
A parent would reach for this book when their teenager is struggling with the paralyzing weight of 'what-if' thinking or navigating a clinical anxiety diagnosis. This raw and honest contemporary novel follows seventeen-year-old Maeve as she moves to Vancouver to live with her father, only to find herself balancing her own mental health needs with the reality of her father's drug dependency and a burgeoning first romance. It explores themes of self-advocacy, identity, and the complexity of loving someone who is struggling. This is an excellent choice for parents of older teens (14+) who want to validate their child's emotional experience while opening doors for conversations about family boundaries and mental health management. It provides a realistic, non-sugarcoated representation of living with a high-functioning but intense anxiety disorder.
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Sign in to write a reviewDepicts a parent's struggle with drug dependency and relapse.
Sweet and realistic depiction of a first queer romance including kissing.
Uses realistic teenage profanity throughout.
The book handles anxiety, drug addiction, and sexual identity with direct, secular realism. There is no 'magic cure' for Maeve's anxiety; instead, the resolution is realistically hopeful, focusing on management and support systems rather than a total disappearance of symptoms.
A high schooler who feels isolated by their own mental health struggles or a teen who feels they have to be the 'stable' one in a family dealing with addiction.
Parents should be aware of honest depictions of drug use and sexual health conversations. Previewing the scenes involving the father's relapse can help prepare for a discussion on family boundaries. A parent might choose this after hearing their teen express extreme catastrophic thinking or witnessing a panic attack. It is also relevant for families discussing a parent's relapse.
Younger teens (14) will focus on the romance and the 'fitting in' aspect. Older teens (17-18) will likely connect more deeply with the nuances of the father-daughter relationship and the impending transition to adulthood with a disability.
Unlike many 'issue' books, the protagonist's anxiety is treated as a permanent part of her identity rather than a plot point to be solved, and the intersection of mental health with a parent's addiction is handled with rare nuance.
Maeve moves from her mother's home to Vancouver to live with her father and his pregnant girlfriend. While her father struggles with sobriety, Maeve meets Sal, a girl who challenges her to step outside her comfort zone. The story tracks Maeve's internal battle with generalized anxiety disorder against the backdrop of a shifting family dynamic and her first queer romance.
This overview was generated by AI based on the book's content and reviews, and may not capture every nuance.