Drug Addiction. Imperfection. Desperation. That's every day for Emmy. Her parents sleep on different floors of the house. Her brother, Joey, just got home from rehab and no one is sure if he stay clean for even a week. Pain and fear and ugliness are all around her except when she's with Gage, the boy next door, the baseball pitching phenom. That's where the love is.
This is high school and this is a family struggling and fighting to deal with a boy who is wired for addiction. There are no easy answers for Joey, for his parents, for his sister.
This is a small town founded around the mill that Emmy's family built generations ago. Her parents have plenty of money and lately they are spending it on medical bills for kids whose lives crossed Joey's path. Then there's the girl, Candace, who didn't walk away when the car went flying through the air. No amount of money can wipe that away.
This is a tough read. This is one where you hold on to your hope but you really aren't sure the author will stay there with you. Will Joey make it? Is he made out of the stuff that can finally save him? What can his sister give him to make him hold on?
Gritty, real, and deeply painful.
400 pages 978-0525708056 Ages 14-17
Keywords: addiction, drugs, reputation, dysfunctional family, self image, self esteem, social media, bullying, If You Liked Ellen Hopkins, 14 year old, 15 year old, 16 year old, 17 year old
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
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From the New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces comes a breathtaking story about a town, its tragedies, and the quiet beauty of everyday life.
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.
Inspired by the American classic Our Town, You'd Be Home Now is Kathleen Glasgow's glorious modern story of a town and the secret lives people live there. And the story of a girl, figuring out life in all its pain and beauty and struggle and joy.---from the publisher
