Release Date: May 1, 2012
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 288
Buy The Book: Amazon
A riveting first-person tale of addiction, in the tradition of Go Ask Alice and Jay’s Journal.The author of this diary began journaling on her sixteenth birthday. She lived in an upper middle class neighborhood in Santa Monica with her mom, dad, and Berkeley-bound older brother. She was a good girl, living a good life...but one party changed everything. One party, where she took one taste—and liked it. Really liked it. Social drinking and drugging lead to more, faster, harder... She convinced herself that she was no different from anyone else who liked to party. But the evidence indicates otherwise: Soon she was she hanging out with an edgy crowd, blowing off school and everything she used to care about, all to find her next high. But what goes up must come down, and everything—from her first swig, to her last breath—is chronicled in the diary she left behind.
This book really caught my attention. The fact that this is a true story, told from a teen's journal really grabbed my attention. Partying, alcohol and drugs were never something I got into as a teen or even experimented with. Many teens around me however, did. This was a serious and fatal issue when I was a teen, and sadly this has not changed any.
I think what makes this book even more touching is the fact that this isn't just a story. It's a true story. Everything that this girl went through, and did, really happened. A young teen with a whole life ahead of her, did in fact get caught up in the wrong crowd. She spiraled out of control into a world full of drugs, alcohol and other abusive behavior.
This book chronicles the real feelings of teens that can lead them down that twisted path. What it is that attracts them to this and makes it so addicting for them. It also hopefully, gives friends and family warning signs to look for in their behavior and patterns to look for. This was a very real ( probably because it is!) and gritty look at a teen's addiction to drugs, alcohol and partying and the all too real and fatal affects this can have!
It's a real wake up call to everyone out there and I really recommend this book, especially to teens!
I have been hearing more and more about this book lately. It sounds like it's a very gritty and raw book. Great review chick!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Amy! It really was!
DeleteWow this book sounds good! I have a 14 year old girl, and I think I'm going to get her this book to read!
ReplyDeleteI hope she enjoys it and learns something from it. It really is an eye opener!
DeleteI don't know. I read Go Ask Alice when I was a younger teenager and hated it. I was so upset by the girl's actions and what happened to her. I was such an innocent and couldn't believe a person would have to experience such things. It certainly kept me from even considering drugs though. I was just depressed after reading that book! I'm all grown up now, but still have no desire to read such tough books. I know bad things happen all the time, but don't want to read about it. That's just me though. I don't even like to read the local news because it gets me sad. I just follow the national politics and world news.
ReplyDeleteI never read Go Ask Alice. But you sound just like me! I don't watch the news or read the newspaper either. It just depresses me and I usually end up really sad and/or crying. I typically find out about major events from people who do watch the news. lol I was sent a copy for review and decided to give it a try. It's not something I'd normally read, but it was good and I thought it had a great message for teens!
DeleteI just saw this book in my BN today, and hadn't heard of it before - in a weird way, I really love books about Tough Stuff because it is SO different from my life. In high school I was that goody-two-shoes girl who NEVER stepped out of line (and I don't regret it), so it's really interesting and eye-opening to read these true accounts of those who did. It's weird and terrifying to me, but I'm fascinated. In a kind of sick way, I suppose haha.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, great review! I think I'm going to grab this at the library one day.