I would not use The Reformation of Marli Meade by Tracy Hewitt Meyer as a whole class book or in book clubs, however, I did immediately share the title with some of the students I knew would fall in love with the book. The imagery that Meyer uses throughout the book truly painted Marli's world. The tension and storyline pulled me along as a reader and kept me coming back to the book. The only thing that I would have appreciated more with this book would have been to have included more character development.

This is my first book by this author., however I am looking forward to reading more. Her writing is really compelling, and she dares to talk about those tough subjects with grace. I believe this story is relatable in so many ways. It is a touching coming of age story of one girl, realizing she wants more to her life then what she is born to become. She gets a taste of what that could be like with the help of one boy who sees her, not just this weird girl on the isolated mountain.

Marli is sixteen years old, born and raised on an isolated Appalachian Mountain in an oppressive home life. She is tired of all the rules and yearns to escape but fears she will never be able to. Until she meets a local boy Nate, and everything becomes possible through his eyes. She will need to fight for herself and the future she wants or give in to the control of her family.

Thank you to NetGalley and BHC for a copy of this book for my honest opinion.

I cared about what happened to Marli Meade and enjoyed that this was a really well done mystery novel for young adults. It does everything that I was hoping for and enjoyed how well it flowed in the narrative. The characters were what I was expecting and glad I read this.