Live Through This

by Mindi Scott

Overview

When a relationship trespasses the boundaries of trust, the consequences are complex in this nuanced page-turner from “a formidable talent” (Booklist).

If Coley Sterling’s best friend would stop hating her, if her dance-team captains would lighten up, if her friends would stop asking her about Reece, the geeky sax player she’s crushing on—then her life would be perfect. Right? After all, Coley’s stepdad is a successful attorney who gives Coley and her siblings everything, and her mother will stop at nothing to keep them all happy and safe—including having escaped ten years ago from the abuse of Coley’s real father.
     But Coley is keeping a lot of secrets. She won’t admit—not even to herself—that her almost-perfect life is her own carefully crafted façade. Now, Coley and Reece are getting closer, and a decade’s worth of Coley’s lies are on the verge of unraveling—along with the life she thought she knew.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442440616
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	10/02/2012
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Mindi Scott is the author of Freefall and Live Through This. She lives near Seattle, Washington, with her drummer husband in a house with a non-soundproof basement. Visit her at MindiScott.com.

Read an Excerpt

Live Through This
I’m on my bed, under the covers, and my boyfriend is kissing my neck. He lifts my shirt, lowers his face. My heart is beating, beating, beating. I want him to do more, go further. I don’t tell him—I don’t say anything at all—but he figures it out and slides his hand way down. My whole body is on fire in the best possible way. Especially there. Right there. I tug on his boxers and he sighs.

I start awake.

A hint of cologne. Soft breathing. Darkness. It’s real. This is all happening. But not with the imaginary boyfriend from my dream.

My hands, my arms, my frame go limp. His fingers keep doing what they’re doing. Soon this will be over. I keep my eyes shut and hold my breath while the wave builds and builds and builds and builds and then—the wonderful, terrible crash.

It doesn’t matter that I tried not to tense up; he knows. Somehow, he’s always been able to tell. Gently, he kisses my cheek. Then he stands, straightens my blankets, and closes the door behind him.

I press my pillow onto my face and wish that it were possible to suffocate myself.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Live Through This is by turns harrowing, sad, funny, and romantic. I couldn't put it down."

—Stephanie Perkins, author of Anna and the French Kiss

"Intensely emotional and beautifully crafted, I savored every word."

—Amanda Grace, author of In Too Deep

"An honest and realistic portrayal of what it is to live with secrets and shame." –Jo Knowles, author of Lessons From a Dead Girl

Editorial Reviews

Gr 9 Up—Despite the chaos of a busy life (dance team, friend squabbles, a new boyfriend) and family life (a strict stepfather, younger siblings, and an older brother, Bryan, who is floundering), Coley, 15, is working hard to act like everything is normal. What others can't see is that for years, Bryan has been molesting her. While the teen is confused and tormented by her relationship with him, she also feels protective of their friendship. Only Coley and Bryan, who feel like outsiders in their stepfather's home, know what it felt like to escape their abusive father and move from New Zealand to the United States. Her shame over not hating her brother and the resulting emotional complications in her relationship with her crush finally prove too much for her to handle. Coley takes tentative steps toward healing, reaching out to friends and family to help her. Scott does not reduce the complexity of the situation and Coley's emotions to a simple solution. Dramatic without melodrama, this title respectfully examines incest and sexual abuse.—Jennifer Miskec, Longwood University, Farmville, VA

School Library Journal

Scott (Freefall) delivers another intense and often uncomfortable portrait of a teenager in a desperate situation. Coley has a generally happy family life, does well in school and on the dance team, and she's starting to fall for a nice boy named Reece, who could become her first real boyfriend. But she's also being raped by someone close to her, and she feels partially responsible for the ongoing abuse. Scott crafts natural dialogue, and conversations between Coley and her friends Ming and Noah give the story an easy momentum, creating a disconcerting contrast between Coley's "normal" outside environment and her inner agony. The thought of sharing a secret so deeply buried is inconceivable to Coley, who actively relies on denial to cope. The identity of the perpetrator is clumsily telegraphed and "revealed" to readers much too late, but Scott handles Coley's confusion over her own body's reactions to the assaults and her conflicted love for her abuser with subtlety and sensitivity. Coley's final acceptance that she has been victimized delivers a powerful and hopeful conclusion. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"Live Through This is by turns harrowing, sad, funny, and romantic. I couldn't put it down."
—Stephanie Perkins, author of Anna and the French Kiss

"Intensely emotional and beautifully crafted, I savored every word."
—Amanda Grace, author of In Too Deep

"An honest and realistic portrayal of what it is to live with secrets and shame." –Jo Knowles, author of Lessons From a Dead Girl

From the Publisher

Dance-team prestige, loyal friends, affluent Seattle family--Coley, 15, seems to have it all, but her sunny persona hides a private, nighttime dread. Coley's blossoming romance with Reece makes it harder to separate those worlds, and her gift for walling off the unpleasant--like the rift with her longtime best friend, Alejandra--isn't working. With her overprotective mother and stepfather, ally and troubled older brother, Bryan, and younger triplet half siblings, Coley feels smothered, not safe. When Reece is permitted to join the family ski trip to Whistler, B.C., Coley finds that her childhood strategy of quiet endurance, rather than preventing the abuse, enables it to escalate. What makes this more than another "problem" novel is the author's steadfast refusal to deal in stereotypes and easy answers. Coley's more than the victim of sexual abuse--just as her abuser is more than a collection of abusive behaviors. Who we are and what we do are different things. Oversimplifying character motivations would have made this a less harrowing read but also a less powerful one. Unraveling her thicket of tangled emotions is a confusing and painful journey for Coley, but the bedrock truth she uncovers sustains her: Freedom from molestation is a human right. Required reading for anyone who's ever wondered "why didn't they just tell someone?" (resources [not seen]) (Fiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews