Synopsis: For all of Emory's life she's been told who she is. In town she's the rich one--the great-great-granddaughter of the mill's founder. At school she's hot Maddie Ward's younger sister. And at home, she's the good one, her stoner older brother Joey's babysitter. Everything was turned on its head, though, when she and Joey were in the car accident that killed Candy MontClaire. The car accident that revealed just how bad Joey's drug habit was.
Four months later, Emmy's junior year is starting, Joey is home from rehab, and the entire town of Mill Haven is still reeling from the accident. Everyone's telling Emmy who she is, but so much has changed, how can she be the same person? Or was she ever that person at all?
Mill Haven wants everyone to live one story, but Emmy's beginning to see that people are more than they appear. Her brother, who might not be "cured," the popular guy who lives next door, and most of all, many "ghostie" addicts who haunt the edges of the town. People spend so much time telling her who she is--it might be time to decide for herself.
I was searching for a great story, and since I now have Libby, a wonderful app that lets you take out library books using Kindle (one less interaction I awkwardly had to deal) I came across You'd Be Home Now. So, I thought, "Why not?"
I didn't read the synopsis because I read Glasgow's novel, Girl in Piece, and I try not to spoil it for myself before I even read three pages. In my opinion, GIP is super intense, and very often, I would literally put the book down because I felt overwhelming. But luckily, this book isn't like that.
The first three pages, I am hooked, and part of that reason is you want to know what's going on. I'm not going to spoil anything, but I will say one of the B plots (or C plots) is cringy, although I think it was necessary. Adults will read, and when that part comes, they will say, "What are you doing?!" where as teens may think, "it's not that bad."
When I first started the book, I was afraid that the main character, Emmy, would start taking drugs, spiral out of control, and end up in a rehab center (spoiler for Girl in Pieces: it begins at a rehabilitation center), and I'd be on another whirlwind of anxiety. Rather, it was her brother who was the one in trouble. Emmy's mom wouldn't let her take any pills other than Tylenol. Although the story isn't in Joey's point of view, his thoughts and feelings were incredibly powerful. At one point, Joey says that Emmy didn't know what it was like to be in his shoes, something I can relate to.
When I was a seventeen and had my brain aneurism, I only knew how I felt, and I didn't really care about anyone else's feelings because they weren't as important as mine, but after reading this book, I was wrong. For Emmy, she tells her story, about how everyone whispered about what they thought of her brother and about how they felt pity for her, more sympathetic than empathetic. In many ways, I should tell my sister how sorry I am because throughout my brain aneurism, I put her feelings on the back burner and not forefront. I thought no one knew how I felt, and that all the other people in my life couldn't compare. But Emmy felt just as much pain as Joey did.
Each character had a small backstory, whether it be the mother, the father, the isolated old friend, the boy next door, or the boy she needed the most. I feel like any character could have a full novel. This story truly pulled at my heartstrings, and the love for Joey and Emmy is so compassionate that I cried... multiple times.
4.5/5 Stars
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