Review: You’d be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow
SYNOPSIS:
For all of Emory’s life she’s been told who she is. In town she’s the rich one–the great-great-granddaughter of the mill’s founder. At school she’s hot Maddie Ward’s younger sister. And at home, she’s the good one, her stoner older brother Joey’s babysitter. Everything was turned on its head, though, when she and Joey were in the car accident that killed Candy MontClaire. The car accident that revealed just how bad Joey’s drug habit was.
Four months later, Emmy’s junior year is starting, Joey is home from rehab, and the entire town of Mill Haven is still reeling from the accident. Everyone’s telling Emmy who she is, but so much has changed, how can she be the same person? Or was she ever that person at all?
Mill Haven wants everyone to live one story, but Emmy’s beginning to see that people are more than they appear. Her brother, who might not be cured, the popular guy who lives next door, and most of all, many ghostie addicts who haunt the edges of the town. People spend so much time telling her who she is–it might be time to decide for herself.
REVIEW:
*Book Received in Exchange for Honest Opinion/Review*
This book was so heavy, I knew it was going to gut me and put me back together and it did exactly that. Kathleen Glasgow has this authenticity to her voice, the characters are real and flawed, the families are fractured and broken, but at the end of it all she gives us a glimmer of hope.
Emmy is the forgotten one in her family, she isn’t the problem child or the perfect one, but the one who gets overlooked. She just wants someone to notice her, and unfortunately someone capitalizes on that. But the story is so much more than Emmy growing up and learning some hard lessons. It’s also about her brother, Joey, and his struggles. As someone who has witnessed addiction first-hand, I can say Glasgow captures the struggles and anguish perfectly. From the fragile, tentative return after rehab to the pain the family feels of just not knowing where they are, it all made my heart ache.
Emmy’s parent were probably my least favorite characters in the whole story. They were just so disillusioned and while they did have some redeeming moments at the end of the book, I don’t know if it was enough for me to forgive them. And while the story doesn’t end with a happily-ever-after, it feels very real. Kathleen Glasgow gives us some hope after enduring all the feels and there is a little bit of positivity all around which is an ending I can live with.
LINKS:
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
