** spoiler alert ** Fascinating read--and as many other reviews have said, a timely topic. I'm not sure what to make of the ending. There's a very surprising, fascinating twist that makes me want to read the book from the beginning again, and see if there were hints to this realization.

If I understand the ending, it makes Sam an unreliable narrator, which makes how she portrays herself at the beginning--kind of Mary Sue-esque, at least that's how I read it--very interesting and real. We all are biased narrators of our own stories. The narration then is some hybrid of Sam and Gracie's stories. I wish I'd seen the hints leading to this to make the ending a little more satisfying, but still! What an interesting twist!

But in the end, what's the take away? Clearly Sam lying about what happened to her isn't OK. I don't think the moral of this story is to testify for someone else. It really invites some important and timely conversations about privilege, particularly when it comes to telling other people's stories. But the ending wraps up so quickly that I'm not sure what we are supposed to take away. I remember reading it and being put off with Sam's obsession with vengeance, and now with the ending in light, it makes me read that obsession a little differently than before.

All that said, a very interesting, fast-paced read, and I gobbled it up in just a few days. I definitely recommend reading it, especially for a book club or some setting to invite conversations.

Trigger warning: rape, sexual assault and hazing

Feminist and beautiful. This book was surprisingly on several layers. I thought I was going to be reading a fluffy YA piece set in a boarding school. Then I begin and I'm suddenly overwhelmed by the fact that I'm reading a well thought out, well paced piece on white male privileged, boarding schools, hazing, rape and sexual assault. The book was raw and felt real. Highly recommend.

I am always intrigued by books set in boarding schools, and this one deals with the darker side of those institutions. Though multiple issues were touched upon, the one which caught and kept my interest revolved around sexual assault and the fallout experience by the women, who are brave enough to speak out.

•Pro: The book was broken into three acts, each with a distinct focus in the story. I liked this division, which kept me very focused, and I also really liked the addition of the second POV, as she served a purpose I was not fully aware of until almost the end.

•Pro: Burkhart showed the good and the bad sides of boarding school. She introduced us to nice and not so nice people at said school, and I appreciated that she didn't paint the school and the people affiliated with the school as all bad.

•Con: Sam was a really complicated character, and I don't think we got to know her as much as I would have liked

Pro: BUT, I think that was the point. Part of her needed to be kept concealed in order for this story to work.

•Pro: The story definitely ramped up in Acts 2 and 3 as Sam prepared for and actively sought justice. These were my favorite parts of the book, and I loved seeing that she of Sam.

•Pro: There was this very awesome twist, which I only saw coming really close to the reveal. My applause to Burkhart, because it was a great way to distinguish this story from a field of sexual assault storied.

•Pro: As a woman, I found myself angry and frustrated and nodding my head over and over again. There were so many things that happened in this book, which were appalling, but sadly, quite realistic.

•Pro: The ending had many elements that were not shocking, but I was pleased with the effect seeking justice had on the young women in the story.

Overall: An interesting and thought provoking look at rape culture and the repercussions survivors are forced to endure when they speak out, which left me simultaneously sad, frustrated, and angry.

***Let me start off this review by saying that it may be the most disorganized review I've ever written, and give a huge trigger warning for rape/sexual assault. I'm writing this not caring about grammar, or flowy writing, or anything else, because I walked away from this book so rage-y that I can't really put into appropriate words all the things I felt. Also my reviews usually do not contain spoilers, but this one does because it's the only way to accurately express my full range of emotions. If it turns out you love this format of review, let me know because this is different than what I normally do but I'm happy to change up my style if that's what you guys like reading!***

Honor Code by Kiersi Burkhart follows Sam, a fifteen-year-old girl who gets into an elite private school, where behind closed doors she learns and experiences things she never expected. From having to line up naked and be ranked by upperclassmen, to being forced to join a sports team, Sam isn't sure she's ready to handle what's in store for her, but her desire to earn a scholarship to college keeps her motivated to tough it out. When she gets matched with the hot upperclassman she's been drooling over for the school mixer, she thinks that she's finally fitting in, until that upperclassman takes advantage of her attraction to him and her naivety and rapes her when she went to him for help with schoolwork. Wanting to keep the school honor code sacred, Sam seemingly tries hard to avoid exposing the incident or identifying herself or the prosecutor, but she still fights in her own way to seek justice.

My thoughts through the first 2/3 or so of this book were all positive. We need more books about rape culture to bring the issue to light. This showed why girls don't come forward when they've been sexually assaulted, and details all the fallout that happens when they finally do. YAASSS, I thought, this book is everything. Until the plot twist happened that had me raging until the very last page (and I'm still raging, as evidenced by this review).

SAM DIDN'T ACTUALLY GET RAPED. It was her roommate Gracie that went through that traumatic incident, and Sam in some deranged quest to help her decided to make the story her own and go public with it. Yes, the boy who raped Gracie attempted to rape Sam too, but she was able to escape before anything happened. THIS MADE ME SO ANGRY. DO NOT TAKE SOMEONE'S SEXUAL ASSAULT EXPERIENCE AND MAKE IT YOUR OWN. I don't care if you want to help them. I don't care if you're trying to expose someone and make them seek justice. Rape is such a terrible and deeply personal occurrence that if the person who experienced it doesn't want to pursue reporting/exposing it or do anything about it, THAT IS THEIR DECISION, not yours. Please, come forward with your own experience of how he attempted to rape you, and make him face justice for that, but DO NOT MASQUERADE.

Now I do think this book had some great themes. Exposing corruption in private schools, showing how girls are treated cruelly after coming forward with this type of information, and how rich white male privilege is unfortunately alive and well today are all things that it is important to address, and it did all these things extremely well. That being said, I just couldn't wrap my head around what Sam did and why this is ok. I'm not sure if it was her fifteen-year-old mind and care for her friend that made her think this was a good idea, or if she just wanted the spotlight, but this just does not sit right with me. And judging by the Goodreads reviews, I'm the only one that thinks this.

I've struggled a lot with my rating for this book because while the false rape report really set me off, I think it tried and succeeded to shine light on the overall rape culture issues our society faces today. I originally wanted to rate it as 2 stars, but I think I'm going to bump it up because despite the problematic plot twist, the message was good and the writing was fantastic, and I did really enjoy reading it.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Thanks to Lerner Publishing Group for allowing me early digital access to this book. Honor Code by Kiersi Burkhart releases on March 1st!

No matter how many times I pick this book up, I can't get into it. Maybe it's because so far it's had a lot to do with bullying. This is something that makes me extremely uncomfortable to read after my own experiences. The book seems well written and interesting but I just can't get passed it the bullying. I'm sure this will be a hit for some people, but not for me.

Feminist and furious, HONOR CODE will have your heart racing and your blood boiling up to the last twisty page. Gripping, intense, and all too relevant.

Honor Code was a lot better than I thought it would be. I liked it and wish I could have finished it but the graphic r*pe scene was really triggering. I will definitely recommend it to teens. The characters were a little flat, and it would have been nice to see more development both in Sam and Gracie. I wish that there was more suspense in the first half of the book.