This is a story told from two different points of view about the life of a troubled teen both the father and the teen girl herself. Melissa is the oldest of three girls who is living a seemingly perfect life until her parents get divorced and she goes back and forth between the two of them. She starts getting into trouble, drinking, doing drugs and even sleeping around. She hears three voices in her head pushing her to do those things. We hear both Melissa’s point of view of events and her own father’s point of view of events. The ending is an unexpected ending to a story like this one. ( )

***NOTE: May contain spoilers***

I found this story to be very engaging. I enjoyed how the narrator, the Father, told his story, "warts & all", even when it made him look less than stellar. I thought his raw honesty at how he felt about his teenage daughter to be the absolute best part of this book.

There were a few things I did not like about this book however. First, the editing was atrocious. Wrong words used (forward instead of forehead and flair instead of flare, for example), names changed spelling during the story (one boy was Donavon or Donovan, depending on the sentence). I found these issues distracted me from the story because I had to sometimes stop and decipher what the author really meant. I also did not like that the passages from the Father's point of view were written in the first person, while the daughter's passages were written in the third person. I found it disconcerting to switch back and forth.

As for the story itself, it is interspersed with the Father's reminisces of his own teenage years. I'm not exactly sure why they were there--to compare the Father's teenage years to his daughter's perhaps?--but I felt that not only did they not add to the story, I found them to distract from the story. Another part of the story I had trouble with was the teenage daughter's supposed mental problems. Specifically, maybe halfway to 2/3 through the story the teenage daughter starts hearing voices in her head. These voices have names and she talks back with them. Then at the very end of the story, these voices miraculously disappear after an event that in real life would NEVER cure mental illness. I feel the story would have been immensely better without the addition of these "voices". ( )

I received the book through the member giveaway. I try hard to have an open mind when it comes to reading something new. I have to admit that I had a hard time keeping track of things that were going on in this book. This is not to say it wasn't a good book over all, but it didn't grab my interest right from the start. I did appreciate the chance to read it and maybe later I'll try again to see if I can get more from it. Thanks for sharing it with me and I hope to have a chance to read another one by Christopher Payne. Pomlover2

This book was a good read. I am a young 8th grade special education teacher who deals with children with emotional disabilities on a daily basis. Since I do not have children and have not dealt with family members with mental illness, this book helped me realize the struggles that my students and their guardians may face daily. As I read, it constantly reminded me of one student in particular. This personal connection increased my investment in this story.

I wondered about how the medical community handled Melissa's mental illness. Also, did Melissa's school follow-up with appropriate services? I'm not sure if I would agree with the way these aspects were addressed in the story.

Overall, it was a good read that increased my sensitivity to my students' lives outside of school. ( )

There is something to be said off the bat about a fiction book with a contents page and chapter titles. For the casual skimmer it gives him or her the chance to get the jist of the book without having to do much work. For someone who is looking for a good read it provides a hint of intrigue and anticipation.

The authenticity of the voices of the different speakers through me off in certain places. The third person perspective on Melissa seemed to be just that, third person; even though her narrative read as though it should have been in a first person perspective by using the third person the reader is left to feel as though these are not Melissa's experiences but instead those imagined upon her by the author. I think book may have been more successful if instead if was simply the first person narrative account of the father watching his daughter's struggles with alcohol, drugs and mental illness.

I think that this book toes the line between cautionary parenting fictionalized(I assume) biography and an attempt at young adult fiction. In my recommendation this book should be re-written with its focus on the former genre rather than the latter. And yet, there are moments when the author's imagined experience of a young adult woman rings through. For example, there is a depressing but insightful question posed in chapter 14. Melissa (the daughter) is described as wondering whether or not sex counts if she cannot feel it due to the effects of the drugs she is taking. The question of her lack of agency is a theme throughout the book.

As I mentioned previously, I would recommend this book more as a cautionary tale than as a piece of fiction. I think that it requires some strong re-editing but that it is a good attempt at addressing challenging subject matter.