Oof. This book was like an emotional punch in the gut. At first, I was a little bored to be reading ANOTHER novel in verse about SA. I have read so many novels in verse about SA. They're always emotional and hard to read and important and hard to recommend and so on and so on -- but did I need another one?

I like bringing in the Medusa myth and the girls' community at the school which creates a natural opportunity for the characters to talk about The Issues without it seeming too shoehorned in. I felt for the girls at this school and in this world from the very first page, which is a sign how well-done this book is.

I was not prepared for how emotional this book made me. I can't wait to share it and read more from this author!

I don't generally like poetry or books in verse, but this book pleasantly surprises me. I loved how the author was not afraid to talk about dark topics or go in-depth about them.

One, I love novels in verse; there is something so freeing about having a fully developed story, but told in what appears to be a simpler medium. Hats off to all the authors that can manage to write this way successfully!

This book deals with incredibly difficult topics like trauma, repeated sexual violence, grooming, religion, slut shaming. It is hard to even list them all. I think YA books like this are so important - they tackle these incredibly difficult topics, but do so in a way that is accessible for different readers of different backgrounds.

I so appreciated the tie-in to Medusa, and the telling of her origin story - rather than just the man-hating monster everyone seems to know.

Dear Medusa by Olivia A. Cole is a very intense book.. it’s written in verse and is very haunting.
Alicia is a 16 year old girl who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a popular teacher. That virtually destroyed the person she was . I feel that all survivors of sexual abuse should read Dear Medusa. This book and Alicia will stay with you long after you finish it.
I was given a copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

“Dear Medusa” is a novel in verse that follows Alice, a high schooler who has a secret. We follow Alice as she tries to make sense of her life. She is struggling with losing her best friend, losing her closeness with her brother, not being able to talk to her divorced parents, and carrying the burden of her secret. This book is a beautiful modernization of the tale of Medusa. It covers important subject matter and helps readers see how much everyone goes through and how hard it is to speak up when overcome with fear. I feel it is an important story to share, and can see this being something we could add to high school libraries.

Absolutely staggering novel in verse. There is A LOT going on in this book, but the deftness with which Olivia A. Cole has woven her protagonist Alicia's narrative doesn't leave readers feeling shortchanged or at loose ends, but rather the right amount of overwhelmed when it comes to dealing with tough topics like sex, sexuality, women's bodies, rape, friendship, family, asking for help....to name a few. This is the "Speak" of the 21st century.

Incredibly refreshing and timely. Wonderfully diverse representation of both sexuality and race. Bold reflection of the internalized trauma that goes along with sexual assault and honest outward response, proving that coping can take many forms. Five stars!

I love a good book in verse. Dear Medusa by Olivia A. Cole is excellent. This is the type of book that lends itself to discussion and really makes you think. Told from the point of view of Alicia, this book follows Alicia as she receives mysterious notes in her locker and tries to cope with some terrible things that have happened to her. Part of her coping is by sleeping with strange boys and men. However, Alicia is bisexual. Anyways, she gets sent to in school suspension where she makes a new friend. She also ends up in this group of girls who discuss with a researcher the things they are concerned about and explore their place in patriarchal society. The notes, by the way, are from a mysterious person who has also been through the same thing as Alicia - preyed upon and groomed by a popular teacher. The notes inquire if Alicia will come forward too - kind of a MeToo sort of thing.

Really I feel like I am failing to adequately describe the excellence of Olivia A. Cole's Dear Medusa. I found this book so engaging. Alicia has been dealt a tough hand. Her brother has terrible incel friends. Alicia's parents divorced. She is bullied at school and known as the school slut. So, I really was rooting for her to come out on top. We also see that she's just not dealing with everything in her life well. I liked that this book also touched on intersectionality and Alicia makes mistakes, yes, but she learns from them and does better. The verse is well done and makes sense in the context of the plot and story. I could not recommend this book highly enough. Get your hands on it if you want something that will make you think.

This book was so beautifully written and it utterly destroyed me. As someone who went thru SA the writer accurately described the emotions and how your brain processes the trauma and the fear and how cruel the world really is and auto blame the victim. This book defn needs to be read and deserves all the praise

Big thanks for the opportunity to read and review this title.

I had such high hopes for this, after reading the blurb and jumping into something semi-new for me. Sadly, it just wasn’t for me. The writing style didn’t flow, and the characters were not ones I could connect to. I do imagine many will love this however… the target audience will find it brilliant. I think I’m just too oldy-moldy and set in my tried and true styles.

Again, many thanks.

Absolutely loved this coming of age story! I loved the journey that Alicia's character took in finding herself, her tribe, and her voice. This book touched on some difficult topics with grace and in a way that seems fitting to the age and maturity level of the students. While I am glad that Alicia found acceptance and friendship in her relationship with Deja, I felt that Deja's character harped a little too much on the "Black' girl struggle topics. I would have preferred if it had come up once or twice but the excessiveness of it felt unnatural and forced. I was happy to see an lgbtq+ characters positively represented and given the opportunity to explore those relationships in the purity found in Alicia's relationship with Geneva. Very pleased with this read. So much so that I was bummed when and how it ended. I wanted more but we understood why it ended that way. I think I wanted to see more of Alicia's beautiful transformation and reclaiming of her identity.

An arresting story with a protagonist you will burn the world down for, not that she needs any help. Alicia’s horrific sexual trauma has caused her to become a pariah amongst her high school peers. Misunderstood and targeted, Alicia walks through life trying to distance herself from the abuse by engaging in a slew of impulsive and dangerous sexual encounters, all in the name of proving to herself that it truly is ALL men. Add that to being faced with her abuser and his classroom entrance every damn day, Alicia is becoming a shadow of herself. It is not until an opportunity to speak alongside other struggling girls that Alicia begins to understand she is fortunately, and unfortunately, not alone.

In addition to loving her prose and character building, Cole excelled at protecting this story as Alicia’s and not her abuser’s fall from grace. Too often stories of abuse center on the perpetrator, covering their assaults and ultimately when they are caught like that is the whole story. Case shut. Everyone go home. Thanks for coming. What Cole is able to do and give all the Alicias in the world is a book centered on their story of hurt, relearning how to trust, and the first steps of healing.

Shout out to Deja, Alcia’s brother and mother, the track team, and Geneva for not giving up on Alicia and letting her go through the motions - May us all be whoever we need to be for the Alicia’s in our life.

Thank you to NetGalley, Olivia A. Cole, Random House Children's, and Labyrinth Road for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Usually I'm a fan of stories told in prose, but this one I just couldn't really enjoy as much as I hoped. Sometimes the prose was really good and sometimes it was a miss. The subject matter though is heavy and timely.

I think this book & others like it is super important - however this book is in verse. While that may work for most people, I always come out feeling a little bit disjointed and having had a hard time following the storyline.

This book was beautiful. Dear Medusa is one that is going to stick with me for a long time.

Dear Medusa is written in verse and it captivated me from the beginning. This is about a 16 year old girl who is sexually assaulted by one of her teachers, and then ends up losing her friends, her family, and herself. It's also a story about finding your community, your strength and discovering your sexuality.

This was a heavy YA book - trigger warnings for rape, sexual assault, grooming, slut shaming, homophobia, and racism. Many parts of this book made me uncomfortable. I was also so invested in the story that I had to keep going and I think this is an important one for people to read. It feels like it was a personal story revolving around the 'me too' movement.

Thank you to @netgalley for the e-arc of this book for my honest review.

This novel in verse was both sensitive in terms of subject matter and also liberating at times as well. We follow a sixteen year old girl named Alicia who is coming to terms with the falling out of a dear friendship and overcoming her own personal trauma of sexual assault at the hands of a popular teacher. A lot of this was like poetry in terms of prose. We watch as Alicia grapples with being known as "the girl that gets around" in her high school. She's a strong character and beats to her own drum, which I liked. Some parts fell flat for me as it tended to feel like the story wasn't really moving forward and just in a runaround cycle of thoughts and day to day diary-like entries.

This was a beautiful look at how one girl copes with her sexual abuse. Alicia doesn’t have the best reputation, but that reputation is made without anyone understanding her story and where she came from. They don’t know that she’s not sleeping around, but has been abused a figure of authority.

I really loved so many messages that were put into this book. It was a beautiful look at reclaiming your body, story, and the narrative. Highly recommend if these are topics that you can handle.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my early e-arc copy.

Dear Medusa is a novel about a high school girl, Alicia, who is sexually abused by a popular teacher, and who remains at the same school after the abuse occurs - a highly traumatic situation. Following the abuse, rumors begin to circulate that Alicia is easy, and her social standing plummets. As she attempts to deal with the abuse and the bullying and derision that follows it, Alicia begins to change, becoming isolated and withdrawn, pulling away from the activities that she once enjoyed, such as track, avoiding her schoolwork and some of her classes, particularly Art, which requires her to walk past the classroom of the teacher who abused her. In addition to that, Alicia is discovering that she is bisexual, and what it means to be attracted to females as well as males.

This is a novel that deals with difficult themes - sexual abuse by a person in a position of power, PTSD, bullying, loss of acceptance, racism, and sexuality, among others. It is written in blank verse, which shows how scattered and fractured Alicia's thoughts have become, but which can make the text hard to follow at times. For teens and adults dealing with such issues, this could be a valuable book to read, because it demonstrates that such issues are more common than most people think; others may dismiss the events in the novel as unlikely and close their minds to the issues experienced by victims of abuse.

Due to mature themes, this novel is recommended for ages 16 and older. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It’s so powerful & moving, telling a story that needs told. I normally love novels in verse but i found this story to be very disjointed