#Review: The S-Word

The S-Word by Chelsea Pitcher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me." I know I heard this nursery rhyme over and over again when I was growing up, but in this world that’s not always so easy. High school tests every teenager and most learn that the power of a single word really can turn someone’s life upside down.

In THE S-WORD, Lizzie Hart was Angie’s best friend since kindergarten until prom night screwed everything up. Angie caught Lizzie cheating with her boyfriend, Drake. Lizzie became branded a slut and Angie couldn’t bring herself to ever ask Lizzie why. Lizzie couldn’t take what was happening any longer and committed suicide. After Lizzie’s death and seeing “slut" transformed into “suicide slut”, Angie becomes determined to find out why Lizzie did it, especially as copies of Lizzie’s diary pages start being stuffed in lockers. She starts interrogating people and finding out who originally branded Lizzie as a slut, who made Lizzie drop out of the play, who tagged Lizzie’s car, who sent out a mass email with a nude painting of Lizzie and what really happened on prom night. Can Angie handle the truth? Can she discover the truth without turning her back on everyone around her? Or is Lizzie’s life just going to be summed up with the words “suicide slut”?

I wanted to love THE S-WORD but most of the story I was left with wanting more. Suicide seems to be a popular topic among young adult novels, yet finding a unique twist on it is rare. For over half of THE S-WORD I was left wondering how this was any different than the other young adult books of this type out there. Finally in the last quarter of THE S-WORD I saw the difference between THE S-WORD and all the others, but I was left wondering why it took so long. So in the end, while the message being conveyed in THE S-WORD was great and I definitely enjoyed it, I still wanted more out of it.

✳✳ Copy provided by the author/publisher for an honest review.

✳✳ Reviewed on I ♥ Bookie Nookie Reviews by Reviewer, Leah

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