Dear Medusa is a hard hitting YA novel in verse with an audiobook read by the author (always a treat!). Alicia Rivers is sixteen and has a reputation for being loose. She works at a fast food restaurant, in part to escape her home life and also to avoid school activities after a very bad experience that no one knows about. 

Alicia's trauma keeps following her despite her attempts to escape. As the story progresses we learn more about the traumatic event and slowly there is progress towards healing and accountability. 

There is so much beauty and pain in this book and I really want to say nothing else and leave you to go experience it. There is excellent exploration of how people process trauma differently, what it means to be in community and support others, and nuanced exploration of sexuality and the ways teenage girls are often perceived. Top notch.