Dissected by Megan Bostic: A Review

So I don't volunteer to review books very often, largely because my TBR stack is HUGE and timing is hard to come by, but my friend Megan Bostic writes edgy YA that fills some of the same space of where I try to hit with MY YA. She also did something very interesting with her writing and allowed people to SPONSER her expenses for self publishing through Indiegogo, so she could hire her editing and do all her promotional stuff to set this book off in the right direction.

Here is the Trailer for it (which Megan produced herself and she can produce trailers for YOU, too, if you want, but that's another story).

Story teaser: Sydney [note I also am writing a Sidney story, but never mind] is a high school junior, crushing hard on a guy in one of her classes. She has good friends, parties on the weekends, hates her sister, and in nearly every way is a normal teen. Sure, she has some baggage. Her mom left when she was a kid and her dad is gone a lot, but her step mom is pretty good (if annoying the way teens find all adults who want to be in their lives).

Things go well with that cute boy... REALLY well... and for a time she is super happy... until an ill-timed work shift on her part and some bad decision making causes the bottom to fall out from her world.

She doesn't want to be herself anymore and dives into anything that will help her forget: alcohol, drugs, sex... and cutting. Is there any way out?

Review: Megan does a fantastic job of the very real emotion of first love, high school isolation, coping (and sometimes failing to cope) with what life deals us. Sydney is dealing with some big stuff. Stuff many adults couldn't handle, and she has the skills and perceptions of a teen. She also has some destructive forces around her... betrayal, negative peer pressure, abandonment issues...

There is also a nice balance of the darkness and the hope. In the happy times, there are warnings things might not be as clean and happy as Sydney thinks. And in the dark times, there are people reaching out, even if she isn't ready.

I think this tale is a realistic one, showing that things can always get worse... but maybe they can also get better. I would throw up a warning that any 'shelter the teens' folks, or people who don't believe in teens using alcohol, drugs or having sex... this isn't your book. But if you like edgy YA and a realistic tale for a teen having a really hard time, this is a good one. I recommend it.