Exit, Pursued by a Bear

Exit, Pursued by a Bear

by E. K. Johnston

Published: 2016 by Dutton Books (Penguin Random House)

Bought

Hermione and Polly have one goal as cheerleading co-captains: avoid the second half of the curse of their small town. The first part of the curse is that each class has someone die. The second part is that each class has one teen pregnancy.

When Hermione is raped at cheerleading camp, the outcome is obvious. And the choice she makes fall in line with her desire to change the curse of their town. But making that choice has a different set of consequences.

I appreciated Johnston's optimistic outlook of a tragic event. She also approaches the subject with a honesty, not shying away from the trauma of surviving sexual assault or the choices that are rarely shown in teen literature. In fact, as far as I know, this is the only book where the choice hasn't already been made before the book begins.

So I appreciated this book for its new actions, and it read smoothly, but it wasn't quite a five star book for me. Highly recommend to readers who like "tough topic" reads.