“That’s the thing: You can change things. You can repair mistakes. You can restart your life if you have to.”

Everything was getting better for Madeline in the Spring Meadows Rehab Center. Stewart, a boy from rehab was due to join Madeline in the outside world once again shortly following her departure from Spring Meadows. After leaving this rehab facility, Madeline and Stewart were both faced with many important decisions, contributing to Madeline getting back on her feet, both of them moving towards their futures. Together they both had their ups and downs on the way, and whether they could keep a relationship posed more of a question than an answer.

During the rest of Madeline’s schooling life, she met new people, made new friends and even some enemies, which helped her in realising who her true friends were. Many tough decisions, an assurance that “Mad Dog Maddie” wouldn’t reappear and a change in lifestyle had to be made for Madeline to strive towards her goals.

I really enjoyed the book, “Recovery Road” because it is about a 16 year old girl who had faced addictions, went to rehab, met some new friends and changed her life for the better. The way that Blake Nelson defined the characters and scenes throughout the novel had my eyes glued to every page. The descriptive language the author used in this novel made it easy to imagine the scenarios as they were happening in my head. As the story advanced, there were many unexpected twists that held my attention, making me not want to abandon the book. The ending of the book “Recovery Road” was unexpected yet satisfying; it has made me want to read a sequel.

I would recommend this book to teens and young adults between the ages of 13 and 20 who would be interested in reading about people’s addictions and how they make their lives better for themselves, or reading into how some people spend their lives on an everyday basis. This book is honestly a great read. I’d rate “Recovery Road” 4 out of 5 stars.

Gen P, Year 9