Life of the Party

By Christine Anderson

In just two more months, seventeen-year-old Mackenzie will reach sweet freedom. About to graduate from high school, Mac is not sure what happened to the good girl she used to be, but it does not matter. Without a second thought, Mac hurls herself into the dark world of rebellion and does not look back.

Mac’s best friend, Riley, is a boy from the wrong side of the tracks who can score drugs anytime, anywhere. As Riley introduces her to a lifestyle that includes wild nights, drugs, and questionable men, Mac struggles to overcome her personal demons. Cast in the shadow of her “perfect” sister, Mac must endure the disapproval of her parents every time she returns home. But just as Mac takes a job to support her growing drug addiction, Riley begins questioning all his bad choices. Suddenly Mac, who wants complete, reckless amusement at any cost, is alone.

The world can be a dangerous place. Mac is about to drown in an abyss of her own creation, and only one person can save her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Nov 24, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450271837

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.