Dear Cassie by Lisa Burstein

NOTE: I received this eARC through Netgalley. Thanks.

The truths that this book addresses are brutal and realistic, and I can't brush the feeling that they were screaming in my face. Weird, I know.

Too many are the girls who fall for the guy who gives them the stars, the who 'understands', only to end up hating themselves after an unexpected 'thing' happens. I don't know why that is, honestly. I mean, teens are quite educated about sex and the consequences (and complications) it may lead to. So why not be smarter about it?

I can't pretend that I know. I don't. Cassie didn't seem to know either. But she did know that the world is ready to screw you over the moment you give it the upper hand. Which is why she had a major attitude. it's why she didn't trust anyone. And it's why (after what happened) she was sent to the camp for straightening out girl delinquents.

If only it were that simple. If only fate didn't meet her up with a girl who had no desire to speak, yet said volumes with gestures. If only there wasn't a camp leader determined to help while provoking Cassie to remember, to think and to analyze.

If only there wasn't a cute boy involved. Ben, who seemed to want to get close to her. Ben, who she went to great lengths to avoid and run away from.

Of course, Ben has his own story, but it's nothing like Cassie's. And while I was able to make a fairly good guess on Cassie's situation, Ben's was a complete mystery. He was really nice, well mannered and carried himself with a certain level of dignity. Not what you'd expect to see from a boy delinquent, is it? He seemed to know what he was doing, no matter what the obstacle was. Even with Cassie... he just seemed to know. I was attracted by his sensitivity toward her, by the challenge in his every word. And by the way he always seemed to be prepared to fire back at her.

With a dark mood and raising a thousand questions, Dear Cassie is definitely a book that every teenage girl should read. Perhaps then there will be less girls left with broken hearts and unfulfilled dreams.

My rating