The Female Of The Species by Mindy McGinnis

Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it. When her older sister, Anna, was murdered three years ago and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best. The language of violence.

While her crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people, even in her small hometown. She relegates herself to the shadows, a girl who goes unseen in plain sight, unremarkable in the high school hallways.

But Jack Fisher sees her. He’s the guy all other guys want to be: the star athlete gunning for valedictorian with the prom queen on his arm. Guilt over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered hasn’t let him forget Alex over the years, and now her green eyes amid a constellation of freckles have his attention. He doesn’t want to only see Alex Craft; he wants to know her.

So does Peekay, the preacher’s kid, a girl whose identity is entangled with her dad’s job, though that does not stop her from knowing the taste of beer or missing the touch of her ex-boyfriend. When Peekay and Alex start working together at the animal shelter, a friendship forms and Alex’s protective nature extends to more than just the dogs and cats they care for.

Circumstances bring Alex, Jack, and Peekay together as their senior year unfolds. While partying one night, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting the teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever. @goodreads 

Be prepared



I just wasn't going to read this book. I just wasn't. I bought it because I thought it was going to be something I liked. Then I saw some warnings about things in the book and I thought, if I pick up this book I'm going to throw it across the room. I almost did a few times.

BUT

I didn't

and I loved it

All of the animal abusers and rapists of any sort should burn. It's just that simple.





and I really don't care if no one feels the same as I do. I just don't care any more.

I loved Alex Craft. I wish she was my best friend. She's my role model. She's a murderer. She hurts evil people and she cares for animals. I love her.

This is how I kill someone.
I learn his habits, I know his schedule. It is not difficult. His life consists of quick stops to the dollar store for the bare minimum of things required to keep this ragged cycle going, his hat pulled down over his eyes so as not to be recognized.

Alex had a sister once. She was raped, tortured and killed. Yes, it is graphic, the telling of what was done to her and how they found her in pieces. The b@stard was not sentenced. But he was killed. They let that slide.

This story is about Alex, Peekay (Preacher's Kid, real name, Claire) and Jack. There are some other people in the book, their friends, but it's mainly about them.

Alex and Peekay work at the animal shelter together and they become friends. Alex calls her by her real name. Alex is different and I like her. Alex takes care of the animals with a tender heart. Once again, I love her. They had to go and pick up some puppies that were thrown out of a window by some piece of sh*t. Peekay has thoughts of bodily harm herself but they are only thoughts. I can understand what she means. 


I imagine a rusted-out truck, a guy wearing a T-shirt with ripped-out sleeves. I think about how he'd roll down his window, a casual question on his face until I opened the door, drag him out, and kick him in the gut over and over until he's making the same noises those puppies probably made.

Jack is just a guy at school that sleeps around but starts to fall for Alex. Alex has never had a boyfriend. She's too damaged and dangerous, but that doesn't mean she can't love. And they do, for a time.

The books didn't help me find a word for myself; my father refused to accept the weight of it. And so I made my own.

I am vengeance.

This story has so many things going for it. I love the author's writing. You feel every little thing these kids go through. Even the few times the parents are in the book. All of these kids learn to be friends in one sense or another. I love that they can put all of the things aside and just be friends.

I love that Alex is so tough and never backs down from taking up for her friends. For someone that never really had any, she's a damn great one to have. Peekay thought so too.

No, I didn't know. Everyone else wants to talk about the Alex who tore Ray Parson's nose off when he tried to hurt me, the Alex who tortured the man who killed her sister, the Alex who burned a child molester alive and blew a rapist away with a shotgun blast. Nobody wants to talk about the girl who held kittens in the palm of her hand, humming to them while they fed, or the girl who would pick fleas off a dog for hours. Because nobody knew her.

This book truly got to me. I loved everyone and hated many. It made me rage and cry. It tore my feels into a million pieces. It is one of my favorites.

READ THIS BOOK!


The ending broke my heart =(

Mel ♥

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2107371972