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Book Review: Spin by Catherine McKenzie
I received Spin from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program and I'm so glad I did! I've been in a reading rut lately: it feels like all I ever read is YA or Paranormal Romance. I tend to stay away from bestsellers, and the people who usually recommend books to me have been as busy as I have with the holidays and simply Life in general. Also, if I have to choose to spend money on books or art supplies--I have plenty of books, so art supplies are where my attention has been directed.

The basic storyline of Spin: A Novel by Catherine McKenzie is that Kate is a journalist trying to get her dream job with a music magazine called The Line. She finally gets an interview which happens to fall on her birthday. To celebrate, she joins her friends the night before the interview and what starts out as "one drink, then I'll go home" ends up with her showing up at the interview looking as badly hungover as she is. Needless to say, Katie will not be the best new writer at The Line.

One of the editors at The Line who witnessed Katie's hungover interviews is also the editor of a gossip magazine. One of America's favorite young movie stars, Amber--The Girl Next Door--just entered rehab, and Katie is the perfect undercover spy for a tell-all feature by going to the same rehab center as Amber. If Katie can pull this off, she'll get her dream job at The Line after all.

What begins as a job assignment soon turns into a serious reality check--instead of faking an addiction to get the undercover exposé of a movie star stripped bare in rehab, Kate sees how her own drinking has become out-of-control. Against her own will, she's feeling all kinds of emotions she never expected and finds herself experiencing the 12 steps of her own.

I enjoyed this book immensely. It's already an International Bestseller, and I think America will fall in love with Kate's story as well when it's published next month. The story can become a little slow at times, but never so much that I had to switch to another book and come back to finish Spin later. It took me about 2 days to read the whole book, although I did stay up late last night to finish it.

I love Kate's conversations with her conscious and I sympathize with her unwilling self-awareness. I found Kate's unique way of naming the other characters in the story, (The Producer, The Banker, Mr. Fortune 500, etc. - even her target Amber is TGND) to be brilliant! It's much easier to remember the characters this way.

I've saved my favorite thing about Spin until the end of my review: the story does not end at Kate's release from her 30 days of rehab. I honestly assumed the book would end with Kate's decision to write the tell-all article for the gossip magazine or her refusal to hurt her new friend this way. Instead, the story kept going, and Kate's (and Amber's) stories show what life is like after rehab.

I like the movie 28 Days, but it pretty much ends with Sandra Bullock's release from rehab. Spin is an excellent novel that provides the satisfaction of knowing how the characters try to fit the lessons from the 12 steps into their real lives.

A solid 4 stars out of 5!

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Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings

Katie Sandford may not admit to having a drinking problem, but throwing up in the interview of a lifetime due to an evening out the night before may warrant a second evaluation. Thankfully the magazine is willing to give a second chance and challenges her to enter rehab where a well known starlet is also getting treatment and she must get the inside scoop. Challenge accepted!

Sadly, I am a celebrity news junkie! So this book appealed to me on many levels - I love this author, I love the concept and I like a little celebrity behind the scenes (even if it is fiction!) I loved Katie for her naive sense of taking the job and not admitting to herself, although it is obvious to the reader that she needs just as much help as the rest of the patients around her.

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Kate Sandford has just gotten an opportunity to land her dream job at hip magazine The Line. But on the eve of her 30th birthday, the night before her big interview, Kate goes out with some friends and gets totally drunk. The next morning, she goes to her interview terribly hungover. Her prospective employers know she's in no condition to interview - how can they not with her running out of the meeting to throw up? - and send her on her way. Crestfallen, Kate heads home. But later The Line calls her to tell her they have the perfect assignment for her - they want her to go into rehab for a story. The deal is that Kate needs to go in undercover at the $1000-a-day Oasis rehab centre to get the dirt on IT girl Amber Sheppard who has been in and out of rehab for drug and alcohol abuse. If Kate can stay 30 days without getting kicked out and deliver an inside piece on Amber, then she will score that job at The Line. Sounds easy? Well, not really. Once in rehab, Kate finds that she may actually have a drinking problem. Plus she develops a friendship with Amber and doesn't feel right spying on her. But Kate knows she's there to do a job so when mega movie star Connor Parks, Amber's on-again-off-again boyfriend, also enters Oasis things get a little touchy. Especially since he's brought along his manager, Henry, who Kate falls head over heels for. Can Kate deliver her story without hurting her friendships? And will she finally own up to her drinking problem? Surprisingly good - especially Kate's developing relationships with Amber and Henry, this is a riveting and raw story that may make you feel like you're in therapy yourself. It's certainly addictive!

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