Read + Review: Heroine by Mindy McGinnis

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This book follows the story of a girl named Mickey Catalan after she recovers from a catastrophic injury. She and her friend, Carolina, both of whom are softball players on a team destined to win the state championship, are involved in a car accident. As a result of the accident, Carolina has a broken arm and Mickey has a dislocated leg. After her surgery, she is determined to find any means possible to ease the pain in her hip and get herself back on the softball field as soon as possible. She is prescribed a drug called Oxycontin by her doctor, and the rest of the novel reveals her thoughts and actions as her usage of the opioid increases.

I really enjoyed this book. There were a lot of twists and turns throughout the novel that I did not expect and left me on the end of my seat for all 408 pages. This is because the event that occurred in the prologue mirrored another event that occurred later in the novel, so I kept on reading to find out how the characters got to that point. I especially enjoyed the way that the author crafted the characters, as many character’s opinions were polar opposites with each other, leaving the main character in the middle to decide what she thought was right. Although the novel is about a very heavy topic, humor was also used in the right places to make the situation seem more normal or relatable to readers. There aren’t any critiques that I can think of that would’ve made the book any better, as I believed the book was written very well.

The one thing that I will definitely remember from the novel is the lesson that it taught me. It is very obvious from the beginning of the story what the root of the conflict will be, but I believe there is a moral to the story that everyone should pay attention to. The problem affects a lot of people in community across the United States, so it is important that readers are able to understand the author’s message.

Reviewed by Griffin G., Gayton Library.