Spoiler: Until It Hurts to Stop by Jennifer R. Hubbard

I really loved this book. Although it’s a shorter read it is filled with emotion and truth about bullying. Bullying may have changed forms, but its still obviously around and nothing seems to be getting through to kids, if you ask me it’s getting worse, not better. I think that this novel proves a really good point. That point being that when you bully someone, it may only last for a minute to you, but you’re changing that person’s life. They will never trust simply, or be comfortable in their own skin. I think that girls have only gotten crueller. We say things about each other without thinking about how what we’re saying might affect that person. To use it may be every day gossip, but it could be the last straw for somebody else.

On that note lets get to another important part of this book,

♥Characters♥

♥Maggie: I know a lot of people might see this main character as paranoid. But imagine just for one moment that you are locked in a bathroom, not allowed to get out until you say loudly for a recording that you wash your hair in the toilet, and then have that passed around a school where everyone already seems to have it out for you. Not to mention, being told you should go kill yourself. Tell me you wouldn’t be worried about what those around you are laughing and whispering about.

There is my rant. And while I wish that Maggie had just stayed with Nick the first time, I understand why she didn’t. She had been told so many times that she was ugly, she was believing it. I know that feeling and it’s awful. But in the end everything worked out.

I also felt awful when she was sort of ignoring Sylvie, and no it wasn’t fair, but she learnt a lesson didn’t she? Isn’t that enough? May I add that when she stood up to Raleigh I felt like I was cheering her on in the background.

Lastly, I like the idea of hiking/mountain climbing. It kinda makes everything feel different. I know even a walk out in the fresh air sometimes is enough to clear your mind, so why not this. And oh that Mushroom Guide. So unique!

♥Nick: Funny, sweet an able to bring Maggie out of her shell? Let’s ring the victory bell shall we? I loved Nick because he challenged Maggie to more than she thought she could possibly ever accomplish and bam they were climbing mountains, even though I imagine he was afraid to he was able to prove the point that a challenge can be overcome. I was upset that he thought that Maggie was playing head games, but the way he explains it closer to the end of the book makes sense how he could see it that way. Anyways, boo Vanessa!

♥Sylvie: I felt awful that Sylvie had such a tough relationship. It’s hard enough to be different in high school, but I think she pulls it off well. I hope that she’s able to recover and that she taught Maggie to listen.

♥Nick’s Father (Dr. Cleary): He’s as big of a bully as Raleigh was, more so because as a father he is supposed to love his son, but no he just goes right on verbally abusing to make himself feel like the genius. I hate people like this.

♥Raleigh: Although we do hear a lot about the past Raleigh we don’t know a lot about what she’s like 4 years later. I think that she was a snotty bully who thought obviously threatened by Maggie. That’s my explanation anyways. She had no reason to tell someone they’re better of dead, but she did and for that reason she will always be a bully in my mind. Even when she trips over Maggie in the hallway she doesn’t have the decency to say “sorry” or “whoops, my bad”. No one has an excuse to act this way.

♥Vanessa: Cause calling Maggie a b***h is gonna win back your boyfriend. You were the one who sided with someone who was putting him down. Own up to what you did too.

♥Moments to Remember♥

♥Pg. 29

“It’s hard for me to imagine it working smoothly, the two of us sliding into each other’s arms like some movie couple. The way we’re sitting, we’d probably bump elbows, get tangled up in the map. And then there are our legs: What would we do with them?”

♥Pg. 52

“Usually, the only who touches my hair is the girl down at The Mane Event, who always asks, ‘When’s the lat time you had this cut?’ in a tone implying I’ve dragged my head through a swamp before presenting it to her.”

♥Pg. 89

“Well, if he’s determined to go, I’m not going to sit home preparing fo my solitary future of having tea parties for my ten cats.”

♥Pg. 95

“The worst thing Raleigh and the other girls did was to plant that lump of coal inside me, the shame of believing I was the wrong one, wrong in every way. After all, there must be something wrong with me or why else would they be picking on me?”

♥Pg. 97

“He gets up to hunt for something to eat, and trips over some books he piled behind his chair, knocking them across the floor. He says, ‘For my next trick, I’ll use my athletic skill to scale Crystal Mountain.’”

♥Pg. 239

“’Maggie.’ But instead of saying more, he wraps his arms around me.

 I bury my face in his shirt.

 ‘Your heart’s beating,’ I say. Maybe the most senseless piece of conversation ever, but it’s all I can think of: The rhythm beneath my ear.”

♥Final Line: “As if I have a right to be here.”

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo