Tease by Amanda Maciel

This book took me longer to read than books normally do. I always pride myself on saying how I finish a book a day, but with this one it was different. Tease is about a girl named Sara and how she deals with being on trial for bullying a girl, Emma, who killed herself after months of harassment and bullying. I think the reason that it took me so long to get through was because of the fact that I've been a victim of bullying since I was just 7 years old. I was called a slut when I was just 8 years old for no reason except I sat at the same table in school as one of the most popular boys in school. Children are mean, and it just gets worse as you get older because then they find other words to verbally abuse you with. Words that cut like a knife, words that hurt more than anything. So for the entirety of Tease I was reliving my own verbal abuse and harassment, and hating Sara as a character for not realizing sooner that what she did was WRONG! The entire book I read about how Emma ruined Sara's life by killing herself. But honestly this girl doesn't know anything, which I think was the point. The main character through therapy and lawyers meetings was supposed to figure out that yes Emma might have wronged her but what she did wasn't right either. It was nice to get the perspective of the person who was doing the bullying and not just from the victims point of view as a lot of books tend to go with.

I give this book a 5 out of 5 for making me think, making me relive my own trauma, and for making me angry and feel things. Not too many books get me so worked up where I'm visibly shaking from sheer emotion, and when they do I tend to take notice.

Lastly, if you or someone you know has been bullied stand up and say something. I know it might not seem like a big deal or you think that nothing is going to be done but still do it. There was a situation I was a part of where myself and three others were being bullied and only I stood up and said something because the others said "well what's the point? Nothing's going to be done and it will only get worse". And yeah nothing WAS done and it DID get worse but I was still glad I stood up because when it did get worse and I reported it something was actually done.

And also if you or someone you know is thinking of committing suicide please call the suicide prevention lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.