Review: Uses For Boys By: Erica Lorraine Scheidt

Title: Uses For  Boys

Author: Erica Lorraine Scheidt

Published: January 15th, 2013

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars!

Goodreads Summary:

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. Real, shocking, uplifting, and stunningly lyrical,  Uses for Boys  is a story of breaking down and growing up.

My Thoughts:

The cover on this book does trick you a little bit in my opinion, even after reading the summary I didn't know how gritty, dark, and mature this book was going to be. Books like this one are always hard for me to write reviews on because of the subject matter it's hard to say that while reading this one I enjoyed it. I do have to say that Scheidt's writing is beautiful and lyrical, her narration through Anna was just beautiful and I really enjoyed reading Anna's descriptions of her thoughts and what was going through her mind throughout the book. 

When Anna was young her mother used to tell her stories, of how she was all alone and then Anna came along and changed everything. But, the two of them as a family didn't last for long. One stepfather after the other began to come into Anna's life and each time her mother tells her this time we will be a family and this time we will be happy. As the stepfather's begin to come into her mother's life the less her mother is around. After the divorce of each stepfather, they get to keep the houses that they have lived in. But for Anna it's like they are each her prison, her mother is always gone and she is always alone. That is until Anna discovers boys. Anna begins to realize that when she spends time with the boys, she isn't alone and they can become her family.

Anna was such a heartbreaking character. You really felt her loneliness through each page and you were completely immersed into her head. She was a gritty and dark character and nothing was held  back. I couldn't help but connect with her while I was reading this book, I wanted to climb inside of this book and go to her and let her know that there was another way that sleeping around with boys was not going to make the hole she feels inside any less empty. 

Overall, this book is very mature, I don't recommend this one for younger teen readers, even as an adult this book was hard for me to read because it felt so real and I know there is other teenage girls out there that are just like Anna and I just want to help them all. If you enjoy gritty, realistic contemporary books then this book is for you, but it's not an easy or happy read so be prepared!