Disclaimer: This review is not sponsored. I was given an e-ARC of the book via NetGalley by the publisher and author in exchange for an honest review.

This was hard to read. Not that it's bad or anything -- it was really good. It's a hard read because it deals with a very sensitive topic. It always feels so powerful when I pick up these kinds of books because it's brave to speak up and write about things that everyone should be aware of.

This book gives you a slice of reality. That the world is not always bright and sunny, but there's darkness and shadows that's waiting to grab you when you least expect it. That's how I felt reading this book. If you're easily triggered by topics discussed in this book (human trafficking, sexual assault and violence in general), this book might not be for you. But this is a necessary one. And I hope it sheds light to everyone who picks this up!

First of all, thanks to Meghan from Wednesday Books for sending me via NetGalley an eARC in exchange for a honest review.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.


Real rating: 3,5 stars.


CONTENT WARNING: human trafficking, exploitation of prostitution, child pornography, violence, sexual abuse, slut-shaming, miscarriage, drugs, Stockholm syndrome.

TRIGGER WARNING: rape, self-harm (cutting), suicide attempt (mentioned).


Lex was convinced that she wouldn't have lived enough to be eighteen.
This is because her mother has always cared more about alcohol and how to get even more of it other than caring about who circled around her daughter so that's how Lex became Poppy - one of the many girls who work for Mitch, who sells their body to anyone willing to pay. Anyone.
Closed in a motel room with other girls and forced to have sex - forced to be raped - numb and stoned by the drugs that Mitch gives them to keep them pliable and that they use to dissociate themselves from what men do with their bodies, Lex no longer even thinks of escape. To go where, anyway? She - like all the other girls - depends on Mitch for food, a roof over her head and especially her beloved pills.

It's a bit of a shock when the police raid the motel, but not so much: it's not the first time, they know they have to keep their mouths shut and sooner or later they'll go back to Mitch - or he'll pick them up. The cops say they saved them and Poppy is already looking for the right opportunity to escape together with Ivy - the only one of the girls who is closest to her, the only one who initially insisted that they call each other with their real names not to forget who they were before but now she has also surrendered to what is their life - when what once was a beloved aunt, her mother's younger sister, comes to the hospital. And Aunt Krys really seems to want to keep Lex with her - with all the trauma, the shame, the scars, the nightmares, the distrust she carries with her.

A part of Poppy is always ready to escape, but Krys' presence has awakened Lex - and Krys wants to offer her a life again. But how can you trust something as ephemeral as hope? How can you believe what looks like just nice words? How can you believe that they won't ask you for anything in return? How can you believe that it is unconditional affection? Why not go back to the life with Mitch which, however horrible, still offers certainties?

Lex decides to try it, to find out if she can still trust someone, if she is not too damaged inside to be able to still feel feelings for someone - Lex decides to find out if she really can deserve a good life.

But old ways of thinking are hard to get rid of, it's easier to let yourself go before what you already know - including the sex that inevitably leads Lex to dissociate during the act because it has become something automatic in her mind and sex is devoid of any value. But when the boy she confided in uses her story to take advantage of her in one of the worst possible ways, Lex realizes it's time to say enough is enough - to break the circle.


"What Unbreakable Looks Like" is undoubtedly a novel with an admirable intent, capable of highlighting what is actually an industry: the trafficking of girls, often minors, held hostage and sold for sex. The brutal way in which they are dehumanized finds a place here, with Mitch depriving them of their names and identities to shape them as he and all his "customers" like. Unfortunately, there are many like Mitch out there and it's a difficult mechanism to stop because there's a lot of money involved and people who help these men get away with it because it's convenient for them too.
And above all, very few girls manage to return to normal lives because if they aren't beaten and killed by some client or their pimps, they are often the ones who decide to stay because of the drugs or because they don't know another life except that one - and without an adequate support system such as rehab, therapy and family it's unlikely that they'll remain sober.

Lex is one of the lucky ones, even if lucky is definitely not what she feels like - at least at the beginning - and she refuses to be identified as a victim or survivor.
Through Lex we discover how easy it's for certain pimps to attract girls to their web - and sometimes it's not just girls who come from complicated family backgrounds, sometimes it only takes a party or a classmate. We discover the mechanisms that these girls adopt to survive that life, we read about its ugliness and you can't help thinking about how many girls are lost out there.

But I must say that no matter how strong the themes and the touching topic were, I didn't feel very emotionally involved with Lex. I didn't find it strange that Lex didn't react very badly in the presence of boys and men because Hermione in "Exit, Pursued by a Bear" by E.K. Johnston also reacted in the same way.
I think the problem is mostly that Lex talks about how she feels and her emotions, but you don't really see her feel them. The dissociation, the anger, the anguish, the panic ... we are told that they are there, Lex tells us that she feels them but I didn't feel them personally - they didn't hit me in the stomach like they had in the past when I read other books. I may have felt more anger and outrage than her when the whole school learns of her past and takes sides with her attackers, telling her that she hadn't really been forced to do so since she's a whore - proving they don't understand at all the horrors Lex has experienced and they're not even trying.

The book is fast where it should be slow and vice versa.
In a short time Lex is saved, she goes to rehab, she goes to live with her aunt, she makes friends with a girl and a boy, she's attacked and there's more that happens but I won't say since I don't want to spoiler. These parts perhaps should've been longer and instead are treated faster than other parts that didn't need a slower pace. One of the flaws is that everything takes place within a few months when, personally, it would take years for me to even thinking of granting my trust to someone.

And it will certainly be because I haven't read the finished copy, but there wasn't a clean separation when the setting changed from one conversation to another and I often had to reread to understand that the scene had changed - also the flashbacks of Lex's past in the motel with Ivy and the other girls could have been better distributed within the narrative. Or maybe, I repeat, it was my unfinished copy that didn't highlight the gap between one scene and another.

However, I really appreciated Lex's support system: her aunt Krys who stays close without hovering over her too much and her best friend Elsa who reminds her that she's not the only one to have had a difficult life, but nonetheless she's very protective of Lex. Zack is also really wonderful, an example of how all boys should be. There's also the demonstration that a pet's unconditional love can really save a life.
And this was what Lex needed: unconditional love devoid of any judgment to start healing from the terrible traumas of the her past and discovering that precisely Poppy - the girl she used to be - led her to have a life again.

"What Unbreakable Looks Like" is a novel with a really powerful message, which is raw and blatantly honest about the bad things girls trafficked have to face. Perhaps it fails just a little in its execution - at least for me on a emotional level - but it surely leaves the reader to think about it and to hope that all the girls out there are one day saved. That one day they can truly be unbreakable without having to bend over in front of anyone.

Hello Book Wanderers! Welcome to my stop on this blog tour! I’m really excited to tell you about this book. Things you should know first: it’s about sex trafficking, so massive trigger warning for anything even semi-related. This gives a hard look at the trafficking trade, as well as stereotypes and assumptions that go along with it. Dark and gritty, yet comical and witty, I struggled reading this book (had several cries and a few laughs), but also appreciated the message the author wove into it – we (women) are so much stronger than many people give us credit for. I loved the themes of feminism, strength, and survival – no, not even just survival; more than that – reclamation of life and self after trauma. What Unbreakable Looks Like is graphic and paints a strong picture of life in and after trafficking. It is an unflinching examination of abuse and recovery. Well worth the read, especially because we need change – things like this need to be stopped. There’s a scene in the book where an outsider sees Lex in the life and yet turns away and doesn’t help her! I couldn’t believe it. There is so much broken in the world, but there are good people out there clamouring for change. I, for one, hope against all odds we do see the change we need.

The good:

I was thrilled to be approved for a YA book about sex trafficking. Even though this is not a topic I’m honestly comfortable reading about, I feel like it’s easy in the privileged west to treat a really harrowing practice that effects hundreds of thousands of women as a “Taken” meme and nothing more. I think it’s important to see this story from the POV of a trafficked teen, and to highlight the abusive behaviors and grooming that gets her in a terrible situation. It also features a powerful depiction of PTSD and the importance in having grace with yourself and recognizing your journey is a choice.

This story is important.

The less-than-good:

However, this book is really, really heavy. I commend the author for tackling and living in the pages of such a dark book. But I wish I had not read this at the time that I did? Since we are still in the clutches of the COVID-19 isolation, I often found myself needing to put the book down and walk away since I was so uncomfortable. It wasn’t the best choice for my mental health. I also found there to be a few issues with pacing, which I’m hoping were adjusted by the time of final printing. I’m including content warnings below, because even though the blurb is explicit, I was still found myself overwhelmed by at times by the gut-wrenching content.


Content Warnings: suicide, sexual assault, domestic violence, human trafficking, alcoholism, child pornography, self-harm, rape, PTSD

*I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

It's a great survivor story! It was hard sometimes to read some things, but it was a good read.
I recommend this book!

This book is even harder to read than you'd expect. We may all picture that once people are rescued from horrible situations, it's a happy ending. (And it is, in terms of the fact that they're no longer being victimized. But what we may not necessarily register is that it's not an ending. It's a new beginning, and starting over is a lot harder than anyone could expect.)

For Lex, she battles with self-esteem issues after years of being treated like a thing instead of a person. She's damaged, but most people are. (Although she also says she's broken, her therapist would disagree with that, as would I.)

This book made me cry in several parts, and uncomfortable throughout. But I was also always so proud of Lex. I know how this sounds, but while she has a lot of things to overcome, she keeps trying. Even when trusting people is scary, she chooses to trust people. She loves her family and her friends. She keeps trying. It's incredibly inspiring, but not in a treacly way. She's just this incredibly strong person, even though she would never consider herself that way.

This is an incredible and much needed book. I hope everyone reads it.

I got an ARC of this book.

Welcome to the newest blog tour that I have been asked to join in on! Today the book is published and I am excited to be a part of things.

This book was hard to read. The subject was tough, but there was a lot about the book itself that made it harder. I was under the impression that this was a YA book. Yet there are GRAPHIC depictions of child rape that happen often. I understand that trafficking is literally rape. There is a difference in knowing that and reading scene after scene of graphic child rape in a book aimed at teens. There are scenes that are flashbacks and then a gang rape scene that is in the present. So if you have any issues at all with rape or child rape in particular, please avoid this book. It is GRAPHIC. I would not give this book to the teens I work with because of this.

I work in criminal law. I have worked on child sex trafficking cases. I have seen things that made me sick to my stomach with my work in criminal law. This book is as graphic as many of the police reports that I have read and interviews I have watched. I have read interactions of grooming and recruiting of teen girls that happened through social media and texting. I have watched the recruiter go from loving and friendly to threatening to kill people. This book was as hard to read as those police reports.

I don’t think I can stress this enough. This book is graphic and very difficult to read.

I had some other issues in the book. There was random homophobia that was never addressed and was laughed off as being a joke even by the gay character. I was also really disappointed that the author went down one plot path. A bit of a spoiler until the end of this paragraph: the MC engages in sex with her boyfriend and everything is magical right after a breakthrough. It felt very much like “if you are better then sex will be great” or “you aren’t healed until you enjoy sex” which felt so reductive and I was surprised considering how much the rest of the book went. Spoilers over.

I loved that the MC had emotional damage. She had anxiety. She disassociated. She was numb. I understand exactly how she reacted and how it felt when she reacted. That is the way that I handled my sexual assaults as a teen. I found it refreshing that numb was the reaction and the feelings came out and exploded at times. It was wonderful how in the way the healing process was. It felt so realistic to me and the way my own journey of healing was.

Overall, I liked the book. I wish there weren’t graphic rape scenes. There was a note at the beginning that people who had experience with trafficking might not want to read the book, but I was not trafficked. I was raped and assaulted, the pain is still there. If the graphic child rape scenes were more fade to black instead of graphic, I would have rated the book higher. Instead my review is going to be mostly “be careful. This book is hard and there is graphic child rape scenes repeatedly”.

A beautifully told story of the resilience of a young woman. Alexa (Lex) is rescued from a human trafficking ring, having been held by a friend of her mother's boyfriend, and must learn how to integrate back into society, with the help of her aunt and uncle. Trust doesn't come easy, but for Lex, it's even harder. As she is stalked by her former pimp, who is evading capture by the authorities, she tries to come to terms with what it means to be a "normal teenager", but it seems as though her past will never let go of its grip on her.
McLaughlin does a wonderful job conveying the damaged teenage psyche while shining a spotlight on a very important social issue. Human trafficking isn't just something that happens in far-flung countries, the people trafficked aren't nameless faceless nobodies. They are someone's child, someone's friend, they are someone. Lex's character is the epitome of What Unbreakable Looks Like, and this story will no doubt stick with me for a very long time. I highly recommend it for both adults and high schoolers alike.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really hard read. It was enraging and made me cry. I wish every story like this had this ending.

An amazing story of triumph! This book gives a view into the life of a teen who was lured into a sex trafficking ring by her mothers "friend". The story is about Alexa aka Poppy who is rescued from her pimp and placed with her loving aunt to try and recoup what's left of herself. Alexa lives in fear of being found by her pimp, all while trying to get back to "normal" and have a regular teen life only to be assaulted again by her "boyfriend" and his friends. Alexa is truly a character who shows resiliency and strength. A story that gives hope and life to those who have been broken down to their lowest. Great great story!

If you could sum up 2020 in one word, what would it be? I would choose the word uncomfortable. First, the pandemic swept the world, pushing us to re-evaluate how we live as we hid from each other. Having our children home while working and now becoming teachers. Very uncomfortable. Having to face an uncertain future of what will happen when the world opens up again. Yup – uncomfortable. Watching the Black Lives Matter movement gain momentum and having to face your role in it? Extremely uncomfortable. But all have been necessary to elicit change.

This book will make you uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. But with that comes understanding. With that comes change. So let’s push ourselves, hopefully for the last time, and see what we can learn.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: I was nervous going into this. Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press provided me an early copy, asking if I would like to review this book. As I keep realizing my books are all the same genre, I have been mindful of trying to read outside my comfort zone. And this was out there. What would it bring? Would it scare me?

Right off the bat are the TRIGGER WARNINGS: Human trafficking. Sexual assault. Violence. If these are triggers for you, please do not proceed unless you feel you can. If these make you uncomfortable, or you would like to pretend these things do not happen, please read on!

Prior to reading this, I had very limited knowledge of human trafficking. It scares the living daylights out of me as I raise a daughter. I keep seeing stories in our local mom Facebook group of kids being grabbed in our town. Of men following teens around the mall but being scared off. There was an article about 7 or 8 years ago that a girl was caught having sex in a high school bathroom with a group of boys. The parents pulled out their pitchforks and attacked her. An aside was thrown into the mix that she had been a victim of human trafficking and did not know how to behave. The story was swept away, and never spoken of again. This story has always haunted me as I wondered what happened to her.

WHAT I LOVED: Right off the bat, I want to comment and say that I thought this would be much harder to read than it was. I was picturing non-stop scenes of being trafficked. Don’t get me wrong – those stories are sprinkled throughout. But we start the story meeting Poppy – I mean Alexa – as she was being rescued by the police. We journey with Lex as she goes to a detox of sorts to help her stay off drugs, but also for therapy for what the girls go through. We are with Lex for every flashback. For every trigger. For every moment of happiness she allows herself. For every real friend that she made. For every person who cast her aside rather than try to understand her. And for every fear that she lives with. Will she go back to the life that she knows (better the devil you know) or will she be forced back into it? Will she make it? Will her pimp ever be caught? All of this felt so raw. So honest. So REAL.

It felt so real, I had to stop and research the author, Kate McLaughlin. Did she experience this? I discovered through Twitter that she really did her research, and told the story of a girl who was trafficked.

WHAT MADE ME SCRATCH MY HEAD: A couple of head scratching moments – the first was “how do I convey even one person to read this book.” During this uncertain time of the world, I hope people will not shy away from this. #METOO is still a reality for many of us to varying degrees. This story deserves to be told.

My other head scratching moment comes, not from the story, but from myself. Just like with BLM, I had to reckon with myself on what would I have done if I were in a spectator’s shoes. Just like the girl in the article, would I blame her? Would I blame the boys? Unfortunately, I blamed everyone. What this book showed me was the aftermath of how the girl’s (and boys, but this book doesn’t touch on that) minds are conditioned to think. In my mind, I thought “she’s safe now – she doesn’t have to that anymore.” But I know better now. This book showed me that. And for that, I will be forever grateful for opening my eyes to that.

I wasn't sure this was something I even wanted to read--though I know the story is one that needs to be told, I knew it would be difficult at times. Human trafficking is ugly and heartbreaking, and yet all to real in today's society.

When Lex is rescued from a human trafficking ring after months of abuse, forced prostitution, and drug use, she must learn to leave her life as "Poppy"--and the guilt and self-loathing that comes with it--behind. She is lucky enough to have an aunt that wants to take her in, and she is able to find a few friends that she thinks she can learn to trust.

I appreciate that while this story does flashback to some of Lex's horrible experiences in captivity, the focus is mostly on recovery. (Though be advised, there will be triggers for some, and there are some semi-graphic descriptions of things that were done to the girls.) We tend to celebrate when we read about girls saved from experiences like this one, but the story always ends there. We never get to see the hard work, the terror, the setbacks that come with trying to live life again.

Unflinching is definitely the right word to describe this honest and raw story. But I think stories about human trafficking must be told in an honest, unflinching way. Trafficking a horrible, horrrible thing that happens far more often than most of us realize, right here in our own communities. We can ignore it, or we can pay attention and work to stop it. Reading stories like this helps me to understand what is happening and gives me the motivation to want to work for change.

This story is about what happened when a girl named Alexa was taken and forced to work in a seedy motel. But it is even more about what happens when she escapes. It's about the scars (both physical and emotional) that she carries with her and how she works to overcome them. It's about the people in her life who come along side her without judgment and help her see that she is worthy of love and respect.

I would say that this book probably needs to come with a warning for strong language and mature content, as well as a trigger warning for anyone who has been sexually abused. It's a YA book, but it is very mature book. I may feel like it's a little too much for teens to read, but at the same time, isn't it teens who are being targeted for trafficking? This book brings awareness to both the dangers of trafficking and the deep trauma that it inflicts, and it also provides insight into how to heal after experiencing trauma.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. What Unbreakable Looks Like will be available on June 23.

Going into this I knew it was going to be a tough read just based off the premise but WHEW this was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. While I do think is book can be powerful for some it is most definitely not going to be for everyone largely because of the topic but also because of how raw and real this story is. Nothing is sugar coated and there are plenty of tough scenes with graphic details/descriptions of Lex’s life while being trafficked so this is definitely the type of read you want to make sure won’t be triggering to you prior to picking it up. You can find a full list of the trigger warnings I’ve come across at the end of this review.

What I Liked

📈 Character growth. There’s a whole lot of growth that happens in this book. Lex starts out skeptical of everyone and everything around her since she’s been let down by the people who are supposed to protect her and take care of her. So, when her Aunt Krys reaches out a helping hand she’s hesitant to take it. I really enjoyed seeing Lex slowly go from thinking that she’ll have to find a way to repay her family for something as silly as buying her a new comforter to realizing that she does deserve to be happy and loved despite what happened to her. There were a few moments that this actually made me want to shed a tear or two.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Lex’s support group. I don’t know what it feels like to be sexually assaulted or sex trafficked and thank God for that. But I do know how it feels to come out of an unimaginable trauma and feel like everyone suddenly looks at you like you’re a fragile piece of glass or a ticking time bomb. To see Lex’s family and new friends treat Lex like a normal human being warmed my heart. Sometimes the best support doesn’t come from the people who expect you to spill your guts about every last thing that you feel, but from the people that know you’ve been hurt, love you anyway, will listen if you need, but don’t act like their walking on eggshells to be around you. So again, that definitely got to me.

🔚 Hopeful ending. I love when books that tackle very heavy topics don’t always have this concrete set in stone ending. Lex’s future is certainly much brighter and hopeful after being rescued from sex trafficking and she’s moved on to making new new friends and having her first normal/healthy relationship with a boy. She has so many options laid in front of her as to where her future can take her and I enjoy how you don’t always need to know which door the character chooses – just that they’re finally in a place where they can heal and grow from their prior traumas.

What I Didn’t Like

❌ Use of AAVE and the N word. This made me – a white reader – incredibly uncomfortable so I can only imagine how startling and hurtful this could be towards Black readers. The author uses AAVE in the beginning of the story and basically any other time Lex comes in contact with the girls of her past. It was used in away to make the girls seem“tougher” if you will and then just disappears as Lex starts to fall into the swing of a more normal life. As for the use of the N word (hard ‘r’ )….there is absolutely no reason it needs to be included in this book. I don’t know if the author thought it was okay because it was coming from a Black character trying to prove a point – but this is fiction and just wholly unnecessary, disgusting, and wrong. If it wasn’t so close to the end of of the book I would have DNF’ed because of the disgusting and degrading manner it was used in. The whole situation just felt gross and wrong to the book.

🖊 Writing. The pacing and just overall writing technique used in this book didn’t seem to mesh well together. The book starts off fast paced and it quickly slows down, then would speed up again, slow down, and repeat. Between Lex being rescued, going to rehab, meeting new friends, having two relationships, being sexually assaulted again and sending the boys to trial, her pimp getting put on trial, and girls being murdered there truly a whole lot going on. On top of that the story goes back and forth between the present and Lex’s past and that made for a very jarring reading experience. I hope that it was just because my copy of this book wasn’t finished but there was no indication whatsoever with the shifts in time so it had me rereading paragraphs over and over again because it made absolutely no sense until you realize it’s because we’ve suddenly moved back to the past or back to present.

tw: sexual assault, rape, sex trafficking, self harm, mentions of suicide, alcoholism, pedophilia, parental abandonment, domestic violence, mention of miscarriage, murder, child abuse

All in all, even though this was a difficult book to get through I do think that it did tell a powerful story about finding your voice after unimaginable trauma. If you think you can handle the trigger warnings mentioned above and the bits of the story I didn’t like then this might be a book worth checking out. But again, I don’t think this book will be for everybody and that’s totally okay too.

In my country today we're in a state of emergency because of the alarming rate at which babies, toddlers, young girls and women are being molested, harassed, raped and killed. Due to all this, it has made What Unbreakable Looks Like a very heavy read and this review a triggering experience in total.

It's a heavy read for me because it had me crying due to how many of us girls and women bond over being sexually harassed, assaulted and abused all over the world.

I was hesitant to pick up this book because of its content but even though it's made me sad, bitter and angry because of the ordeals some humans face from the hands of other humans, I'm very fond of this story.

It's a tragic story, with so much positivity, I wish everyone focused into this life could get this kind of support when they're being reassimilated back into the normal world, but as this book highlights, the grooming and Stockholm syndrome is so severe that for many it never happens. 

The characters are fleshed out wonderfully, there are no plot holes, the pacing of the story is even, the message is loud and clear. Lex, Krys, Jamal, Elsa, Zack, Detective Willis, the dogs all the good people in this story made me want to be like them, to be able to offer this support to people who are in need and let them know, they matter, are wanted and loved.

Just because something bad happened to them, doesn't mean they're unworthy and less deserving and anyone who has a problem with them because of that, are the ones who need change their perspective when it comes to life.

This is a wonderful story of healing, and I can say with this book Wednesday Books have done it again and will forever have my utmost support when it comes to the books they publish.

Despite the heavy subject matters, this book is an endearing one, that will make you happy as you read it and get to the last page. Please if it's not triggering for you, give this story a chance, so you can learn a few helpful life tips.

What Unbreakable Looks Like by Kate McLaughlin, 336 pages. Wednesday Books (St. Martin’s Publishing Group), 2020. $19. LGBTQIA
Language: R (212 swears, 127 “f”); Mature Content: R; Violence: R
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Seventeen-year-old Lex is starting senior year just like every other student, but that’s where the similarities end. For the past few months, Lex has been going to therapy to heal from being Poppy, the girl she was forced to be when she was trafficked. Lex still isn’t sure if being rescued from the motel and taken in by her aunt is a good thing, and part of her wants to go back to the life she knows.
I feel like this isn’t a book I can’t recommend to just anyone because it is heavy and heartbreaking. However, I also feel like yelling about this from the rooftops -- everyone needs to know and understand the problem that human trafficking is so that it can be put to an end. Now I’ll get down from my activist soapbox, and some of the feelings that have been stirred up by this powerful book, and simply speak as the reader of a book that addresses difficult subjects. I’ve never experienced the ugly side of the world depicted by McLaughlin, though I know it exists. It was an interesting experience to read a perspective so different from my own and, yet, so relatable. While my trials don’t compare to what Lex and other girls like her suffered through, I feel like I’ve been given permission to not be okay. My hardships are different, but they are still hard. Both Lex and I -- and you -- deserve to be understood, to heal, and to move on. The mature content rating is for mentions of masturbation and orgasm, drug and alcohol abuse, mentions of pornography and prostitution, nudity, human trafficking, sexual assault, sexual abuse, oral sex, anal sex, vaginal sex, statutory rape, and rape. The violence rating is for fist fights and blood, mentions of self harm and suicide, physical abuse, domestic violence, and murder.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

What Unbreakable Looks Like is a story for survivors, activists, allies, and, maybe especially non allies and those who do not understand what it is like to have your choices taken away from you. I will admit that there are plenty of situations in this book that can trigger anyone with past experience with abuse, but that is what this book is about. Lex doesn't avoid those things that trigger her. She is lucky enough to come out of a human trafficking hell into an incredible group of supportive friends and family. Even so, the journey back to the other world is difficult and full of obstacles: her new boyfriend, her old pimp, her own mother...

Lex almost has it too good to be true. The reader is left to worry that most of the young girls and boys sold will never have it so good. She is surrounded by people that we know have their own past. Though the story begins with her rescue from the motel she is being forced to live and work in, there are flashbacks to her life. I was worried myself about the subject matter. It was handled well.

What Unbreakable Looks Like is a very well-meaning book, and the subject of human trafficking is pretty rare for YA, so kudos to the book for that. The problem is that What Unbreakable Looks Like tries to do about three (or six) novels worth of content in one and the end result is far, far too fast to gloss over the trauma and recovery that Poppy/Lexa goes through. It's a well meaning book and someone with very little experience with the long term repercussions of trauma will probably be able to read it without a problem. I admire the author's desire to write about this topic (though the pretense she's a debut author, don't get that at all) but it read, to me, as a layman's attempt to write about something she didn't and still doesn't really understand.

Early in this unflinching novel of sexual violence and human trafficking, a rescued young woman, our narrator, exclaims, "We ain't never going to be okay. Never." While that proves to be true for some of the secondary characters, and while "Poppy" (Alexa) still has trouble and danger in her future, she has an unbreakable, ultimately untrammeled, spirit. For those readers who can endure, the ultimate outcome will prove hopeful, inspirational, and well worth the wait. Ultimately, Alexa has won, despite all the horrors, because her spirit and soul remain unbroken.

Wow! What Unbreakable Looks Like was a difficult book to read. I admittedly don’t know too much about the human trafficking that goes on in the US, and this book did a great job of opening my eyes to that. But as it does deal with trafficking it deals a lot with underage sex and could be difficult for some to read.
The thing I liked most about What Unbreableable Looks Like is that is didn’t shy away from things like sex. It faced these and other issues head-on. But that also made this book difficult to read. There were times in this book that I could feel the helplessness and hopelessness of Lex and the girls.
Rooting for Lex was easy. The author did a great job of making her seem like a real person. Leaving that life was not easy for her. She had trust issues, and I completely saw where she was coming from. I adored Lex’s aunt and two friends. If more people had people like that in their lives the world would be a much better place.
If you can handle reading a book like this, then you should most definitely pick this one up.