5 perfect stars!

I finished What Unbreakable Looks Like half an hour ago and I'm still emotional. Going into it, I didn't expect it to hit me this hard. I've gone through a lot of trauma - including sexual assault - and this is one of the first book I've read involving these topics that feels "real".

It was an emotional roller coaster. Lex, the narrator, is a victim and a survivor of sex trafficking. When you think about sex trafficking you might picture girls being kidnapped in foreign countries and sold for sex, but her story takes place close to home. With more and more stories on the news about sex trafficking just in our back yard, the importance of this book grows. The harsh truth is that this is happening every day to people just like us. It's happening right here. It could be happening next door.

Kate McLaughlin approaches the topic without holding anything back and I have so much respect for her because of it. Lex is a lovable character that I could instantly relate to. She doesn't feel manufactured. When she's rescued from her pimp, she instantly begins a journey full of denial, anger, resentment, and regret, but also growth, acceptance, survival, and love. Thanks to her Aunt Krys and a few amazing friends she makes at her new school, Lex is eventually able to learn that she's worth more than a cheap orgasm. I wanted nothing more than to reach through the pages and give her a hug while simultaneously punishing everyone who ever hurt her.

My only gripe is the transition from the past to present. There was no indicator of a timeline change, so the random jumps were a little frustrating. That's really a simple editing fix, though!

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of What Unbreakable Looks Like by Kate McLaughlin in exchange for my honest review.***

I was very excited to read this book. One of the topics for my high school students to research for our major paper is human trafficking in the US. I feel that it is an issue that is not discussed enough, so I am very excited that this novel has been written and is coming out. I will definitely have one in my classroom.

The main character, Alexa (Poppy) is not kidnapped overseas, and is not a run away. She is a young lady of an alcoholic and negligent parent whose boyfriend sells her into human trafficking. When the house is raided, Alexa finds herself in a hospital with her aunt waiting to take her home. The novel follows her recovery and her journey back to "normal" teenage life, but some of her past follows her, somewhat literally. It is a funny and poignant story that I think readers of all ages will enjoy, as well as bringing light to an important issue.

I knew that this book would be talking about a hard subject. I didn't know how much it would affect me until I started reading. I would be lying if I said I didn't cry a couple times. It may also have to do with being a mother to a daughter. It's something I never want to have happen to her. I only had one issue with this book overall which made it hard to understand at times but it didn't effect the overall message.

Lex has to come to terms with a lot of things. She has been rescued from the trafficking life but what happens after that? It is all she has known for years. I think the author did a good job of showing the mindset of these young girls and how their pimps pull them in by pretending to love them and give them gifts. They condition these girls to believe that they need them and by that time it is hard for this girls to walk away. There are times that when the girls do get rescued they still run back. It's just heartbreaking.

Even though she is having a hard time adjusting and trusting others, like her aunt and uncle, she tries to be strong and they continue to support her and love her. Lex also makes a couple friends along the way and they never treat her any less. Although she has a great support system, her old life still haunts her. It also plays a role in a relationship where her "boyfriend" continues to take advantage of her. Seriously, I just wanted to punch him so hard.

The thing is, although for the most part everything works out in the end for her it didn't for other girls she knew. I also felt that the bad guys getting what they deserve doesn't always happen in real life either. We see it on the news, people buying their way out of jail. It's hard to be optimistic. Although I think her intentions for writing this is to shed light on this topic but maybe it is also here to give hope.

My one complaint is that the timeline in chapters would switch making it hard to follow. I had to reread a bit each time to understand the jump.

I have never been in this situation and I hope it never happens, especially for my daughter, but I'd like to think that the author did a good job with such a tough subject.

Overall, this book was good but it will not be for everyone. You definitely need to be in a good mindset and even if you are, prepare to have a gut-wrenching feeling while reading.

Her name was Alexa. She was a blue eyed red hair barely sixteen year old virgin. She was surrounded by her alcoholic mother and boyfriend. She was befriended by their friend, Mitch, who visited bearing gifts and flattering compliments. She was shown attention and what she perceived as love. She was manipulated and lied to. She was trapped. She was trafficked. She became known as Poppy and entered a world where sex, drugs, beatings, and abuse were everyday occurrences. But then one day, Poppy was rescued first by the police and then by her aunt who gave her a home and unconditional love. The journey was not easy, but Lex ultimately proved to be unbreakable.

This is the type of book that should be read and discussed in high school classrooms. It’s message and inspiration is based on much research and the documentary I Am Jane Doe by Mary Mazzio. Kate McLaughlin’s story gives voice to all those fighting against human trafficking, to those survivors that were brought home and those that unfortunately never made it home.

What a beautiful story of resilience and recovery! Alexa is a wonderfully written, fully-fleshed protagonist surrounded by lovable characters who make up her support system. The story is well-paced and is perfectly woven with flashbacks of Alexa's time at the motel. TW for sexual assault, self-harm/suicide, and addiction.

Huge thanks to Alexis at St. Martin's for inviting me to read this title via NetGalley!

I really enjoyed this story. It touches topics that I feel like we don't talk about enough. Though I would say that it felt like there wasn't really a build up.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book that I was given in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book was a gut punch. Hard to read, brutal, the kind of book that makes the mother in me want to hold my kids, the woman in me be a warrior, the teacher in me make sure everyone reads this story. It is incredibly well written and the character of Lex is horribly, painfully authentic. I can't speak on the authenticity of the trafficking angle and Im so, so glad of that, but I am grateful for the lessons I learned from this book.

I received a digital arc from netgalley, so here's my honest review:

Cw: abuse, sexual abuse, human trafficking, physical abuse, domestic violence, miscarriage, suicide, self harm, addiction,

I'm writing this review, assuming the author is not black, because there's no photo of her on the internet and the underlying racism in this book let's me believe she isn't. Which leads me to think this book is problematic. Our main character, Alexa/Poppy, is a girl who's been trafficked and abused. Which are horrible things to do to a person, and I felt emotional reading her story. I almost cried at some points, when her support system tried to teach her that she didn't deserve what happened to her and that she deserves good things happening to her. As she is healing, she gives us glimpses into her old life in the motel, where she tells us about the other girls who's been through the same stuff she has. Now here's the thing: Alexa is a white girl and she hated Daisy, the only brown girl that gets mentioned living in the hotel with her. While all those girls go through the same horrible things, somehow Alexa has no respect or empathy for daisy and the way she handles the situation - by lashing out. Also she was called a "cockroach" by Alexa and ivy, towards the end of the book. In another instance, she later punches another brown girl, in the shelter she's living. Out of all the girls in the story, the two brown girls are the ones getting punched and disrespected. I feel like the author might now have done this on purpose, as there are 2 black people in the story, who Alexa learns to trust and love - a police officer, who found and rescued her from the motel and her aunt's husband. They are both good and wholesome characters, who I really enjoyed. BUT Jamal, Alexa's aunt's boyfriend, says the n word later in the story. He's black, so he's allowed to say it, but should the presumably white auhtor he allowed to type it out??? I don't think so. If the author is black, I take this back, of course, but of she isn't: YIKES!

Besides that: there are jumps in the story. One line the story is about being in the middle of class, the next line we're at the dinner table with Alexa's family. Sometimes this is very confusing and I hope this gets changed a little by the time it is published. Also sometimes punctuation is missing, or names are written wrong, like Zack is spelled as "Zach" another time.
Also there's some ableism going on and sometimes the wording makes me really question things, like when the character says about herself "I'm anal like that" several times... In the context of this story, it makes me feel really weird.
Because besides all of these problems, I think the book is promising and can be really good! I wouldn't let it read someone younger than 16 though, the topics are way too heavy! Talking about consent and sex with younger readers is important and there are books out there who do this, but "this is what unbreakable looks like" is not one of those.

If the spelling errors, the weird wording and the odd writing get fixed, I'd totally recommend this to someone! The book was good. The story was great and important.

This book! Wow. I was so drawn to the characters and storyline. I’m so impressed. This is my first book by this author and it will not be the last.

I’ve just finished reading “What Unbreakable Love Looks Like” and I’m absolutely stunned. It was so heartbreaking and beautiful and unexpected.

Oh my dear. Lex, how I wished I could have given her a hug or a voice of support as well. Though I know I can do that for someone in my life, in reality.

The way this book was written was done so, so very beautifully and eloquently.

The only challenges I had with it was that there was no clear distinction between time jumps, and the ending — while absolutely lovely — is a bit anticlimactic and unrealistic as well.

Altogether I definitely recommend this book.

Surviving human trafficking seems absolutely impossible. This book shines the light on so many different areas of what is going on in someones mind during the process. Facing what it is like to rehab back to having a real and meanigful life. Mental health is tough in everyday life--this book shows what it takes to help bring someone back from a world of hate and abuse. .

I finished this book in a few hours and thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked the journey and development we see in Alexa. I think that there were a few moments in the book where I felt it was a bit unrealistic and some of the transitions were pretty sudden between flashbacks and present day. However, I still enjoyed the book and think that fans of books like Jane Anonymous and other YA thrillers will like this one too.

Wow this story grabs hold and doesn't let go until the last page. Alexa was trafficked by someone she knew. I felt like I knew Alexa and was there with her the entire time

After a neglectful childhood results in 17 year old Alexa being trafficked by a man she trusted, she grows accustomed to the dark and horrific side of humanity. Then she's suddenly rescued and has to figure out how to reintegrate back into society andbegin the process of healing.

What follows is a heartbreaking, emotional and at times harrowing account of Alexa trying to find a way of living with what she has been through, and yet I have no doubt that it barely glances across the reality of trafficking; particularly as it mainly focuses on the aftermath and Alexa as an optimistic view of recovery who has an incredible support system. It does make it clear though that this is not the typical outcome.

What Unbreakable Looks Like explores in depth the feelings of a trauma victim, including the numbness, fear and cognitive dissonance as well as touching on different experiences of trauma without ever scaling them. It was an amazingly compelling read which I devoured in one sitting and which gave me a greater understanding of the nuances victims face. The characters are complex and well rounded (with the only exemption being the Fischer siblings who are the very definition of basic).

A fantastic but emotionally difficult read.

This was really moving. I was so excited to get the arc of this and I had high hopes for it. Yes, this book is good. Solid. Honestly, I really enjoyed it. I just couldn't give it five stars. I felt that it was deep and important and worth the read. I just felt it was rushed at some points. I think it could have been longer. I also felt like sometimes things were glossed over and didn't see the fullest view of the issues.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of WHAT UNBREAKABLE LOOKS LIKE by Kate McLaughlin in exchange for my honest review.***

Reading the first page of WHAT UNBREAKABLE LOOKS LIKE, I felt a rare tingle in my stomach letting my know I was reading something special. A few chapters in, I realized WHAT UNBREAKABLE LOOKS LIKE might be one of my all time favorite books.

Kate McLaughlin blew me away with this special, poignant story of Alexa, a teenager trafficked, now living with her aunt and uncle. Lexie’s pitch perfect voice oozed distrusted and pain as she slowly healed and learned to love without abuse.

I loved the support Lex received from the police officer, her teachers and principal and friends and hoped that in real life, trafficking survivors have the same support system.

WHAT UNBREAKABLE LOOKS LIKE should be required reading for teens to teach consent, illustrate bullying/slut-shaming and how to support our friends and family who have survived trauma.

I know I’ll reread WHAT UNBREAKABLE LOOKS LIKE again, like I do with all my favorite books.