My Lost and Found Life [Paperback]

Melodie Bowsher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 27, 2007

Ashley Mitchell thinks she has the perfect life: popularity, a hot boyfriend, and great fashion sense. But Ashley's world falls apart when her mother is accused of embezzling a million dollars, and no one can find her. Before she can say Dolce & Gabbana, Ashley's life goes from perfect to pathetic. With questions growing about her mother and her money quickly disappearing, Ashley is forced to make some drastic changes in her life. With nowhere else to go, she moves into an old camper behind a gas station and takes a job in a quirky San Francisco coffee shop where she wouldn't have been caught dead a month ago. But life at Mad Malcolm's Cyber Café isn't what she expected. At the Madhouse she finds friends, confidence, and courage to start putting her life back together. But will Ashley ever have the chance to share her new life with her mother?
 
This heartfelt coming of age story will resonate with every daughter who ever took her mother for granted, and every young woman who must step out on her own and not just survive, but thrive.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up–Bowsher convincingly develops the unique voice of a young woman sliding from being a San Francisco suburban Valley Girl into homelessness. At the opening of the story, Ashley is an abrasive, catty snob just days away from high school graduation. Soon enough, however, the police are knocking on her door. Apparently the family's life of luxury has been financed by embezzled funds, and her mother has disappeared without a word. Ashley doesn't know what to believe, but she has no time to sit around wondering. She has to go to work, her boyfriend isn't as loyal as she might have hoped, and all the while she's dealing with the criminal investigation. By the end, Ashley has shed her judgmental pretension and is simply a feisty young woman with a tough exterior. This captivating story reads more like a journal than a novel. Though it is not high literature, it is a quick, easy read.–Leah Krippner, Harlem High School, Machesney Park, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Part sexy romance, part urban survival adventure, this long, fast-paced contemporary novel will speak to older teens about coming-of-age. At 17, Ashley is homecoming queen, has a 4.0 GPA, and is on her way to an elite college when her mom disappears after being accused of embezzling funds. Suddenly the spoiled high-school star is homeless and alone, shunned by the elite in her Bay Area community. She moves into a camper and gets work in a local coffeehouse, where she finds community with the customers and fellow workers, including gorgeous Patrick, with whom she has sex. No way is she joining her girlfriend as a stripper. The plot is pure melodrama: the princess brought low. But Ashley's first-person narrative is funny, whether she is talking about what to wear or whom to talk to ("the only normal people are ones you don't know very well"), and readers will be caught up in the riches-to-rags turnaround in a materialistic world. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books (November 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599901552
• ISBN-13: 978-1599901558
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,152,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for all Mothers and Daughters!, August 29, 2006

By 

Judith Gable (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Lost and Found Life (Hardcover)

"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 the mothers out there whose daughters are coming of age and to all the daughters. I believe they will both enjoy it as much as I did. Good job!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Page turner, August 28, 2006

By 

E. Mailman (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Lost and Found Life (Hardcover)

This book is amazingly-crafted as the main character transforms from a shallow, vain girl to one who can take care of herself and learns what's important along the way. I really loved this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let's have more from Melodie, January 18, 2007

By 

Thinking Person (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Lost and Found Life (Hardcover)

Melodie Bowsher's first novel reaches right into the world of young women walking the line between adolescence and womanhood -- from their vocabularies to their daily preoccupations. Like many high school seniors, Ashley sees her mother as an irritant -- the person who magically pays for Ashley's lifestyle but who otherwise just doesn't 'get it' and should just stay out of the way. Ashley has no idea how her single mother struggles to provide Ashley access to the priviliged social sphere at which the popular teen is the center. The embezzling mom is an intriguing character herself. Her early disappearance in the book shapes Ashley's challenging metamorphasis from preoccupied prom queen to ingenious survivor. How does a sheltered teen who has never paid a bill even begin to get by when her home and credit cards no longer exist -- when her irritating mother (her only family) is nowhere to be found? Ashley's journey is a crash course in survival. How long do we have to wait for Melodie Bowsher's next novel?