Mindy McGinnis

A captivating and powerful exploration of the opioid crisis—the deadliest drug epidemic in American history—through the eyes of a college-bound softball star. Edgar Award-winning author Mindy McGinnis delivers a visceral and necessary novel about addiction, family, friendship, and hope. When a car crash sidelines Mickey just before softball season, she has to find a way to hold on to her spot as the catcher for a team expected to make a historic tournament run. Behind the plate is the only place she’s ever felt comfortable, and the painkillers she’s been prescribed can help her get there. The pills do more than take away pain; they make her feel good. With a new circle of friends—fellow injured athletes, others with just time to kill—Mickey finds peaceful acceptance, and people with whom words come easily, even if it is just the pills loosening her tongue. But as the pressure to be Mickey Catalan heightens, her need increases, and it becomes less about pain and more about want, something that could send her spiraling out of control.

Heroine

Melissa Palmer

A gripping, powerful read of a high school softball star who, following a bad car accident, gets addicted to painkillers and graduates to heroin. Powerful but painful at times, well written and I think high school readers will be immediately drawn into it.

Denaiir

4.5 stars, spot-on, direct, sad, cruel, shitty. Just like real life.

Alexa M

this was good. i didn’t feel any sort of way about it but i had a “good” (? not the best word lol) time reading it

Raven Walker

Where do I start with this book? It is startling. It is emotional. It is dirty and gritty and doesn't sugarcoat anything. Many of us know someone who has or does struggle with addiction. Many of us struggle with addiction ourselves. Oftentimes, we look at someone who suffers from addiction and it has become part of who they are. We can't pinpoint where it started or how it turned into a full blown problem in their lives. This book does an outstanding job of showing the progression of addiction from start to finish. When we look at someone who is addicted, we oftentimes ask ourselves, "How did they go from a normal person with dreams and goals and a life, to a drug addict? How did they let that happen?" I think that this book is important for anyone who wonder how someone could let themselve become addicted to a substance. It is important for people to don't understand how someone can fall into that dark hole. This book takes a look into the mind of a normal teenage girl who found herself gripped by the disease that is addiction. While reading, it is important to remember that this girl could be any one of us. Addiction can worm its way into the most normal of lives and completely destroy a person.

dorah luxieux

this was one of those books you never know what's gonna happen next so you keep going until your done. i expected for her to go back to normal like maybe in the middle of the book, but it was at the end. also, the part where the friends die, i wished the author didn't make that the prologue because it would've been better if it was a surprise.

Carley Whitehead

3.5 stars


  Yes, I know that people die from this shit. But the obits are for washed-up dreamers who didn't hit their goals before thirty, stressed-out parents who needed a little break and ended up taking a long one, and people who just plan look like junkies, who have been messing around with this, that, and the other for so long that they tried too much of something new.



  I admit to myself that I am a heroin user, while also updating in my mind what that actually means. I am not a wasted person. I am not prowling the streets. I am not an addict. I am a girl spinning her locker combination. I am a girl who got a B on her math test. I am a girl who has two holes o the insider of her arm, but they do not tell the whole story of me.


Honestly, the rating I gave this is kind of a misleading rating. I got through this so slowly, but not because it was bad. More because it is so incredibly depressing to watch this girl make all the wrong choices for, if not good reasons, then reasons I can empathize with. It wasn't necessarily an enjoyable book for this reason. I think it's an important book though, especially with the current opioid crisis, because it underlines how it can affect anyone.

Candyce Kirk

Heroine is only the second book I've read by Mindy McGinnis, but I'm impressed with how realistic she makes her books feel. I can honestly say I've never read anything like these books before. Mindy McGinnis takes realistic subjects and takes them on in such an honest way. Nothing is made easy and she definitely doesn't avoid the hard parts of the subjects she chooses.

I honestly couldn't put this book down. I needed to know how Mickey's story was going to play out. It starts out with Mindy being in a horrific accident that leaves her with a really bad hip injury. Being a promising athlete, this is the worst thing that could've happened to her. The pain is terrible and she gets pain pills. If only the story ended there.

Heroine shows us the journey of what drugs can really do to you. While I understand that sometimes pain is unbearable, the medications given these days have such huge consequences and I really wish the system would keep a better eye on them. Mickey starts using more to make the pain less, so she can push herself more. She is determined to be walking before training starts again. In the end that is what happens, but at what cost?

That's when things started getting back for Mickey. By giving herself more and more to keep the pain away, at a certain point the dosage she has just doesn't cut it. This is where Heroine gets even more intense. It shows us the downward spiral of needing more and finding the funds to buy it. Dealing with dealers and maybe not the nicest people you want to meet. I've read stories about drug use gone wrong, but reading a book like this made it even more real. How it goes from a higher dose of pills to using a needle and heroin. It's scary how fast that goes.

What I also thought was really interesting was the relationship between Mickey and her family and friends. One of her friends was in the accident with her and doesn't use pain pills. Things can go so differently. Being adopted and having her parents divorced made this story even more complicated. Even though Mickey doesn't see herself as an addict, it's easy to see in this story how she manipulates and hides a lot of things. How "sneaky" she got (I'm not really sure that's a good word to describe it). I was holding my breathe through a lot of this story just waiting for her to be caught.

It's hard to really describe my opinion for this book. I think it's important that books like Heroine are around, because it's something that unfortunately happens so much in our world today. It doesn't seem dangerous to take something after a major injury, but it's not always clear how easy it can be for people to get addicted. Heroine isn't an easy read and doesn't end all fluffy and sunshine either. This story hurts and I think it would've been weird if it had ended with rainbows and sunshine. Drug abuse isn't a fluffy and happy subject. Mindy McGinnis is an amazing writer! I'm still thinking about this book and don't think that will change anytime soon!

An Amazon Best Book of the Month! A captivating and powerful exploration of the opioid crisis--the deadliest drug epidemic in American history--through the eyes of a college-bound softball star. Edgar Award-winning author Mindy McGinnis delivers a visceral and necessary novel about addiction, family, friendship, and hope. When a car crash sidelines Mickey just before softball season, she has to find a way to hold on to her spot as the catcher for a team expected to make a historic tournament run. Behind the plate is the only place she's ever felt comfortable, and the painkillers she's been prescribed can help her get there. The pills do more than take away pain; they make her feel good. With a new circle of friends--fellow injured athletes, others with just time to kill--Mickey finds peaceful acceptance, and people with whom words come easily, even if it is just the pills loosening her tongue. But as the pressure to be Mickey Catalan heightens, her need increases, and it becomes less about pain and more about want, something that could send her spiraling out of control.

Tayler Park

Jeni Enjaian

I have read this book before, not this exact book of course but this storyline. With a prologue like the one McGinnis opened the book with, she took out all the mystery in the narrative. Each step Mickey took, I could. have predicted. I did not like the ending. McGinnis rushed the falling action far too much in a way that feels far too tidy even though it's not tidy.

Tiffany Engler

This book is heavy. It's also a very important book. People need to realize the disease that is addiction is not an easy one. It's not a choice. Mickey didn't choose to get addicted to the pain meds she was prescribed. This book is a great representation that addiction is not a choice. It's not something that can easily be overcome. I feel like a lot of people would benefit from reading this book.

You can read my entire review here: https://www.tiffanysbookblog.com/2019...

 Bruna Acioly Leão

Trigger Warnings: Very accurate descriptions of drug use, withdraw and dependence.

Mindy McGinnis just has a talent for tackling sensitive issues like this one and it feels so real and raw and sad.

This is definitely hard to read at some points, but it is very much worth it, and I recommend this for anyone who is interested on the subject.

Heroine

Reviews