Cracked Up by Courtney Summers

Grade 10 Up—Parker Fadley has it all-head cheerleader, honor roll student, Winter Ball Queen, perfect boyfriend, Chris. Then at a wild "school's out" party, she catches her friend Jessica's boyfriend kissing another girl and tells Jessica, who retaliates by hooking up with an older guy who crashed the party. The next day Jessica is missing, and Parker, suspecting that she could have done something to help her, nosedives into a downward spiral, drinking heavily, and attempting suicide in a motel room. All of this is revealed in flashback as Parker begins her senior year at her Catholic high school. She cuts class, goes to school drunk, ignores assignments, and goes out of her way to make everyone leave her alone. New guy Jake, intrigued by her self-destructive determination to be ostracized, persists in trying to get inside her head. The problem is that what's inside Parker's head is a fear she can't even admit to herself—that she knows what happened to Jessica and could have stopped it. Summers creates a gritty world of teenagers living on the edge, complete with explosive interactions and rocky relationships without getting mired in angst. Parker narrates the story, darkly fascinating in her turmoil as she slowly lets herself remember details from the drunken night of Jessica's disappearance. In her relationships with Jake, Chris, archrival Becky, her parents, and even her dog, Parker struggles with self-revulsion and a desperate need for love and acceptance. Marked by explicit language and frank sexuality, this compelling read is taut with tension.—Joyce Adams Burner, formerly at Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS
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....I have no words for this novel. I honestly could not even get past 60 pages. I never thought it was going to end. On and on...yeah we get it! Your life sucks, and you drown your sorrows in vodka. Life sucks we get it...get over it. Bad things happen to everybody. Deal with it! Sorry if anyone else who actually finished this novel don't agree with me, but hey it's my opinion. You can try this book and see if you like it, but for me I had to put it down as soon as possible. Hey, never judge a book by its cover or description. This novel never lived up to that.