Evan has no problem picking up girls. He's got it down to a science, able to identify the girls who would be willing to go all the way just by looking at them. And since his father has a tendency to pick up both their lives and move them at a moment's notice without asking Evan's opinion first, he usually doesn't have to deal with any fallout. But that changes when Collette, the sort-of ex of his boarding school roommate shows an interest in him (and, of course, he in her). While they manage to do everything-but, his roommate and his buddy decide that's more than enough and brutally attack Evan as he's getting out of the shower. Afterwards, Evan's father moves them to the Pearl Lake, Minnesota house that his father grew up in just as summer starts. As Evan deals with the aftermath of what happened to him and the behavior that led him there, he manages to make new friends, works on his relationship with his father, and even figures out how to have actual relationships with girls, not just physical ones.
What I liked about this book was Evan's voice. Carrie Mesrobian gives him a fairly distinct voice, making him fully aware of how his behavior isn't great. It's not the attack that makes him realize this; he's known that for awhile, but the attack makes him examine that more and make him work on changing his ways. And it's also refreshing to see that his behavior doesn't stem totally from misogyny, but more because it's easier for him to relate to girls in a purely physical way. But I feel like not a whole lot got resolved by the end of the story. Evan does get past some of the problems that directly stem from the attack, but Mesrobian spends a lot of time making you think he's headed for some meaningful romance with the girl who lives next door before putting him with someone we don't even meet until there's roughly 50 pages left in the story. But other than that, Sex and Violence is a good story with a compelling main character.
(Read as part of YALSA's Hub Challenge.)
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