Book Review: Screwed by Laurie Plissner

Summary: 

Grace was the girl who always did everything right, until the night she fell for a boy's sleazy line and became pregnant. Nick couldn't care less about pretty math-geek Grace or the baby he fathered. He's had a dozen girls like her, and he'll have a dozen more. When Grace confesses to her super-religious, strait-laced parents, they deliver a shocker: They've scheduled an abortion. All they want is to pretend this never happened.

When Grace balks, they literally throw her out in the street. A rich, elderly neighbor takes her in, and, with the help of the friendship she needs in Charlie, the old woman's great-nephew, she must make the toughest choice of her young life. The people she believed in were only playing a role, while others, in an unlikely way, are true heroes.

Grace can never have the life she planned, but she has one chance to be the person she will have to live with for the rest of her life. Her choice will cost her, big time, either way--and no one can make it except her.

Release Date: April 18, 2013

Age Group: Mature YA

Source: NetGalley

Review:

I love the premise of this book, and overall really enjoyed Screwed.  I felt so badly for Grace.  Didn't we all made mistakes at that age?  She made a mistake and has to pay for it in a big way, while Nick, her baby's father, wants his identity as the father to remain a secret.  Grace has one good friend, Jennifer, who is on her side.  Everyone else, even people she thought were friends, shuns her.  The worst betrayal is from her own parents, who can only see the damage to their social standing when Grace refuses to get an abortion.  Grace's parents kick her out, and before she endures any physical trauma, her kind neighbor takes her in.

I really enjoyed Grace and the other characters in this book, especially Helen and Charlie.  I wish that Screwed would have been a first person narrative, with Grace as the narrator, because I think that would have made for a more personal book.  I couldn't help comparing Screwed to Karen Hart's Butterflies in May (read my review here), another coming-of-age story based on a teen with an unplanned pregnancy.  

One thing that really bothered me about Screwed was the language.  There was a lot of cursing, especially the f-word, which started to get to me.  I don't like it when cursing is used too liberally in teen books; while I understand that four-letter words are a big part of most teens' vocabularies, I think too much of it cheapens the book.  

My favorite thing about Screwed was how Plissner resolves the conflict at the end of the book. I  loved that Grace, Charlie, and even her parents experience a lot of character growth and positive change throughout the story.  I really enjoyed Grace's trip at the end of the book and thought it was a fitting end to her journey.  

Overall, I enjoyed Screwed and would recommend it to fans of coming-of-age novels and fans of mature YA.  I would definitely read Laurie Plissner again.