Getting What I Deserve ranks high in Amazon’s Teen & Young Adult Loners & Outcasts Fiction category — and that tells me something important.
It’s not just a book for kids who’ve experienced bullying. It’s a book for anyone who’s ever felt alone, left out, or unsure where they belong. Reaching these readers is especially meaningful. In a way, it feels quietly subversive: connecting with readers who relate to those often left out of the story. They’re not the typical heroes in stories like this.
Why We Connect with Loner Characters
There’s a reason readers gravitate toward stories about loners. Sometimes, a character on the margins sees things more clearly than those in the middle of the crowd. Sometimes, they recognize truths that others miss.
That’s true for Charlie.
“I was mature enough to know what he was doing — but no one else could see it.”
Charlie’s solitude isn’t just circumstance — it’s survival. When you’re on the outside, you learn to read the room. You notice the patterns. You understand who’s safe and who’s not — even if it means keeping that knowledge to yourself.
The Pull Between Belonging and Protecting Yourself
Being an outcast can take a toll. It can make you wonder if you’ll ever find your place. And that’s where the tension of this story lives — in the pull between wanting to belong and needing to protect yourself.
In Getting What I Deserve, Charlie isn’t rescued by suddenly fitting in. He grows by realizing he doesn’t have to trade his safety or self-respect to be accepted.
That kind of strength is what makes loner characters so powerful in YA fiction — they often come to define themselves on their own terms.
Why This Category Fits
Maybe that’s why this category is such a natural fit for the book. Readers who find comfort in loner and outcast stories aren’t just looking for tales of isolation. They’re looking for examples of resilience, insight, and self-definition.
Charlie offers them that.
💬 If you’ve ever seen yourself in the loner or outsider role, I’d love to hear which books made you feel understood.
Read More
If this post spoke to you, you might also like my earlier piece: Why Charlie Opened the Door — a behind-the-scenes look at the pivotal moment when Charlie sees his bully at the door and makes a choice that changes everything in Getting What I Deserve.
💬 If This Resonates…
I hope you’ll share it with a reader who needs it, or with someone who might not realize how deep this kind of hurt can go.
👉 Read the First Three Chapters
👉 Purchase the novel
📘 Available on Amazon as an ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook
👉 Download the free resources
Discussion questions and guides for teachers, book clubs, and parents
🆕 Just released: The “Reader Companion” edition of Getting What I Deserve — Includes built-in reflection questions and supportive content. Available now.