Summary from goodreads.com:
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.
If you're thinking "Does this book have anything to do with To Kill a Mockingbird?" The answer is there are elements of the story in this story and it's weaved into it very well.
Alex is our main character who from the very beginning knows she was date raped but has a hard time remembering. All she knows is that she is disgusted with herself and for what happened. The star piano student at Themis, even her music world is tainted with the situation. It's a very sad and gasping moment when she can't play her favorite piece, "Ode to Joy" without wanting to rip the keys off the piano for it being taken away from her. Her safe haven isn't safe anymore and it's a heart wrenching moment for our character and the reader.
Luckily, her friends are there to help her when she tells them about what she thinks happened. Immediately they tell her to tell someone. Unfortunately at Themis, all the faculty thinks that every student is so perfect and that nothing bad happens at their school. But Alex does in fact turn to her friends advice and enlists the help of the vigilanted student justice system known as The Mockingbirds.
I loved how this story weaved through the emotions and Alex coming to her memories of that night when it happened. I loved the fact that her friends stood by her side to help her through an emotional pain that she couldn't face on her own.
Basically, in short terms, I love this book! It's a well woven tale of how to stand up for yourself even in the hardest of times. To get yourself back to you before the you that you used to know was taken away.
It's a strong story that had me cheering at the end and not putting this story down at all. I kept reading and reading past midnight some nights because of how this story kept moving. I had to know what was going to happen next. How the Mockingbirds worked, how the story was going to twist and turn and end.
For me, I love that Alex did take her friends advice to get the help she needed to become herself again and to stand up for it. I was that friend once helping a friend. I'm thankful that I could have been there to help my friend. Not everyone wants help, but they need it when they are the most vulnerable and this story helps us all realize that. If you are the victim or the friend of the victim, stand up for yourself! Stand up to those that would take you away from you.
Daisy Whitney has the second book coming out this year, The Mockingbirds--The Rivals. It sounds just as amazing as this story is. I suggest that every girl ages fourteen and older read this. It may just give you that courage when you need it most.
That good you say, well then I will keep it in mind :)
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