Some Girls Are

by Courtney Summers

Book Overview

Available now: I'M THE GIRL, the new "brutally captivating" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) queer thriller from Courtney Summers, based loosely on The Epstein case and "not for the faint of heart" (The New York Times)

From Courtney Summers, the author of Cracked Up To Be, comes a dark new tale of high school rivalry in which vicious rumors and nasty tricks are the currency that buys you popularity or seals...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312573804
• ISBN13: 9780312573805
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 14 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 9 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

A powerful novel about serious teen issues

Going through high school can be a very traumatic experience, especially if you're not part of the "in" crowd. At the beginning of the school year, Regina Afton is part of said in crowd. She is friends with Anna Morrison, the most powerful girl in school --- although not necessarily the most popular. Anna takes control of everyone and everything just because she can: she's the queen bee, and other students are content with letting her reign supreme. And although she helps and protects the ones closest to her, no one can cross her without severe consequences --- including Regina. Anna and Regina are part of the Fearsome Fivesome, a group of girls (also consisting of Kara, Marta and Jeannette) that tells everyone in the school what to think about everyone else. They are the in crowd, the group everyone wants to belong to. Being a member of this group means that Regina doesn't have to worry about not fitting in or being ostracized. That is, until a certain incident changes everything. One night at a party, Anna's boyfriend, Donnie, gets drunk and tries to rape Regina. When Regina confides in Kara, Kara betrays her to Anna, accusing Regina of sleeping with Anna's boyfriend. Now Regina has to deal with the reality of being on the outside looking in. She is shunned from her group and treated with contempt. But Anna and her friends don't stop there. Anna has Regina's locker spray-painted with the word "whore" and has her books stolen and thrown in the school swimming pool. At one point, Regina is sadistically locked in a closet with Donnie. Another time, she is beaten and left at the side of the road, shoeless, on a frigid day. Regina, in turn, finds a way to exact revenge against Anna and her former "friends" in a way that seems perfect. And it works --- at least for a day or two until it blows up in her face. In the end, though, she learns important lessons about friendship, self-worth, fitting in, being honest, and a whole host of other things. Until "the incident," although Regina was part of Anna's group, she never felt like she truly belonged. She went along with what her fellow members did because she wasn't strong enough to stand on her own against the others. Being ostracized forces her to take a long hard look at who she has become --- and she doesn't like what she sees. With the help of those whose lives she and the rest of the Fearsome Fivesome helped destroy, she is able to rebuild her own life and self-esteem. SOME GIRLS ARE is a powerful novel about serious teen issues. My only complaint is that it contains a fair number of four-letter words and makes numerous references to drug use, alcohol and teenage sex. It doesn't quite glamorize these issues, but it legitimizes them. That can be good or bad; you decide. With her fast-paced writing style, penchant for edgy themes and grasp of timely teen topics, Courtney Summers succeeds in her second young adult novel (following 2008's CRACKED UP TO BE). I look forward to reading more from thi

The Story Siren reviews: thestorysiren.com

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.

Will knock the wind out of you

Some Girls Are will knock the wind out of you, literally. I felt busted up after I finished the book. It's a rare book that can make you physically feel something. The book is so complex it's hard to describe but I will try. It's like driving by a car accident you really don't want to see but just have to. It's catty like the movie Mean Girls but it's like Mean Girls on drugs. The girls in Some Girls Are are the types of girls you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley or get on the wrong side of. I found myself wondering how they would top their last stunt or who was going to make the next move. Main character Regina is interesting. She used to be one of the Fearsome Fivesome and then she's out (because of something she didn't actually do). So you can't exactly like her because she's just as bad as her enemies but at the same time you can see she does feel bad about some of the things she's done and realizes that they were wrong, so you are rooting for her to make it out of this in one piece. And she finds a sort-of alley in Michael, a boy whom she herself tortured. Their relationship is hard, they both know it won't be easy and that they really shouldn't but then end up leaning on each other. While I liked Summers's previous book, Cracked Up To Be slightly more because it was more relatable, Some Girls Are is a strong, strong second novel that will kick the crap out of you!

Amazingly well written...

Regina Afton used to be a part of the Fearsome Five. That is until rumors spread around Hallowell High. Rumors that involve her best friend's boyfriend and her. Regina has been frozen out and the now Fearsome Four are out for revenge. If she was guilty it would be different, but the rumors are so far from the truth. The bullying is also getting more intense by the hour. Regina finds solace with Michael Hayden, which is someone that the Fearsome Five used to bully. Regina works hard to make amends for her past and realize that Michael and her could easily be more then friends, that is if the Fearsome Four doesn't break them up first. Some Girls Are shows the intense reality of bullying that is in many schools today. Some Girls Are makes you feel something so intense, that you don't want to stop to reading it. You will wonder what will come next and be stuck on the edge of your seat. The characters in Some Girls Are, are like people that I knew in high school. The Fearsome Four is inside of every school in America. They are the kind of girls that you don't want to have any classes with or even pass them in the halls. At the same time, you want to be them. I liked how Summers showed that they weren't just using psychical bullying, but also psychologically. They are smart in the worse ways. Regina is shown as a strong character that has done more then a few wrong things. At the same times, Regina is making amends with the people that she hurt. Her relationship with Michael is interesting and unlike most relationships in Young Adult fiction. I loved Michael and how honest and sweet he was at times. The amazing thing is that you feel sorry for Regina, even though she used to be a horrible person. I slowly forgave her as the plot went on and even felt sorry for her at times. Like Cracked Up To Be, Some Girls Are has raw emotions and is brutally honest. It is the type of book that you can't believe what is happening and it is psychically impossible to stop reading. I found this book to be really original. Courtney Summers' writing is dark and intense. She doesn't sugarcoat the book with useless details, but tells that story as a realistic and one of a kind book. Seriously, tomorrow go and buy a copy of Some Girls Are. I promise that you will love this book as much as I did and will be thinking about this book for a while.

Brutal and Affecting Tale of High School Bullying

Regina Afton used to be part of the most popular, most feared group of girls in the school. That is, until a supposed friend spreads a rumor about something happening between Regina and her best friend Anna's boyfriend. In the span of a weekend, Regina goes from top-tier to most hated girl in school, the brunt of pranks and bullying that gets worse by the day. Regina ends up sitting at lunch with Michael, a quiet boy in her class whose reputation she helped ruin. Building friendships with people who hated her isn't easy, but eventually Regina and Michael seem to be connecting in a way that neither one of them could have imagined. With revenge planned out and a promising future, Regina's life is looking up. However, her old friends--her tormentors--are not through with her yet, now that she has things to lose. SOME GIRLS ARE is another powerful tale that establishes Courtney Summers as one of the most talented YA authors writing today. With her trademark simple but powerful writing, Summers explores the deepest, darkest sides of humanity that most of us are unwilling to admit actually exist. Summers' writing skips past the B.S. and overly excessive descriptions that often plague literature and get right to the heart of the story: nearly inexpressible raw emotions. Her words are the opposite of rich, and yet she expresses in one short sentence what other writers might take two pages doing. The writing draws you into Regina's story and refuses to let you go, even through the most horrifying scenes, the ones you want to look away from, but can't. Summers proves that simplicity is likely the best way to go in packing a punch. The mean girls in SOME GIRLS ARE are a cross between the eighties John Hughes high school flicks and the nineties horror movies: you have trouble believing such horrid people can exist, and yet you hardly question their terrifying bullying. The combination of Summers' writing style and the enthralling plot keeps your eyes glued to the pages even as worse forms of bullying than you can imagine keep unfolding. The way things build, it's almost impossible to imagine how anyone could construct a happy ending to this story, but the ending that Summers gives us is ultimately satisfying, a well-earned bittersweetness that was difficult to achieve, and thus perfect. It's interesting and surprising how well we connect and empathize with Regina, who is, after all, one of the mean girls. Even in her fall she continues to plot and think like her old self, and readers can never be certain whether she has learned from what has happened to her or not. Similarly, Regina's budding friendship and--later--relationship with Michael is unusual for a YA romance, but hardly unsatisfying. There is something delightful to be said about the subtle and unexpected way their relationship develops, and push-and-pull of old, simmering resentment and hatred versus new empathy and love. Courtney Summers' second novel removes all traces of doubt one might h