I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This is going to be a hard review to write. I saw this book on NetGalley but wasn’t sure if I wanted to read it or not because of the heavy topic of sex trafficking. I’ve read some books about sexual assault, but this would be harder. But one day I got an e-mail from someone at Wednesday Books giving me an e-copy for an honest review. I decided to go ahead and do it.

This book was hard, I know I said it earlier, but it was hard. But a book that should be read. It isn’t based one a real person, but these women are real and the events in this book are real. We follow Alexa as she goes from living the life of a teenager being sex trafficked to trying to live a normal life. We see how she navigated her life before in memories, to how she copes with who she is, and what has been done to her. This book just kept breaking my heart. Alexa’s story broke my heart over and over again. I cried a lot with her and for her. Her life is one that no girl or boy should every life through.

I read this book in one day, mostly because it was pretty short, but also because I didn’t want to linger in it too much. Too much pain. I have 4 girls of my own and man if this book didn’t make me even more protective over my babies. And I am pretty dang protective of them. There is not much more that I feel I can say about this book. If you want to learn more about this topic, this is a book that you should read. Again, be warned, it’s a hard one to get through, but something that we should all be made aware of.

I found this book really addicting. It’s intense– Lex is recovering from being trafficked, and some scenes show her in a recovery program and then transitioning to a life with her aunt and uncle. Some chapters open with memories from her past. Most focus on her relationships with the girls and her early relationship with Mitch, the man who trafficked her.

Trafficking is a really grim topic, and the scars that life left behind on Lex are obvious. Her mistrust, her tendency to disassociate, her ability to use her body to try to control others, all of that comes through on the page without apology.

But I felt like the story is almost this love letter to recovery, and to hope. What if a girl got out and found a community who supported her through her recovery? What if she found the courage and strength to speak about what happened to her?

WHAT UNBREAKABLE LOOKS LIKE shows an incredible (at times perhaps unbelievable) transformation that belongs to Lex. While she has great support, this journey is about her, and her power to become the woman she wants to be. It’s an empowering story, packed with hope and courage.

There are definitely some potential triggers, though, involving sexual assault and trafficking as well as physical abuse.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This isn't a book that goes down easy, but I thought it was very good.

Lex is a white teenage girl who was trafficked by a family friend. He groomed her, seduced her, coerced into sex-work, and then entrapped her in a situation that she didn't feel she could escape. When she and the other girls who have been trafficked with her are excised from their situation, Lex is adopted by an aunt, and begins the challenging work of confronting what life looks like after an experience that stole her innocence and her identity.

She's confronting trauma from all sides, and she's also addressing new demons, as the people in her life come to terms with her past – some of them by assuming she was a willing participant in a situation that was truly tantamount to serial rape.

The book explores experiences of trauma that I found rang very true. Feelings of guilt and complicity. Feelings of emptiness. A fear of never being normal again. To me, this last was really the core of the story. Is it possible to recover from trauma, or do these experiences change you forever?

I do want to highlight that the book does not ever address sex work in the sense of adult women or men who work in sex industries by choice. This is a story about trafficked children and teens, not about empowered sex workers. It may be outside the scope of the story, especially for a YA audience, but I was a little uncomfortable with the unspoken implication that all prostitution is born of exploitation. I know the arguments that transactions are not consent, but I know many women who work in sex because they genuinely love their work and their relationships with their clients. And I think it's important that we acknowledge that empowered women (and men) can choose to work in these industries, and should have access to support systems to health care and safety.

I think it's important to acknowledge the role that race plays in this story as well. Lex is a white victim, and is said to be the only victim in her her community who does not go back to the life. When she's talking about her experiences while trafficked, she uses vocal mannerisms that adopt a lot of language and speech patterns from Black communities. This is acknowledged briefly as not being a language she has ownership over. Though I read this as trade talk she picked up while trafficked, it did read a little like appropriation, or like there was an implication that Black culture and illicit/criminal behavior are linked. ...I think a more painful, jarring approach may have been to depict Lex trying to describe her experiences while breaking away from the language that may have distanced her from the self who was trafficked. To see how difficult it is to lay her experiences bare in language that is not borrowed.

In terms of on-page diversity, most of the characters read as white. There is a black woman who is depicted as the most beautiful woman in the world (more beautiful than Beyonce!)....but she's a cop, and I'm struggling to see cops depicted in any storytelling medium, when I want to see them out of our lives for good.

Lex does connect with new friends over the course of the story, including an excellent lesbian bestie, a very smart and incredibly tall mixed race guy, and a physically disabled friend of the family.

For me, the ending, and the resolution to the central questions, felt a little cleaner and clearer than I expected for Lex in her situation and timeline. I would have liked to see the story end with a more dissonant note, or to end with the question still hanging in the air.

I'm picking some of the details apart because I do think this subject matter is important and very charged, and we have to be very conscientious about how we depict these cultures and experiences, in a way that invites compassion, not pity or disgust, doesn't challenge the morality of victims or willing workers, and doesn't imply that any one experience is universal. As much as I challenged this one at every turn, I found that it did resonate, and was pretty brutally honest most of the time.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. This was a sad and inspiring story about Poppy who just couldn't find her place after being rescued from captivity. I loved reading about her strength and ability to come out from the darkness to the light.

[Invited to be part of the blog tour—excerpt posted 6/17/20: https://yabooksdaily.wordpress.com/2020/06/17/blog-tour-what-unbreakable-looks-like-by-kate-mclaughlin-excerpt/]

Review posted to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3358961407
Thank you so much to Wednesday Books for providing me with an Advanced Review Copy and inviting me to be a part of the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.

I'm part of the blog tour for this book, but only posting an excerpt, but I really wanted to write a review anyway and get some thoughts out here because if I am being completely honest, I'm a bit baffled by the high rating I'm seeing for this book on Goodreads and the praise I'm seeing in its reviews. I have a lot of thoughts.

I spent this past semester abroad (well....half abroad. Thanks corona.) studying "prostitution" and the sex trade, so I was really excited by the premise for this book. And what I got from this book was a novel that felt disingenuous, unrealistic, and careless.

To start, the actual prose of this novel was, to put it bluntly, very poorly written and very confusing at times. I couldn't follow sentences well, and so many of them just didn't make easy sense. It read like a rough draft. As a result, it was hard to see where growth and progress for Lex's character was coming from. I never got a really good sense of where her head was at because I felt like I was being talked at, not shown, her person. And character development was key here.

When Lex began this journey, I knew it had to be that: a journey. And yet, somehow, inexplicably, she seemed to move past her old self and into her new life.....easily and too quickly for comfort. She had a lot of setbacks, as were expected, and I appreciated them. But from one moment to the next, you got mixed messages. She was fine, she wasn't, she was fine. And that is very realistic to trauma, but it was confusing here because then a switch flipped and she was like "I'm an activist now. I'm over my past. Sex can be healthy and good for me again," and like....it just. It takes work. And I didn't feel like that work was being shown on the page.

The author also portrayed Lex multiple times throughout the text as being above the other women around her or from her old trafficking ring. Even when she had supposedly gained all this insight, she would think "Oh, that girl is still so haunted. I'm glad that's not the nightmare I live in anymore!" which I don't think was appropriate. This is a novel for young readers, about a topic that goes unseen and unheard not only in literature but in the news, in the media, in life. There's absolutely no need for that kind of rhetoric here. And as someone who has spoken to real sex workers (obviously, not saying Lex was a sex worker because she was not—she was trafficked and those two cannot be conflated), police officers in Europe, lawyers, activists, etc. I know that for many, solidarity and an understanding of all experiences is what is necessary in these conversations. I wish that had been shown here. I cannot claim to speak to or for anyone and everyone, but I was disheartened by that.

I was glad to see that Lex was moving past her sexual trauma, but my god, a sex scene after she finishes sitting on a panel and her boyfriend sobs thinking of everything she has had done to her and what she has gone through? There are just so, so many other ways that that could've gone which would've been more conducive to a healthy and sex-positive scene.

But the real humdinger was how quickly the novel moved past Lex's assault in school. It was dealt with, but too, too, too quickly. It should've had ramifications that were more lasting. An experience like that for a real trafficked person would've opened up a huge can of worms, and I just didn't get that at all. And I was confused and disappointed by how unrealistically Lex dealt with that new trauma. While everyone deals with trauma in different ways, at the very least such a plot point deserved far more time and care.

Also? So many questions left un-interrogated and loosely tied up with her former pimp's crimes, both old and new, and the way he and Lex's old family stalked her. There was nothing to grasp there.

Overall, I'm just sorely disappointed. I'm disappointed because this is the kind of story, premise-wise, that we need to be telling in YA. It's an issue young readers need to be introduced to. And I felt like it was handled carelessly (for example......Lex's aunt and uncle saying they're going to adopt her when.....she's 18?). There's just so much good work that could've been done here. I felt like I barely saw any work done at all. And there are a lot of trafficked persons in the world who deserve better than this kind of representation of their experiences, imho.

The book is about:
What Unbreakable Looks Like is a story about going through the worst things in life and the journey to moving on and recovery. Lex became a victim of human trafficking when a friend of her mother took her and stuck her in a hotel to do sexual favors for strangers. The motel got raided and she gets rescued by the police. This story is told through the mind of Alexa/Lex and how she processes her pain and her past while dealing with her present and finding the chance of healing.

What drew me in:
I had doubts about going through reading What Unbreakable Looks Like when Meghan from Wednesday Books reached out to me. It’s because when I read the blurb, I know that this book will hit quite hard. Despite this fact, I took on the chance to read this story because this is not one that we hear everyday. Human trafficking is very real and it happens all over the world. This book is a way to spread awareness, especially for young adults, and I was very eager to find out how the author Kate McLaughlin chooses to send the message.

Characters & connections:

The plot of the story is very character-driven. It all revolves around Alexa – her thoughts, her feelings, and her actions. At first, there was not enough introspecting for Lex to deal with her pain. There were lots of denial and it was like she was withdrawn from the scenes within her life and was just a casual observer. However, more of Alexa’s thoughts and emotions were expressed as the story unfolds, making the experience of knowing her even more whole.

On the question if this was an accurate portrayal of a victim of sexual trafficking, I don’t really know. And again, it is important to acknowledge that people react differently to the challenges that life throws at them. This story might be 100% accurate to some, and that would be more than enough reason to tell this story the way it is.

Everything I liked:
Throughout the process of reading this book, I felt my heart clench so many times and that was the best part. It delivered a strong message the way it should be – raw and real. Though it was difficult to keep on reading the triggering content, I have to agree that this book gave us a glimpse at a very important issue that is not often discussed.

Overall thoughts:
If you are someone who can survive all the possible triggers I have mentioned above, you should give this book a chance. It will bring you to a journey that will bring you to a different life perspective – possibly, give you hope and entice you to help support causes like this one.

TRIGGER WARNING: Human trafficking, sexual assault, violence, suicide, self-harm

What an incredible and important story. This is a work of fiction based on a harsh reality of the darkness hidden in our world. This book will be hard to read and make you uncomfortable at times, but it pales in comparison to what the victims of sex trafficking go through. This gives us a glimpse at a girl’s reintegration into society and her journey to find her self-worth again.

The Story: This story was definitely uncomfortable and difficult to read mentally and emotionally. But, I’m so glad I did. Kate McLaughlin brings us into the world of sex trafficking, and the havoc it wreaks upon not only its victims, but the victim’s family and friends as well. The story does a great job of giving us Alexa’s story following her recovery from being trafficked. It shows the struggles she goes through both mentally and physically. I think this story does an incredible job of showing us a realistic glimpse into the mind of a sex trafficking survivor and the constant turmoil they go through day in and day out in an effort to rebuild their lives.

The Flow: The story is told in a chronological order from our main character, Alexa or “Lex’s” perspective. There are occasional flashbacks to her time at the motel when she was being trafficked that add to the current timeline of the story. This book was quick to read, despite its emotionally difficult subject matter and I ended up reading it in two days.

The Characters: Kate McLaughlin does an amazing job of giving us characters with a lot of depth and emotion, especially Alexa, the main character. It was incredible to see how much she grew and developed from the time she was recovered from trafficking to the end of the novel. I also thought the minor characters were very well done. Each character had their own unique personality and their own strengths that they brought to the story and would lend to Alexa to help her through her recovery.

In all, this was such a good book, despite being so mentally tough to read. I truly think everyone should read this one as it gives us a small glimpse into the reality of sex trafficking in our world today.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest review*

There's no doubt this book deals with an important, and unfortunately unexplored, theme of sex trafficking especially as a story for the YA demographic. The story is raw and a difficult read; it's evident that the stark reality of it all can impact the readers in an unexpected yet important manner since many teens are sadly living or have lived through this nightmare of sexual assault.

However, the execution was bad. The narration felt off right from the start; the pacing is bumpy and everything is mushed together in an often incoherent manner. A benefit of doubt can be given to the premise of the story since the theme is gritty that the atmosphere and tone is purposefully hazy. But there wasn't a single chapter where the voice strengthened so the expectations were clearly not met.

Furthermore, The use of AAVE and the N-word in the writing style is absolutely disgraceful and inappropriate and could've been easily avoided. While I couldn't have easily picked on the vernacular influence since I'm and have always been situated outside the American continent, the N-word was striking and hard to ignore.

It's clear that the book could've made a strong impact since the character growth was good and the romantic inclinations while recovering from the past torturous experiences is gradually developed. But there are evidently wrong aspects of this book and that doesn't allow me to highly or even slightly recommend it unless someone wishes to pick this up at their own accord.

This is a hard book to review. Not only because the topics addressed are serious and needed in this genre, but also because I'm very torn on the overall effect & story.

There are elements of this book I absolutely adored, but there's also several issues that didn't sit right with me at all. And what's so difficult is that the parts that were good truly shined (ex: Lex's support group), but the parts that were flawed were seriously disconcerting. I'm trying to determine whether my expectations or own relationship to the material is factoring in to my critique and until I can separate my feelings from the facts, I'm going to withhold a full review.

At the end of the day, I believe this book has the potential to be a very powerful tool for readers that have been exposed to sexual abuse and/or dissociate in efforts to cope. But with that being said, I don't feel like this will land amongst readers looking for a more emotionally-open MC.

Because this is a dark read please note the trigger warnings (most of which involving minors) before diving in: rape, sexual assault, child abuse, domestic violence, sex trafficking, drug use and abuse, violence, self harm and mentions of suicide, slut shaming, miscarriage, murder, use of the N word, grooming tactics, etc.

Just wow! This book is a powerful look into the aftermath of human trafficking and sexual assault through the eyes of a young teenage survivor. Kate McLaughlin handled this heavy topic with sensitivity and care in What Unbreakable Looks Like. I was really enlightened about human trafficking and the impact it has on so many people. Seeing Alexa’s growth throughout the novel was uplifting as she begins her journey to try to return to life as a regular high school student. What Unbreakable Looks Like will stay with me for a while.

It almost seems wrong to put a rating on a story of someone’s pain, but that’s what I’m here to do. It’s why they gave me this book.

What Unbreakable Looks Like is not an easy read. It’s about human trafficking and everything that comes with it - rape, murder, etc. What the main character survived is not pretty, and many real girls (and boys) don’t survive it. Reading what Mitch did to Alexa infuriated me and made me feel helpless because I can’t help the many girls out there who are being subjected to men just like Mitch.

Reading about Alexa’s recovery was amazing. I still can’t believe the girl at the beginning of the book is the same one from the end. She became a strong woman and I’m just sad that some of her friends didn’t make it to become the same. I love Aunt Krys, Jamal, Zack, and Elsa. They were all fantastic characters and I’m glad that Alexa had people like them to support her.

Although some of the subjects are difficult to swallow, the book was a good one and I recommend it for people who like a good story of triumph and who are interested In the subject of human trafficking.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Netgalley, and Wednesday Books for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

It’s been a very long time since I haven’t liked anything about a book, enough to not continue to read it, and unfortunately this was the case for me. I feel like it wasn’t the topic that was a bother for me – although the premise of talking about teenage girls who were victims of sex trafficking is pretty intense and not something that I would pick up on my own – but more of the prose and the writing itself.

I unfortunately wasn’t able to get very far in this book. I think I stopped either on the second or third chapter, which is extremely rare for me. In the first chapter, we are seeing the tail end of what happened with the main character Poppy (real name Alexis and eventually goes by Lex) during her time as a sex slave. I say that pretty blatantly because her and five other teenage girls were locked up on the second floor of some seedy motel and forced to have sex with men for drugs and money. The girls got the drugs, their pimp got the money.

I don’t usually comment on how someone speaks in a novel, especially if they speak differently from me because I’ve been teased before for not “speaking Black” and to me that’s insulting and rude. But I felt really confused that the kind of verbiage that the main character was using was reminiscent to AAVE but coming from a white teenager. I’m pretty sure she was 16 if I remember correctly, because she mentioned not being 18 yet so she couldn’t go to jail. I also know that when you’re around people that speak a certain way or use certain slang, sometimes you start to mimic that kind of speech. It’s like growing up in Hawaii and then trying to speak Pidgin because everyone else is, even if it may sound off coming from you. I honestly never felt comfortable speaking Pidgin even if I was born and raised in Hawaii because I didn’t feel right saying those words wrong or using that culture for my own benefit. I don’t know if I’m saying that correctly, but hopefully that makes some sense.

This was also something a fellow book blogger mentioned in her review, and this is a person that I absolutely trust with her book analyses, and unfortunately things ended up happening where the author commented on their space to defend her actions. I don’t think this was okay, and I feel like she wasn’t receptive to the feedback that people said. It made me feel really uncomfortable and weird, and even though I tried to get through this novel, I just couldn’t. I agreed with my blogger friend and the more that I tried to get through it, the more it just made me feel icky. Maybe not the best word to describe my feelings, but it just didn’t sit right with me.

I understand that the author took the speech patterns of real victims of human trafficking that she interviewed as research for her novel, and I understand that she may have wanted to stay true to what she learned (I’m totally spacing on that term right now, I’m sorry), but then it comes off as a problem. It sounds like a white author taking advantage of AAVE for a white character when Black people aren’t allowed to use AAVE without being deemed as “ghetto” or “uneducated” or “thuggish”.

I also feel like my friend’s review explains my feelings a lot better for me, and I think she was able to go more into the story, unlike me. I’m sorry that this is a book that I wasn’t able to give any positive feedback on, but I hope that the topic of human trafficking can be better explored in the YA genre but done better.

What Unbreakable Looks Like is definitely a book that you have to be in the right frame of mind to read. It is a hard hitting story with some difficult topics that I found at times quite challenging to read but it deals with messages that are so important to talk about and highlight.

Like any story with a good message it looks at behaviours that people take for granted and shows the impact that that has. There is a lot of conversation around consent, which is so important and the story shows situations that someone can be put in where consent can be manipulated which I feel is definitely something that should be talked about more.

Lex is an unusual character, she is quite abrasive and flat to begin with, which meant I found it hard to connect to her at the beginning but actually that is probably realistic, why would someone who has been through such things be any thing else. As the story progresses she does develop, she gets stronger and starts to stand up for herself and most importantly she starts to trust people again. I liked that even though she was becoming a stronger person she still showed a lot of vulnerability and that she still had to push the boundaries of those around her to make herself feel more safe.

I felt like Zack was such an amazing character for this, the kind of empathetic guy that always knows the right thing to say and do. I liked that when Lex was trying to use him he was able to be firm with her but only ever with her best interests at heart. I loved seeing their relationship develop, he is such a sweet character but he could also be surprising.

For the most part I found the story gripping and absorbing, there were a few parts that the pacing felt disjointed. I think because at times the plot was kind of set against itself, for me the main focus of this story is Lex trying to readjust to life outside of a terrible situation but there are also a lot of other things that happen to her throughout the story which are there to further the message but I think did make other parts feel slower.

I quite liked that we got to see more of Lex’s experiences at the motel as she became strong enough to handle them. At first when we hear about it the information is very surface level but as we get to know Lex better we get to see more of the complex relationships between her and most specifically Ivy but also Daisy, it adds a different level of understanding than I maybe would have had at the beginning of the book.

Overall this is a story with an important message and even though it was at times an uncomfortable read it also had those moments of hope that kept you going and kept you invested in the story and the conversations that it evokes. I would definitely recommend it but would also caution to check content warnings before reading.

Does anyone else out there love YA books, even as an adult? I used to spend hours browsing through books at Barnes and Noble when I was a teenager and picking up this book really transported me back in time.⁣ Thank you so much Kate, Wednesday Books and Netgalley for my {partner} copy of #WhatUnbreakableLooksLike which publishes today!⁣
⁣
I have to come right out and say it - this book is not going to be for everyone ... and this has nothing to do with the writing because it was FANTASTIC, but this novel deeply explores the devastating world of sex trafficking, in graphic detail, and could potentially be a trigger for readers out there. ⁣
⁣
There were a lot of moments of utter sadness and a complete feeling of helplessness. There were moments where I felt ripped in two, breath catching in my throat. There were moments where I felt queasy and needed to stop reading. And then there were moments where I felt so proud of "Poppy" - for what she endured, what she surpassed and ultimately, the woman that she became. Most women would never have recovered from years of abuse, only to be freed and assaulted again. ⁣
⁣
All in all, the character development was incredible in this novel. It opened my eyes a LOT to a subject matter that I am not very familiar with and helped me understand so much more about resilience and what it takes to be a strong woman. I strongly suggest this book to my followers. It will be very difficult to digest, but it's incredibly important to read.

‘You can sell a pill once. You can sell a girl many times before she’s all used up.’

What Unbreakable Looks Like starts with a bang. We meet Poppy at the motel where she is being kept and sold by Mitch, the man who made her think he loved her and showered her with gifts so she felt as though she was in his debt. When the police raid the motel and find the girls they are taken to the hospital, where Poppy is reunited with her aunt Krys.

Krys and her husband Jamal are hoping to take Poppy home with them, so that she can beginning living her life as Lex once more. But the journey will not be an easy one, and Lex will need to want to stay clean and truly believe that she deserves better than the life Mitch dragged her into.

“This is how you survive. You sit the fuck down and give them the respect they deserve, and you make a promise to yourself that they didn’t die for nothing. You get mad, and you keep going. That’s how girls like us get even, how we say fuck you to the people who did this to us. We live.”

Kate McLaughlin does a wonderful job of exploring all of the different treatment options available to someone who has been in a situation like Lex. Not only is she taken to a rehab facility, where she undergoes group therapy and one-on-one appointments with a psychiatrist, but Lex also takes medication to help with her anxiety. I’m always a huge fan of books which don’t attempt to prescribe a one-size-fits-all treatment: mental health issues often need a combination of different treatments, especially for someone who has been through something as awful as Lex.

At the treatment centre we are introduced to a range of different characters, and one of the only reasons that I didn’t give this book five stars was because I really wanted some of these characters to be fleshed out a little more. Because Kate McLaughlin focuses so intensely on Lex’s recovery and she moves on from the rehabilitation centre quite quickly it felt like some of the side characters that we were introduced to were unnecessary, but there are a lot of people introduced very quickly and it’s hard to keep track of them all.

However, we also get introduced to a few of the other girls who lived and worked in the motel with Lex while she was still Poppy, and I thought those girls – Daisy and Ivy in particular – were extremely well fleshed out. The different ways that they react to being in such a heinous situation are very realistic and believable: it’s likely that some of the girls would rebel against Mitch more than others, and the dynamics between the girls are authentic. The flashbacks to the motel are quite sparse, but they’re very emotional – it’s impossible not to feel like weeping whenever you see Lex go through another ordeal at the hands of one of Mitch’s ‘customers’.

The sexual assault referenced in the blurb doesn’t happen until almost halfway through the novel, so I did have a constant sick feeling of dread churning in the bottom of my stomach knowing that Lex’s fresh start wasn’t going to be as happy as she had hoped. Her reaction to the assault was devastating, but the fact that she had friends and family around her to teach her that it was not okay that she had been put through that gave the story a feeling of optimism and hope. There are good people out there, it’s just sometimes hard to remember that – especially when you’ve been shown the bad side of people over and over again.

A big focus of the novel is on Lex developing a romantic relationship and learning to love on her own terms. Although I thought aspects of this were rushed, the overall handling of the matter is done very well.

There’s also a focus on justice, and the way that victims of sexual assault often worry about coming forward for fear of victim blaming. I have seen this tackled in a few YA novels in the past but don’t think any have managed to do it quite as well: Kate McLaughlin balances a mixture of supportive and outraged reactions, which is very true to life.

It sounds wrong to say that I thoroughly enjoyed What Unbreakable Looks Like, because it’s hard to enjoy a book focusing on a subject such as this, but I thought it was written well, had great character development and a very satisfying conclusion.

3.5 stars
likes
- this topic being discussed in a YA setting
- Lex's character growth
- the strong support system around her
- the discussion of being too "broken" and the exploration of Lex's trauma & how it presents itself (feeling numb, dissociating, etc.)

dislikes
- I found the pacing to be a bit weird, going by super quickly in some parts & dragging in others.
- the use of AAVE & the n-word; I do understand the author's explanation for this but... meh
- Lex being assaulted yet again in school was not given the attention it needed. I can only imagine how traumatic that would be and it really wasn't treated as such.

Before I begin to review this fantastic book, I must warn you that this story involves Sex Trafficking.

This was my first YA book that dealt with Sex Trafficking; so I was quite apprehensive going into this story – I had no idea what I would expect.

What Unbreakable Looks Like follows Alexa (Poppy) as she, and other young girls, are rescued from a motel where they are being forced into having sex for money. At the start of the story, I wasn’t too sure about where the location of the book was being set. I decided that maybe this was done because the poor girls in the motel also did not know where they were.

When Alexa and another are brought to a hospital for treatment, I found it interesting how they both wanted to go back to their pimp, Mitch. It made my toes curl reading about how much they wanted this and the fact that they “loved” him. I felt that the author was trying to show us the serious impact, mentally and emotionally, that has happened to these girls. And perhaps this can be the case in the real world.

I was unsure about whether I liked Alexa or not at the beginning. Don’t get me wrong, I was rooting her for the entire time. But I think as she started to embrace her new life and conquered the terrible things that had happened to her she began to change. It was beautiful to see that change, as it was so heartbreaking to read at times.

There were several times where I had tears forming in my eyes because Alexa just couldn’t and did not know how to handle what had happened to her.

I loved the pace of the book, it was steady and beautifully written as we followed Alexa on her journey. I was glad to be apart of the journey with her. At times, it was difficult to read. The story flicks between the present and her past events with Mitch. I found these parts super difficult to stomach – so I warn you all in advance.

I enjoyed secondary characters, Zack & Elsa. They were fantastic and were also really developed amazingly – it’s good to see other characters that also have development besides the MC.

Though there were plenty of times that I found this difficult to read, it was a beautiful book and a powerful one. What Unbreakable Looks Like is definitely the book to read of 2020 and you do not want to miss out on it!

Happy reading bookworms –

At the time I’m writing this review, it’s been a couple of days since I finished What Unbreakable Looks Like, and I still haven’t fully processed it. I knew coming into this book that it was inevitably going to hit me hard, but nothing could have prepared me for the gushing waterfall of emotions it made me feel… Future readers, stock up on the tissues, and keep them handy at all times while reading. You’ll need them!

Let’s get one thing straight: this isn’t a story about abuse. It’s a story about the trauma it leaves behind, as well as the many ups and downs that come with the journey to recovery. As readers, we don’t need to witness the horrors Lex, our main character, goes through to empathize with her trauma.

Without spoiling the plot, I want to warn you that this book focuses heavily on child abuse and sexual assault, and it is broken down in the most honest, agonizing ways. There’s also a solid portrayal of how deceptive abusers can be, as throughout the story, we see how Lex’s abuser has completely manipulated her and stripped her of her own identity.

I like how Lex’s story doesn’t end with her being fully “recovered” from the abuse she faced for so many years. After all, that would be completely unrealistic. Instead, it ends with something else: Hope. By the end of the book, though Lex is still scarred from the past, she has hope for a better future with the family and friends she has come to love. Not only that, but she has also reclaimed her identity and taken control of her own life and body, which were such beautiful things to see her do.

To be frank, What Unbreakable Looks Like is not an easy book to read. There’s a lot of shockingly heartbreaking content to get through, and so many parts of the book left me so emotionally drained that I had to put it down for a while. Topics discussed and portrayed are disturbing and sensitive and dark, but they are also real and thought-provoking and honest… Which is why Lex’s story is such an important one to read.

This book is not for the faint-hearted, but it is truly a powerful read. What Unbreakable Looks Like is a phenomenal story, and I know that I will be thinking about it for a long, long time to come.

W-O-W! An eye-opening book. Honestly, the cover drew me in first, then the book description sealed the deal. This author brought to light a very real and very dark truth that so many don't know about. I HIGHLY recommend it! An honest, raw, emotional read with strength and perseverance.

Amazing, heartbreaking, difficult to read but so so worth it. I felt every bit of this along with Lex. A wonderful read that I will definitely be recommending.