Life of the Party

By Christine Anderson

Seventeen-year-old Mackenzie Taylor can't wait to be free; free from high school, the shadow of her perfect older sister, and her disapproving parents. The rebellious party girl has a perfect accomplice in best friend Riley, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks who scores them drugs, booze and under-age entry into the only club in town. But then everything changes. A traumatized Riley suddenly decides to give up the party life, and a wide-eyed Mackenzie meets Grey Lewis, a broodingly talented, gorgeous older man she falls instantly in love with. Though Riley warns her to stay away, the aspiring rock star's body and ample drug supply are too tempting for her to resist. Previously inseparable, Riley and Mackenzie go their separate ways.

When summer hits, Mackenzie has new friends, a new apartment and new drugs to mask the pain of Riley's absence. And of course, she has Grey. But despite the fierce, consuming passion they share, the mysterious bad-boy always leaves her guessing. Is Grey really a good guy? Or was Riley right about him all along? Mackenzie's in too deep to care. Unable to curb her mounting addictions, before long the lust-for-life teen totally loses control. She forgets Riley, forgets life, forgets everything but Grey and their next hit.

But luckily for Mackenzie...Riley has never forgotten about her.

A Next Generation Indie Book Awards finalist, Life of the Party takes the reader on a emotional journey of happiness, heartbreak and hope, vividly portraying how an addict can begin...and then begin again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christine Anderson
• Release date: May 21, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476061849

Christine Anderson

Writing has always been a passion of mine. Back in elementary, for fun my friends and I would gather around and write stories together--everything from twin girls solving mysteries to a horror involving vampire badgers living in the coulee behind my house. I like to look back at all my stories and see how my writing has grown. How they progressed from super-sucking to maybe not sucking as bad. Life of the Party is the only novel I've ever truly finished. I published it in 2010, which was six years ago, and I'm not cool like Harper Lee so I should probably get on my next one. Three kids and a full time job later, I hope you can understand the delay. As an act of faith I named my website christineandersonbooks--and I really hope that one day that plural makes sense. I want to thank everyone for all the awesome reviews (and the critical ones too...because now I know that Puffs with lotion is the softest kleenex...) But honestly, I can't tell you how encouraging it is, as a first time author, to hear that someone really and truly enjoyed your book. It's the greatest compliment an author can receive. For all the fans who've written me looking for more, thank you for your interest. And your patience. I can't make any promises, but I am writing, and you'll be the first to know when its finished. Until then! Much love, Christine

Reviews for Life of the Party

[srfeike · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Life of the Party is one of those books. You know the type…it makes you think, and I mean really think; it sticks with you long after you have finished because you have become invested in the characters; it makes you cry. I hate it when books make me cry. Mac and Riley are best friends. Their favorite pastime is to get drunk and high. Hey, they're young, why not? Everything is great until Riley decided he needs to get clean. Mac, feeling abandoned by her best friend, delves deeper into the world of drugs, trying to forget Riley and everything that is wrong with her life. I loved, loved, loved the characters in this book (which I guess is why I felt so much for them that I was bawling my eyes out by the end). The author let us get into Mac's head and really enjoy being there. Mac, though young and stupid and obviously making mistake after mistake, was real. She had real problems and real choices and real feelings. And Grey…I so love Grey. It is obvious from the way he treats her that he loves Mac, but he is young and free and has the world ahead of him, so of course he makes mistakes, too. When he realizes, however, that things have gone too far he does the only thing he can think of to fix it, even if it is the wrong thing. We do not see much of Riley for most of the story and mostly get to know him through Mac's feelings and memories of him. Though Mac feels he abandoned her, he had always been there just waiting for the right time.I think the thing I really loved about this story was about how realistic it is. From Mac's mom and dad (just ignore the problem, it will go away) to her sister and Mac's feelings of inferiority around her (which I can relate to having two perfect older sisters myself) to the drug use. The author did an exceptional job (in my humble opinion) of detailing and describing Mac's drug use and feelings. I did find myself thinking a few times, can someone really use that much cocaine and still be alive/walking/standing/coherent? But, I have absolutely no first-hand knowledge of the subject so it could be true. Even if it's not accurate, the author did a great job faking it and making me believe it was real. I sincerely hope this author writes more books in the future. I loved everything about this story from the characters to the story to the writing style. She is an amazing storyteller and I thank her for sharing her story with us.