“The selection of the target was also important. For example: Farrah. Farrah was cute and interested in me, but that didn’t make her a good target. It wasn’t that I had high standards or anything. I just looked for Girls Who Would Say Yes.”
Title: Sex & Violence
Author: Carrie Mesrobian
Series: Standalone
Publication: October 1st 2013 by Carolrhoda LAB
Pages: 304
Source: Library
Summary from Goodreads:
AT FIRST YOU DON’T SEE THE CONNECTION.
Sex has always come without consequences for seventeen-year-old Evan Carter. He has a strategy–knows the profile of The Girl Who Would Say Yes. In each new town, each new school, he can count on plenty of action before he and his father move again. Getting down is never a problem. Until he hooks up with the wrong girl and finds himself in the wrong place at very much the wrong time.
AND THEN YOU CAN’T SEE ANYTHING ELSE.
After an assault that leaves Evan bleeding and broken, his father takes him to the family cabin in rural Pearl Lake, Minnesota, so Evan’s body can heal. But what about his mind?
HOW DO YOU GO ON, WHEN YOU CAN’T THINK OF ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER?
Nothing seems natural to Evan anymore. Nothing seems safe. The fear–and the guilt–are inescapable. He can’t sort out how he feels about anyone, least of all himself. Evan’s really never known another person well, and Pearl Lake is the kind of place where people know everything about each other–where there might be other reasons to talk to a girl. It’s annoying as hell. It might also be Evan’s best shot to untangle sex and violence.
My Thoughts:
- Evan is an ass. I can’t wait to see, hopefully, his character development
- Surprisingly both positive and negative. Honest in its portrayal of sex
- Evan is pretty dark to read, too. He’s funny, but this book needs to be read in doses – at least, I had to
- I want to root for him, but I can’t? Darn. He’s been through some crap, but I still think he’s a dick.
- I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT COLLETTE DAMMIT.
- PTSD is never pretty and it can affect anyone in a multitude of ways. No two cases are ever the same, this book does a good job of showing that.
- As much as I dislike how Evan thinks of women, Mesrobian has crafted something beautiful in her acceptance of women as sexual creatures in this book. Even Evan questions slut-shaming.
- Damn straight there is nothing to be ashamed of. You go.
- There is so much secondhand empowerment going on right now and I want to do a happy dance but I also want more of it, and more up-front
- I did the portrayal of sexually empowered women who aren’t ashamed of it. This is kind of awesome. Society needs to get its shit together.
- There is a lot of diversity in relationships, too, and this book is surprisingly honest. One girl wants to abstain from sex, another wants to have sex. These people are real. I love that there are so many different characterizations and portrayals of sexuality.
- I find myself impressed at the end of this journey: for a dark, gritty, unflinching book, it handled more than I thought it would and it did it well.
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