spin

Title: Spin
Author: Catherine McKenzie

Release date: February 1, 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins

Pages: 424

Source: Netgalley

Goodreads: {via}

Summary: 

Katie Sandford has just gotten an interview at her favourite music magazine, The Line. It's the chance of a lifetime. So what does she do? Goes out to celebrate - and shows up still drunk at the interview. No surprise, she doesn't get the job, but the folks at The Line think she might be perfect for another assignment for their sister gossip rag. All Katie has to do is follow It Girl Amber Sheppard into rehab. If she can get the inside scoop (and complete the 30-day program without getting kicked out), they'll reconsider her for the job at The Line. 

Katie takes the job. But things get complicated when real friendships develop, a cute celebrity handler named Henry gets involved, and Katie begins to realize she may be in rehab for a reason. Katie has to make a decision -- is publishing the article worth everything she has to lose?

I found this book through someone's Waiting on Wednesday or In My Mailbox. The premise seemed intriguing, so I was really excited when I found it through NetGalley. I liked it okay, but it wasn't one of my favorite reads. 

The story is interesting – our protagonist, a 30-year old freelance music writer, Katie, is sent to rehab to spy on The Girl Next Door Amber, as she goes through her treatments. Turns out that rehab is a good idea for Katie, too. While spying on Amber facing her demons, Katie, too, faces her troubles. Katie was hard for me to like. She seemed whiney, and she was delusional. It is not normal for people to pretend like they are five to ten years younger than they actually are, just so they can have friends. I was glad that she was put in rehab, even if it was a ruse. This girl definitely needed help. 

Along the way, we meet interesting characters, ranging from other rehab patients, to people from Katie's life (past and present) to Connor and Henry. Hmmm... Henry. The love story between Henry and Katie wasn't instalove, which I liked. At the same time, I wasn't really rooting for it, because even if Katie didn't know she needed to be in rehab, I did. I'm not sure how working on yourself and a relationship works. 

There were fun parts to the story. I liked the idea that celebrities are just like us, even if it did make me sad that they were all in rehab. The running exchanges were hilarious. As a non-runner myself, I know exactly what it feels like to believe that you're dying while running, and then coming to the horrible realization you've only been moving for five minutes. I totally related. 

Spin is a cute, fluffy read. Be warned that there is some heavy language, and lots of alcohol and drug use, but there are great messages to be had from the rehab portions of the book. 

I received an e-galley courtesy of HarperCollins and NetGalley. This in no way impacted my review of the book.