My Thoughts:
This book, told by two first person narrators, is a sliding glass door to mental health care, depression, addiction. When two teens end up in the same treatment facility in rural Georgia, they seem very different, but through their somewhat forced friendship, they come to realize that their self-destruction, one hidden, one not, cannot be ignored, blamed on others or bandaged over.
The voices of the narrators, their destructive self talk and convoluted perspective (in other words, the rawness), may be triggering for YA readers who are facing the same types of situations. However, I hope that if this is a mirror for a reader, there will be hope. There is no real Hollywood ending to this book. That would be a waste of time. However, there is hope, if you want it.
Teachers need to be careful about "diagnosing" a student by giving them this book, however, have it available for students who need to find it on their own. If it calls to them, it was meant to be.
From the Publisher:
Dani comes from the richest, most famous Black family in Texas and has everything a girl could want. So why does she keep using drugs and engaging in other self-destructive behavior?
Camila’s Colombian American family doesn’t have much, but she knows exactly what she wants out of life and works her ass off to get it. So why does she keep failing, and why does she self-harm every time she does?
When Dani and Camila find themselves rooming together at Peach Tree Hills, a treatment facility in beautiful rural Georgia, they initially think they’ll never get along―and they’ll never get better. But then they find a mysterious music box filled with letters from a former resident of PTH, and together they set out to solve the mystery of who this girl was . . . and who she’s become. The investigation will bring them closer, and what they find at the end might just bring them hope.
Author: Stephanie Kuehn
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication date: June 21, 2022
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