Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

My Monster is a paranormal coming of age novel for young adults written by Einat Segal. Sophie Green was most likely the only senior in her high school who was still a virgin. She hated that, yet she really hadn’t found anyone worth doing the deed with -- especially not Shawn Henderson. Her parents were best friends with the Hendersons and loved Shawn, so much, in fact, that they had been subjecting her to monthly dinners with them since they were both nine. As much as she hated the boring two hours spent watching her dad laugh at Bob Henderson’s lame jokes, the worst part of this routine night of torture was hanging out with Shawn. Shawn was drop-dead gorgeous, tall and tan, and with blue eyes any girl would kill to have for herself. He was also a player with a list of conquests sitting on his cellphone, whom he’d rated on a scale of 1 to 5. He’d already told Sophie that he wanted her to be number 20. But much as she despised the shallow and manipulative creature Shawn had become, Sophie wondered if her treatment of him over the years had any part in making him that way.

In her paranormal coming of age novel for young adults, My Monster, Einat Segal introduces a decidedly different teenage girl. Sophie is smart, funny, and has already perfected the thousand-yard stare of a serial killer. I loved watching her destroy the catty girls in school with a laconic, “Do I know you?” and marveled at her ability to disengage from the social awfulness that high school can be. Segal gives Sophie two perfect foils in the persons of Shawn and Landon, and the paranormal turn that the plot takes makes this already excellent coming of age story even better. I quickly found myself totally involved in her story and loving every minute that I spent reading it. Strong girls rock, and Sophie is about the best strong female character I’ve seen in a while. Segal’s plot is tight and focused, and her writing is silky smooth. My Monster is most highly recommended.