Melodie Bowsher

I randomly picked up this book because I saw that my friend Alex read it (and she has pretty good taste in books). It's the only YA novel on her shelf, so I thought I'd have to give it a try. I managed to read this book in a single day. I didn't want to put it down even though I had some last minute homework to do (I ended up blowing off the homework, haha. Not unusual when I'm reading a good book!). "My Lost and Found Life" captivated me from the very first paragraph and didn't let me go. It is a heartwarming story about a young woman who is thrust into growing up fast, making the best of a bad situation, about making decisions right or wrong, about discovering love, relationships and learning to cope with life's journeys. Ashley's transformation is amazing, and I highly recommend this book to all girls finishing up high school! I believe they will both enjoy it as much as I did.… (mer)

Well. It's like this. I read four or five or six pages and thought, "well, there is no way in hell I am finishing this." The "heroine" is so self-absorbed, so supercilious that I cannot abide reading another paragraph. But I did. And, it was worth it.

Ashley changes from a very self-absorbed teenager into a survivor, and not only a survivor, but into a total, caring individual.

If you start reading this book and want to throw it against the wall, don't. It's the worth the entire read.

Excellent job, Ms. Bowsher!… (mer)

Reviewed by Carrie Spellman for TeensReadToo.com

It's five days before graduation and Ashley's perfect life is crumbling. Her mother is being accused of embezzling a million dollars, and has disappeared. Ashley can't believe her mother would do something like that, much less disappear and leave her with the fall-out. Although it's starting to look like it all might be true. One by one the things Ashley counted on and took for granted are falling away. There's no way she can afford the senior trip to Hawaii. Her perfect boyfriend won't even acknowledge her. Gone are her plans to go to college in Boston with her best friend. Not to mention the bills, but those can wait for her mom to come back. Except it's getting pretty obvious that she's not coming back.

Suddenly Ashley, who's always just gotten what she asked for, has to fend for herself. It's a hard crash course in reality. There's no way she can afford to keep the house, even after she has a yard sale to sell off its contents. She needs a job, but it's hard to find a job with no work experience. It's impossible to find a place to live without income. The only people who can help are her mother's ex-boyfriend, who doesn't like her, her mother's best friend, who thinks she's a spoiled brat, and the cop who's investigating her mom. Everyone seems to be waiting for her to fail.

Ashley finds herself living in a camper behind a gas station., without heat or running water. She falls into a job at Mad Malcom's, an off-beat coffee shop where the clientele is as nutty as the owner. In her wildest dreams she could never imagine her life getting this off track. The question is, can she pull herself out of where she`s ended up? And, what really happened to her mother?

On the way through she learns a few things about real friends, dangerous people, and personal strength.

MY LOST AND FOUND LIFE is so well-written that Ashley seems like a real person. It's written like an autobiography, and I almost forgot that it wasn't a true story. Especially since it could be--things like this actually happen to people. It is a good reminder that you don't always know what people have been through. As well as a reminder that you might be surprised at what you can do when you run out of options.… (mer)