Language: R (99 swears, 12 ‘f'); Mature Content: R (repeated drug usage, drinking, smoking, passionate kissing); Violence: PG-13 (child neglect, fighting, body horror)
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
APPEALS TO: SOME
16yo Kyra lives with the shadows of her past. Her birth mother was addicted to drugs and lost custody of Kyra when she was a child. Kyra is now in a stable household, but she is afraid of becoming like her mother so she avoids the town's prevalent party scene. Then, a new drug challenge called Sporing goes viral. Simultaneously, she notices that the people around her seem to change: her brother is saying the right things to her for once but seems emotionally dulled; her best friend is no longer her edgy self and won’t respond to Kyra’s messages. And they keep repeating similar phrases. Kyra and new student Logan wonder what’s going on in the background of this seemingly shiny small town where drug company BoTanic has fully integrated itself.
I wish there was more to this novel as there are missing scenes that could have had some strong impacts. At the same time, the explanation for the mystery felt off and muddled the plotline, genre, and theming. The secondary characters including Logan are not well-developed and fall flat. However, the depictions of Kyra’s struggles with anxiety are strong, and the social commentary regarding big pharma was interesting.
Kyra’s friend Cody is LGBT+, and her friend Sean is South Asian.
Megan, HS Librarian
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