Review: Uses For Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt

Title: Uses For Boys
Author: Erica Lorraine Scheidt
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: St. Martin's Press (Jan. 15, 2013)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (In exchange for an honest review)
Genre: Mature YA Realistic Fiction
My Rating; 2.5 Stars

Goodreads Description:
 Anna remembers a time before boys, when she was little and everything made sense. When she and her mom were a family, just the two of them against the world. But now her mom is gone most of the time, chasing the next marriage, bringing home the next stepfather. Anna is left on her own—until she discovers that she can make boys her family. From Desmond to Joey, Todd to Sam, Anna learns that if you give boys what they want, you can get what you need. But the price is high—the other kids make fun of her; the girls call her a slut. Anna's new friend, Toy, seems to have found a way around the loneliness, but Toy has her own secrets that even Anna can't know.

Then comes Sam. When Anna actually meets a boy who is more than just useful, whose family eats dinner together, laughs, and tells stories, the truth about love becomes clear. And she finally learns how it feels to have something to lose—and something to offer. 

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My Review:  

   I have such a hard time with these types of reviews. I really don't know what to say about this book other than it was raw. So very raw and so lonely feeling.

I still am not sure if I even liked it. It was so sad but it was real. I can imagine that many people, male or female go through the things that Anna did. And that reality, breaks my heart.

To feel like you would have to use sex to not feel lonely. To try and make that empty space inside of you make sense by being someone you aren't and then really, not even knowing that is what you are doing. That just makes me want to cry.

Anna was such a sad girl. So lost and lonely and she broke my heart. I didn't relate to her but yet I still felt her anguish and her pain. How bad she wanted to have a family and to be a part of something. She just went about it in all the wrong ways and with all the wrong people. It was like she was drawn to the people that would hurt her the most.

I still don't even know how to process all that I read and honestly, I am not sure I want to. This story was slightly disturbing and not what I was expecting at all. It seems lately I have a habit of picking up books that I think will have a sweet story inside and finding that I couldn't have picked something any further from that if I tried.

I think I am just going to give this one a very neutral 2 Stars. Like I said, it was raw and gritty and didn't hold back in anyway. I just don't necessarily think it was the read for me and certainly not what I was hoping it would be but I can appreciate the message that it was trying to portray but even the ending was abrupt and let me feeling a little dazed.