Elijah wants his band to succeed, and is willing to do anything to get them the recognition that he feels they deserve, even if it means playing tamed down music at the county fair for exposure. Kristen has her summer figured out, but when she is rejected from the Arts program she auditioned for she is crushed, but goes to perform in her school's performance because the show must go on. When Elijah sees Kristen perform, he knows that she is just what his band needs to step up their game. The hard part will be to convince his band-mates and Kristen the same... And to keep his feelings out of the mix.

I have been so lucky in the books that I have tackled recently because they have all been really enjoyable reads, making me so sad to put one down for fear the next can't live up to the high expectations I currently have. Well, this book was love for me. I had anticipated to like the story, pretty much due to the music aspect and the push-pull relationship hinted at in the synopsis, but I was caught off guard by the love I felt while reading this story. I was swept up by everything that was this book: the banter, the emotional turmoil the characters deal with, the family bonds, the angst, the pull of romantic love, the disappointment of failure, the humor of the battle of the sexes, the high of performing, the hurt others can cause, and the twitter battle and reality of harmful social media. I felt so many emotions while reading, and was on the verge of tears a few times without even being aware they were coming until my chest was tight with emotion. You want feels? Then you have come to the right place. The best part of the story was how Patty mixed the flair and flamboyant Broadway style with the dark gritty world of Heavy Metal. As a side note, I don't think the cover did the book justice, don't get me wrong it's an ok cover, but I feel like the story was so much more than what the cover seems.
​This story was about family, relationships in general and the big factor that ties them all together- Music.

​The things that stood out to me the most was Elijah's relationship with his special needs sister Anna and Kristen's grandmother Etta. Elijah loves his sister, regardless of how difficult she can be and he is willing to bend over backward to make her happy, which is uncommon for a teen, who are usually so focused on themselves at that age. You find out pretty late in the story that she is part of the autism spectrum, but the signs were around. I liked that Elijah never saw her as a burden, but instead he could see her intelligence and potential, and would do whatever he could to let her be herself. The fact he sings to her to calm her and has fully clothed, totally not inappropriate (regardless of what his mom says!) bath time with her was heart warming. Etta was such an influential person to Kristen, she inspired her to follow in her footsteps, her quotes help Kristen make life choices and she was the encouragement that Kristen needed to make her big choice- with out Etta, Kristen would never have been where she ended up.

This was my first book by Patty and I enjoyed her writing, the pacing, and use of social media- mixing the text conversations with actual conversation to keep it relevant for the time. She created people I felt for, that I loved, that I rooted for, and I believed in. And the ending was just what I wanted, a nice wrap-up to the story that covered everything I wanted to know (I love having a book with no loose ends). This was an emotional roller-coaster for me, with some amazing highs and some low lows, but I would not change a single thing. This is perfect for someone who wants some feels and romance with their music. Rock on!

I received this title in return for my honest review.

The Way it Hurts is an upcoming novel by author Patty Blount that addresses challenges of growing up, especially when social media is involved.

Elijah and his best friends, Nick and Sam, have a hard rock/metal band named Ride Out. Music is Elijah’s life and all he wants is for the band to gain exposure and make it big. Despite problems at home with his special needs sister, Anna, Elijah devotes as much time and energy as he can to grow their band.

Kristen has an incredible singing voice and Elijah is hypnotized by it when he first hears her in a school play. Kristen dreams of studying acting, dance, and singing at a music conservatory and eventually being on stage in Broadway shows. When approached by Elijah about singing with their band, she isn’t sure, but her outgoing performer grandmother, Etta, encourages her to step out of her comfort zone.

The problem? A series of posts on social media promote Ride Out and Kristen’s voice, but it all spirals out of control. Between problems at home, the tension between the band members, and social media chaos – Elijah and Kristen have feelings for each other even though everyone has warned them against trying getting involved.

Author Patty Blount includes so many relevant issues and situations in this novel that make it not only important to read, but it’s also very engaging. First is the social media issue that is so often the culprit for problems with adolescents today. Elijah sends out a comment about Kristen that he meant specifically about her voice, but it soon goes viral and is misconstrued. Excited about all of the attention, Elijah plays it off as being o.k. and that it will eventually die down, however, it only gets worse and results in several scary and dangerous situations.

The Way it Hurts also addresses the life of a family having a child with Autism. Elijah struggles to protect his sister, Anna, while her parents are looking for help with their daughter who is getting stronger and more explosive. There is so much love between them all, but there is also an extreme amount of guilt that you could practically feel coming off of them while reading.

Kristen’s family is also tested in the novel dealing with an illness in the family. The author depicts a normally happy-go-lucky family as they suffer through the fear of a loved one being ill in a very realistic way and details what an impact it has on our lives.

The characterization and plot development kept me interested in this novel from the first page to the last, however, I found myself frustrated with several characters throughout the novel, especially Elijah’s bandmate Sam. Although this further proves the author’s fantastic ability at building her characters, there were moments that I just wanted to yell at Sam and Elijah for the repetitive selfish and immature comments and behaviors.

I highly recommend The Way it Hurts to young adult fiction fans that want a mix of topics in their novels. So many issues are addressed from a young romance to the dangers of social media that I feel this novel is relevant to almost any reader. I look forward to reading more from Patty Blount in the future and will continue thinking about this novel and characters for quite some time.

*Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

**This book was reviewed for Sourcebooks/Fire via Netgalley, and for Barclay Publicity

The Way It Hurts is told through the alternating viewpoints of Kristen and Elijah. Kristen is a singer and actor. Elijah is part of a rock band called Ride Out. He hears Kristen sing at a high school performance of Cats and wants her talent in his band. After foolishly posting a tweet without considering the full ramifications, he approaches her and asks if she'll join them. She finally decided to give it a try, hoping for something unique to add to applications to conservatories. As things progress, the initial tweet posted by Elijah, later added to in deliberate publicity efforts by both Kristen and himself, gets wildly out of control, leading to threats and more than one physical assault on Kristen. Eventually this and severe miscommunications lead to a break between the pair. What will it take to repair the damage done?

Blount’s The Way It Hurts is a spectacular read addressing a number of issues pertinent to young adults (and adults) in the world today. Chief among these is communication, played out on so many different levels. It ties to the nature of social networks, which may connect thousands of people, but they often do the opposite of fostering useful communication, especially when the face to face or verbal aspects of communication are cut off. You cannot see the people you would hurt with words, so it's okay. Misunderstandings are common, too, once nonverbal cues and verbal inflection is removed. The fracturing of such communication allows the nasty, the vicious, the crude, to come to the foreground because they tend to be the loudest… like annoying yappy dogs barking at nothing. Music as a method of communication is very strong, especially in regards to Anna and Maggie, who are autistic. Elijah can converse with Anna through music alone. Also stressed is the need to be direct in our communication, to speak what we truly feel. How much interpersonal conflict could be averted if both parties were open with one another instead of leaving things to guesswork. We will always guess based on how we would react, but that other person isn't us and wasn't shaped by the same things that shaped us.

Another broad issue is perception, which Elijah comments on. There's no truth, only perception. By ignoring certain things, it allowed them to mushroom instead of collapse because people are gossips and will make stuff up happily if they are not provided accounts by the people in question. Perception comes into play again in regards to how people view certain things, say heavy metal music, without taking time to understand it.

Falling under these two broad issues are a host of others like ageism (Etta is awesome!), sexism, perpetuation of rape culture, and discrimination against the disabled. I was horrified with people's reactions to Anna, and later Maggie, disgusted that they should think these girls have no right to be out in public at all. It happens all too often in the real world.


📚📚📚📚📚

Not just another teen "I'm in love with someone in a band" book. Full of grit and heart, this book will draw you in and won't let you go until the very last page. Definitely recommend!

The Way It Hurts wasn't for me. It was far too long with not much actually going on. I didn't care for any of the characters and the story was just too melodramatic for me. As I'm definitely older than the target audience, that may be part of the issue. I can definitely see it working for some people.

Also, the blurb for this was misleading. I went into the story expecting something different. While that was a bit disappointing, I know that's not the author's fault.

Before reading a book, I usually go to it’s Goodreads’ page and check it out, even if I have read the synopsis before, I like to prepare myself for what I am about to read.

So, when I went to the Goodreads page for this novel, I was a little bit afraid. When I requested this book on NetGalley, it had a 4.0 rating. When I went to check it again before reading, the rating had dropped to a 3.38. Technically that’s more than 50%, but it’s also technically a failing grade. I usually like the books I read to be rated at least at 4.0. Occasionally, I will read a 3.8 or above, but life is way too short to be reading bad books.

But, alas, I was given this book for review so that was exactly what I was going to do. So, I read it. And to be honest, despite the rating I gave it, it wasn’t as bad as I was lead to believe it would be. I mean, I obviously didn’t love it, but it also wasn’t the worst book I ever read. Trust me, I have read some seriously high rated books that have seriously bad.

First of all, the synopsis lies. Let’s just put that out there. It says one thing and then in the book, another thing happens, but I will let you figure that out if you read it. It just made it seem like a different type of book, I suppose. Like these characters were terrible victims of a horrible thing. That’s not exactly how it goes.

Anyway, this book is about two people: Elijah and Kristin, their love of music, and an online scandal. For half a moment I thought that this would be deep and meaningful. I thought that it would take the real issues of online bullying the dangers of social media and make something out of them. It’s not what happened.

There was little emphasis on the issues of online bullying and sexism that Kristin faced. Sure, it was mentioned, but I don’t think that it was handled well enough. There was nothing for me as a reader to take away from it. It was more about music than it was about the social issue that it was actually trying to present. This is the third music/band romance YA novel that I have read this year, and you know what I have found out? I don’t like them very much. I wanted more of the actual advertised plot and less band practice.

Also, it seemed like Eli didn’t really care about what was happening to Kristin at all, despite it being in part his fault. It wasn’t until the issue started affecting him and his family that he saw the problem and decided to actually care. That’s just not cool. He came off as a little misogynistic to me.

I did like Eli’s love for his autistic sister. I liked his loyalty to his family. The other side characters though just weren’t doing it for me.

In the end, I wanted more. I wanted the book I was promised. Sadly, I didn’t get it.

What drew me to this book was the social media aspect of it, how something can suddenly go viral and spin completely out of control. And that's what I wound up liking most about the story, but it took a long time for it to get there. Elijah is putting everything he has into his band, sure that when they make it big it will solve the problems in his life. When he sees Kristen sing in her school musical, he decides that her voice is just what they're missing. The problem is that Kristen isn't into metal and doesn't want to scream for him, no matter how much he posts about it online. While the two of them are bantering back and forth with the "KrisVsEli" hashtag, each in pursuit of their own goals, they're stirring up their online fans until things become dangerous. And that's when the book really pulled me in. For a book with absolutely no sex, there are way too many references to Eli's erections and Kristen's chest. It's a young adult novel, and it reads like one, but it was a fun read once things got interesting.

***Review posted on The Eater of Books! blog***

The Way It Hurts by Patty Blount
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: August 1, 2017
Rating: 4 stars
Source: eARC from NetGalley

Summary (from Goodreads):

There may be two sides to every story, but sometimes there's only one way to set things right...

Music is Elijah's life. His band plays loud and hard, and he'll do anything to get them a big break. He needs that success to help take care of his sister, who has special needs. So he'd rather be practicing when his friends drag him to a musical in the next town...until the lead starts to sing.

Kristen dreams of a career on stage like her grandmother's. She knows she needs an edge to get into a competitive theater program―and being the star in her high school musical isn't going to cut it. The applause and the attention only encourage her to work harder.

Elijah can't take his eyes off of Kristen's performance, and his swooning face is captured on camera and posted with an out-of-context comment. It goes viral. Suddenly, Elijah and Kristen are in a new spotlight as the online backlash spins out of control. And the consequences are bigger than they both could have ever imagined because these threats don't stay online...they follow them into real life.

What I Liked:

To say that I'm not a huge fan of YA contemporary would be a gross understatement, especially when it comes to what I call "tough-issue YA contemporary. When I decided to try one of Patty Blount's books a few years ago, I had no expectations. It was an early read, and I wasn't too sure I would enjoy the story, but I was curious about. That book was TMI, which I ended up really liking. I went on to read Some Boys, which I loved, and Nothing Left to Burn, which I reread recently and honestly I love that book now even more than I did two years ago. I may say that I don't typically like tough-issue YA contemporary, but I can always count on this author to write really good contemporary, with relevant issues that teen deal with in this time, and a sweet romance to make me smile.

In The Way It Hurts, there is Elijah, lead singer and bass guitarist of the band Ride Out, which he and two friends created when they were in eighth grade. It's a heavy metal type of band, whose music receives a lot of criticism - especially from Kristen Cartwright, a theater girl who can sing, dance, and act like she's on Broadway. But Kristen needs an edge to get into great programs. And Elijah and the band need exposure and popularity - fast. Elijah and Kristen may not agree on music preferences, but they both agree that it would be a smart move for Kristen to join the band. And she does. But at what cost? With the rising popularity of the band and the increasing number of creepy and threatening social media posts Kristen receives, maybe becoming famous isn't what Kristen wants. Especially when things catch up to her in real life.

I usually don't go after books with the "rock star" types because I don't always connect with that protagonist. But from the start, I fell for Elijah. He has a bad-boy reputation and a dangerous image, which he wants. It helps the band and he knows all about perception and illusion. Elijah isn't a punk who likes to scream into a microphone. He is creative, dedicated, and very intelligent, proving over and over that he knows his music inside and out. He is also extremely loyal and very sweet, especially with his younger sister Anna, who is autistic.

Kristen was an interesting character to watch grow with the story. At first I wasn't a big fan of hers because she seemed a tiny but judgmental and snobby (and she was!). But at the same time, I could see why she was that way. She is proud of her upbringing and her talent, and she has goals and dreams that she is determined to realize. Kristen is a headstrong and tough girl, and she handles all kinds of obstacles that are thrown her way. I really felt for her as the story went on - she didn't deserve all of the horrible things that were directed to her on social media.

That is one of the best and strongest aspects of this book - the effects of social media. Everything starts with a tweet with a specific hashtag which takes off. Suddenly it's Ride Out and a new girl named Kristen, Eli vs. Kristen. Girls hit on Eli and throw themselves at Eli, but Kristen gets disgusting tweets and nasty comments. Isn't this so true of society and fame today? Men are praised and let off the hook for many things, but when are subject to even more scrutiny and criticism, and they are expected to cater and stoop down and bend to the will of others. Blount does an amazing job of hitting on so many issues with society today, involving social media and in general.

The character development of both protagonists is well-written. Kristen is a little stuck-up in the beginning, but by the end, she is more open-minded and realizes how wrong she was about Eli, the band, and their music. Eli has a bit of a chip on his shoulder at first, and he judges Kristen too, but by the end, he lets go of some things, and he starts to see things how Kristen saw them. I liked seeing these characters mature into better (still flawed) people.

I also appreciated the inclusion of a character on the spectrum! Anna (Eli's sister) is a big part of this story, even if she isn't a protagonist. I loved how calm and patient Eli was with Anna - almost all of their interactions are so sweet. And when Kristen meets Anna for the first time - I adored that scene!

Another secondary character that I loved was Etta, Kristen's flamboyant grandmother. She's so interesting and a little eccentric and I thought she was great! Etta is a huge source of support for Kristen, and she is also a big fan of Kristen/Eli, which I thought was funny.

You probably already guessed it, but there is a romance, involving Eli and Kristen. They seem like an unlikely pair on paper, but they are great together! They bicker, they fuss, they get very angry with each other, they hurt each other, they understand each other. Don't misunderstand - this isn't a toxic relationship. It's a very real one though - it starts as a terse partnership for the band, and then it moves into friendship, and then a romantic relationship. I liked the progression of the romance. I would have loved to see more Eli/Kristen scenes, but that's okay. No love triangle, no cheating!

The conflict of the book lies with the band involving Kristen, Kristen and the social media issues, Eli and Kristen's relationship, and Anna too. There is so much going on in this story (though not in an overwhelming way), and it all comes together in the climax. You'll have to read the book to see what happens! I liked the ending very much and really appreciated the epilogue. A great way to end the book!

What I Did Not Like:

Ehh, super major. I did mention that I would have loved more Eli/Kristen scenes, in terms of the romance. You know what I mean. But that's okay! This is a slow-burn romance, and I do like those.

I also would have looooved to know how some of those recurring social media jerks were, and the writer of the article. It seemed kind of significant, who the author would turn out to be, or who that one person on Twitter was (Mikey). But maybe these things weren't actually important. I just like to know.

Would I Recommend It:

I think any teenager/young adult should read this book (or any of Patty Blount's books). The effects of social media are so important to understand, especially the consequences of posting this or that. You don't have to be a YA contemporary fan to enjoy this book. You don't have to be a teen either - we adults could learn a thing or two from this story!

Rating:

4 stars. This book has a little bit of everything for everyone! Like music in books? Check. Like romance? Check. Like bad boys? Check. Like confident heroines? Check. Like issues in the story dealing with social media? Check. Like supportive families who love each other? Check. So many aspects of this book really worked, and the book overall was extremely solid and a very good read. I highly recommend it!

The back-and-forth between Kristen and Elijah was fun to read, and I loved the family dynamics for both MCs, but regarding the social media aspect of the book, I would have liked it better if it didn't take so long for something to happen.

What really confused me is this part of the blurb: "Elijah can't take his eyes off of Kristen's performance, and his swooning face is captured on camera and posted with an out-of-context comment. It goes viral." Did this happen? Did I miss it? I went back but still can't find any mention of a photo of Elijah at the play that was shared by someone else. Comments made by frontman Elijah and a photo of Kristen do get some attention, but what goes viral is about competition between the two main characters, which does not go viral until they pick it up themselves and encourage it.

Kristen has big plans, but they've been put on hold. She hasn't been accepted into the exclusive summer program she desperately wanted. She's a "triple threat"... she's got the amazing voice, the moves, and the acting chops. She's dismayed when she's informed she's "not special enough". She still kills it at her high school's production of Cats, earning her some attention online... and from a certain boy.

Elijah is the frontman to a hard rock band. He seems to care about nothing but his band and little sister. He needs to make it big so he can pay for the kind of care she deserves. She's autistic, and she's started to become harder to handle as she gets older. Their parents are nearing the end of their rope. When he sees Kristin perform, he becomes convinced Kristen is exactly what the band needs: a powerful female voice. Two vocalists.

Problem is, hard rock is definitely not her style. She does need something to set her apart from the score of talented teenagers though. Maybe it'll give her the edge she needs... if only she and Elijah can stop butting heads and she can get along with the rest of the band.

I just didn't like Elijah. I couldn't. This surprised me, because he clearly cares very much for his little sister. I have close family with special needs myself, so I knew that aspect would get to me. It did, but it just wasn't enough to make up for his general toolness. He gets the "sudden urge to rip out his throat" when one of his best friends admires Kristen's body... before he even knows her name or has spoken to her, despite the fact he'd been doing it himself since he'd spotted her and will continue for the rest of the book. He experiences visceral possessive feelings throughout the book, but after Kristen and Elijah become close, he's barely concerned when she receives physical threats. How does that compute?

I have no doubt there are many that will enjoy this book, but it wasn't for me. I found it to be too predictable and was annoyed by most of the characters. Perhaps I'm just annoyed by their naivete, how childish they are. I'd give the author another shot if the book revolved around adult characters. I did like the chapters starting with glimpses from the social media of the main characters. It was a nice touch. I also really enjoyed the character Etta, Kirsten's grandmother.

Props for the use of the Seether lyrics.

I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley and Sourcebooks Fire, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.

*2.5 stars.

This book had a lot of potential. I read Some Boys by this author a while back, and it had a really important message about rape culture and it was unafraid to explore those issues. The Way it Hurts started within the same, courageous vein, but it felt short and I had a hard time finishing the book.

Elijah and Kristen are on opposite sides of the musical spectrum-- Elijah likes hard rock and metal, while Kristen leans more towards theatre. It’s a twist of fate that has them working together musically, but both have dreams of their own and challenges in the way. When the outside world intrudes, both have to decide if their dreams are worth the risks.

Reading this book was a bit of a rollercoaster. The first half was a bit rough for me. There’s a lot of back and forth between many different personas—online and offline—that I didn’t get a clear grasp of the characters. That said, I so enjoyed how much of today’s culture (and social media hierarchy) was in this book.

Each little chapter had a Twitter display page, and it was fun following each of the characters’ pages after meeting. They both have these misconceptions of the other, and you just know they are going to clash.The backstories were exceptionally well-drawn, too, and diverse. I could appreciate everything they both have to work through—musically and personally.

It just felt like the plot went in circles. Elijah and Kristen definitely don’t see eye-to-eye which really kicked the story forward in the beginning. The problem was that they had the same conversations over and over, and no one learned anything new. One or both would walk off in a huff and then the next day it’s the same confrontation. Some important things happen too that were overlooked and left loose ends.

Then there were the frustrating characters! Sam plays a huge part, and he gets a lot more page time than Elijah and Kristen. Elijah’s misogyny and his lack of concern by Kristen’s harassment baffled and irritated me completely. Kristen lost some of my respect too in how she would deal with situations.

Overall, I finished this book by the skin of my teeth. If you’re looking for a book that really captures the essence of social media and how it affects a young adult audience, I think there’s enough bare bones here to be a satisfying read. The romantic connection, however, was lacking.

Elijah's wants his band to make it to the big times and they decide to invite Kristen to sing with them.

They create a hashtag that gets completely out of hand and doesn't go too well for Kristen for some time.

There's a lot of drama and I couldn't relate very well to the main characters, I didn't find them particularly likable and I really disliked Elijah in particular. He's very misogynistic and I felt like that issue wasn't dealt with properly, which really bothered me.

All in all this was a good book, but not particularly great.

I liked that the ending was well tied up and how things seemed to have ended well for everyone.

I'd still recommend this book.

I don't care why we liked music, how it affected us, or why it was so important. I only knew that it mattered.

The Way It Hurts is a story of music, family, love, and discovery. Elijah Hamilton, rocker extraordinaire, is floored by aspiring Broadways star, Kristin Cartwright , and invited Kristin to join his band so they have the edge they need to break big. We follow the teens as they learn more about the nastiness of social media, deal with intense family drama, and navigate their feeling for each other with the good of the band. The Way It Hurts was a surprising emotional read, that was really easy to become invested in the characters.

Things I Liked
I really loved the family dynamics in the story. Kristin adores her grandmother Etta and wishes to follow in her footsteps of a life on the stage. They have a very open and fun relationship that is incredible supportive and encouraging. Elijah is a fantastic brother. He cares about his sister Anna more than anything in the world, and it was really great to see that side of him.

Things I Didn't Like
I feel like there was an overall lack of direction. There was so much stuff going on, that I don't know if everything got the attention it deserved. Eli and Kristin also didn't feel clearly defined, like they were torn between two stereotypes.

The side characters were pretty absent. We don't really learn anything about Sam and Nick, the other band members, or Eli or Kristin's families. It made the world feel smaller, which was a shame.

I don't think enough attention was given to the online harassment and extreme sexism that Kristin faces in the story. It represents a very serious real world problem countless women face, so I would have liked to confront the problem, especially the band's own sexism more.

This was a good story, that could have been more. I thought the relationships were all really well developed and made me want to continue the story. The characters were all a little flat for me, but the emotions felt real so I still enjoyed the story - despite my complaints. This was a good story that blended music and family really well.

Patty Blount is one of the authors I keep hearing about, authors whose books I have on my to-read shelf, but I just haven’t gotten around to reading a title. Getting a chance to read her writing was very exciting. Said writing is the thing that shines in this book, I really like Mrs. Blount’s style, and I will consider giving her books another chance.
This book had a promising idea behind it, I found the plot intriguing, and the subjects it touches on are serious and it’s important to include them in YA. But this book only partly delivered. Not to mention, the synopsis is inaccurate.
I really enjoyed reading it, but I can’t deny that it had its problems. I can’t get behind every behavior that the characters showcased, I found their actions somewhat unrealistic. Elijah’s misogyny is evident, and it isn’t dealt with properly, it’s basically dropped. Neither is the subject of online threats, it’s just stops being the main focus to the point where I felt like it’s totally forgotten about.
Those important subjects I mentioned need to be dealt with in a better manner. That's why I couldn't fall in love with this book as much as I wanted to.

I really will have to check out this author's other books if they are anything like this one. I really enjoyed how she dealt with issues and the interactions of the characters in this one. It was a very fast read and I am so glad that I got a chance to read it.

This one started out slow but sped up and I couldn't put down. You won't realize your even at the end until you go to turn the page and there isn't anymore. The dual POV worked out great and I loved the music details we received. This is one that I will enjoy again in the future I just know it. I think this one would work for both girl and boy readers.



Just so you know this one deals with autism and a chromosomal disorder

“The Way it Hurts” is an intriguing YA novel about two musical teens, Elijah and Kristen. Elijah (Eli) is the lead singer for the hard rock band, Ride Out, which has a few diehard fans but not the following they are hoping for to make it big. Eli is really banking on Ride Out working as a thing so that he can help take care of his special needs sister, Anna. Kristen plans to become a star like her grandmother Etta (one of the best characters in the book) and has the amazing voice to do it. She is planning to go to an amazing musical school for college, which should help launch her career. She already participates in an online forum designed to help artists with feedback and has critiqued Ride Out for their sexist lyrics.

Eli attends Kristen’s high school production of “Cats” and falls in love with her voice (and body) right there. He begins a trending topic by tweeting things like that he’d like to make her scream #catcall and begins to pursue her. He thinks that she could be the perfect element to take Ride Out to the next level. Their online war heats up as does their personal interactions, sparking a #KrisvsEli that gives them the publicity to go with the talent. Combating personal/familial problems and balancing the band plus social media is not as easy as it seems for Kristen and Eli.

Things get pretty scary for Kristen when fans take the online banter too seriously, threaten her with rape, and begin stalking her around town. The demonstration of this fear and potential for harm are a really good thing for teens to observe. However, what is really lacking is the ability to properly handle this fear- especially when it’s confronting her in everyday life with people stalking and attacking her. This book had a lot of potential when handling such an intense and powerful topic, but I feel it fell short on showing teens about the resources available and what they could do if ever put in this situation. Also, Eli said some pretty sexist things but since he cares about his sister, it seems like it’s written off. This type of dialogue should never be excused, no matter how nice a man/boy is to another woman. I feel like there was a missed opportunity for some personal growth. He starts to get an idea of how harmful this could be, but I think it misses the mark overall.

The focus of the book ends up being on their romance, resisting the pull to be together and the banter back and forth. I think a better focus would have been on how to handle the online sexism and violence towards Kristen- we observe it happen but then don’t see how it can be resolved (except to delete all her accounts? But this would not stop stalkers who have decided to target her). I was surprised that they didn’t really follow up on this/kept the focus on the teenage romance. I read the whole book and feel that it was a great start, but I would have wanted more (resolution/growth/help), so I am giving it a middling star review for it’s OK, but I think it could have been even better.

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I think I speak for most of us bookworms when I say that we read to escape our mundane lives: We want to discover new worlds, travel to farwaway countries and "hang out" with people whose lives seem more interesting than ours. But sometimes it's necessary to bring real life problems into a book to raise awereness. And this is what Patty Blount did with The Way It Hurts.

The most important thing in Elijah's life is music and his hard-rock band "Ride Out". He will do just about anything to get their band the big break-through. This is why he would prefer practicing with them instead of sitting in an auditorium on a Friday night and listening to a musical. Then he hears the voice of the lead: Kristen. She lives and breathes stage performances, just like her grandmother. She wants nothing more than to study at one of the best conservatories in the country and pushes herself to get better every day.
A picture taken on that Friday night and an out-of-context comment go viral. Suddenly, Elijah and Kristen are in a new spotlight as the online backlash spins out of control. And the consequences are bigger than they both could have ever imagined because these threats don't stay online...they follow them into real life.

I was really looking forward to this novel. The blurb promised a bit of music but most of importantly a storyline that too many people are confronted with on a daily basis: online bullying, haressment, slut-shaming. I know this is a sensitive subject matter for many of us but it is important to acknowledge and talk about it.
The result I got, however, was different than I expected. As you read in the blurb, Elijah and Kristen both love music and love to perform on stage. We see them practice, perform and practice a little more. We learn a lot about music in general: sounds, lyrics, musical intstruments etc. It was interesting, no doubt, but the focus of this story was too much on the music and less on the actual topic of online-bullying.
Don't get me wrong, the online-bullying part was there throughout the whole story. The chapters, alternating between Kristen's and Elijah's POV, started off with their respective social media accounts and consisted of stats, status updates, tweets and retweets. The characters talked about those online comments but unfortunately those conversations were not enough in my opinion. Instead of acting on it, they either fueled up the rumors or turned their conversations to music related topics. For over half the book barely nothing happened. Sure, there was bickering and also sexist and misogynic comments but I was missing the drama that the blurb promised. Only at 68% did something happen, when the promised threats followed them into real life. I wished the drama would have happened earlier in the story.

The just mentioned social media accounts that appeared in the beginning of every chapter was a nice feature in this novel. I really enjoyed keeping track of their accounts and seeing the change in their growing follower base. The added tweets and retweets, that were shocking to read, were a little confusing at first. It seemed that the characters found out about the tweets at the same time the reader did. But after a few chapters I noticed that those were not part of the actual story, it was rather for the reader only. The characters only found out about those tweets in the course of the chapter, which is why a few of those comments in the beginning were repeated in the story, and that made it confusing to me.

As an author, Patty Blount made it her mission to write her novels about realistic issues. Although The Way It Hurts was not what I hoped for, it is still an important book and worth the read.

I loved Blount's book Some Boys so I was so excited to read this new one!

Unfortunately, this book was so slow that I did not even finish it. What happened to the excellent writing? Blount did not pace this story well at all.

When I read the synopsis I was intrigued right away because I recently dealt with my own issue of being trolled online and it amazed me how different men are treated versus women. I had someone post a pic of their 9mm and my parents address but neither Facebook nor the police took my fear of this seriously or understood how I could feel threatened, seriously? I completely bonded with the female character and her fear of what was being done to her and felt the author did a great job in capturing the accuracy of what people say online, do in real life and how men seem to brush off women’s concerns of feeling threatened.

The synopsis didn’t feel accurate though because it made it seem like Eli was this victim who got caught up in the trolling with Kristen but that wasn’t accurate so it took something away once I realized the tone of the story was actually very different. The main characters actually seemed to have cause the social media fiasco they find themselves enveloped in and egg it on until it begins to blow up in their faces. It also seems like most of this book is about the dark side of social media but the first half is just a typical YA / music / want stardom story.

Any readers who are really into the music scene, particularly heavy metal, will enjoy this book as it’s def more about that than social media. It still portrays an important lesson about social media though and the power it can wield for either good or bad depending on intentions. It’s not stable throughout the story though because one minute Kristin is trying to point all this out while Eli is apathetic then Kristen seems to stop caring because Eli flirts with her. It’s not realistic, when you’re being threatened that badly you aren’t going to stop caring just because someone makes googly eyes at you. The author had a real chance to stress safety and how to handle threats but she just didn’t take it.

A huge positive for me as someone who has family on the spectrum was the inclusion of a character with Autism as well as the respectful and realistic way her life was handled including the horrifyingly real possibility of having a loved one put into a restricted home environment.