{Review} Sex & Violence - Carrie Mesrobian

Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian
Genre: YA Contemporary
Release Date: Oct 1 / 2013
Publisher: Carolrhoda LAB

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.

I originally picked up this book because the idea sounded interesting. I ended up really liking this book, from its quirky narration to its different messages.

I think this book has a pretty good teenage boy voice considering the author is a girl. There were some places that it seemed weird (like the insults) but overall I think it's close enough. Evan's voice really shines through and I loved seeing things through his eyes. 

At Pearl Lake, he is introduced to a lot of different people. During the summer, he learned to make friends and he tried to get through his traumatic experiences. It was a hard summer for him as he learned to cope. I loved reading about how he dealt with things and it just makes everything so very real.  The ending was the best and I loved how he finally untangled sex and violence.

This is a realistic book for me and I loved every second of the story. I would recommend contemporary readers picking this up to get something other than the sappy romance but the very real and gritty love.

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