Review: Going Under – S. Walden

Brooke Wright has only two goals her senior year at Charity Run High School: stay out of trouble and learn to forgive herself for the past. Forgiveness proves elusive, and trouble finds her anyway when she discovers a secret club at school connected to the death of her best friend. She learns that swim team members participate in a “Fantasy Slut League,” scoring points for their sexual acts with unsuspecting girls.

Brooke, wracked with guilt over her friend’s death, decides to infiltrate the league by becoming one of the “unsuspecting girls,” and exact revenge on the boys who stole away her best friend. An unexpected romance complicates her plans, and her dogged pursuit of justice turns her reckless as she underestimates just how far the boys will go to keep their sex club a secret.

Series:
Release Date: March 14, 2013
Publisher: Penny Press
Source: Reading Addiction Tours
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Reviewer’s Thoughts

This is a book that will destroy you.  Absolutely freaking destroy you.  It’s a very tough subject matter and it’s definitely not for the weak.

Brooke Wright is devastated when her best friend, Beth, dies.  She wracked with guilt over the part she played in their falling out right before she dies.  Starting her senior year at a new school, the school Beth attended, she’s hoping to get to the bottom of what happened with Beth.  When she discovers a secret club, who’s members make up some of the most popular boys at the school, she’s determined to get to the bottom of what they’re doing, she just didn’t plan on them trying to stop her.

It’s hard to write a review for this story without spoilers.  But I will tell you that Brooke Wright is one brave girl.  She was determined to make sure nothing like what happened to Beth happened to someone else.  She put herself on the line over and over again in the name of justice.  It was absolutely awe inspiring, while at the same time frightening because of the lengths she was willing to go.

This is a really hard read, but one that ends with Brooke being exactly where she was supposed to be.  S. Walden takes readers on an emotionally challenging read, but it’s also one the reminds us that we should always stand up and fight.