I loved this the one thing that let it down was the setting of elite school but the dealing with toxic masculinity and the need for everyone to speak up is great and the impact of not doing so is shown clearly
Will be buying for school

The moment I saw “boys will be boys” crossed out on the front cover, I knew I would enjoy this book immediately, but the level to which I did I was not expecting.

Wow. This book has left me speechless - the plot is so honest, emotional and raw. This is an amazing and heart-wrenching story about women versus toxic masculinity. The feminine rage that this book emits and made myself feel, whilst simultaneously making me feel empowered to stand up to this kind of treatment, was phenomenal. The skill and art that is Rosenblum’s writing is truly out of this world. It’s safe to say, I cried, got angry and just felt every single emotion that was portrayed onto the pages.

Things I really enjoyed about this book:
- the multiple points of view. We get to see the different perspectives of what is happening and it really resonated with me how everyone doesn’t see a situation or experience something the same way you do personally. It can so easily differ from person to person.
- The way in which the book centred around the impact of sexual assault and how toxic traditions/ideologies can be passed down through generations to a lot of boys/men whilst also stating that by not speaking up you are complicit. It’s such an important issue that needs to be highlighted, especially in a society where we still have these issues!
- Seeing the healing that comes along with these kind of experiences explored really just made me grin and smile, that happiness can be found (it may be a tough journey but we can all do it).

I think anyone who has fallen victim to the misogynistic, toxic masculinity culture or SA/r*pe culture will definitely look to the characters in this book - in particular Q and just see an extension of themself. They will root for her, cry with her, feel hopeless with her and just see themselves, feel heard. Others may read this book and realise they need to do more, be a little better and what they think is a minor ignorance could be so much more to somebody else.

[thank you to NetGalley, author and publisher for the gifted copy of this book]

A post #metoo novel, focusing on toxic masculinity. This was an intense read about a very necessary topic that was an eye opening read

A very satisfying post #metoo novel, in which toxic masculinity is exposed for the vileness that it is. There is an element of surrealness in the first half which stopped this for scaring higher for me, but once Q's story came out this looked up for me and I was fully behind the group of women seeking justice.

Very readable.

This was a challenging read covering a host of rather difficult, complex , modern day issues and values. It’s set in a very distinguished American school where there is a sexual assault on a young girl,Quinn, and how it is perceived from the viewpoint of all the different characters. It was not an easy read, the language did not flow smoothly for me at times and I had to reread some of it to fully understand what was going on. Very thought provoking!

Set in an elite boarding school, this is a story about how toxic masculinity can take hold if the culture encourages it and covers it up. To begin with, it looked like this was going to be a revenge story, with a stalker seeking justice for a wrong doing. Just as the story looks to be heading in a very dark direction, a chance discovery allows the truth to be revealed in a more subtle and just way. A difficult subject dealt with sensitively and in an authentic way but could be distressing to some readers.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review the book in advance of publication.

𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀:
Sexual Assault (rape)
Adult language
Self harm
________________________________________________

Wow.

This book was tough.

We follow the POV's of Quinn, Max & Charlotte who all attend Lycroft Phelps. Initially, I was a bit confused why Max and Charlotte's chapters were relevant but by the end, I got it.

We meet Q, our main character as she's attempting to steal a gun from the schools security office. A gun she plans to use on Colin Pearce.. the boy who raped her at the Summer dance. After admitting to her family what happened and realising the likelihood of getting any type of conviction was slim, Q decides to get revenge on her own. She plans to kill Colin.

Of course Colin is the schools star athlete, popular kid and overall superstar. With no remorse for his actions, he goes about his life treating the girls like a catalogue he can choose from.

Max's POV shows him going from scrawny, nerdy outcast to a high player within the schools rowing team. He craves acceptance and when he finds it within the team, even from Colin, he forces himself to accept their depraved & sexist behaviour, favouring his new found status. Even though he stays on the morally right side, we can see how easy it is for men to look the other way when it comes to toxic masculinity.

I found myself getting extremely frustrated with Charlotte in the first 70% of the book. Her relationship with Seb (also an all-star rowing athlete & Colin and Max's teammate) was the only thing that mattered to her. She was scared to lose him because she didn't want to lose her status as Sebs girlfriend. She ignored her friends and doesn't even speak with Quinn for the longest time even though she knows something isn't right.

Unable to pull the trigger, Q gets her revenge in other ways. Vandalising the boat house, trashing Colin's room & spray painting the canteen doors. Unfortunately none of it brings her any peace. It isn't until Charlotte catches Q, gun in hand that she's finally able to begin putting herself back together. She realises she doesn't necessarily need revenge, she needs help.

My heart broke several times whilst reading this book and I'm not ashamed to admit I shed a few tears for Quinn. Seeing how she lost all the parts of herself she loved; art, music, her friends; and how she struggled to piece herself back together was heartwrenching.

The book reminded me a little of 13 Reasons Why, especially with the POV's of Max & Charlotte. They were needed to see how easy it is to look past other people's behaviour when we feel like we're gaining something positive from them. Status, popularity, self confirmation, love. We also needed them for the ending.. how people came together for Q.

It was a tough read but that's exactly the point. It's not meant to be easy, because it's not easy. As a woman reading this book, I felt anger, resentment, hurt, fear and just all of the emotions. I felt a kinship with all women. Knowing that the author also has experience with the topic broke my heart but made me feel proud.

Women should not be silent. Boys will be held accountable.

Thank you so much to Cameron Kelly Rosenblum, netgalley & HotKeyBooks for giving me the opportunity to read and review this arc.

This is the kind of book that will just chew you up and spit you out. It's razor-sharp, it hurts reading it but in the most necessary way.

It's an extremely tough read but it wouldn't have worked any other way. It focuses on a sexual assault at a private high school and the aftermath for the characters. The flicking between the characters throughout the chapters kept the pace quick and keeps the reader engaged.

The thing I really liked about this book was that it showed that Q could heal, it wasn't going to be bad forever and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel when a person has an experience like this.

Thank you to @Netgalley and @HotKeyBooks for approving this ARC!

I have given The Sharp Edge of Silence by Cameron Kelly Rosenblum three out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Trigger warnings: rape, sexual assault

This was a heavy read that touches on serious subjects which I thought the author wrote very well. Toxic masculinity is no joke and the whole “boys will be boys” mentality is wrong, people should be held accountable for their actions. Always.

This was a very emotional read and I found it quite difficult to pick up all the time due to the impact of the author’s words, which goes to show how well-written this book was. However, I did find this book to be slow in pace and some of the events were repeated a couple of times as we read through multiple POVs.

There are some parts in this book that readers might find distressing.

This is an important book and I fervently wish and hope that everyone will read this.

This is a YA novel but definitely at the older end of the spectrum, I found some of it hard to read but in a heart wrenching way, not in a “oh this is unreadable “
On the contrary, it’s a great read and extremely well written and executed.
I hope to read more of the author’s work.

All of the stars for this one, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Sharp Edge of Silence by Cameron Kelly Rosenblum.

Shaped and inspired by the authors personal experience this is a really well crafted novel set in a prestigious New England boarding school. Lycroft Phelps school is one of the most elite. At over 150 years old, it attracts the wealthy, the bright and the talented. Academics, extra curriculars, traditions, secret societies make up this school and there is a sense of this is how it always been in everything the school is. Toxic masculinity cloaks the school in almost every aspect. Until a brutal sexual assault occurs on campus and everything changes.

Told from the perspectives of three characters, all students in the school at the start of a new term, the book goes back and forth through their stories weaving them together until they overlap and tackle the rape culture and toxic masculinity that is rife on campus.

This is a YA novel but definitely on the older end of the YA scale. I thought it was exceptionally well written and captured the experience of life after rape with great care, rawness and authenticity. There is loss, rage and revenge and I really liked how the author wrote this book, she does not shy away from anything. The characters are flawed and she shows these flaws, she manages to elicit sympathy for characters despite their wrong actions, over and over again she paints a horror picture of toxic masculinity.

At over 450 pages, this book is detailed. I did feel some of the characters were perhaps too stereotypical at first but they are well developed as the story goes on. I really enjoyed reading the final chapters of this one. Where they are a little far fetched? Possibly. They were deeply satisfying though and left me feeling hopeful

I think this is quite an important book. I hope it makes its way into the hands of lots of older teenagers and younger adults, I will be pushing my older children to read it.

Recommend.

At Lycroft Phelps the male rowing team are the undoubted stars & great things are expected from them this year, so there is a bit of scramble when the cox from the first team boat is suspended. A surprising choice is Max, a scholarship science geek who never dreamt that he could get a chance to be "one of the popular boys" & date the girl he has admired from afar. Meanwhile Charlotte is trying to balance being a straight-A student, a successful ballet dancer, and girlfriend of the star rower, Seb. He is handsome & charming & this leads to Charlotte tamping down her anxiety over their relationship & his, at times, questionable behaviour. Finally Quinn, a legacy student, finds herself consumed with thoughts of revenge for something which happened the previous year.

The reader hears the story from the three narrators: Charlotte, Max, & Quinn (Q) & their stories start off as separate but gradually the events in each start to intersect with each other. This book deals with some weighty subjects & has a trigger warning in the synopsis for sexual violence but there is also the aftermath of dealing with this, plus also toxic masculinity & virulent misogyny from some of the characters. It shows how easy it can be for people who think of themselves as the "good guys" to become caught up in a group setting & let things slide that should be called out. I thought it was well-written, & the characters were all well-rounded out, none of them were one-dimensional, even the "bad guys" were shown to be human, & that is the entire point. Atrocious acts are not committed by monsters, they are committed by people like everyone else, they just feel entitled or able to get away with it, & we see here what it takes to finally take a stand against a culture that in many cases protects the wrongdoers. 4.5 stars (rounded up)

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Bonnier Books UK/Hot Key Books, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

A girl seeking revenge after being raped by a male student in an elite college in America is not an easy topic to write or read about. Sadly, it is a topic we are all too familiar with.
This challenging read showed the impact of the attack on the female character. The author covered this element of the story well, and I had a lot of empathy and sympathy for Quinn. Her life and identity are entirely shattered while the boy continues as if nothing has happened and treats it as another conquest.

The story unravels through different points of view, showing how other students also want to fit in with the in-crowd. Charlotte is besotted with Seb, a rowing team member, and Max can't believe his luck when he gets a chance to become a cox for the team, leaving behind his other friends. Both these characters have to decide whether to do what's right or stay loyal and close ranks like other characters in the story do to protect the boy in question.

The secret club, revealed later in the book, is horrific but also something we could easily believe to be true.

Will Colin get the comeuppance he deserves? Will Quinn get justice?

I'll let you read on to find out.

I really enjoyed this book, it was so well written and is a great book for both the young adult and adult market, I didn’t feel like this had to be exclusively marketed at young adults. The writing was great and I really liked the setting and the story idea.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

I’ve just finished reading this novel and though I know nothing about American schools, Rosenbaum wrote it in such a way that I didn’t need to. It’s been a long time since a book actually made me cry, but this one did. No spoilers - you’ll know when you get to it. I think a lot of girls will relate to this and so will those of my (much older) generation. At least you can call it out now - you couldn’t then. Beautifully crafted and relatable characters and a hugely satisfying plot - which I don’t want to give away. Recommended reading.

Amazing book with a haunting premise. I think the author tackled the triggering topics within in a well thought out and exemplary written way, highly recommended with a caveat to prepare to see a lot of dark topics.

I will never get tired of reading books about girls bringing down the system and getting revenge on boys for all the shit they put us through. The only downside was how long it took to actually get to the plot of bringing down the system. It felt like there was a lot of set up with the different relationships and the crew team. I don't know if anything could have been taken out, because a huge part of the plot was Max getting caught up in the crew team and that was very necessary, but it just slowed down the book a lot.

I wasn't sure at first about having a male voice in a book about rape, but I really really liked Max's POV. I think it really added a lot to the book. Because it showed how boys, even boys who know better, can be pulled into the toxic masculinity and become part of it. It was good to see one of the "good ones" and how easy it can be to stand by and not stop things like this from happening.

In all, I think this was handled really well. I liked how the emphasis wasn't on the rape. The rape had happened before the book even started and was only shown in flashbacks. The emphasis was on the fall out and how to stop it happening again.

Definitely on my list of best feminist reads of all time.

Absolutely, overwhelmingly one of the best books I have read in years. How the author managed to pull all of these scenarios out of something originally so heinous is beyond my imagination.
A must read.

If it was possible I would give this 4.5 stars, it would be 5 stars but it started out a little slow and with lots of characters to get your head around. Saying that I am so glad I persisted with it as it turned out to be a great read, touching on taboo subjects, opening Pandora’s box on rape, sexualisation, masculinity and the age old women as sexualised objects. The storyline was well written and I found myself completely involved in the book. The subject matter dealt with in a delicate way but so that it hit home and evolved in what I believe the desired outcomes. A really great read that had you rooting for some characters and hoping other get their just deserts.

Didn’t find as interesting as I thought I would. For example I personally felt that I couldn’t connect with the characters in anyway I don’t know if it was how they were written or just the plot