Book Review: You Against Me by Jenny Downham

Title:   You Against Me
Series: N/A
Author: Jenny Downham
Publisher:  David Fickling Books
Publication Date: December 2010
Pages: 411
Special Features: N/A
ISBN: 9780385613507
Average Rating on Goodreads: 4.23

'If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right? If your brother's been accused of a terrible crime and you're the main witness, then you banish all doubt and defend him. Isn't that what families do? When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her at a party, his world of work and girls begins to fall apart. When Ellie's brother is charged with the crime, but says he didn't do it, her world of revision, exams and fitting in at a new school begins to unravel. When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide. Brave and unflinching, this is a novel of extraordinary skillfulness and almost unbearable tension. It's a book about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all it's a book about love - for one's family and for another.'

You Against Me is a book which has stood out towards me for a while, but it took a while for me to get round to reading it.

It's a British book which I admit is probably one of the reasons I was mainly drawn into it, along with a large assortment of excellent reviews.

The story revolves around Mikey and Ellie who meet and fall in love at a disastrous time. Mikey's younger sister claims she was raped by Ellie's  older brother.

Now Mikey and Ellie must choose how far they will go not just for each other but also to protect their family.

The story is centred around the themes of love and loyalty. It shows how far someone may go to protect and save someone they love. The book constantly made me question how would I react if my brother was being accused of rape or if my sister had been raped.

The book is wrote beautifully, and Jenny Downham perfectly writes about something so heart wrenching and effective.

The characters I believe are so believable, realistic and make the book how it is, but neither of the main characters are in anyway remeberable.

Mikey would do anything to protect his sister and has a keen eye for revenge. The typical older brother.

Ellie is a daughter in a family where she is hardly paid attention too, and all she wants to do is have her parents be proud of her for once.

All in all this book was enjoyable and definitely worth the time taken to read it.

I give this book..