She doesn't skimp on the details of the rough training the students must face. I didn't know this until I read about the author at the end of the book but apparently Hensley was a female student in military school herself. “The Corps may not think it’s ready for females, but you and your companions have the power to change that if you’ll just believe it.” The cast of characters is large but each one is well-drawn and feels very real the relationship dynamics are complex and realistic but no less engaging the plot moves along at a perfect pace, telling multiple stories of family, friendship, love and loss. I so very nearly passed up this well-written, well-paced, completely moving contemporary in favour of some (probably terrible) paranormal and fantasy. The 'I judged Rites of Passage completely wrong' club.

And then you remembered all those other books that promised epic fantasy, fast-paced drama and hot guys (or girls) and this book was suddenly forgotten, right? Then step right up here because you belong in the same club as me. 'Blah blah, girl goes to military school, blah blah' snooze. You saw it was called Rites of Passage and you saw the dog tags on the cover image and, let's face it, your interest was probably already waning, right?īut you don't like to judge a book by its cover so you decided to check out the blurb. maybe you saw this book floating around on the internet. You haven't read this book yet, have you? I'm going to bet you haven't and I'm also willing to bet that I know the reason. As if being female is somehow a sickness Mom and I can get over.” and choosing the wrong person could have deadly consequences. A decades-old secret society is alive and active… and determined to force her out. When their petty threats turn to brutal hazing, bleeding into every corner of her life, she realizes they are not acting alone. no matter how much she wants him.Īs Sam struggles to prove herself, she discovers that some of the boys don’t just want her gone-they will stop at nothing to drive her out.

But dating is strictly forbidden and Sam won't risk her future, or the dare, on something so petty. What she’s not expecting is her fiery attraction to her drill sergeant.

She's even expecting the hostility she gets from some of the cadets who don’t think girls belong there. As a military brat, she can handle an obstacle course just as well as the boys. She’s expecting push-ups and long runs, rope climbing and mud-crawling. So Sam joins the first-ever class of girls at the prestigious Denmark Military Academy. And she's not going to start with the last one her brother gave her before he died.

Rites of passage by joy n hensley