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cloud_animals's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Child death, and Suicide
jaz777's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident and Drug abuse
Moderate: Bullying and Death
Minor: Cancer
saturnsreads's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Addiction, Death, and Drug use
Moderate: Car accident and Vomit
Minor: Cancer
fynn_jls's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
My inner sad, lonely teenager felt very seen
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Car accident, and Drug use
speterson47's review against another edition
4.0
Tragedy shifts Emery's life right before her junior year. Her leg is injured in a car accident, but out of everyone involved, she's probably doing the best. Her brother ended up in rehab, the driver is in jail, and Candy didn't even make it. How can she face the next year, let alone her classmates at school? She's always felt invisible at home, compared to her beautiful older sister and brother battling with addiction. Where can she find some relief?
Seeing these problems through Emery's perspective is very interesting. Would recommend to those that are looking for more dramatic and realistic stories, where everything does not fall nicely into place just because we'd like it to. Also any fans of the Glasgow's previous popular works.
Seeing these problems through Emery's perspective is very interesting. Would recommend to those that are looking for more dramatic and realistic stories, where everything does not fall nicely into place just because we'd like it to. Also any fans of the Glasgow's previous popular works.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Sexual content, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcohol
bookcheshirecat's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
5.0
“To appreciate what I have, in the here and now. To not miss it. Because it might be gone, at any moment. And we can’t control that, no matter how hard we try. Whatever the universe is, it’s always got the upper hand and we only have this one chance.”
Kathleen Glasgow once again excels at writing emotional stories. After How to Make Friends with the Dark and Girl in Pieces, she's back with another heartwrenching book. You'd Be Home Now is about two siblings whose whole life falls apart after a deadly car accident disrupts things in their small town. This is based on the American classic Our Town, You'd Be Home Now, but I have to be honest that I've never even heard of it 😂 That's why I was a bit nervous going into this story, but you really need no knowledge of the classic at all to enjoy it!
I really felt for our main character Emmy. She's about to start her junior year of high school but was involved in the deadly car accident, that killed one of her schoolmates and left her brother and his friend with a guilty conscience. She got severely injured in the crash and is still dealing with chronic pain in her legs. Emmy's family is determined to clean up their image by pretending everything is fine and sending her brother to rehab in order to recover from his drug addiction. Emmy herself rarely feels seen in her family home, her parents are neglectful and dismissive of her needs. My heart broke for her, as she misses her older brother and gets ditched by her friends because they don't want to have any association with her anymore. The boy next door that she has a crush on is just using her and her parents refuse to give her the proper painkillers for her injury, as they fear she'll become addicted to them. The beginning was tough to read, as Emmy always tries to smooth things out, but knows that, unlike her sister, she's not the golden child of the family.
“We could all probably be a little more benevolent in life. We all live here, after all. We all share the same mighty good company of the stars at night, and everyone deserves kindness, and survival. Everyone deserves to be seen.”
Her relationship with her brother Joey really touched me. If you love books focused on sibling relationships, this is a good one! Joey has always been the troublemaker of the family, yet their parents still favor him over Emmy. He's been struggling with his addiction for a while now and Emmy feels responsible for his recovery, especially now that he's back from rehab. I loved their complex relationship, full of love but also their individual struggles and everything that has been falling apart around them. Emmy feels like she needs to fix everything and keep her brother's secrets, but does that really help him? The dilemma of how to help someone struggling with addiction was very well written here!
At its core, the story is about mental health and recovery. You could tell that the author was drawing from her own experiences to write about Joey's addiction, as she approached the topic with a lot of care. Recovery isn't linear and for addiction, it's a life-long struggle, something that was very well illustrated here. Joey is back from rehab, but he's struggling with his recovery every day and the conflicts with his parents and the people of Mill Haven don't help. The story is full of emotion - love, hope and despair - as Emmy and Joey navigate their new reality. A lot of people in their town blame Joey and his friends for what happened and Emmy's still struggling with these repercussions. You'd Be Home Now really touched me with its raw emotions and honest outlook on addiction, the audiobook in particular was amazing!
“I would have done anything for that feeling, and did. I wish I could feel that way now, to make all the awfulness inside me go away. But I can’t. I just have to sit here, and feel all of it. Every last horrible thing.”
Kathleen Glasgow once again excels at writing emotional stories. After How to Make Friends with the Dark and Girl in Pieces, she's back with another heartwrenching book. You'd Be Home Now is about two siblings whose whole life falls apart after a deadly car accident disrupts things in their small town. This is based on the American classic Our Town, You'd Be Home Now, but I have to be honest that I've never even heard of it 😂 That's why I was a bit nervous going into this story, but you really need no knowledge of the classic at all to enjoy it!
I really felt for our main character Emmy. She's about to start her junior year of high school but was involved in the deadly car accident, that killed one of her schoolmates and left her brother and his friend with a guilty conscience. She got severely injured in the crash and is still dealing with chronic pain in her legs. Emmy's family is determined to clean up their image by pretending everything is fine and sending her brother to rehab in order to recover from his drug addiction. Emmy herself rarely feels seen in her family home, her parents are neglectful and dismissive of her needs. My heart broke for her, as she misses her older brother and gets ditched by her friends because they don't want to have any association with her anymore. The boy next door that she has a crush on is just using her and her parents refuse to give her the proper painkillers for her injury, as they fear she'll become addicted to them. The beginning was tough to read, as Emmy always tries to smooth things out, but knows that, unlike her sister, she's not the golden child of the family.
“We could all probably be a little more benevolent in life. We all live here, after all. We all share the same mighty good company of the stars at night, and everyone deserves kindness, and survival. Everyone deserves to be seen.”
Her relationship with her brother Joey really touched me. If you love books focused on sibling relationships, this is a good one! Joey has always been the troublemaker of the family, yet their parents still favor him over Emmy. He's been struggling with his addiction for a while now and Emmy feels responsible for his recovery, especially now that he's back from rehab. I loved their complex relationship, full of love but also their individual struggles and everything that has been falling apart around them. Emmy feels like she needs to fix everything and keep her brother's secrets, but does that really help him? The dilemma of how to help someone struggling with addiction was very well written here!
At its core, the story is about mental health and recovery. You could tell that the author was drawing from her own experiences to write about Joey's addiction, as she approached the topic with a lot of care. Recovery isn't linear and for addiction, it's a life-long struggle, something that was very well illustrated here. Joey is back from rehab, but he's struggling with his recovery every day and the conflicts with his parents and the people of Mill Haven don't help. The story is full of emotion - love, hope and despair - as Emmy and Joey navigate their new reality. A lot of people in their town blame Joey and his friends for what happened and Emmy's still struggling with these repercussions. You'd Be Home Now really touched me with its raw emotions and honest outlook on addiction, the audiobook in particular was amazing!
“I would have done anything for that feeling, and did. I wish I could feel that way now, to make all the awfulness inside me go away. But I can’t. I just have to sit here, and feel all of it. Every last horrible thing.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Abandonment, Bullying, Violence, and Death
nadia_luq's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Car accident, Death, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Drug use
Moderate: Child abuse and Cancer
emandrea's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident and Addiction
Moderate: Blood and Death
_sawdust's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Emotional abuse, Car accident, and Drug abuse
mollybooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Literally one of my favourite books of all time now. What have I just read. That was an absolute soul crushing masterpiece.
Ok it’s now over two months since I’ve finished this book and it’s yet to leave my head. I haven’t stopped thinking or loving this book since I picked it up. I feel so much love and care for these characters and just want to cherish them. It was so raw and emotional and there is one scene towards the end of the book that I cannot stop thinking about . It was incredible. My favourite book of all time. It is indescribable how much I love this book. Read it right now!!!
Another update from a year and a month later - shocker, I still think about this book ALL THE TIME genuinely the most special and my fav of all time 💕
Ok it’s now over two months since I’ve finished this book and it’s yet to leave my head. I haven’t stopped thinking or loving this book since I picked it up. I feel so much love and care for these characters and just want to cherish them. It was so raw and emotional and there is one scene towards the end of the book that I cannot stop thinking about . It was incredible. My favourite book of all time. It is indescribable how much I love this book. Read it right now!!!
Another update from a year and a month later - shocker, I still think about this book ALL THE TIME genuinely the most special and my fav of all time 💕
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Drug use, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Blood, and Addiction
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Misogyny, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts