From the author of Beautiful, a poignant, captivating novel about five teens in rehab.Olivia, Kelly, Christopher, Jason, and Eva have one thing in common: They’re addicts. Addicts who have hit rock bottom and been stuck together in rehab to face their problems, face sobriety, and face themselves. None of them wants to be there. None of them wants to confront the truths about their pasts. And they certainly don’t want to share their darkest secrets and most desperate fears with a room of strangers. But they’ll all have to deal with themselves—and one another—if they want to learn how to live. Because when you get that high, there’s nowhere to go but down, down, down.

Meet Kelly, Olivia, Christopher, Jason and Eva. All of them are teens with promising futures. All of them are addicts.

Olivia doesn’t care what anyone says. She’s not like the other kids here. They are all drug addicts and she’s not. People can’t be addicted to diet pills. Is it wrong that she wants to be as perfect as her siblings?

Kelly just needed to feel wanted. Her parents were so wrapped up in her younger sister’s lives, they often overlooked her. When she started using it was to feel a part of something. She didn’t mean to let it get out of control.

Christopher has always felt like a freak. He was home schooled, and the only friends he had were from his church group, and honestly, they weren’t really his friends. He’s going to go to hell for this. He’s a sinner. He sinned. His mother must be so hurt over all this.

Jason was just following in his dad’s footsteps. Men drink. He’s supposed to be a man, right? He’s supposed to be tough. What’s the problem with having a few drinks?

Eva wanted her father to notice her. After her mother’s death he seemed to slip away. The drugs made her feel whole again. If he’d just payed attention to her, none of this would have ever happened.

These five kids all come from different backgrounds and they all have different addictions. They’re being forced to reevaluate themselves in a suburban rehab center for teens. Some of them want to change, while some of them still won’t admit they have a problem. They’re all going to have to work together as a group to find themselves again, and put themselves on the road to recovery.

Amy Reed has written an amazing, gut-punch of a novel filled with raw emotion. I haven’t met characters so real since I read Ordinary Beauty. The author doesn’t hold back. The language is raw, the emotions are heavy and the situations these kids have put themselves in are not pretty. At the same time, there is a light at the end of this deep, dark tunnel. These five kids, so unalike in the beginning learn to love and respect one another as they face the cold, hard realities of what they’ve done to their lives and how it has affected others.

I opened the ARC of this one just to read the first page or two to get a feel for it, and I didn’t stop reading. I didn’t put my nook down until I had finished the book. I was completely lost in the story. The writing style is very unique. It’s told through a series of essays, group sessions and first-person narratives. I was completely engaged. I laughed at some parts and cried in others. I felt every emotion possible. The most heart-wrenching scenes in the book had to be when the parents came to rehab for group sessions with their kids. I was cheering for every single one of these kids by the end of the book. I can not recommend this one enough. Though the story does deal with some heavy subjects and the author doesn’t hold back in her descriptions, I think this book should be read by teens and parents, especially those who use, have ever considered using or have friends who use drugs.