Clean by Amy Reed

“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.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love “issues” books. When I read about Clean awhile back, I knew I had to get my hands on it. I’ve never read Amy Reed’s previous book, Beautiful, but now I definitely know I need to check it out.

Clean follows several teens through rehab. As referenced early on in the book by one of the characters they are sort of the “Breakfast Club” of rehab. Each teen is so different! You have the perfect little rich girl, the promiscious pretty girl, a Christian boy who just might be gay, a jock with an attitude problem, and an angry emo chick. At first I got a bit overwhelmed, because you are thrown into a chapter with a mini-intro to each character. It took me awhile to sort out who was who. Once I knew the basics of each character I was drawn to the story.

My favorite chapters were the ones in which the five were filling out a form that asked them questions about how they got where they were. The characters’ attitudes shined through, yet you were able to see the vulnerability of each character while getting to know why they had a touch exterior.

I won’t get into specifics as to what happened to each character to make them addicts, but the two most upsetting stories were Olivia’s and Jason’s to me. Each one endured so much to make them the way they were and each was very sympathetic and tugged at my heartstrings.

If you love “issues” books you are going to love Clean. It’s hitting stores July 19th.

I received my copy from Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.