The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

Amazon Description: "Some schools have honor codes.
Others have handbooks.
Themis Academy has the Mockingbirds.

Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way--the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds--a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers.

In this honest, page-turning account of a teen girl's struggle to stand up for herself, debut author Daisy Whitney reminds readers that if you love something or someone--especially yourself--you fight for it."

My Review: I loved this book. I loved how it was raw and real and gripping---but not one of those sad, depressing sob stories (like Speak or basically any Sarah Dessen book; no offense if you like those books...). I was pretty impressed with how Whitney chose to write Alex's personality as. She was a good mix of vulnerable and tough. And I loved her fighting spirit, even if it was slightly hidden at times. I loved the small, slightly sassy bits of humor slyly thrown in every now and then. Humor is my life. Good humor can easily take a book from "okay" to "amazing". And the slight humor in The Mockingbirds turned it from that-book-where-that-girl-gets-raped to that-book-where-the-kid-fights-back. Also, I LOVE To Kill A Mockingbird, so I adored how the whole vigilante society was based on themes from that book. It just made it so much more honest and cool. Also---the concept of an underground student-run vigilante justice system is just so COOL, isn't it? It's like the kind of thing every kid WISHES they could join or start. The plot was interesting and the characters were cool, especially Alex's friend Maia. She kept me laughing because of her sass. This was just a very good and fresh spin on an old idea, and it worked out really well.

Cover: I love it! I love the color tones and I love how it looks all mysterious and sly, like the girl knows something you don't. Very spy-chic (even though the book isn't about spies...but whatever...).

Overall Grade: A+