Recovery Road by Blake Nelson YP FIC NELSON

Madeline has anger issues and a drinking problem and is in treatment at 16. In treatment she finds that she actually WANTS to be well. She also finds Stewart and love. When she gets out first she spends a month waiting, but their reunion isn’t as happy as she suspected. Can two addicts ever be good for each other? Can she recover from recovery?

This is the Best! Novel! About! Addiction! for Teens! I! Have! Ever! Read! Far too many novels about addiction either end with treatment or have it as an epilogue. Or maybe treatment will be the final third or half. What about after treatment? That is one of the most difficult (and therefore dramatic) times for addiction! Blake Nelson clearly understands this and delivers a knockout novel about pain, guilt, grief, loneliness, boredom, and all the other horrors of getting better and what (and who) we have to leave behind to do it. Madeline and Stewart are so real it hurts to read about them. Their pain and struggle is true to life and beautifully told. Blake has short straight forward chapters all from Madeline’s view. It is a personal style that feels like a diary or a confession, which fits the recovery plotline perfectly. I love that we get a lot of time after treatment and inside Madeline’s recovery. It doesn’t end too quickly or gloss over how long or difficult recovery is. Finally, besides being an honest and interesting look at recovery it is also a universal look at love and loss. A great read for any fan of realistic fiction.

Very LeFreak by Rachel Cohn YP FIC COHN

Very LeFreak is very Very. Very busy (starting flash mobs, making playlists, planning parties), very connected (iPod: check, iPhone: check, laptop: check), and very popular (with a trail of broken. Unfortunately, this doesn’t make much time for studying and she’s also very close to flunking and her love them, leave them, forget them attitude is leaving her with almost no real friends. When all this catches up with her it’s time for a very dramatic breakdown and a mandatory trip to Electronics Detox. When Very is unplugged for the first time in years she has to decide if she’s ever really connected to anything or anyone.

I found Very fun, funny, and interesting but not terribly likeable. It’s not just that she has a pretty scandalous life, but also that she just doesn’t treat people very well. As I read the whole story and learned Very’s past I found myself understanding her, but still not entirely liking her. I think the problem is that Cohn has Very’s rehabilitation happen pretty fast and that always seems sort of fake to me. On the bright side the book is filled with Cohn’s excellent dialogue and realistic characters, so if you are a fan of her work you may find plenty to enjoy in this book as well. Overall I like but not loved this one. Like most Cohn novels it’s a good for older readers that like witty gals and their wild lives.