E.K. Johnson bravely confronts a lot of taboo topics in the Winter’s Tale inspired YA novel Exit, Pursued By a Bear. Cheerleader captain Hermione has been looking forward to her senior as co-captain of the team with her best friend, Polly, since they were in elementary school. When she is roofied and raped at the pre-season summer camp the team attends, she refuses to become the victim everyone expects. This is a very YA book with uneven writing, but Johnson’s unapologetic approach to some touchy subjects will speak to a lot of readers and stands as an important book to be out there. ( )

Oh, this one was terribly lovely. Perhaps it had too happy of an ending and an arc, but sometimes that's what we need, and not all stories are sad as well. I so adored all the relationships and character building--from Hermione's friendship with Polly to that with her parents to her therapist to the love interest to the other love interest--they were all fabulously fleshed out and could have been teenagers I was watching from afar. Very highly recommend. ( )

Oh boy. I don’t know why I kept reading to be honest, but it was a hot mess. 99% of it was soooo unrealistic. There were a few good parts but a lot of it lacked cohesiveness and there were too many perfect characters with no flaws. Also leo was really confusing. Like, there was no point to anything he did. ( )

The premise of this book is rape. I'm going to be upfront about that - the main character is drugged and raped, and the book is about her coming to terms with this, and her healing.

That said, I really loved this book. Once I started reading, I couldn't stop because the characters are so completely compelling. Johnston gives Herimone an incredibly strong support network, from her best friend Polly, to her parents, her therapist, and the rest of her cheerleading team. I love the the author showed the power of friends and and how your friends can be your strength and can build you up. I'm seeing more YA books show really good, strong friendships and I love that.

There's a lot of really good, positive messages in this book. It touches on consent, victim-blaming (and why it's not okay), rape culture, sexuality (one of the secondary characters comes out during the course of the book), and probably a slew of other stuff I can't remember right now. There's also an extremely accurate depiction of PTSD and what triggers attacks.

Unfortunately, Hermione's story is the ideal -- as if there could be an ideal for a rape. She had a support network of both peers and adults. She had a law enforcement officer who was on her side and went above and beyond. She had supportive parents. She had a healthcare system that worked and access to therapy and abortion services. Many aren't so lucky. ( )

Damn. I've been reading a lot of books lately where men do horrible things to women. It's upsetting, and I hate it. Reading this book was hard, because I pretty much immediately loved Hermione and her snarky, sarcastic wit, and her dedicated athleticism, and her superlative friends. And you know, if you've read anything ahead of time, that something horrible is going to happen to her. I almost couldn't get through it, because I so badly did not want anything horrible to happen. And yet. I would have missed the strength of the message, and the extraordinary strength of the girl had I not continued. It's beautiful.

This is one of those transformative books. The ones that don't bullshit you or weasel their way into weak language. If you fail to get the message that rape is not the victim's fault and that recovery will always be on a person's own terms, then you haven't read this book yet. You should.

Also, if I'd realized this was the same author as the Owen series, I would have picked it up even faster. National treasure you've got there, Canada. ( )