Rites of Passage Review

Sam McKenna can't turn this dare down because it's the last one her brother gave to her before he died. She's to join the Denmark Military Academy, as it's the first year girls are allowed to enroll. Except, the boys aren't too happy about their traditions being "ruined". Even though Sam is better than the majority of the boys, some of the boys will do anything to get her to leave. While trying to make her military father proud and complete her brother's dare, nearly everybody is against her.

Joy N. Hensley's Rites of Passage was so good! It's funny how annoyed I got with Defiance about the romance and then I read this book where the romance is definitely not the main focus. Instead, the characters really have their priorities straightened out. Sam, or Mac as she's mainly called, is an extremely strong willed person. I don't have half of her will power. I even started crying a couple times just from reading what she was put through. I loved her and Drill so much! There are some seriously misogynistic guys in this book though. It made me really mad and want to join the military to prove them all wrong even. I was talking to my mom about the book too and apparently something similar actually happened when a military school turned co-ed and the girls suffered from brutal hazing.

I loved Mac too because it ends up not being all about the dare, she also becomes motivated by knowing she has to show the next year's girls that they can make it through. She wants to succeed for future generations. I seriously loved this about her. She ended up doing it for herself instead of just for her dad and brother, which I thought was really empowering.

Like all books, there were some flaws. The ending seemed a bit abrupt to me and the romance was left a little hanging, but part of me liked how it was done. I don't want to spoil the ending though so I don't think I can say what I liked about it. The romance was more realistic than a lot of YA books in my opinion, is what I will say.

This book really pumped me up to want to do a lot of push ups and obstacle courses. However, I probably won't end up in the military...