The Opposite of Innocent: A Poignant and Chilling YA Novel in Verse

by Sonya Sones

Poignant and chilling by turns, The Opposite of Innocent is award-winning author Sonya Sones’s most gripping novel in verse yet. It’s the story of a girl named Lily, who’s been crushing on a man named Luke, a friend of her parents, ever since she can remember.

Luke has been away for two endless years, but he’s finally returning today. Lily was only twelve when he left. But now, at fourteen, she feels transformed. She can’t wait to see how Luke will react when he sees the new her. And when her mother tells her that Luke will be staying with them for a while, in the bedroom right next to hers, her heart nearly stops.

Having Luke back is better than Lily could have ever dreamed. His lingering looks set Lily on fire. Is she just imagining them? But then, when they’re alone, he kisses her. Then he kisses her again. Lily’s friends think anyone his age who wants to be with a fourteen-year-old must be really messed up. Maybe even dangerous. But Luke would never do anything to hurt her...would he?

In this powerful tale of a terrifying leap into young adulthood, readers will accompany Lily on her harrowing journey from hopelessness to hope.

Genres: Young Adult, Poetry, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Novel In Verse, Abuse

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2018

About the author

SONYA SONES has written seven young adult novels in verse: Stop Pretending, What My Mother Doesn’t Know, What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know, One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies, To Be Perfectly Honest, Saving Red, and The Opposite of Innocent.

Her books have received many awards, including a Christopher Award, the Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Poetry, the Claudia Lewis Poetry Award, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize nomination and a Cuffie Award from Publisher’s Weekly for Best Book Title of the year. But the coolest honor she ever received was when her novel, What My Mother Doesn’t Know, landed her a spot on the American Library Association’s list of the Most Frequently Banned Authors of the 21st Century. (To find out why, see page 46.)

Sonya has also written a novel in verse for grownups—the Los Angeles Times bestseller The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus, a coming of middle-age story about learning to grow old disgracefully, which was optioned by Michelle Pfeiffer, and has contributed poems and short stories in verse to lots of anthologies.

Her books have been recognized by the American Library Association as Best Books for Young Adults and Quick Picks For Reluctant Young Readers, and have received a dozen state awards for Best Young Adult Book of the Year.

Reviews

[Chelsea (chelseadolling reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an extremely important book and I am so, so glad that it exists. With that being said, I do feel like I've read this plot many times before and I didn't find that this one brought anything especially new to the table for me, so I'm giving it 3.5 stars.

TW: pedophilia, grooming

[destiny ♡ howling libraries · Rating 3 out of 5]

In The Opposite of Innocent, we follow a story that’s painfully familiar for a lot of people: a girl being groomed by a sexual predator, and that grooming turning into a fully-blown abusive relationship. What sets this book apart, however, is both the fact that it’s a story told in prose, and the fact that our narrator is so incredibly young and naïve; she genuinely has no clue what’s coming until it’s too late.

I’ve always been in love with Luke. For as far back as I can remember.

Right from the beginning, we’re shown these memories of Lily’s, where she tells us how she’s always been in love with Luke, and how her entire life, he’s promised to wait for her. It’s the sort of scenario that feels uncomfortable anyways, but when you know what the book is about, watching everything piece together is like sitting in traffic and watching the distracted driver behind you wait too long to hit the brakes; you know what’s coming before they do, and sometimes, all you can do is grit your teeth and brace for impact.

He was my best friend, my hero, and my soul mate all rolled into one.

The most mortifying part of this tale is how young Lily is—and how naïve her narrative feels. There’s some inconsistency when she’s with her friends; sometimes, they’re all jokes and games, jumping on beds and goofing off, while other times, they’re talking about “going all the way” and Lily’s friends are tremendously concerned about this “older boyfriend” she alludes to. The biggest reason I gave this 3 stars, in fact, was simply because Lily felt very self-contradicting to me at times.

I don’t understand how a person can feel so awesome and so awful at the exact same time.

While the book does follow the standard formula for this plot—girl is groomed, girl is abused, girl begins to realize that she deserves more than this—it’s still heartbreaking to watch her grow up right before our eyes as she begins to miss the comforting ease she feels with boys her own age, rather than the man fifteen years older than her. I wish that Lily more openly understood the fact that she’s been groomed for this moment, because I think, with that small addition, this could become a great cautionary tale for young girls who might recognize behaviors in men in their own lives and realize what those motives truly are.

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to HarperTeen for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Kate♡]

DNF

listen i might not know
a lot about poetry
but it definitely isn't
writing sentences but
pressing "enter"
every few words,
sorry.

[Elle (ellexamines on TT & Substack) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve always been in love with Luke. For as far back as I can remember.

3 1/2 stars. This is a very sad book in verse about a girl dragged into a relationship with a much, much older man.

Main strength: I found myself unable to look away. Lily’s story is so horrifying and feels strangely real, starting as if it could be an innocent unrequited crush by a 14-year-old and becoming more and more serious as Logan makes his interest clear. It perfectly mirrors the quick progression of events, and though Lily is very naive, her character consistency makes the entire book so much more horrifying.

Main con: I felt the ending was a little unsatisfying. We don’t see much of her journey to deciding to tell; I think that sometimes realizations and impulsess can come quickly, so this could have been totally fine, but the book ends… immediately upon Lily’s decision.

I don't know if this was the best thing I've ever read, but it was certainly an incredibly tense experience and an enrapturing way to spend my night. I think this will be marketed towards a younger audience - an audience just discovering the dangers in the world - and I'm down for it.

TW: pedophilia, rape via coercion, dissociation, forced alcohol consumption.

✨Arc received from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review. [ releases: 4 September 2018.]
Blog | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

[Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Tanya T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars!
I received a copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
A Proper representation on how I feel right now.


RTC

[Jungian.Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is simply one of the most easiest and most powerful books about rape and sexual deceit I have ever read.
The writing is so simplistic that the message is so focused, it's as simple as telling a story in short poems.
It centres on Lily who has a crush on Luke who as been in her family for as long as she can remember and he is 15 years older than her.
The book starts with how in love she thinks she is with him a d how that emotion seemed to have heightened in his absence. He coerced her into having sex with him even when she told him she didn't want to (simply he raped her)
We begin to see how she struggles with the new change in her life and how it affects everyone and everything around her.

Simply magnificent....

[••Camila Roy•• · Rating 3 out of 5]

RATING: 3/5

ARC provided by Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review

Fourteen-year-old Lily has been infatuated with Luke for as long as she can remember. Luke is a friend of her family, who happens to be twice her age. A crush turns into a relationship that Lily cannot handle. Staying means losing herself but leaving means losing everything

Let me start off by saying that I liked the book’s writing style. 1) It felt like I was reading a poem at times and 2)it really suited the storyline. Its a short book but we clearly witness Lily’s transition from an infatuated, childish teen to a more mature girl.

On the negative side, I think the book fell short of its potential. It should’ve been longer and gone more in-depth. I’m actually a bit angry about the way it wrapped up. I wanted to see Lily’s actions to fix the situation. The ending felt really anticlimactic to me.

Overall, it’s a decent book but it could’ve been far better.

[Samantha (WLABB) · Rating 4 out of 5]

She thought the sun rose and set with Luke, and felt like she was living the dream, when Luke finally began to see her as a woman. However, Lily soon learned how Luke was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

• Pro: It amazed me how Sones could write about something so ugly in such a beautiful way.

• Pro: This was a pretty emotional read. The story was told in such a way, that I felt my heart breaking piece by piece with each bit of innocence Luke stole from Lily.

• Pro: Lily broke my heart. She was a young teen with a crush on her dad's friend. She had these wide open eyes and a wide open heart, and Luke robbed her of that. He trapped her in a web of secrets and lies, leaving her with no options, or so she believed.

• Pro: I was a fan of the triatomics, Lily's group of friends. I liked how Sones used them as the norm to which Lily would compare her "relationship", and they were also just really supportive friends to Lily.

• Pro: I felt like Lily had this big "eureka" moment at the end of the book, and I was really proud of her.

• Con: BUT, I wish we had gotten more closure. I will never subscribe to the open ending, which allows me to draw my own conclusions thing. I always want definitive answers. Though I do understand, that if Sones met my requirements the endpoint would turn this into the Odyssey.

• Pro: Sones built a compelling case for how this happened to Lily, which added to the believability of the story.

Overall: An emotional and painful story of abuse, which was beautifully told.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

BLOG | INSTAGRAM |TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN | FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS

[emily]

woah

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

”To Luke,
it was probably no big deal.

But
to me-
it felt like
the opposite of innocent.”

Sometimes the smallest of books can pack the most punch.

Lily has been in love with Luke, a friend of her fathers, since she was a little girl. As she grows older, this feeling doesn’t diminish. So when he returns from a trip to Africa and stays with them temporarily, she’s over the moon. It isn’t long before he starts to notice he as well. But as her burgeoning crush turns into something much much more, lines are crossed, boundaries are pushed, and the feelings of isolation, fear, and oppression start to sink in.

One thing I will have to commend the author on is the very realistic progression of this twisted relationship. Lily has nothing more than an innocent crush on a man who so very clearly takes advantage of her, and it’s heartbreaking to watch it all unfold out from her perspective. There are those who won’t like Lily because of her being so naive and young, but I think that was the point.

I loved the relationships Lily had with her family (particularly her little sister), and her wonderfully supportive friend group. They wanted what was best for her and were so supportive of her throughout the entire novel. And, unlike a certain other book that I will not name, there was no victim blaming here among the adults and people she cared about in her life.

It’s a quick read (I read it on my hour-long lunch break at work), but it does not diminish the quality. It makes it no less powerful or important, even if the ending will be unsatisfying for those that want a concrete ending.

At once sorrowful but hopeful, this book will break your heart but leave you with a feeling of hope for Lily that you hope she can find for herself.

[Raegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart is very heavy after finishing this book. The dedication in the beginning reads “For all the Lillys” and if that doesn’t make your heart sad then I’d be worried about you. Lily is a 14 year old girl who is in love with a long time family friend who happens to be a little older-15 years older to be exact. What starts off as a innocent crush evolves in to something very different, one might say it became the opposite of innocent. This novel deals with heavy topics such as consent, coercion, and pedophilia. Written in verse and told from Lily’s perspective the reader goes on this journey with her in a hauntingly beautiful yet juvenile account of how your wildest dreams can quickly turn into your worst nightmare. My heart is a little cracked after this one but I would highly recommend it, and then I would highly recommend talking about it and processing it with anyone you can. Unfortunately this work of fiction is anything but for so many out there. I really value the acknowledgment to the reader at the end of this book with reminders of how unacceptable so much of what happens in this book is and also recourses for those who might be dealing or have dealt with this. {9/10 recommended}

[Beth Rodgers · Rating 5 out of 5]

'The Opposite of Innocent' is yet another fantastic novel-in-verse by the illustrious Sonya Sones. The story will draw readers in and not let go, making them wish for what they want to happen but know may only be a desperate wish. It will haunt readers well past the last page, eager to know just what happened to Lily and how she will tear herself away from an undeniably horrific situation.

The story starts off pleasantly enough, with Lily crushing on an older man - her dad's best friend who is fifteen years her senior, Luke. He is kind and sweet to her, making her fourteen-year-old self feel like she is the most important person in the world. The fact that he is staying with her family - including her parents and her younger sister - thrills Lily to no end, and she can't believe her luck that he is in the room directly adjacent to hers.

When Lily gets a taste of what she has always wanted - a kiss from Luke - her world becomes upended, and she feels that life is finally fulfilling the only dream she's ever known. Little does she know what she's in for, as Luke's manipulative and endearing qualities work hand in hand to cripple Lily's belief in love, and even kindness.

Lily finds herself incapable of sharing her troubles with anyone, which is so true of the world today when people find ways to manipulate others to fulfill their own desires. Luke is the perfect portrait of a terrible guy wrapped up in a nice-looking and overall nice-seeming package. His generosity and friendliness make him the least suspicious person, but his true nature causes Lily catastrophic mental anguish.

Despite the fact that the conclusion is somewhat open-ended, the fact that Sonya Sones can write such beautiful and compelling verse, yet shed light on such heinous topics, is incredibly motivational for readers and writers alike. Anyone who enjoys contemporary romances, thrillers, novels-in-verse, or coming of age stories should rush to pick this up. It will grab readers and not let them go, all the while encouraging important discourse about topics that are too sadly prevalent in this day and age.

Beth Rodgers, Author of 'Freshman Fourteen' and 'Sweet Fifteen,' Young Adult Novels

*Review originally posted at YABooksCentral.com*

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this as an adult, there's a terrible sense of creeping doom as Lily slips further under Luke's influence. That could be triggering for some readers, but it also does make this, as the cover blurb from Gayle Foreman says, a great #MeToo introduction for teen readers with adult guidance. Who Lily eventually goes to for help also feels more realistic to me than the norm in this sort of book, and I think the decision to end where it does is a good one.

Lily isn't a fool. Neither are her friends. Her parents pay attention. None of that is a failsafe against the sort of predation she faces, and while that's upsetting, it also helps Sones make the point she needs to in the book.

[Eva B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reread November 2020
This is definitely a scenario where I think I would've connected more to the characters if it had been written in prose. It handles very tough topics (grooming and pedophilia) in a good way, and I'd probably give it to readers who're around Lily's age as opposed to older ones. Not my favorite book by Sones, but a decent enough read. I liked the scene where Lily realizes that Luke is also grooming Alice, and decides then and there to tell someone about Luke but besides that one, nothing really stuck out to me.

[Dina Saad · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending wasn't satisfying to me.
I really wanted more.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

TW: Sexual assault, rape.

Review:

This story is told in free verse. It is a fast paced, quick read. I got through it in about two hours. However, the book is intense. You see the escalation of an inappropriate relationship between a fourteen year old girl and a thirty year old man.

While this seems odd, know that this sort of thing happens in real life. Much more often than we admit to ourselves. By the last third of the book, I could hear my heart pounding in my chest. I felt the fear with our main protagonist. It felt as though I was there with her. Watching like a fly on the wall.

What I loved about this book is the reality shown. That all of what Lily feels is her truth. It is a daydream. Until it becomes abusive. You see the manipulation in the male character. How he uses guilt to talk her into keeping this relationship going. How he continues to make sure that she does poorly in school in order to keep “tutoring” her. How she is afraid to talk to her parents because he has threatened that her parents will go bankrupt.

This book depicts a serious, realistic account of what happens in these kinds of relationships. How it effects the person physically, mentally and socially. It is a necessary read and one that we all can learn from.

[Jaclyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are looking for a quick, dark, taboo contemporary I would suggest trying this one out. It is told in verse and is very readable; I finished it in like 2 hours. It will def. make you uncomfortable, but I think that the author wants you to. It is interesting to see how their relationship progresses/how this can happen to someone. I do feel like it rushes a bit and certain things could be expanded more. Lilly definitely came to certain decisions and choices rather fast to me. Nevertheless, if you want a taboo contemporary that doesn't take much time to read, it is worth a read.

[Aya Serry · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
This was a beautiful,painful and very difficult ‘at some points’ to read book! And the authors note is one of the best i’ve ever read.

[Alex Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is about a 14 year old girl who has had a crush on her father's 29 year old best friend for years, and they eventually enter into a "romantic" relationship. It's super gross and made me cringe for basically the first two thirds of the book because literally all I wanted was one person to step in and realize what was going on. Like every time her parents said how adorable it was that she had a crush on Luke, while he's raping her like every other day, I wanted to shrivel up and die inside a little. Which is kind of a good thing, I think. When a subject is as gross as this one, I really want to feel how gross it is and be horrified by every line. Sonya Sones did a good job at that.

What I didn't like was the trajectory of the story. As it went on, it felt less real. The characters seemed like their personalities were being watered down throughout the book and the situation was getting easier to read. It started out complex and messy, but by the end it was as simple and clear cut as an after school special. That definitely lessened the impact on me a lot. I didn't care about the final third of the book.

I still really enjoy Sones's writing style, and I did adore the first half of the book. There were so many good things about this and I loved how much I hated it at times, in regards to the horrifying adult preying on a child. But the ending ruined it for me and I don't think it felt worthwhile overall.

[mai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este es un género que realmente nunca he leído, completamente nuevo para mí, así que seré completamente honesta y me expresaré lo más que pueda.

The Opposite Of Innocent nos cuenta como Lily, una niña de catorce años es destrozada mediante una de sus fantasías y vuelven lo que debió ser algo lindo -amar a alguien- en su peor pesadilla.

Este libro nos cuenta crudamente como cualquier víctima de abuso piensa, en especial una niña.

Lily siempre ha estado enamorada de Luke, entonces cuando este vuelve ella es completamente feliz y se emociona... En especial cuando él le muestra que el 'sentimiento' es mutuo. Luke manipula y coacciona a Lily a hacer cosas que ella piensa querer.... Hasta que se da cuenta que no quiere, pero cuando ella finalmente es fuerte para detenerlo este la hace sentir mal al respecto... La manipula a pensar que si dice algo su familia se arruinará. Y será su culpa.

"Si solo..." Lily se pone a pensar en cómo ella provocó lo que le está sucediendo. Si tan solo no hubiera hecho esto ni dicho aquello... Todo sería diferente. No estaría deseando estar en cualquier parte menos ahí. No se sentiría tan sola a pesar de estar rodeada de gente la que ama. No sentiría un nudo en la garganta todo el tiempo. No se sentiría rota.

No se sentiría muerta en vida.

Pero no es su culpa.

Nunca es culpa de la víctima porque nadie debe de obligarte a nada.

No importa si fue dicho en voz alta, demostrado físicamente o con una mirada: NO ES NO.

The opposite of innocent nos muestra la cruda realidad de cómo tan fácilmente el abusador se mete en nuestras mentes y toma el control de nosotros... Pero se equivoca. Porque somos fuertes y no estamos solas.

Ninguna víctima está sola y nunca lo estará.

Este libro me hizo temblar, llorar y sentir una inmensa rabia... Pero también consuelo, porque desearía haber leído esto a mis trece o catorce años y saber que no estoy sola. Saber que no fui solo yo y que no fue mi culpa. Desearía poder hacerle llegar este libro a todas las niñas y decirles "¡Mira! No estás sola. Habla. Te vamos a escuchar y apoyar. "

Es una lectura que personalmente recomiendo demasiado.

[Callie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
I really hated this. the subject matter is so vile, and reading it made me anxious and miserable. definitely an important book, but ew.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a gut punch of a story. Each page, each verse, was a shocking reminder of how little we do to protect some of our girls. How easy it is to be blinded by a family friend. How tempting it is to see only what you want to see. And how much damage is left in the wake of such ill naivety.

Lily has always thought she loved Luke. Her father's friend, a man almost twice her age, he was someone who was always part of her life growing up and she felt so much for him. He listened to her, he paid attention to her, and he promised her he loved her. So when they begin to "see" each other (always in private, always a secret, always something that she must hide) she feels lit up. Glowing. Because this is what she wanted.

Until it isn't.

And for Lily, the options seem to be few. Because she said OK, in the beginning. Because her family would fall apart. Because she knew better.

Until all the options are out the window because something even bigger than herself is on the line.

Highly recommend. I would say this is a strong purchase for all collections serving YA readers.

[BookChic Club · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was excited to see a new Sonya Sones book available on Edelweiss, as I didn't know she had one coming out. I downloaded it and read it over the course of two days. As usual, the book was in verse so it's a pretty quick read, but it was a really powerful one. Sones told Lily's story so poignantly and so realistically- where Lily's crush on Luke becomes more than just a crush and what that new attention does to her over time. I got sucked in to her story and felt so badly for her as things with Luke got worse and worse. I do wish the ending had gone a little further though; I thought it ended abruptly- the reader can definitely guess at what will happen but I would've liked more. It is still a heart-wrenching story and the sparse verse makes it even more so. Definitely check this book out when it releases!

[rachel, x · Rating 3 out of 5]

➸ Trigger warnings for paedophilia, grooming, and child sexual abuse, graphic rape by coercion (on-page), abusive relationship, dissociation, forced alcohol consumption, emesis, death of family members in a car accident, stalking and mentions of animal death.

▷ Representation: Taylor (sc) is gay.

Blog • Trigger Warning Database • StoryGraph

[Cait S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so grateful this book is out there in the world. It is easily consumed, it is fast, and it makes its points crystal clear.

I was the girl in this book. And if I had had this book, I might not have been her for as long as I was. This kind of content is desperately important, and broken down into pieces of poetry like this just makes it all the more accessible.

This is a tough read. Trigger warnings for rape and grooming of an underage girl. But if you can stomach the subject matter, do so. And share it with young people in your life.

[Alyson Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based off an ARC the library where I work received.

This is one of those books where I’m left with mixed feelings and a low, queasy feeling in my stomach. The subject matter is horrific and heartbreaking. I want to bundle Lily up and drag her to the best therapist there is (after ensuring that Luke’s body will never be found).

This is the type of book that I know I’ll be thinking/talking about for a long, long time.

[Chelsies Reading Escape · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the verse style was done really well. I liked how approachable it was while still giving us the full story. It felt like we were reading this girls diairy. I found the writing and the story super gripping. I finished it all in one sitting. The main reasons it got a 3 stars is because I wanted more resolution at the end. I wanted to see the pedophile pay for what he did. There was also some character development that felt just a tiny bit off.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no words right now. Oh my gosh, what did i just read? I had a visceral reaction upon finishing. Whoa just....speechless.

[Hallie]

CW: This review will talk about sexual assault, pedophilia, and rape

Sonya Sones is one of the queen’s of contemporary, hard-hitting YA. I remember staying up late in middle school to read her books. The topics seemed so forbidden and unlike anything I had ever read before. Her latest book tackles another tough, but sadly realistic, topic that teens face–sexual predators and abusive relationships.

The most striking part of the book is how young and innocent Lily’s voice is. She’s a 14 year old who still believes adults are all trustworthy and safe. She loves her little sister and her best friends fiercely. She adores romance novels and discussing her favorite books with her best friend. She’s just starting to think about dating, staying out late, and all that high school will entail. She squeals and plays around with her friends at sleepovers. Any grooming or abuse by a sexual predator is disgusting regardless of a teen’s experiences, personality, or world view, but Lily’s innocence is such a contrast to Luke, a sexual predator disguised as someone who cares about her. The book includes some descriptions of Luke sexually abusing Lily. The rape is not graphically described but implied and may trigger some readers.

Sones’ books have always shown that both good and bad experiences can happen to anyone. Lily is an average teenager with a crush on an older family friend and before she knows it, she is stuck in an abusive situation. This is an important read for teens because it points out how quickly a toxic and harmful relationship can begin. Lily starts by making small exceptions and telling little lies. Soon she is hiding the truth from everyone she knows while being sexually abused and raped by Luke. She feels ashamed and terrified to tell anyone. Sones gives Lily room to explore her feelings and make her own decisions. She gives examples of the signs of an abusive relationship and has Lily’s friends notice these signs. Sones follows a basic pattern of how abusive relationships go–a crush, a beginning of a relationship when everything feels perfect, cycles of harm and apologies, and an exit from the relationship. The book will bring no surprises plot-wise but it will help teens learn what to look out for.

Lily may feel alone, but she has several allies throughout the book. Her parents are somewhat involved in her life and it seems they would immediately act if they knew what was going on. However, Lily turns elsewhere for help. Her friends try to point out that something isn’t right with a man who is interested in someone her age. They try to protect her and help her when she needs it. They also help her laugh with pop culture references and funny stories. Lily discovers a new love of photography during the course of the book and is able to express herself through art. Lily and her friends also have a beloved book store that they visit frequently. The store is ran by a trusted adult, Bella, who is there for the teens in a way that parents or teachers can’t be. Lily finds that she can go to Bella without fear of judgement or repercussions when she realizes she needs help. Teen readers will see the importance of looking outward for help when they read Lily’s story.

It’s very hard to read about Lily going through this abuse. Readers may want to find a non-fiction resource or helpful website to refer to about toxic and abusive relationships while reading this book. It will spark many conversations and questions from teen readers. The Opposite of Innocent is a difficult read but it’s an important one for teens learning about signs of abusive relationships, sexual assault, and how to take care of yourself. The final version of the book will include a resource list for teens looking for more information.

Thank you to Harper Teen for a free ARC of this book.