Good and Gone audiobook

Wow. What a tangle of emotions. In the best way. There is an unguarded truth to this story, an earnest rawness that is at times hilarious and heartbreaking. It touches on so many important points - unhealthy abusive relationships, mental health and depression, and when it is time to let go and when it is important to hang on with all your might. When Lexi's brother Charlie suggests a road trip to locate missing pop star, Adrian Wildes, Lexi is shocked. Charlie hasn't moved from the couch since he broke up with his girlfriend and dropped out of college. So despite Lexi's scepticism, despite the hurt she has been feeling, she agrees. Along for the ride (and actually providing the means of transport for this road trip) is their neighbour, Zack. As Lexi, Charlie, and Zack hunt for the elusive pop star, they begin to work through the emotions, hurt, and actions of the past year. Lexi doesn't start as a very likeable character. She is angry, judgemental, hurting. She doesn't want to understand what her brother is going through or feeling, she just wants him back to his old self. But as I kept reading, I began to understand that her attitude stems from her own hurt. Her lack of understanding isn't malicious, she just doesn't understand. And that's okay. That's all part of her journey. And this book is all about journeys. A road trip journey across north eastern USA. A journey to find a missing pop star. A journey of sibling relationships. A journey over the past six months, from then to now, detailing Lexi's new view of the world, relationships, men and herself. A journey that encounters many characters and places, as road trips often do. The story is written from Lexi's perspective, and as such, readers are presented with her side of the story. Her thoughts towards her brother might not be agreeable to the average reader, but they are Lexi's and her journey to understanding him, understanding herself are so important. The chapters also switch between the present events and the past, as 'Now' and 'Before'. The Before sections jump around a little, but it gradually becomes clear that Lexi has recently experienced an abusive and manipulative relationship, has lost her friends and has survived an assault. It makes her suspicion about life and strangers, her want to help others, her inability to connect with her brother so much clearer. I enjoyed watching Lexi's growth and character development. I also really, really loved her snark. Her verbal remarks, her conversations with her mother has me ROFL. Literally. (Sorry, that's an inside joke, but it certainly brought a refreshing humour to the story.) There is no romance in this book. At first I thought Zack, the neighbour who accompanies Lexi and Charlie on their road trip, would be a romantic interest for Lexi. But it's made clear very early on that this isn't going to happen - Zack is gay - and for that I am glad. It was better that relationships in general and not just a romantic one, take the focus. Relationships that are healthy and unhealthy, relationships that span months and relationships that happen in just a few hours. Relationships that must be ended and relationships that are worth fighting for, worth everything, no matter what. Good and Gone surprised me with its depth and the raw, unguarded way in which it presents its story. It's messy and a little icky (just like the backseat of Zack's car), but it's also honest, and that makes it a strong and important book.The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.Find more reviews, reading age guides, content advisory, and recommendations on my blog Madison's Library.

Lexi and her brother Charlie go on a road trip, searching for a missing rock star. At first it seems like they are going in order to escape thoughts of their failed relationships. As the book progresses, the reader begins to realize there's a lot more than a couple of teenage breakups going on. Very, very good YA fiction.

Good and Gone delivered a more complex story than I was expecting, and I loved every second of it. This was an important road trip for the Greene siblings, because it helped them find a way back to each other and themselves.•Pro: Sibling stories - love them! Lexi and Charlie's relationship was quite strained at the onset of the story, but while on the road trip, they reminisced and also confessed the secrets they were harboring and this precipitated their reconciliation. •Pro: There was a lot of great banter and discussion in this book. I would expect no less from the children of two college professors. Well done, Ms. Blakemore!•Pro: I am a fan of the Then and Now format. I had a good idea from the very beginning what was wrong with Charlie, but I knew there was more to Lexi's bad attitude. Slowly, through the alternating timeline, we learned about Lexi's relationship with Seth. Blakemore did something interesting with the Then portion too, it wasn't in chronological order. The jump around was a great way to keep the source of Lexi's anger a secret for a little longer, but I also felt like I had more time to witness her conflicted feelings and confusion regarding her role in what had happened. A lot of the Then parts were difficult as I watched what should have been something beautiful for Lexi turn into something toxic. •Con: It bothered me that Seth was not confronted and punished. I guess maybe that didn't fit with the overall goal of the story, but I needed him to pay for what he had done. •Pro: There were a lot of things that happened in the story that seemed random, but eventually, all those small random things were tied together, and I loved it when I had my "a-ha" moment. •Pro: The Greene parents were present in this book. They were all wrapped up in Charlie's issues, but fairness to then, they had no idea what Lexi was dealing with. They did reach out though, and often reminded their children that they were there for them, and that they loved them. •Pro: I really appreciated how Gwen was used, in the Then and Now. It was important for me to see that there were parts of Lexi's pre-Seth life that were still salvageable. •Pro: I really felt Lexi's wide range of emotions, and the author captured her fear and self loathing especially well. •Pro: This book touched on some really serious topics, but Blakemore handled the topics in such a way, as to keep the book from becoming too heavy. There were some moments with a lot of gravity, but they were balanced out with humor and happier moments. Overall: A story of a shattered girl, who slowly put herself back together, piece by piece, mile by mile. *I would like to thank the publisher for the review copy of this book. BLOG | INSTAGRAM | BLOGLOVIN | FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS

Fifteen year old Lexi has been so busy building walls in the past few months, it takes her a while to realize her older brother, Charlie has not only not been functioning, but has maybe dropped out of college. Thinking his funk is the result of being dumped by his long time girlfriend, she, because of the reasons causing her to build most of her emotional fortress, thinks he should just get over it. When a popular singer, Adrien Wildes, disappears from his tour bus in Pennsylvania, Charlie becomes obsessed with going from their home in New Hampshire to find him. By this point, Lexi has started to have some real concerns about her brother's mental health. She takes her stash of cash and after convincing gay friend Zack to be their wheels, they head out with little more than Charlie's vague clues assembled from Google searches. What follows is an excellently multilayered odyssey. It has some Kerouac-like elements, snarky moments, sometimes bordering on vicious, between Lexi and her brother, and a gradual revealing through a fairy tale allegory and flashbacks from Lexi's time with her ex-boyfriend, Seth. It's that combination of layers, allowing readers to understand why both Lexi and Charlie are a mess, coupled with intriguing people they meet along the way, not to mention the quest for the mysteriously missing Adrian, that make this a real page turner. What happened to Lexi, sadly happens a lot and I wish lots of teens, especially girls, get to read this book because, while Lexi's story is one that left her confused and unsure what was real for a long time, those reading the book might be able to learn a lot from it. Definitely a book that should be in many school and public libraries.

** spoiler alert ** This book was very raw and dove right into ideas and circumstances that are very complex and deep. Overall, it was very good! The characters were very multi-dimensional and you could see how they developed and began to figure out themselves as the story progressed. While I loved the book I did have several problems with it: I️ felt like the synopsis took away the mystery of the book and gave too much information, taking away that “mystery” aspect of Lexi and Seth’s past. I also feel as if there could have been more dialogue resolution between Lexi and her brother. Maybe this was just me?? But I felt like I needed MORE in general, a more firm resolution on their arguments and a conversation about what happened with Adrian in the end. I️ felt like the ending got kind of rushed so maybe that is what pushed me to feel this way— is it just me?? Even after this qualms I have, overall the concept of the book was amazing!! I, myself found it kind of hard to relate to a lot of it, but I feel like the topics addressed were very real and important to share and Good and Gone somewhat helped to address the complexity of them! (SIDE NOTE: I just love this idea of going after Adrian! To me, he stood as this symbol for what Zach, Lexi, and Charlie wanted out of life and wanted to fix with their lives and almost acted as a “solution” to these problems, but the reality was that Adrian wasn’t TRULY what they wanted in the end— it’s about the journey, not the destination, right? On a conceptual level how Adrian and this running motif of the princess through just pulled the book together for me and added to the depth of the characters feelings.)

A road-trip novel by Maine author, Megan Frazer Blakemore, tackles issues of depression and sexual abuse. Missing pop star Adrian Wildes is the impetus for siblings Lexi and Charlie, along with their gay neighbor Zack, to being their trip during February vacation. The spontaneous road trip is Charlie's idea, and Lexi doesn't understand his motives for suddenly springing off the couch which he has been glued to for the past few months after seemingly dropping out of college. Lexi assumes it is due to a break up with his long-time girlfriend, but since her parents aren't talking about Charlie's new behavior she is not quite sure. Anyway, she has her own problems to deal with. Lexi is the narrator of the story and through a series of flashbacks, the reader learns that she was raped by her boyfriend and has never told anyone. Lexi is edgy and angry, but becomes more likeable as the reader begins to understand her vulnerability. Each chapter begins with a piece of a fairy tale that compliments the narrative, and a line in the fairy tale is added at the beginning of each chapter. Female characters are strong, and there are multiple conversations about female empowerment and feminism without coming off as preachy or hokey. A great companion book to Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak .

i actually really liked this book. i wasn't really sold on it in the beginning since i fell out of love with slice of life books, but i think this has gotten me out of that reading slump. i related way too much to lexi, and i hated charlie's guts. this is coming from someone who is depressed. his type of depression has to be the worst because he is blind to the fact that everyone is in pain all the time. that's how humanity is. i really recommend this to people who have siblings, especially siblings who are bad at expressing their feelings. zack was such a funny character, and i love his dialogue throughout the book. he was great at breaking the tension between lexi and charlie. i think one of the bigger things i related to with lexi was that her parents told her all the time to take care of her brother, and those lectures were never given to her brother. i'm an older sibling, so i get those talks a lot, but it's insult to injury for lexi because she's the younger sibling by like 4 years. he's an adult, and she's being made responsible for him. the book also goes into the complexities of toxic relationships. definitely check trigger warnings because there are mentions of rape, sexual assault, and suicide.

I enjoyed this book! However I did have some issues with it. Overall I sympathized with the main character Lexi. She's a likable character and as the book goes on you really understand why she is the way she is. I felt that the dynamic between her and her brother was really relatable and true to life.TRIGGER WARNINGS: rape, depression, suicidal thoughts, verbally/emotionally abusive significant otherI have not personally dealt with any of these triggers but I will say that I felt the depression plot line was a bit underdeveloped and not represented accurately until the very end. SPOILER: I also didn't like how Lexi is trying to say that her brother's depression isn't valid because he doesn't have a reason. And while yes many people treat depressed people like this, I think it could have been handled differently in some aspects. END SPOILER.Overall I enjoyed the book!4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pleasantly surprised by this YA road trip novel about a brother and sister who are both dealing with overcoming trauma of sorts. The framing device of them seeking a missing pop singer works really well here, as does the resolution of the story, and in this case the dual timeline works well too. The relationship between the siblings is sweet, and Lexi is a pretty fun teen character, witty and full of snark. I do wish the horrid boyfriend got what he deserved at the end of this, but nothing happening is realistic given the age of these kids unfortunately. The other thing is, no one's parents are quite that cool at 15. Mine would have lost their shit at me taking off like that at her age.

Tangle of emotions. Witty and quite vulgar Lexi, and my fav character in this book which is Zack. I love how the story ended and how the character development of Charlie progressed.A contemporary young adult novel that talks about mental health issues, sexual abuse, and more about each of their life struggles.I'm starting to like stuffs like this tho, yk the runaway and journey things that I badly wanted to try but I couldn't cause I don't have the courage to do so hahaha and my parents are gonna kill me ☠️

Lexi's brother hasn't gotten off the couch in months, after being dumped and dropping out college. When he suddenly decides he cares deeply about the disappearance of celebrity, Adrian Wildes, Lexi has no choice but to watch over him as he drags them on a road trip of snark and discovery. An great, easy read about depression, identity, and relationship patterns. I wish we had gone further into Zack's life. It would have been nice to read a story about three struggling teens, instead of the story of two struggling siblings and their friend.

A book that is packed with timely issues for all teens to be aware of and talking about. It took me some time to warm up to Lexi but in the end, I understood her better. Lots of different emotions throughout this book!Thanks to the author for providing an ARC for my review.

A classic YA road trip novel that tackles current issues. Blakemore does a great job with the dialogue. This felt very different than her other books. I liked the edgy wit. For fans of John Green and David Arnold.

3.5

One of my new favorites!! A must read for a person that gets bored often and wants suspense.

i dont wanna talk about it.