A six-word instant message changed Alexis forever.
After a rocky junior year of high school, Alexis Singer was lonely, stressed out, and vulnerable—the ideal target for an older man with bad intentions. When a message popped up on her computer screen one night from a message board acquaintance, she could never have known that by responding she was making a choice that would change her forever.
By posing as a friend and confidant, the man gave Alexis the attention she desperately craved and weaseled his way into her life in an unimaginable way. Within weeks, Alexis was sucked into an emotionally dependent relationship, engaging in cybersex and sending him explicit photos of herself. Somewhere along the way, she lost who she was, and put her dreams for the future, relationships with friends and family, and psychological well-being on the line.
Review:Reading that summary, you have to be thinking "ahh no whyyy!" or something similar. I know I thought that when I read the description, and I thought the same thing while reading the book. While reading, I kept hoping that Chris Hansen from To Catch a Predator would show up and tell Creeper to have a seat over there so they could have a chat, but no such luck.
But even though I was frustrated while reading, I understood why Alexis was making all her bad choices. She describes her lonely feelings well-- so well that even though I thought Creeper should have gone and died in a fire*, I understood why she kept interacting with him. Even better than the descriptions of her lonely feelings were the descriptions of the feelings that she had when she was or was not talking to him-- it was easy to see the effect he had on her. There may not be as many pages of her with her family, at least during the time she was also talking to him, but when she talked to her family and friends, it was heartbreaking to see how differently she was interacting with them.
Alexis is the type of book that you wish didn't exist because it's horrifyingly real and shows that things like online solicitation are still constantly occurring. But I'm glad it does exist, since I'm sure everyone knows someone who has gone through something similar to Alexis or has simply gotten a creepy message on formspring.
*Sometimes I exaggerate for dramatic effect. This is one of those times.
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Author info: Alexis Singer is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At 19, she is about to begin her junior year at Chatham University where she studies political science and women’s studies. She attended the Pittsburgh High School for Creative and Performing Arts as a writer. She is a writer, a read, an activist, a feminist, and an avid home cook. Her heroes include AlicePaul, Conan O’Brian, and her mother.
More book info at the series website! For more reviews of Alexis or the other new books in the series, Rae and Hannah, you can check out the TLC Book Tours website.
Book details: HCI Teens/Paperback/$7.95
Copy of book provided from the publisher, through the TLC tour group.
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