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Facing Demons

by Ashley Sanders (Goodreads Author)

3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 · rating details · 34 ratings · 18 reviews

An inspirational YA fiction novel, Facing Demons follows the journeys of four teenagers as they tackle their problems whilst at the Anchor Beach Rehabilitation Clinic. The facilitator, Blake Solomon has succeeded in his own battle with cancer and feels obliged to pass on this second chance to those who deserve it.

The first person views of each of the four main characters—F...more

Paperback, 200 pages

Published October 15th 2011 by Trafford Publishing (first published October 14th 2011)

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Jun 04, 2012 Sophie rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was one of the few fiction books I read where I really felt like I was invested in the health and overall trials of the characters. I liked that these were real people dealing with real things head on, and that their recovery is what we were dealing about. So many novels allude to the painful things people face in life, but end with a mention that they are working at it or show us who they are after the work is done. Not so in, Facing Demons. We get to see right into the minds of each of th...more

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May 06, 2012 Kimberley rated it 5 of 5 stars

About the book:

Amidst the darkness of turmoil there is hope.

Blake Solomon had never before heard such heart-wrenching stories until now. Jason gang-member, Rebecca a child prostitute, Matthew an African refugee, and Felicity a reckless rich kid, make up the newest group at Blake's Anchor Beach Rehabilitation Clinic.

Each have seen more than their share of tragedy and have reached a point of desperation where all hope seems lost. Leaving behind worlds tainted with drugs and alcohol, violence and a...more About the book:

Amidst the darkness of turmoil there is hope.

Blake Solomon had never before heard such heart-wrenching stories until now. Jason gang-member, Rebecca a child prostitute, Matthew an African refugee, and Felicity a reckless rich kid, make up the newest group at Blake's Anchor Beach Rehabilitation Clinic.

Each have seen more than their share of tragedy and have reached a point of desperation where all hope seems lost. Leaving behind worlds tainted with drugs and alcohol, violence and abuse, self-harm, and street-life is easier said than done. Unexpectedly, these four young lives collide in extraordinary circumstances as they attempt to salvage any glimmer of strength and self-belief they have left.

Blake's battle to save all four from path of certain self-destruction is the toughest he's ever faced. Is a quick-fix all he has to offer before feeding them back to the lions? Or will he keep his promise in helping them to face their demons?

About the author:

Ashley Sanders is a young adult fiction writer. His career as a paramedic continues to give him valuable insight into a diverse range of people's lives and has sparked inspiration for his writing. Ashley is currently working on character prequels for Facing Demons. Jason's prequel will be released mid 2012.

My review:
This really is an awesome book. I enjoyed reading this book and was saddened throughout. I have done drugs in the past and have been clean for five years, so I kind of know what the different characters were going through, but no way did I have it even half as bad as any of them. I am not going to give details, you ask why? Again I will say it is because I hate when someone does that too me. Yes I want to know from someone if they think I should read the book, but do I want them telling me everything that happens? Ugh no way! My favorite character is Rebecca and I cannot wait for her prequel to come out. This is the first book I have read by Ashley Sanders and I cannot wait to read his other books. Go get this book now. You will not regret it!!!

Stars I gave this book:
***** (5)(less)

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Apr 23, 2012 Ashley rated it 5 of 5 stars

Facing Demons is a young adult novel about different teens facing desperate, traumatic situations. This novel discusses many problems facing young teens and young adults today. As suggested by the title, each character must face their demons before being able to overpower them. Despite the initial bleak outlooks there is an underlying feeling of hope and renewal throughout the book.

Ashley Saunders breaks down the book by each character’s story. It begins with the story of Blake Solomon. The man,...more

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Apr 16, 2012 Katie Hale rated it 4 of 5 stars

Facing Demons by Ashley Sanders takes an in depth look at a lot of really BIG issues in today's society. Drugs, Gang Violence, Prostitution and Homelessness. This fictional book takes you into the mind of 4 very different teenagers and how they are dealing with their lives.

Jason who lost his family in a brutal act of violence, Rebecca who was shuffled through foster care right into the vicious world of drugs and child prostitution, Felicity who seems to have it all but is wallowing in her own d...more

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Mar 29, 2012 Kim Hansen rated it 5 of 5 stars

What a fantastic job Ashley Sanders did on this book! Facing Demons, although a quick read, is definitely a book that will make you think more about the struggles that young people face these days – and the decisions they ultimately make.

This book outlines four different characters and their stories – which are sometimes beyond troubling to read. All of them meet while in intensive therapy because of their behaviors and you watch as their lives are transformed with help from their doctor and eac...more

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Jan 15, 2012 LK Gardner-Griffie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Somewhere during the tumultuous years we call being a teenager, I read a book called Voices that impacted me strongly at the time and stuck with me for many years. The concept of the book was the background and letters of teens who committed suicide, and was based on non-fiction cases. Each time I connected with the kid in the current “story” and each time my mind cried out for them to choose life — things would get better. When I ran across Ashley Sanders’ Facing Demons the write up reminded me...more Somewhere during the tumultuous years we call being a teenager, I read a book called Voices that impacted me strongly at the time and stuck with me for many years. The concept of the book was the background and letters of teens who committed suicide, and was based on non-fiction cases. Each time I connected with the kid in the current “story” and each time my mind cried out for them to choose life — things would get better. When I ran across Ashley Sanders’ Facing Demons the write up reminded me of the book which had made such a huge impression on me. So I read the preview and decided to give it a try.

I was not disappointed.

Sanders has penned a powerful story weaving five troubled lives together in a beautiful setting. Blake Solomon rescues four teens from the hospital, transports them to his rehabilitation center, and helps them learn to take control of their own destiny and break their patterns from the past. And you may note that I mentioned five troubled lives, and not four. Blake has some troubles which are revealed through the course of the story as well, which help give him a realness he would not otherwise have had.

Each of the kids in the story come to life on the page, and you will feel like you could meet them somewhere in your own home town. Yet, each of them has a reason to want to die, as well as a reason to live — though they may not know it. While each of their stories has some similarities, they are unique to the character and the voices are well-developed. My only complaint, which probably comes from being a writer myself and therefore used to subjecting my own work to extreme critical analysis, is that despite the use of first person present tense (or in the case of Blake third person present tense), I felt distanced from the characters — like they were at arms length. I wanted to feel their pain, yet felt told about it instead. I am not a huge fan of present tense narrative, but the purpose behind it is to bring the reader into the mind of the character, reducing any distance. Toward the end of the book, the distance diminished, which made me wish the intimacy would have been there from the start.

However, despite my pickiness, Facing Demons is a worthwhile read, and one that teens will definitely connect to. The issues that the teens face have an incredible ring of truth about them. And in delving into Sanders’ background, I discovered that he works as a paramedic, so has seen this sort of thing first hand. What a wonderful way to take personal experience and convert it to an amazingly insightful tale. Facing Demons is about some of the poor choices we can make with our lives, or dealing with the circumstances dealt to us from the deck of life. It has a tremendous message of hope and will have you on the edge of your seat, biting your nails with its exciting conclusion. A definite “must read” for troubled teens, but good for all teens and those of us who still remember the emotional upheaval of those times.

Bravo, Mr. Sanders

What’s even better is that Sanders is currently working on the prequel stories of Jason, Rebecca, Matthew, and Felicity, and I for one can’t wait for them to be out.(less)

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Jan 13, 2012 Sharon Martin rated it 5 of 5 stars

A thought provoking novel which will touch every human emotion possible. You will laugh, cry, feel humility and despair as you read each of the characters individual stories.

When we are faced in our everyday life by people who are high on drugs, very angry or to the other extreme withdrawn, reading this book could change your perception of that person.

The book teaches us that behind every heartache lies a reason and if we took the time to listen and learn the persons story, this could fulfil our...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Meagan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, young-adult, read-in-2011

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. There was something missing from this book and I can't really place my thoughts on it. The raw emotions where that, you can't deny that. I found myself tearing up a bit, mostly with Rebecca's and Matthews stories (Not that Jason's and Felicities weren't bad, just more common) when it was being described. I enjoyed that aspect. Now the fact that it constantly changed points of views was a bit bugging. Especially since to show the change it was nothing spectacular rather than a bold face of the pe...more

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Nov 01, 2011 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars

BRILLIANT! This is one of those books you'll either love or hate and I LOVED IT! I actually couldn't put it down and finished it in one sitting (wasn't hard as it's just shy of 200 pages). I loved the characters and think they're really beautiful. It could've gone into a bit more detail with the nasty pasts of some of the characters so I'm looking forward to this in the prequels. I liked the way it showed each of the characters first person views, even though it was hard to follow at times it sh...more

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Apr 14, 2012 rebecca bryant rated it 5 of 5 stars

Facing Demons by Ashley Sanders is a book about four young adults all facing hard issues in their life? Brought together in one facility to try and make sense of their life they are forced to work together and face their demons in order to live life as they were meant to be. This book was really inspirational though heart wrenching at times when the author told the characters stories. I found the book to be well written as it went from one characters point of view to another as you learned about...more

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Feb 20, 2012 Savannah (Books With Bite) rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love stories of redemption and of salvation. Finding your inner demons is hard. And to see an author create such intensity in the characters he has come up with, it felt like I was right there, helping them fight their battles with them.

What I love most about this book are the characters. These character carried lots of weight on their shoulders. I loved reading about each character back round and how they come to be who they are. All of these characters play such an important role in each oth...more

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Jan 30, 2012 Dennis Venier rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

Facing Demons is one of those books you pick up and you don't know what to expect, good or bad. This book was neither good or bad, it was just a pure fantastic read. This movie-worthy book has this atmosphere that Ashley Sanders creates that is unmatched. His writing style is something hopefully to be noticed in the future or else I loose hope for humanity. I felt my heart and my own emotions pour into every page, each word not only caught my eyes but also my mind. Sanders describes everything i...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Amanda rated it 2 of 5 stars

*See My Full Review Here: http://www.hippiesbeautyandbooksohmy....

Awhile back I requested this book to review since I read the book synopsis and I really liked the overall premise of the story. If you know me, then you know I really like to read books that deal with tougher themes and stories most authors don’t like to deal with. So, basically the book had some promise. Lucky for me, the publisher agreed to let me do a full review.

Unfortunately, this will be a small review. In short, when I fini...more *See My Full Review Here: http://www.hippiesbeautyandbooksohmy....

Awhile back I requested this book to review since I read the book synopsis and I really liked the overall premise of the story. If you know me, then you know I really like to read books that deal with tougher themes and stories most authors don’t like to deal with. So, basically the book had some promise. Lucky for me, the publisher agreed to let me do a full review.

Unfortunately, this will be a small review. In short, when I finished reading this book, I realized I didn’t care for it at all. It isn’t my cup of tea, per say.

Let me start by saying that this is a very short book in length, at just 200 pages. To really be able to capture all of the heavy emotions of the four main characters, the book needed to be more in depth then what it was. It lacked characterization. I had a really difficult time trying to connect with any of the characters because the author didn’t give them enough room to really spread their wings and become great characters that have each an individual voice. It’s really tough to explain, but the best way to describe it is that if the author didn’t label which character was speaking, I wouldn’t be able to differentiate between all of them.

I also had an issue with the basic setup of this book. The story flip-flops between each of the characters and their points of view. I usually don’t have a problem with this sort of thing. Take Ellen Hopkin’s books for example. She deals with tough issues and she typically has a storyline that is viewed from multiple characters…but she is able to pull it off well. I think where Ashley Sanders went wrong was adding too many characters instead of just focusing on one character. Once again, the book is too short to really give each of the characters justice. In this book, it was just too confusing and sometimes throughout the book I was completely lost as to what exactly was going on.

Final Thoughts: I’m not too sure I would give this book a recommendation. It’s one of those “enter at your own risk” types of book. I’m sure some people will really like it, but it wasn’t for me. I think the author should use this book as a learning experience to become a better author. I do so a lot of potential and I really hope that his next book will be better than his first.
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Nov 15, 2011 Tracy Walters rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

This is a book I received for free through Goodreads First Reads. It is a short book with only about 200 pages....but it took me awhile to get into it. Once I did start really reading it, I found it to be interesting and the character stories were almost unbearably sad. The one thing that really bugged me was the way the author would actually make the teenagers speak....I kept thinking to myself that "kids that age don't REALLY talk like that or do they even THINK of things like that." I felt li...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Kimberley Meier rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really liked this book! I can't wait for him to finish the Prequels so that I can learn more about the characters stories. This was a great first novel can't wait to see more!

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Sep 22, 2012 Beverley Haynes rated it 4 of 5 stars

A narrative about a group of teenagers needing a second chance in life. An excellent read!

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Jun 09, 2012 Amanda Croley rated it 2 of 5 stars

Facing Demons was the story of four young people's very different struggles. All of them brought together by one man and his orginization for another chance at life. While the idea was good, it was also extremely unrealistic. It seemed obvious to me, and I may be completely wrong, that the author hasn't spent any time with some of these types of people. Some of the situations in the book would never happen in real life.

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Feb 14, 2012 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: goodreads-wins

I received this book as a Goodreads win.
I really could not get into this book at all. I'm not sure if it was the length of the book or how it was written. I did not really care for the flip flopping between all 4 characters within each of the chapters. It just did not seem like your typical fiction book to me.

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Mar 10, 2013 Angel rated it 4 of 5 stars

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About Ashley Sanders

Ashley Sanders is a young adult fiction writer and author of Facing Demons, which reviewers have described as "Inspirational" and "Absolutely amazing!" (Out September 2011).

His career as a paramedic with the South Australian Ambulance Service continues to give him valuable insight into a diverse range of people's lives and has sparked inspiration for his writing.

Ashley is currently working on cha...more

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A Week in the Life of Lillian and Dillian

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