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Heroine

Mindy McGinnis (Goodreads Author)

4.29 · Rating details · 3,971 ratings · 962 reviews

An Amazon Best Book of the Month! A captivating and powerful exploration of the opioid crisis—the deadliest drug epidemic in American history—through the eyes of a college-bound softball star. Edgar Award-winning author Mindy McGinnis delivers a visceral and necessary novel about addiction, family, friendship, and hope.

When a car crash sidelines Mickey just before ...more

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Hardcover, 419 pages

Published March 12th 2019 by Katherine Tegen Books

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Average rating 4.29 ·

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· 3,971 ratings · 962 reviews

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Jul 05, 2018 Emily May rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, young-adult, contemporary, 2019

I am not a wasted person. I am not prowling the streets. I am not an addict. I am a girl spinning her locker combination. I am a girl who got a B on her math test. I am a girl who has two holes on the inside of her arm, but they do not tell the whole story of me.

This book left me feeling hollow. By this I mean that it hit me so hard in so many different ways that I now feel emptied out. Saying it is "sad" is not enough. "Horrifying" is closer to the truth, but that seems too sensational.

When

...more

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May 12, 2019 Nilufer Ozmekik rated it really liked it

Shelves: best-ones, can-t-wait-to-read

Four addicted, compelling, tragic stars!
Mindy McGinnis is one of the most amazing writers and storyteller, grabs your heart, steals a huge Parton it by creating her realistic, flawed, natural characters. As soon as you take back your heart, you feel like so many things, especially your perceptions about life, family, friends already change with it.

The first few pages of the book like a ticking bomb about to explode! So you start to turn pages quickly to reach the spot at the beginning.

At this Four addicted, compelling, tragic stars!
Mindy McGinnis is one of the most amazing writers and storyteller, grabs your heart, steals a huge Parton it by creating her realistic, flawed, natural characters. As soon as you take back your heart, you feel like so many things, especially your perceptions about life, family, friends already change with it.

The first few pages of the book like a ticking bomb about to explode! So you start to turn pages quickly to reach the spot at the beginning.

At this book our heroine Mickey Catalan is a successful softball player. Playing is her life, her future, team members are her only friends so when you are at the risk of losing the thing that defines you perfectly, you do whatever it takes to keep it! When you think like that everything makes sense, right! But it isn’t!
Because after her traffic accident, Mickey starts suffering from too many surgeries , her leg hurts! Every part of her body starts to betray her! So she finds the most harmful way to protect herself not to suffer more . She becomes a drug addict! Pills help her ease her inner psychological and physical pain,endure her parental issues, numbs her feelings, her aching leg. She does whatever it takes to hold her position at her team even it results with losing herself , selling her soul, happiness, her future to the drugs!!

Mickey’s journey to the dark roads of her self destruction takes her so many dangerous places. McGinnis did a perfect job by telling her journey so objectively, you cannot judge her , despise or detest her. She is not flawless, she made so many bad choices and she knows how to differentiate right and wrong but she just choses the bad things and eventually she pays for her mistakes.

This is not heart and flowers kinda book! It’s terrifying, depressing and blood freezing one, so this is not for everyone! If you’re ready to take a dark journey, face with the addiction issue with a fresh perspective and also ready to put aside your biased opinions about the drug addicts, this may be the right choice!

At least, the bomb that I was expected to explode at the end was dismantled! Thanks to the writer, my heart rates turned to the normal. 😃 ...more

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Mar 05, 2019 Chelsea (chelseadolling reads) rated it really liked it

This book was heavy, but SO good. Wow.

TW: extremely realistic & descriptive drug use (anyone recovering from addiction should proceed with caution)

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Jan 27, 2019 Trina (Between Chapters) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019, young-adult, contemporary, standalones

4/14/19 - Upped my rating to 5 stars (from 4) because of how much this has stuck with me in the months since I read it. It's completely informed my perception of addiction portrayal in everything I've read since, and so far it's standing out as a favorite of the year.
------------------------------

This was uncomfortable to read and I hated what was happening at times, but I have been discussing this book with people I know who with addiction recovery, which has really helped me process my ...more

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Oct 24, 2017 Kai rated it liked it

Shelves: owned

"When I wake up, all my friends are dead."

This book is pain. You know what you're in for right from the start, the prologue makes sure of that. It all starts with pain medication after an accident. From there on, you will watch the main character bury herself in a grave of pills, needles, lies and betrayal, so deep she might never get out. 95% of the book is a downward spiral. And the things is, you just don't know if she can dig herself out again. If you have read a McGinnis novel before, you "When I wake up, all my friends are dead."

This book is pain. You know what you're in for right from the start, the prologue makes sure of that. It all starts with pain medication after an accident. From there on, you will watch the main character bury herself in a grave of pills, needles, lies and betrayal, so deep she might never get out. 95% of the book is a downward spiral. And the things is, you just don't know if she can dig herself out again. If you have read a McGinnis novel before, you know it's entirely possible that the ending will only mean more pain. Or death. Both are legitimate possibilities.

I'll be honest here: this is my least favourite of Mindy's books and I have a pretty good theory why that's so. I blame Mickey, the main character. She is a distant person, someone who only ever seems to know who she is when she is on the field playing softball - or when she is using. But when she isn't, she is a quiet person who doesn't know what to say or how to behave. Which I usually don't mind. Just because you're not an outgoing person, it doesn't mean you have nothing to say. But you see the world through Mickey's eyes and it all feels distant and too far away.

I only really enjoyed the parts of the book where Mickey hangs out with her best friend, when the plot actually moves forward, when things are happening. Because that's the thing, nothing much happened apart from Mickey falling deeper and deeper into her drug addiction. Of course, that's the whole point of the book: to depict the reality of someone who relies on drugs, who becomes an addict, who doesn't (want to) see another way out. (This, of course, is not applicable to everyone. It only shows an example of what addiction can look like.) But that doesn't mean that the book has to be so devoid of colour. Because Mindy McGinnis can write breathtaking stories, she can construct the most fascinating characters. It showed in the prologue, it showed in the first few chapters, it showed in the last few chapters. But the pages in between couldn't hook me as much.

I also need to add that I struggled to read some parts of the book, especially those that show the drug use in close detail. I just hate talk about needles and veins - it makes me feel sick. But that doesn't have any influence on my rating, I simply can't handle these things very well.

My review shouldn't discourage you, though. If the blurb speaks to you and if you want to know more, read it. It's a tough book, and I'm sure it took a lot of effort to write it. I'm already anxiously waiting for Mindy's next book. I can't wait to hear what she's got up her sleeve.

Find more of my books on Instagram ...more

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Aug 25, 2019 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, hardback, own

I did not watch my friends die.
I did not leave their bodies cooling in a basement.
I am not an addict.

Mel ...more

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Oct 28, 2017 Elise (TheBookishActress) rated it liked it

Shelves: 3-star, that-mental-illness-rep, z-read-in-2019, marked-author-love, gen-mystery-suspense, books-released-2019, why-the-torture-porn

At this point in my life, I look almost entirely for books I see as providing hope, some kind of catharsis and release. It is this, that for me, makes literature and television and movies and music so compelling: stories so worth coming back to, narrative so worth building my life around.

Heroine contains a release of tension, yes, but it does not occur until the very end, until lead character Mickey has spiraled so far into an opiate addiction it's almost impossible to find a way out. This is ...more

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May 07, 2019 *TANYA* rated it it was amazing

Shelves: best-of-2019, tale-of-2-styles

Whoa, this book was intense!!! I wasn’t feeling this book at first, I was ready to give up on it. But it grew on me, it’s addictive, no pun intended. How quickly things got out of hand, the desperation and callousness was surreal. A very unique, well written story, kudos to the author.

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Jan 08, 2020 Julie Zantopoulos rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2020, buddy-read, blew-my-mind

Review to come when my heart doesn't hurt so much.

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Mar 26, 2019 Noa ☾ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arcs, young-adult, reviewed, 2019-releases, read-in-2019, books-that-gave-me-chills

tw: addiction, substance abuse (heroine, oxy). Heroine is REALLY GRAPHIC and I urge you NOT TO READ THIS if you’re not in a good place.

(ARC provided by Edelweiss in exchange for a honest review)

I honestly don't know if I have the words right now. This was... heartbreaking, raw, sad and yet hopeful ?

Heroine tells the story of Mickey, a softball player, who gets into a car accident. An “innocent” prescription of Oxycontin makes Mickey want to “chase the dragon” meaning she wants to feel again the ...more

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Mar 14, 2019 madi rated it it was amazing

Wow wow wow. If you're in a good and healthy mental state please read this book. It's so eye opening and heart breaking.

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Mar 31, 2019 Sylvie rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 4 out of 5 Stars!

This review may contain spoilers:

I ususally don't go for stories like this, because of the dark subjects that are being dealt in the stories can be too heavy for me sometimes, but for some reason I found myself becoming invested in the synopsis so I decided to give the book a try. Before the book was released I read a sneak a peak of it and I immideately knew that Heroine will be worth the read.

Heroine has been a solid four star read for me. It is the kind of book that will grip 4 out of 5 Stars!

This review may contain spoilers:

I ususally don't go for stories like this, because of the dark subjects that are being dealt in the stories can be too heavy for me sometimes, but for some reason I found myself becoming invested in the synopsis so I decided to give the book a try. Before the book was released I read a sneak a peak of it and I immideately knew that Heroine will be worth the read.

Heroine has been a solid four star read for me. It is the kind of book that will grip you from the beginning till the end. A kind of a story that you don't want to stop with it and constantly want to know what will happen and how things will eventually turn out.

While reading the book it reminded me a lot of the film called 'Perfect High'. The main character of that film was a lot like Mickey (the main protagonist of this book) and the plot was similar as well. Now this doesn't mean I'm comparing those two to each other, however there were a lot of similarities yet different issues as well.

I read many young adult books that drug abuse was included, but there were always a minor issue, there were never the major concentration of the book, which I didn't mind. The deal with Heroine was that it is the main focus of the book and it's told from the POV of an addict.

One of the things that was interesting to me was that Mickey the main character is adopted, and I thought: ''Well here we go again, another book about a teenager wanting to find her biological parents no matter what, and every subject in the book being ignored and only focusing about finding her real parents''. Well folks, that was not case of this book at all. I mean, she was questioning every now and then to herself who her real parents might be and if they are good people or not, meaning if there have been drug useres like her as well and was it because of them that she became an addict.

Another main thing that bothered me through the entire novel was that no one bothered to ask Mickey if she’s using drugs outright, but everyone suspects she does... Even Carolina her best friend doesn’t even try. She knows something isn't the same with Mickey and instead of being concerned about her or talking to her about it, she creates a group chat with their teammates to discuss about Mickey and her newly developed strange behaviour. They were best friends since childhood and the way she started taking back steps from their friendship just because Mickey isn't 100% herself anymore made her an awful friend.

A character that I also want to include in this review is Edith: A woman who's over than 60 sells drugs to teenagers (and ''befriending'' them) to make her ends meet. The reason why I'm writing about her was because not her but the entire world what drugs does to a person, but she still keeps encouraging them to buy it. Plus, after everything that happened in the book there haven't been any mentioning if she's been caught by the police or etc.

In conclusion: The book does provide a good overview on how the opioid crisis is hitting everyone, how addiction breaks everything apart. And it’s well-written with a good story line.
If you enjoy YA books with fast paced storylines and serious topics I would definitely recommed this book! An intense yet very realistic story with a focus on substance abuse! ...more

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Jan 22, 2019 Madalyn (Novel Ink) rated it liked it

Shelves: 2019, edelweiss

This review originally appeared on Novel Ink.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Content warnings: addiction; opioid addiction; extensive drug use (opioid pills, heroin), described in detail; overdose; withdrawal; death; car accident; needles; vomiting

**Please use caution going into this review and/or this book if you are a recovered or recovering addict. This book contains content that could be This review originally appeared on Novel Ink.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Content warnings: addiction; opioid addiction; extensive drug use (opioid pills, heroin), described in detail; overdose; withdrawal; death; car accident; needles; vomiting

**Please use caution going into this review and/or this book if you are a recovered or recovering addict. This book contains content that could be extremely triggering.**

Mindy McGinnis is an author who I typically find very hit-or-miss, but her contemporaries always make me think and always tackle difficult subject matter with nuance. Heroine is no exception. In Heroine, McGinnis paints a harrowing and all-too-real picture of the US’s opioid crisis, the myriad types of people affected, and the complexity of the issue itself.

We follow Mickey Catalan, a high school softball star in her small Midwestern town. At the beginning of the book, Mickey is driving with her best friend and fellow softball teammate, Carolina, in the passenger seat, when the two are involved in a nasty car crash that leaves both of them severely injured and puts their futures in jeopardy. Mickey, unable to play or condition during her recovery from surgery and learning to live with three new screws holding her hip together, quickly becomes dependent on her Oxycontin prescription to get through each day. What begins as a quick fix for Mickey to escape her problems soon spirals into full-blown addiction.

I should say early in this review that I have personally never dealt with addiction, so take all of my thoughts on its portrayal in this story with a grain of salt. However, I think Heroine succeeded in capturing many of the thought processes of an addict. Throughout the book, Mickey justifies her drug use because she’s “not like other addicts”– she was first prescribed the drug completely legally, after all, unlike her newfound Oxy-using friends, who she continually demeans because they began using the drug recreationally. We see the victim-blaming narrative play out in Mickey’s inner monologue, even though she is in exactly the same situation as her fellow addicts. It may be cliche, but it’s true: the first step is admitting you have a problem, and Mickey is in deep, deep denial throughout this story.

We see Mickey start to slip away from her friend group and her softball team as she spends more and more time using with her new group of friends. She steals from her mom and stepmom in order to buy more drugs. When Mickey and her friends’ source of Oxycontin is no longer a viable option, they switch to easier-to-access heroin with almost no hesitation. Through all these things, Heroine truly captures the desperation addicts feel and the ways in which addiction can take over your life and your thoughts. It’s difficult to witness as a reader, because all the bad parts of addiction Mickey experiences feel so inevitable from the outside. However, reading from Mickey’s first-person perspective perfectly illustrates how people fall into addiction and why it feels to impossible to escape from the depths of it.

Mickey is no stranger to the opioid crisis– it’s taken over in her town, to the point where everyone knows someone affected– and yet that doesn’t stop her own dependency on the drug from happening. Heroine shows how, really, this can happen to anyone. As I mentioned, Mickey is originally prescribed Oxycontin completely legally, and it’s all too easy for her to access the drug even once her prescription runs out. I think this book illustrates some of the irresponsibility on the part of doctors and drug companies in prescribing opioids.

While I do think the portrayal of addiction in Heroine, though difficult to read, is a necessary one, the reason I can’t rate this book higher boils down to the complete and utter lack of connection I felt to all the characters in this story. We don’t get to spend any time with Mickey as a character before the car accident, so her whole personality in this book is her becoming a drug addict. We are continually told about her personality before the accident, but we’re never shown it, so it’s almost impossible to feel a real connection with her as a character. Additionally, her parents, softball teammates, user friends, and all other side characters in this story all felt like characters whose sole roles in this book were to further the events of Mickey’s plot– none of them felt like fully fleshed-out characters in their own right. I think this did a disservice to the book overall.

In short, this was a powerful read about a subject I’m glad YA is tackling, but don’t expect to find your new favorite characters in this story. ...more

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Oct 06, 2018 Ellen Gail rated it really liked it

Shelves: so-pretty, edelweiss

It's 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up.

It's dark and I'm driving exactly the speed limit, because I am a good girl. I am a student athlete and the catcher for an undefeated softball team and a senior who needs to get a good night's sleep before her last league game.....
I am not an addict.

I have a LOT of thoughts on this one, but I need to say this one first, and say it very loudly: Mickey's mother is one of my all time favorite fictional moms. I LOVE HER.

Don't worry I'll say it again, I'm sure.

I ...more

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Feb 18, 2019 Vicky Who Reads rated it really liked it

4 stars

Mindy McGinnis is one of the most versatile and consistently amazing writers I know of.

All of her books are stunning and range from a little dark to SUPER DARK, all while being some of the best teen literature I’ve ever read.

Somehow, she effortlessly gets to the root of something with a narrative style that fits the story, and her latest novel, Heroine, was no exception to this streak of consistently great books.

Honestly? Heroine is the darkest, scariest book Mindy’s written that I’ve ...more

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May 15, 2019 Katie.dorny rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019

I started this novel this afternoon and haven’t put it down.
Mickey was such a complex character and such a good protagonist to bring the story to life. The author’s acknowledgements also show she put her time into researching this topic.
This is a heavy book,make no mistake. There are no punches pulled in the first chapter but it’s a book definitely worth reading. The brutal honesty opens yours eyes to the reality for a lot of people.

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Jun 24, 2018 Sana marked it as anti-library · review of another edition

Shelves: arcs

UGH, EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS COVER IS JUST :HEART EYES:

Also, no idea how she does it but I love the subjects she tackles in her books from a cli-fi about water scarcity to a historical YA about lobotomies to rape culture and now drug addiction. In other words, I stan one (1) Mindy McGinnis

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Nov 09, 2019 Bookishrealm rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-read-in-2019, ya-realistic-fiction

Oh goodness this book was powerful. It’s a true testament to the opioid crisis here in America and it proves that addiction doesn’t always look the way that we think it does. What I do know is that this book is going to stay with me for a while. My heart truly goes out to Mickey and her family. This book definitely doesn’t have a feel good tone or even a happy ending so if that’s what you’re looking for then stay away from this book. It’s real, it’s gritty and I felt her want and need in her ...more

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May 23, 2019 Amy rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary, young-adult, coming-of-age

Star Rating: 3.5 Stars

I admit to myself that I am a heroin user, while also updating in my mind what that actually means. I am not a wasted person. I am not prowling the streets. I am not an addict. I am a girl spinning her locker combination. I am a girl who got a B on her math test. I am a girl who has two holes on the inside of her arm, but they do not tell the whole story of me.

Holy crap, this book is ROUGH. This book opens up with a trigger warning and it is real. This book is graphic, Star Rating: 3.5 Stars

I admit to myself that I am a heroin user, while also updating in my mind what that actually means. I am not a wasted person. I am not prowling the streets. I am not an addict. I am a girl spinning her locker combination. I am a girl who got a B on her math test. I am a girl who has two holes on the inside of her arm, but they do not tell the whole story of me.

Holy crap, this book is ROUGH. This book opens up with a trigger warning and it is real. This book is graphic, intense, and upsetting at times. If you're not in a great head space - PUT. THIS. BOOK. DOWN. No book is worth sending yourself into a tailspin.

When I wake up, all my friends are dead.
Yeah, so this book comes out swinging, but also starts by putting its cards on the table. You know where this book is going and honestly it makes the whole thing more harrowing. You start at the climax and time travel back to the start and see how someone with such a promising future can end at such a low point.

I noticed this with The Female of the Species , McGinnis has a way with words and a way of writing books that are harrowing and enthralling. Heroine is no exception. And what really sticks with you is the unease this book leaves you with. I honestly felt anxious just reading about Mickey's downward spiral. Her transition from an excellent softball player and friend to an opioid addict. The slow progress into addiction was excellently written - the small allowances, the denial, the slow deterioration of her sense of what is right and how quickly all of this can take place.

Overall, I liked Mickey. I found her to be sympathetic and it made her downward spiral that much more powerful. I also think it was powerful choice to use Mickey to as the protagonist. She's an extremely talented athlete, she has a strong group of friends. Mickey she has a strong relationship with her adopted mother, but a complicated relationship with her adoptive father and his new wife and her new baby brother. She is a normal girl, but normal people fall into addiction all the time. Addiction doesn't care who you are: rich/poor, you're ethnicity, broken home/strong familial unit, whatever.

You're still my heroine.

Trigger Warning: addiction, substance abuse (specifically opioid use), overdose ...more

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Mar 19, 2019 Adah Udechukwu rated it it was amazing

Heroine was an inspiring read. Addictions are bad is a lesson to be learnt from the novel. If you do not control yourself and your addiction your life will be fucked up real bad.

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Nov 03, 2019 Yna the Mood Reader rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobook

I admit to myself that I am a heroin user, while also updating in my mind what that actually means. I am not a wasted person. I am not prowling the streets. I am not an addict. I am a girl spinning her locker combination. I am a girl who got a B on her math test. I am a girl who has two holes on the inside of her arm, but they do not tell the whole story of me.

Series: No, Standalone.
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
POV: Frist person.
Cliffhanger: No.

Content Warnings: Graphic description of ...more

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Dec 03, 2019 L A i N E Y rated it it was ok

Shelves: audiobook, read-me-a-phonebook, ya, you-disappoint-me, reviewed, psychological

“I’m exhausted in all the ways I’m supposed to be strong.”

One word: MISERABLE.

I expect more, really. Last year I read female of the species and it was so good so I definitely picked this up with a lot of expectation and that might be the downfall of my own making.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad book, it’s not even a ‘meh’. I just think Mickey doesn’t have that much personality for me to really get invested in her suffering. Oh I do sympathize with her for sure. And the author did a good ...more

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Mar 02, 2019 Hollis added it

Shelves: dark, family-focused, grief-or-loss, finished-in-march-2019, sportsy, contemporary, ebook, 2019-reads, arc, not-all-the-feels-but-some

Never let it be said that McGinnis takes the easy way out in her books. Each one, at least those that I've read, handles something different and, usually, very dark. HEROINE tackles the opioid crisis through the lens of an injured sports star who is desperate to return to her previous incarnation as strong, capable, and on the fast track.

I could absolutely appreciate (whilst also being mostly terrified) of this downward spiral and the desperation that Mickey was driven to just to dull the pain, ...more

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Jun 16, 2019 Cesar rated it it was ok · review of another edition

2.5 stars.

Heroine was an underwhelming book. With the premise of an athlete spiraling into the world of drug abuse, it should've invoked strong feelings of how someone can be fine one day but everything goes south when they start taking drugs. Except, it wasn't.

Being that Heroine tackles drug abuse and how it affects the individual taking the drug and the people around them, I was expecting more from it. And what I got, as a result, was a story that feels... adequate. It's a shame because I ...more

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Mar 22, 2019 Kim Friant rated it really liked it

4 Stars—Whoa. Mindy McGinnis does it yet again! No one captures inner darkness like Mindy. And did she do it in Heroine. I can’t say I like it better than This Darkness Mine, but this one is definitely the most realistic of all her books. Now y’all know that I’m very tough on characters, especially the teens. I expected to go after Mickey. I am an incredibly addictive person and let’s be honest, narcotics are amazing. I absolutely love opiates. The morphine I got after my appendectomy made me 4 Stars—Whoa. Mindy McGinnis does it yet again! No one captures inner darkness like Mindy. And did she do it in Heroine. I can’t say I like it better than This Darkness Mine, but this one is definitely the most realistic of all her books. Now y’all know that I’m very tough on characters, especially the teens. I expected to go after Mickey. I am an incredibly addictive person and let’s be honest, narcotics are amazing. I absolutely love opiates. The morphine I got after my appendectomy made me fly 5 feet off my bed and I enjoyed every second. I got this huge bottle of oxycodone to take home with me. I barely made a dent in the bottle and it now sits in our medicine cabinet, still full. The only time I’m allowed to take a pill is when I have to have my mouth numbed at the dentist’s office. About a year ago, I had a root canal and I was numbed up big time, so I took one pill. The thought entered my mind that once Ivan went to work, I could totally take another pill, even though the numb had worn off. I wasn’t even scared by that thought. When Ivan went to work, I didn’t take another pill. Ever since then, I have been heavily critical of addicts. I’m not talking about people who get hooked on their legal prescriptions that their doctor went crazy with. I mean the addicts who get the illegal stuff. Mickey is that kind of addict, so I was all set. Gonna be tough on her, gonna criticize, gonna shake my head. I didn’t do all that to the degree that I was expecting. Of course I shook my head, cuz this girl decided to risk her future, her life, her everything to chase the dragon. Teens are stupid, we already knew that. But McGinnis broke down the process so well, that I felt far more sympathy than I did judgement. I did judge her parents tho. Who the hell leaves prescription drugs on their kid’s nightstand???? Unsupervised??? In this day and age?????? Morons. But I really did like this book. A lot. I absolutely recommend this book to older teens. McGinnis gives a true to life look at addiction and the drugs themselves. She didn’t shy away from talking about how great the drugs feel. She also didn’t shy away from the overall effects and the consequences. Obviously, I wouldn’t give this book to younger kids. But the older teens could definitely benefit from it. An excellent book; high five, Mindy McGinnis! ...more

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Mar 14, 2019 PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Mickey fractures her hip just a few months before senior year softball season. After one prescription of OxyContin, she’s hooked. Good thing she has it under control. She’s not an addict like Josie, the girl who gives her pills. She can stop any time she wants. Mickey just needs to be ready for spring training. She’d never crush and snort the pills. Until she does. She’d never mix them with water and shoot them into her veins. Until she does. She’d never switch to heroin. She can stop any time ...more

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Jul 30, 2018 Ashley rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult-fiction, health-and-wellness, 2018, contemporary, sports, feels

"Sometimes it's hard to decide what's the worst thing I ever did."

This was a hard book to read. Mickey feels like any sports-obsessed high school girl, like she could be real and out there. And to a degree, she is. Addiction is an epidemic in America, and it's destroying people's lives every day. Books like Heroine give a face to a disease that is easy to dehumanize. You don't think it could ever be someone you know, or a relative, or even yourself. Mickey thought the same. Seeing her ...more

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Jul 13, 2019 Misster Reader rated it really liked it

Shelves: library-loans

I think McGinnis' books tend to be hit or miss for a lot of people. With that mindset, I couldn't help but proceed with caution and was glad to find myself pleasantly surprised.

Heroine at no point feels like a cut and narrow cautionary tale. It is descriptive and therefor addicts should proceed with caution (or to be frank skip it all together), but it never felt as if the author were trying to squeeze out as much graphic content as possible. Rather, the story felt plausible and in some ways ...more

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Mar 20, 2019 Milena rated it did not like it

I have no sympathy whatsoever for junkies (being raised by one may have to be the reason), and I have even less sympathy for writers who have no idea what the hell are they talking about.

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Apr 05, 2019 Taylor rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019-books, contemporary, fucking-important

"I am not a wasted person. I am not prowling the streets. I am not an addict. I am a girl spinning her locker combination. I am a girl who got a B on her math test. I am a girl who has two holes on the inside of her arm, but they do not tell the whole story of me."

...

Heroine ripped me to shreds.

I generally read books for entertainment and escapism. That's one of the reasons why I love fantasy and science fiction. Who wouldn't love to spend time in Middle Earth with beloved characters, or ...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Green Ribbon Book...: Heroine SPOILERS	2	6	Aug 22, 2019 01:50AM
Green Ribbon Book...: Heroine NON-SPOILER	1	3	Jul 24, 2019 04:46PM
YA Buddy Readers'...: Heroine by Mindy McGinnis - Starting 10th June 2019	15	10	Jun 21, 2019 01:58AM
Play Book Tag: Heroine by Mindy McGinnis - 5 Stars	2	15	May 02, 2019 06:11AM

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About Mindy McGinnis

Mindy McGinnis

2,764 followers

Mindy McGinnis is an Edgar Award-winning novelist who writes across multiple genres, including post-apocalyptic, historical, thriller, contemporary, mystery, and fantasy.

While her settings may change, you can always count on Mindy’s books to deliver grit, truth, and an unflinching look at humanity and the world around us.

Books by Mindy McGinnis

Not a Drop to Drink (Not a Drop to Drink, #1)

In a Handful of Dust (Not a Drop to Drink, #2)

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Quotes from Heroine

“heroine: a woman of heroic spirit; the principal female person who figures in a
remarkable action” — 2 likes

“all her brain is overrun by agony, every nerve she has singing a song that has no lyrics. Pain can come in a quick rush, fading off into something bearable after that initial peak. But pain that endures doesn’t give you that break, the moment of air that you need before you’re pulled back under.” — 1 likes

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