This book takes you on the full roller coaster ride of emotions.

Emory is a teenager who is the center of gossip in her high school. She and her brother, Joey, now preparing to return home from rehab for drug use, were involved in the car crash that killed Candy MontClaire. Now, being the good one, Emory’s parents expect her to look out for Joey and provide him with a strict schedule to keep him too busy to turn back to drugs.

But you have to want to be helped to BE helped, right?

This is a book filled with love, struggles and hope. I loved Emory’s character and how the author was able to portray flawed characters that you wanted to root for. A powerful and heavy read about drug addiction and its effects on the family unit in general.

Above all else, this novel portrayed great character development!

Thank you NetGalley for my advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review!

Glasgow doesn't pull any punches in her new book that focuses primarily on the effects of the opioid epidemic on a small-town family.
In addition to the drug issue, sexting and some bullying come into play.
Hand to readers who want contemporary issue novels. They won't be disappointed.

I don’t tend to love these very sad, hard reads with tough topics but I found this one quite compelling. The fleshed-out characters really sold this book for me.

In Kathleen Glasgow's latest, You'd Be Home by Now, main character Emory lives in a small town and, in the aftermath of a car accident that killed her classmate, has to deal with life as the sister of an addict.

Emory has spent her whole life taking care of Joey, her older brother, while her lawyer mother and doctor father work long hours and pretty much let her. With her sister Maddie away at college, she is alone to deal with the fallout of the accident, since Joey went off to rehab. And Mill Haven being a small town, the people Emory used to call her friends have turned against her. When Joey returns from rehab, everyone's expected to fall back into their societal-driven positions, but what if they can't?

Glasgow tells this story from Emory's perspective and it's haunting. The fact that she tries to lose herself in a "secret fling" with the boy next door, that she is forced into drama club when she can no longer be on the dance team, and that she has no friends except Joey, who is struggling himself to stay clean in a world that is just waiting for him to relapse, makes it so heartbreaking to read. But when their father's eyes are finally opened to what's really going on in their small town, with the number of people suffering from the same affliction as Joey, things start to change.

The characterizations here are so deep and moving. I loved the characters and the plot. My heart went out to Emory when her love for her brother wasn't enough to keep him clean.

This is a hard topic to write, and Glasgow did it beautifully. An important read for sure.

This book drew me in immediately. As an educator, this is the reminder every teacher needs to look at the whole child and build the relationships before content. As a parent it is a stark reminder to love wholly and remain in the moment with your children.

This is the exact sort of book I would have picked up at the library. Browsing through the shelves, the spine would be a nice minty blue and I would have picked it up, read the summary, immediately decided I wanted to read it, and probably devour it in a couple hours. Being an adult with an unfortunate amount of work to do, I spread the reading out over a couple days but I was just as engrossed as I would have been then. Joey’s struggles are something I am familiar with, but Emory is who I identified with most closely. My parents were both addicts who relapsed time and time again. My mom, especially, had a hard time staying sober. So much so that I decided I’d had enough and left. Being an adult who was newly graduated from college, I was thankfully able to do that. As is emphasized later in the book, you can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped and, as an adult, an addict is perfectly able to refuse help, even if they’re on the verge of dying.

There is a lot of drama to follow and a lot of name dropping in the beginning but Glasgow gently reminds us of the characters and their place in the story until I have their names down. Emory’s parents are absolutely maddening, especially her mom. They are rich beyond my comprehension, having a house that has three fireplaces, but only one of them works. Emory does not realize her privilege, which I guess is par for the course. When you’re rich, you don’t know it, even when you live in what seems to be a dying town, full of drugs and addicts. There wasn’t much mention of Emory facing her privilege.

The adults don’t interact well with the kids, particularly the teachers. It can get quite cringy, particularly with the older English teacher who is set in his ways, teaching the classics all written by white men with horrible depictions of women and people of color. This is a small plot point and results in an assignment that is pretty poignant later on. There are many hints and clues dropped throughout the novel that become important later. These details were easy to clock, even if I didn’t know exactly how they would come into play. I was absolutely outraged at Emory and Joey’s mom; she was so controlling and blind to her kids. And they all go along with it, keep their heads down and comply because it’s easier. I can’t forgive her for that, for pushing her kids away like that. Even if Joey is responsible for his own choices, she definitely pushed him over the edge more than once with her controlling behavior. Someone should have interfered sooner, and that someone should have been their father. Or even Maddie, the older sister who is in college. This is not a perfect world, however, and that didn’t happen. Nor might it have happened in real life if this same scenario occurred. People are imperfect.

The ending was open, if a bit hopeful. Emory was definitely changed by her experiences and it sounds like her parents were, too. She ends the story, knowing just how addiction runs her life, but she is empowered by the actions of those around her and her new support system. She knows just how powerless she is against addiction and that being there for someone doesn’t always mean hiding their addiction or covering for them.

The writing wasn’t absolutely amazing but the content was, as were the characters. You’d Be Home Now covers addiction in a realistic light, if a bit idealistic in some respects. The content feels important and noteworthy and the execution is very compelling. I would recommend this book for high school students especially. My knowledge of current young adult novels that involved addiction is pretty slim, outdated by about a decade. But, if I can think of some of the books I read when I was in high school that deal with the subject, I will add them to this review.

Kathleen Glasgow does not hold back in her writing. She writes stories that are harsh and raw and real. Stories that most people might shy away from, but are very prevalent in teens. <em>You'd Be Home Now</em> is no different. My heart ached for Emmy. She's become a social pariah at school and has always felt invisible to her family. The bond and relationship she has with her brother Joey was so special. She wants to be so angry with him for falling into drugs, but she wants to everything in her power to save him. Her parents have put his well-being on her shoulders by making it her responsibility to supervise her brother's every waking move once he returns from rehab. That's a horrible thing to do to a teen girl, who is also going through her own trauma. These characters may be flawed, but they are also extremely genuine.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

5++++ STARS!

Katherine Glasgow is the queen of writing hard-hitting contemporaries and she has earned that title!

If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would.

But be warned, this book is NOT light. It is dark. It is uncomfortable. It is necessary.

"But how can you know my story when I haven't had a chance to live it yet? How can you know my story when you don't even know me?"

The way that Katherine handles and writes about substance use, addiction, and recovery is phenomenal. She is so accurate in her descriptions and does well raising awareness throughout the plot of her story. The story is fictional, but could be real for someone out there who has lost a loved one, or is helping a loved one through their recovery. Recovery is not easy, and Katherine makes that clear in a way that is hard to digest at times, but true.

I loved Emory. I loved how she was trying to discover who she is, while also trying to make her family notice her, and take care of her older brother. Her passion, love, and dedication to helping and finding her brother was BEAUTIFUL.

Emory's mother is not a likeable character, but you do see a lot of character development from her throughout the story. She is a lawyer and her husband is a doctor, and they live the "perfect" life. But addiction doesn't care about what your background is; it can happen to even the most "perfect" families.

I also liked how she explored the issue in the medical field of doctors prescribing painkillers to younger adults, and teens, and how that can ultimately lead to an addiction. An issue that should continue to be discussed.

I really don't know how to sum up my feelings for this book and doing it justice at the same time. I just recommend that EVERYONE picks up this story now.

"We all share the same mighty good company of the stars at night, and everyone deserves kindness, and survival."

T/W: addiction, substance use, grief, sexuality, death

SO GOOD. I couldn't put this one down and pre-ordered it immediately for my classroom. It's already in a student's hands.

Kathleen Glasgow is, to put it simply, a special writer. She has the most incredible ability to fashion characters that are flawed and imperfect and yet for whom you will root unabashedly. These characters work their way into your head and your heart, and they will not be forgotten. I read GIRL IN PIECES when it first came out and I *still* think about how reading that book made me feel, how it touched my heart in a way only the most incredible books have done. Let me tell you, YOU'D BE HOME NOW is another one of those special reads.

I really felt for Emmy and how she always felt invisible in her family. Honestly, I was also the baby of three, with a brother 6 years older and a sister 2 years older. My brother was always butting heads with my dad and kind of struggled with school, while my sister was the gorgeous one who was into modeling and was the most magnificent artist. Meanwhile, I was there keeping my head down, being the “good one,” getting straight As, etc. So I really felt Emmy’s pain! And Joey had my whole heart. I am so glad that our society is moving toward a greater acceptance of the idea that addiction is not a personal failing or a character flaw but a disease, a chronic health issue that must be managed like any other. Kathleen did an incredible job at explaining that to the reader and exploring the push and pull between the old way of looking at addiction and the new way.

I will say there one thing that resonated so deeply with me was the comment that Emmy’s mom makes on page 1: “This is not normal. This is not something that happens to people like us.” I lost my sister to domestic violence, when my brother-in-law killed her and then himself. I don’t remember a lot from the days following that, but I have a clear memory of sobbing in my father’s arms and saying, “But we’re a normal family. This doesn’t happen to normal people.” That was 13.5 years ago, and these days I am ashamed that I even said it, to be honest. Obviously, domestic violence, addiction, bankruptcy, all these things happen to “normal people” all the time. This sentiment that Emmy’s mom and I had clearly isn’t true and never has been true, it’s just that we’re talking about issues like this more often, recognizing them as public health/society-wide issues, and I firmly believe that if we can continue on that path we will all be better for it.

I’ll stop here, but what this boils down to is: Read this book! I started reading before bed one night and suddenly it was 2:30 a.m. and I was bawling my eyes out after finishing -- it’s just that good. I cannot recommend this highly enough, and I hope you’ll pick it up ASAP.

RATING: 5 bright stars!

**Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for purposes of this blog tour. This review is voluntary on my part and reflects my honest rating and review of the book.

This book did not do it for me. I found the idea and premise interesting, but around the 30% mark I felt like nothing interesting was happening. It felt so repetitive.
I did not feel any connection to the main character, I even thought she was annoying at times.
I wanted to love this, but it was not it for me,

5 resounding stars

Where do I even begin? This was an incredibly emotional read, but oh wow, I could not put it down. This was a story, at its essence, of the invisible girl in a family whose older sister is "perfect" and whose brother is a "messed up addict". The story is told from Emory's point of view and it is absolutely heartbreaking.

She has always been the one in her family closest to her brother, Joey. The story begins with the accident that started the whole thing (her brother was not driving but he was close to OD'ing) and she is recovering in the hospital from a crushed knee while he is in rehab. You get to follow their lives in the town in the aftermath of the accident. Although her family basically owns the town (her family built the town), there is a lot of "damage control" that her control-freak mother does, but it doesn't change the toxic environment that Emory and Joey experience in school. And of course, you're never "cured" from drug addiction. But you also learn that Joey's addiction is not unusual in the town (sadly) and that becomes part of the social issues taken on in this book.

You learn about secrets that Emory has been hiding in order to cope with everything. You learn about how cruel kids can be, and how cruel adults can be. But you also learn that there are decent kids, those who care about each other and who realize that Emory and Joey are suffering just as much as anyone else, if not more.

I very much appreciated the discussions happening in her English class about what books should be read in class and that perhaps the well-known classics are not the only books that should be read. What the teacher ultimately did with his class and how Emory chose to do it had me in tears.

My favorite teacher was absolutely the drama teacher. He did everything to reach Emory and to encourage her and I loved that. I especially liked that he encouraged the rekindling of a friendship with an old best friend that ended up really helping. There is a scene where he absolutely shows up for her (you'll know it when you get to it) and I laughed and cried.

The poem she read for the show? Yeah, that had me completely wrecked. In fact, I went through quite a few tissues throughout this book, but especially the end.

For much of the book, her mother was two-dimensional--she was a control freak, but she was also absent in the way she always was. Her father was definitely absent. But as things start to spiral out of control, a lot of growth happened to them both and I really appreciated that. Honestly, I felt like the majority of the book was 4-4.5 stars (so very solid), and the last 20% was like 6-7 stars, lol.

Unlike some books where the protagonist makes poor choices and you're screaming and yelling at them for being so stupid, I never felt that urge with Emory. I mean, yeah, she totally made some bad choices, but I felt somehow that I totally understood her and I absolutely could see why she was making those choices.

This was a heavy book, but it really opened my eyes to the tremendous impact that an addict has on those who love them most. It also drove home the fact that addiction is a PUBLIC health issue and that we need to change our policies to address it for everyone and not just the wealthy who can afford it. It is something that will continue to affect all of us as it is very likely we know someone who is an addict, even if we don't yet know it.

As tough as this was to read, I felt the author (who is a sober addict herself) handled so many of these with absolutely compassion and realism. I highly recommend this.

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a pretty good book about addiction and how it affects families and outsiders. I really enjoyed the two main characters and the plot pulled at my heartstrings on how Emory was so protective of her brother. This is my 3rd Glasgow book and she never fails to get me emotional with her books. I couldn’t really relate to this book like I did her previous two because I didn’t know anyone who battled addiction. But it gave me insight on how families are affected. I know Glasgow herself said this book was personal for her.

Glasgow's books are notoriously "great" reads...in the sense that her writing is fantastic. However they're each hard, heart breaking reads. This one lives up to that and more. This story has many twists and turns that keep the reader very engaged and rooting for the characters.

Trigger Warning: drugs/drug abuse



Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy to read and review.


God to be honest this book was hard for me to read. It was very triggering. A couple of time I just felt like stopping all together. It made feel like I was suffocating sometimes or just start crying. The most relatable character for me was Joey. Everything he said I felt in my soul. I also could understand Emory as well. The characters are written really well. They're not perfect and they have their flaws. I really loved this book despite it being kinda hard to read. This story has so many realistic aspects about it like perfect parents trying to raise perfect kids. Its obvious that will never happen. It would be nice if it were but you just have to sit down and listen to your kids and not just brush them off. The plot is emotional, heart wrenching, and a tear jerking family drama. Some other things this is about is bullying, slut shaming, cancer, metoo movement, sibling bonding and friendship. I really like that this was told from the sisters perspective instead of Joey's. It was a great way to see drug addiction from a family members side of things and what they feel and go through. I really loved the conclusion of this. The conclusion was another realistic situation. Kathleen Glasgow really knows how to make my feelings a mess.

This is the type of book I wish I would've read in high school. I felt for Emory caring for her family and her doubts about herself. I learned a lot about addiction and how to care for someone with addiction through this story. This is the perfect story for a teenager to read because Emory was so multi-faceted as a character.

I had the pleasure of meeting author Kathleen Glasgow several years ago when she was promoting her debut novel, Girl In Pieces. She was so kind, and open about her life struggles. Her books pack an emotional punch that can be difficult to take sometimes. However, like her first novel, You'd Be Home Now, is worth it. I think I like it even better than her previous work because it is very relatable for most people. I think nearly everyone knows someone who has struggled with addiction. By looking at this topic from the viewpoint of a relative, the author shows us how the opioid epidemic effects not just the user, but their entire family, as well. I really hope this novel finds an audience, despite the challenging topic, as it is so important for teens to find stories and characters that they can identify with. This is a very special novel.

What I Liked:

Themes:

The theme of the book is that everyone has hidden addictions. Some addictions are more obvious than others, but everyone has something. While her brother Joey's addiction to drugs takes center stage, Emory is struggling with an addiction of her own. She craves attention from a boy so much, she is willing to do what she is not comfortable with, just to be with him.

The other theme of the book is that addictions affect everyone in a family and in a community. Even if you don't know anyone personally who has gone through this, you can see the aftermath of addictions: poverty and homelessness. This is another thing I really liked about the novel. The author shows how easy it is to dismiss the people who are homeless as somehow broken, and not in need. But the characters learn to see the people in these encampments as individuals who are worthy of respect and help.

Characters:

Emory is kind of a mess, but it's understandable for a teen in her situation. Because her brother has taken up all the oxygen in the room for so long, she is mostly overlooked by her family. But they do rely on her way too much to be her brother's keeper. This is such an unfair and unhealthy burden to place on a sibling. It's no wonder she acts out in other ways. But what seems harmless to Emory, at first, becomes her own addiction.

Joey is the older teen who is struggling with drug addiction. His is a cycle of using, guilt, contrition, and then back to using again. He is not a bad person. He has an illness. But it's easier for his parents, and others, to just tell him he's selfish and weak. It lessens his parents own responsibility for how he became addicted in the first place. This novel really shows how people can go to rehab and be so full of hope and good intentions. But then, the pressure to follow so many rules proves to be too much, and Joey backslides into using again. I think this book makes a good case that there should be more than one approach to handling addiction. While rules help with accountability, the pressure it creates might be just the thing that puts someone over the edge.

Story:

The story follows Emory as she recovers from a terrible accident (not caused by drugs) where a popular girl at school was killed, and her brother Joey almost dies of an overdose. While Joey goes to rehab, Emory must physically recover from breaking her knee. But she also has to deal with other people blaming her and her brother for the car accident. It wasn't their fault. But Emory is in no position to argue the point. Everyone knows that her brother is a heavy drug user, and they make the easy assumption that he is to blame.

As the story progresses, the novel also shows how many people in this small town are affected by drugs, and addictions. The homeless population keeps growing, but people who can offer help, like her mother who is on the city council, turn a blind eye. As is so often the case, Emory's parents are only moved to do something when it affects them directly. When Joey goes missing, they start to see that he could be one of those faceless people under a bridge.

The novel also deals with Emory's addiction to the attention of a boy. Together they get more and more sexually involved. But he doesn't want to acknowledge her to his friends. Red flag if I every saw one!!! Later she is slut-shamed for some of the things she does, while the boy comes off unscathed. Sadly, this is reality. But I like how the author shows Emory working through her embarrassment.

What I Didn't Like:

The book is promoted to be inspired by the Play, Our Town, by Thornton Wilder. This is one of my favorite plays. If you hadn't told me that it was "inspired" by Our Town, I never would have known it. I was a little disappointed because I was expecting this to be Our Town, with drugs. But it was nothing like the wholesome play that explores life and death in a small town. But the only resemblance to that famous show is that this story takes place in a small town, and that some of the character's names are similar to those is the play. That's it!

Trigger Warnings for Drug Use

This book is not for the faint of heart, as it rips your heart out again and again as Emory and her brother Joey are dealt blow after blow. High school is tough, even harder when you are trying to help your addict brother survive the night. But Joey is so much more than an “addict”, just like every other person afflicted with this disease. He is a brother, a son, a friend and an artist, but none of that matters to people anymore, even it seems to his parents. As Emory deals with her own addiction, because sometimes love is just that, she is also trying to Learn how to love herself and her brother. So many parts of this book made me cry, and yet you are left with hope, because that is often all we have to get through the dark times. A must read book about addiction and how pervasive it has become in this country.

Emory is Joey's little sister, and Joey is addicted to drugs. After they both are in an accident that kills their friend, Joey is sent away to rehab. He comes back ready to start fresh with a strict new set of rules. But the throes of addiction are deep, and Joey is quickly tempted to go back to his old ways. Meanwhile, Emory has her own unhealthy ways of dealing with life, and the whole family is struggling to cope with the realities of addiction.

This is the third book I have read by Kathleen Glasgow, and it's also the third book I have enjoyed by Kathleen Glasgow. I knew that this would be a tough read, based on her other books, and I was correct about that. But it was also so good!

I thought it was an interesting concept to focus on the sister of an addict. Many stories have been written about those struggling with addiction, but by focusing on the family of the addict, this story sheds new light on the issue. It demonstrates how deeply the whole family is affected by addiction and gives a heartbreaking picture of what it is like to love and care for an addict.

The book is filled with beautifully written, flawed characters that felt so genuine and real. I was so very sad when I finished this book, because I felt like the characters were real people going through real suffering, and I was right there with them. As a parent, I definitely felt for the parents in this story. Even though Emory is the main character, we also get to see how Emory's parents deal with Joey's addiction, and their story was just as heartbreaking to me.

This is a tough read, but I am so glad that I read it! It is a beautiful, heartbreaking and emotional depiction of what it is like to love someone who is struggling with addiction. I would recommend it for mature teens and adults!

If you've read Girl in Pieces or How to Make Friends with the Dark, you know the depth and emotion of Kathleen Glasgow's stories. Kathleen has the distinct ability to wrap each word in emotion and care. This story is not only a beautiful and heartbreaking portrayal of loving someone who is struggling with addiction, but it also depicts the isolation and loneliness of being a teenager in the world, the struggle to be heard, seen, and understood by adults. Emory is a brilliant narrator, and the cast of characters is so well-developed throughout the story. I am absolutely in awe of Kathleen Glasgow's writing.
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Thank you so much to Netgalley and Random House for the e-ARC!
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CW: addiction and recovery, car accident (graphic) resulting in the death of a minor, drug use, bullying, abandonment