Tangled by Carolyn Mackler

This actually is not the book I have currently been reading, but I've been thinking a lot about it. I absolutely love, love, love this book, and I really want to read more Carolyn Mackler books because I haven't been able to get into a good book lately. So, I was thinking about it, and figured I would do a post about it. I've been thinking a lot about how Jena's horrible experience at Paradise helped her grow as a person. 

           On a vacation with her mom, her mom's friend, and her mom's friend's daughter (who Jena hates), she got into a sort of summer fling with a guy a few years older than her. She was young and had never really had a relationship before, so she didn't realize that this guy, Dakota, was playing her. He was just using her for sex. Once the idea of sex was even brought up, she ran away from Dakota, luckily, but it still was a really traumatizing experience for her. Later on in the book, when she develops a real relationship with a guy named Owen, things run a lot smoother. She really likes him, and he really likes her. It isn't really about just 'hooking up'. I think that her experience with Dakota gave her the opportunity to have this relationship with Owen. Had she not gone and done that with Dakota, she may have still been completely oblivious and done something she didn't want to do with Owen. 

           This sort of leads me back to the idea of 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'. It sounds really corny and cliche, but this is really a perfect example. Everyone needs to have some bad experiences to make the good ones good.