becomes this girl's friend (more or less.) Once again, Just Listen anyone? And all of her ex-best friends are torturing her.

Things would have been okay if it would have been left at the rumors and cattiness. That's what teenage girls do. However, it was taken one step further. This girl was pushed down flights of stairs. All of her books were thrown into a pool. She was blackmailed. She was locked in a closet. There was a hate page posted about her. And there was even some rancid meat thrown into her locker when things got really bad.

And then, the grand ending: she was ditched on the side of the road miles away from the school, right after taking a beating from one of her abusers.

This does not sound like high school to me. For one thing, wouldn't there be teachers around? Is there nobody patrolling the halls like in my high school? It seems kind of far-fetched to me that the girls could abuse her so badly and never get caught.

It also doesn't seem that realistic that any girls from any high school would be willing to go to such lengths to make one person miserable. It happens, I know, but to quite this extent? I'm not sure.

This book held great potential. I absolutely adored Courtney Summers' first novel, Cracked Up to Be. However, this one fell short of expectations. It was... eh, okay. I'd bet there are tons of girls who enjoyed it more than I did. But it definitely didn't strike a chord with me.