Find your next great read for Sexual Assault Awareness Month by exploring my reviews of these poignant YA books about rape and sexual assault.

Some parents might be uncomfortable with high school readers choosing books that deal with such violent content. Yet according to the CDC, nearly 1 in 5 women have experienced rape or attempted rape in her lifetime, and 1 in 3 experienced it for the first time between 11 and 17 years of age. For young men between 11 and 17, the statistic is 1 in 4. Rape is a global problem with an estimated 35% of women worldwide experiencing some form of sexual assault or harassment in their lifetime. Child sexual abuse and molestation come serious long-term effects.

Reading stories can help young survivors process their experience, especially during the early phase of their recovery when talking to other people is too difficult. Stories can provide support and healing. Stories can lead to conversations about these traumatic subjects and also help others to listen. Stories remind all of us that we are not alone.

The following are my reviews of the most poignant YA books about rape and sexual assault I’ve found. Be warned. These stories will break your heart. All of them come with trigger warnings. These stories are disturbing, explicit, difficult to read, terrible—and important.

The Cutting Edge of Friendship by Khristina Chess 

“My first time was supposed to be different. It wasn’t supposed to happen in darkness, dirt, and violence. It wasn’t supposed to be a two-man job.” ― Khristina Chess, quote from The Cutting Edge of Friendship

Sadie and Elana are keeping dangerous secrets.

Best friends since elementary school, they know everything about each other, but on the night of the fireworks, something terrible happened to Sadie that she hasn’t told anyone. She can’t even say the word to herself. Instead, she’s started cutting to deal with the pain.

Elana has a secret of her own; she’s texting Hunter and making plans for a clandestine meeting with him. She doesn’t know what he did or why he really wants to keep their relationship secret.

To end this dangerous cat-and-mouse game, Sadie must reclaim her courage and rescue Elana before a rapist can attack again.

So powerful! The Cutting Edge of Friendship instantly drew me into the tangled conflict, and I couldn’t look away until the girls were safe.

What I love most about The Cutting Edge of Friendship is Sadie’s fierce and resilient character and the raw and authentic emotion as this painful story escalates toward its thrilling climax. This is the kind of novel that really shows how someone self harms to cope with pain in the aftermath of sexual assault. You won’t want to miss this powerful YA book about rape and the complicated nature of friendship. Fans of Girl in Pieces and Speak will enjoy this one.

All the Rage by Courtney Summers

"What a stupid thing it is, to care about a girl." ― Courtney Summers, quote from All the Rage

This book tells the story of a girl who was raped at a party by a boy she thought was beautiful. And then, she loses her best friend for telling about it. And everyone in the school begins bullying her about it. And she ends up at another party in the same situation, only this time her ex-best friend turns up missing.

The plot alternates between bewildering and breathtaking. Who was the rapist? What happened to Penny? Will there be justice? Is the girl going to be okay?

I felt sorry for Romy because of what happened to her and what continued to happen as she suffered bullying by the other girls. At times, she is a difficult protagonist to embrace because she's a person in deep pain. She's not always nice. She doesn't make good decisions. She hurts kind people who care about her.

Although this is a fast read, the ending wasn't what I expected or hoped. I felt things remained unresolved. Still, if you're looking for an emotional roller coaster about rape, victim blaming, and bullying, All the Rage is definitely worth checking out.

The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith 

“No, can’t cry. Because there’s nothing to cry about. Because it was just a dream. A bad dream. A nightmare. Not real. Not real. Not real. That’s what I keep thinking: NotRealNotRealNotReal. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Like a mantra. Like a prayer.” ― Amber Smith, quote from The Way I Used to Be

Fourteen-year-old Eden was raped by her brother’s best friend. In her own room. In her own bed.

Instead of telling anyone, she internalizes the trauma and begins a multi-year downward spiral of acting out, drinking, taking drugs, losing friends, and sleeping around. She’s no longer the “good girl” she used to be.

This book shows how a young girl can stay silent about rape for years, why it can be so hard to tell someone, and what it’s like to try to survive in silence.

The Way I Used to Be is a poignant YA book about rape and sexual assault that can be hard to read because Eden’s pain makes her an unlikeable character at times, but this story is worthwhile.

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake

“This. This is why I never said anything. Because no one ever believes the girl.” ― Ashley Herring Blake, quote from Girl Made of Stars

Mara and her twin brother Owen are as close as any twins can be. So when Owen says he is innocent and never raped his girlfriend, Mara is faced with a difficult decision. She’s friends with the victim. Who is telling the truth? Her brother, who she knows as well as she knows herself, or the girl?

In addition to Mara’s confusion about her twin brother’s role as an accused rapist, she’s also dealing with her own sexual identity and relationship with her best friend, a girl named Charlie. Her parents pressure her to support her brother, but why would the victim lie? And in wrestling with these conflicts, Mara can no longer ignore a secret trauma from her own past and what happened to her.

This powerful YA book about rape, consent, teen relationships, and sexual identity deals with so many issues that the conflict is a bit overwhelming at times. Yet the author handles the emotional issues in a beautiful, heartbreaking, and important way.

Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

Three life lessons:

1.     No one will see you.

2.     No one will say anything.

3.     No one will save you. ― Elizabeth Scott, quote from Living Dead Girl

Fifteen-year-old Alice is the kidnapping victim of a pedophile named Ray who took her at age ten. This haunting, horrifying, graphic, disturbing, and tragic book is about so much more than child rape, although that certainly happens. This novel shows how a person—a child—can lose their self-worth and believe their captor’s lies.

How someone can lose their own humanity.

This thin novel was a fast read, but Alice and her story have stayed with me long after I finished. It’s her voice. In her unflinching viewpoint, Alice shows us what happens to children who are taken and never found. She challenges us to look more closely at the people around us. To notice.

Pay attention. Speak.

The monsters prey on the mute.

If you are looking for a poignant YA book about rape and sexual assault that you will never forget, this one is a must-read.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

“When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time.” ― Laurie Halse Anderson, quote from Speak

Just before beginning high school, Melinda Sordino is raped at a party, and as a result of this experience, she can’t speak. Everyone hates her at school. Her parents aren’t very supportive. She feels alone, depressed, powerless, and unsafe everywhere except in art class.

When her friend starts a relationship with her rapist, Melinda speaks.

This is an important YA book about rape that shows how victims feel silenced by their assailant and the culture around them and how speaking out can liberate.

Some Boys by Patty Blount

“Brave. The word hangs in the air for a moment and then falls away, almost like it even knows it has no business being used to describe me.” ― Patty Blount, quote from Some Boys

In this book, Grace was raped by the “golden boy” student and star athlete at their school named Zac, and she does speak. But no one believes her. Instead she is bullied and ostracized for daring to accuse the prince of such a heinous crime.

Zac’s best friend is Ian. Although he has a major crush on Grace, he no longer feels he can follow-through on that because the whole school is slut-shaming her.

Grace sets on a plan to prove to everyone that Zac isn’t the perfect son everyone believes him to be, and she’s the kind of fighter to make that happen. Instead of a depressed and withdrawn rape survivor, this character is a middle-finger-in-your-face girl who goes after her rapist despite nearly everyone being against her.

This YA book about rape takes a look at how girls are labeled by how they dress or act.

The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis

"I am vengeance."― Mindy McGinnis, quote from The Female of the Species

I loved this book. Alex Craft is a unique female YA protagonist, and I had a hard time pinning her down. Sometimes I wanted to label her as a psychopath / sociopath based on her actions and reactions to things, but I don't think that's right.

She is a criminal. It's easy to forget that about her because she makes friends, takes care of kittens, shows compassion to other kids, and falls in love. But she also kills people. So there's that.

This is my third Mindy McGinnis novel, and I'm hooked on her. She writes compelling stories and tough, unflinching characters, and she’s one of the top authors in my list of the Best YA Authors to Binge on Kindle Unlimited. Alex Craft in The Female of the Species is definitely a five-star read! It is an unflinching, painful, searing, riveting, brutal YA book about rape and sexual assault that will shock you to the core.

Scars by Cheryl Rainfield

“Other times, I look at my scars and see something else: a girl who was trying to cope with something horrible that she should never have had to live through at all. My scars show pain and suffering, but they also show my will to survive. They're part of my history that'll always be there.” ― Cheryl Rainfield, quote from Scars

Wow! What a powerful, thrilling, emotional, heartbreaking book. Scars packs a real punch, touching on multiple tough topics, including cutting, sexual abuse, and relationships. Kendra was raped at a very young age by a man whose face she cannot remember. The story opens with her in therapy with a counselor who is helping her to cope with the painful memories that have started to surface, but the plot accelerates quickly as Kendra feels her abuser is stalking her. She copes with her pain through self-harming and also in her art, which is both beautiful and darkly disturbing. Descriptions of her art in this book are very vivid.

The revelation of her abuser is both a shock and a non-shock, and I was rooting for her to confront him and find a path to justice and healing. Scars is a great read if you’re looking for a YA book about rape and sexual assault.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

“Murderers are not monsters, they're men. And that's the most frightening thing about them.” ― Alice Sebold, quote from The Lovely Bones

Susie Salmon is dead.

She was raped and murdered in a most gruesome fashion by a most gruesome man, and now she exists in an afterlife, observing her family and her killer.

The story is a bit disorienting, but I think that’s kind of the point. Most of the novel is about Susie’s struggle to come to terms with the fact that she’s dead and move on. The “why?” questions haunt her. Her family and former life haunts her. The desire for justice and vengeance haunts her.

It’s the disquiet that comes when a young person dies tragically, suddenly, whether or not by foul means. There is a profound unfairness. The soul cries out.

If you are looking for a poignant YA book about rape and sexual assault that you will never forget, this one is another must-read.

Other YA Books about Rape and Sexual Abuse

If you are looking other YA books about rape and sexual abuse, check out the Young Adult Books about Rape & Sexual Abuse (331 books), YA Books about Rape/Sexual Assault, and Rape Book Lists on Goodreads. You might also be interested in my post, Other Good Reads, which has a comprehensive list of reviews of YA books by type of tough topic, including self-harming, eating disorders, substance abuse, mental illness, and others.

Do you have any personal favorites to recommend to me? I’m always looking for another great read in this category.

Khristina Chess is the award-winning author of several YA novels about troubled teens turning corners. You can find her on Amazon, Goodreads, and Twitter as an active daily contributor in the #5amwritersclub.