Shut Up by Anne Tibbets

Mary's older sister, Gwen, has royally screwed up her life. Not only is Gwen pregnant at seventeen, but she's also decided to marry The Creep who knocked her up.

Now Mary is powerless to stop her family from imploding. Her parents are freaking out, and to top it off The Creep has a gross fascination with Mary while Gwen enjoys teasing her to tears for sport.

Despite her brother's advice to shut up, Mary can't keep her trap closed and manages to piss off Mom so much it comes to blows.

Mary doesn't know what to do, and all her attempts to get help are rejected. When she finally plans her escape, she fails to consider how it could destroy them all (from goodreads.com)


I don't read much contemporary fiction. I like to spend my money on books that take me to fantasy lands and a whole new world to explore. When I do pick up contemporary it really has to speak to me for me to like it. This was obviously one of those books.
When the author contacted me to read the book I was looking for a change of pace, it was a short read and I wasn't exactly sure where the story was going to go and it sounds intense.
what I did find from this story was a very emotional and depressing situation. One that while not all people have dealt with in their lives, I think that the majority of people can understand the depth of the depression that Mary fell into during this time in her life.
The writing is what really got me. It was so well portrayed that you could see the spiraling of Mary's emotional state at each stage, as the events happen that you really did wonder how it was going to all play out.
I don't want to give any spoilers away, but I just wanted to say there were some people in this story that made me proud. Good for them. 5 stars