May 10:
These two things I know for sure: (1) nothing about life is fair, and (2) it is not going to get better. How’s that for an optimistic way to begin this journal? Not that I’ll continue this exercise in depressing futility. I mean, how can writing about my miserable life improve one single part of it?
Fifteen-year-old Maya Stark seems to have it all—fame, fortune, a Beverly Hills lifestyle, and an eighties pop star dad who’s making a comeback. But looks can be deceiving, and on the inside, Maya is miserable. Her parents are divorced, her dad is away on tour, and being biracial, she struggles with her identity. Then, to make matters worse, her mother has returned to using drugs and is quickly depleting their finances. In a plan to become emancipated from her messed-up mom, Maya takes a job on Rodeo Drive. Selling designer clothes compromises Maya’s earth-friendly “green girl” values, but she is desperate.
Just when Maya thinks she’s got it all worked out, her life caves in. Her mom “embezzles” Maya’s savings and is later arrested on DUI and cocaine possession charges and is facing jail time. With nowhere to live, Maya is sent to spend the summer with her relatives. In the collision of two very different worlds, Maya must figure out where she fits in—or does she fit in at all?
For more information on the author Melody Carlson and other books she has written
be sure to visit www.melodycarlson.com