I’m judging the L.A. Times 2020 and 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got this book from the perspective pile into the read further pile.

I was very happy to get my hand on a review copy of this novel. Tucker writes deftly of addiction and the human condition. Looking forward to reading further.

Oooooof, this book tore my heart out! I became so invested in the characters that I would often gasp or say "No!" as I was reading and their story was unfolding. Karen Tucker is an incredible writer, and her debut BEWILDERNESS is a sharp, stinging look at addiction in poor, young women of small town America. Irene and Luce are two best friends who waitress at the same restaurant, and have the same struggles with opioid addiction. They attend meetings, and have been sober for a year, but things veer off track when Luce's clean boyfriend is found dead from an overdose. It is an extremely intense book, but it is slim and clear cut and you will feel deeply for these characters and want nothing but the best for them. I've ever quite read anything like it, and I truly cannot recommend it enough. It really is an experience.

TW: drug abuse, addiction, sexual assault

This debut novel from Karen Tucker takes on two women dealing with Opioid addition. Luce and Irene, have been friends for years. They met as addicts, and they cleaned up their act together. Luce has made the hard decision to move to Florida with her boyfriend, who OD’s the night before they are supposed to leave. What Tucker, writes is about the spiraling of these two women.

Irene is our narrator in this story, and she loves Luce and wants to protect her as much as possible. She continues to be put in impossible positions in the story. Told from two timelines, one after the OD and one at the start of Irene and Luce’s friendship.

I personally do not have much personal experience with the Opioid crisis, except from what I see on the news, and the documentaries that I have watched. However, it appears to me Karen Tucker took a lot of care to write this story. She does not make this story pretty in any light, but immerses the reader in the world of addiction, and how it affects everyone.

This is a beautiful, impactful book that I would highly recommend to readers, who want immerse themselves in this history making epidemic.

Thank you NetGalley and Catapult Books for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book hit me harder than I expected. The beginning was slow and I felt as if I had read the same story before--but after I got the chance to dive into the setting and Irene and Luce's friendship, I became more engrossed in what would happen to them. This book tackles the opioid epidemic in Appalachia in a haunting and beautiful way, and the storyline felt painfully familiar. I wish I could have heard even more about Irene's feelings for Luce, but I appreciated the beauty of this friendship. This is a poignant story that might not be for everyone but certainly hits hard.

Irene and Luce take you on a journey from the beginning of their friendship showing that small town living isn't for everyone. This novel was slow burn for me. I did enjoy how the author used flashbacks to help the reader better relate to their relationship however something was left missing for me. I was constantly questioning why certain aspects of the book were there and there were so many things missing. I wanted to know more about Luce's boyfriend and their relationship. This book does deal with addiction.

Thank you so much to #NetGalley and Catapult for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Trigger warning- drug abuse

Such a tender story about friendship, and addiction . Two friends who are living life in the fast lane until one meets the person who wants them to get sober.

I have to say I was really caught up in the story. I didn't want to put this book down. Irene and Luce's friendship reeled me in. It was full of love, but it was also a very unhealthy friendship. These two were very co-dependent on each other which can make it appear unhealthy at times. This still is a powerful story that I can't get out of my head.

This one is a heartbreaker. Irene and Luce are entwined as best friends with opioid habits. Then Luce meets Wilky, an Army sergeant who also has a pill problem and she thinks things are going to be ok, especially once they move to Florida. Except they aren't. This is told by Irene in a fluid back and forth in time way and with a clear voice. It's a dark, atmospheric look at the grim life of addicts in rural areas and there are no flinches. Co-dependency and friendship are twins in this novel of young women who you will ache for. Thanks to netgalley for the Arc. A tough but excellent read.

“Once upon a time there was magic, there was music, and then: nothing. Even now, years later, there are days when the world is little more than an empty scraped-out bag.” - Bewilderness.


Irene, a lonely nineteen-year-old in rural North Carolina, works long nights at the local pool hall, serving pitchers and dodging drunks. One evening, her hilarious, magnetic coworker Luce invites her on a joy ride through the mountains to take revenge on a creepy customer. Their adventure not only spells the beginning of a dazzling friendship, it seduces both girls into the mysterious world of pills and the endless hustles needed to find the next high. Everything is wild and wonderful until Luce finds a boyfriend who wants to help her get clean. Soon, the two of them decide to move away and start a new, sober life in Florida—leaving Irene behind.

Thank you to NetGalley , Catapult , and Karen Tucker for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Wow what can I say about this book! Bewilderness is the story of the friendship between Irene and Luce as they live in their small mountain town, and are caught in the hold of opioid addiction. The friendship between them is one of love, co-dependence, and even danger as they battle between sobriety and drug use. I really liked how this book examined friendship through the lens of addiction and how they impact one-another. This is a heartbreaking, graphic read but it is written so well. I felt that it accurately depicted addiction and the multitude of ways that it can impact someone’s life. I would recommend this book, especially for those who have read and enjoyed books such as “Marlena”, books by author Ellen Hopkins, or movies such as “Thirteen”.

Release Date: June 1, 2021

Bewilderness is a gut-wrenching debut novel that follows two young women who fall into drug addiction and their attempts to get clean. Karen Tucker brilliantly captured their friendship as it teeters between love and compassion for one another and utter toxicity. I also found the pacing in this book to be fantastic, particularly in its use of a non-linear timeline. I am definitely intrigued to see where Karen Tucker goes next!

Thank you to Karen Tucker and Catapult for providing me with an early copy of this work through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Bewilderness comes out on June 1.

This is a brutal read. It's a raw, honest, and intense story about drug addiction and codependency.

Irene is as much addicted to drugs as she is to Luce. While Luce's quick-temper and impulsive tendencies often pull her down, as well as those around her. It doesn't glamorize drug use but gives a realistic depiction of how people can fall into addiction and then what comes after. The writing and structure reflect the state of mind these characters are often in and the effect drugs can have on memory-- scattered and disconnected. It's a difficult read, not for story or plot, but purely for subject manner.

TWs: drug addiction, relapse, sexual assault, overdose

Thank you to NetGalley and Catapult for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Some books you read, other books you experience. This is one you experience. Karen Tucker has a natural feel for setting and characterization. Rather than describing the surroundings to me, she picked me up and put me there. The characters came alive, displaying all the quirks of real people. I felt what it was like to live in poverty, with these people who call rural North Carolina their home.

The dialogue is also masterful. Characters all have unique voices, both in word choices and in the rhythm of their speech. Conversations feel natural, never forced for the purposes of the story. It's hard to believe this is a first novel. I fully enjoyed the author's writing style, read this in one sitting and I'm looking forward to reading more of her work. All. The. Stars.

Unfortunately, the content matter in this book is something I'm all too familiar with, but that means I am in a peculiar position to affirm that nearly everything in this book rings true. Karen Tucker could not have done a better job of describing the world of opioids and addiction, and dare I call this book perfect? It's not, but it felt that way to me.

The Struggle

This is a story about opioid addiction, it's easy access and its appeal to the young. Sadly it shows the struggles of two girls to shake the pull of the drugs and to come clean. It was so sad to see that the struggle was so real for these young people.

It was sad that both had a family member that abused a substance either alcohol or drugs. It also showed the boyfriend that had the same struggle and had a well to do family, he had a college education and still could not shake the pull of the drug. I think that it would have helped them a great deal to win their fight if they had had proper support from some family member during this time.

They tried cold turkey, they tried the meetings and both made it almost a year before they relapsed again. They fed off of each other. When one would try and quit the other would not and both begain using drugs again.

You will experience their friendship , betrayals of and by friends and family and ultimately learn if one or either of them ever kicked free from their drug dependence.

This was a sad story but it really brought to light the struggle those addicted live every day. Yes, it was their choice and they should not have started in the first place, but it was a bad choice and they needed help and support to then get off the drugs. As a society we need to recognize this need and somehow address it.

I would recommend this book to any parents of young people.

Thanks to Karen Tucker, Catapult books, and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review an advanced copy of the book.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

Irene and Luce are best friends who live, work and get high together. A good read about friends, drug use and abuse and how to come out on the other side of it to stay clean and sober striving for a new life.

3.75☆

It's hard to capture my response to this novel. This is a novel about two young girls, just beginning their journey in adulthood, who have lived hard, hard lives. Girls that have had to scratch and fight for survival, long before they should have had to. They have been failed by everyone and every institution that should have been there to make survival just a little easier. No real surprise they are also addicts. The things described here--looking for the next fix, deciding to get clean, the process of getting clean, hustling for drugs, falling down again--none of this can I relate to. And it is painful and depressing to read. But there is also something in their friendship that is beautiful., even as messed up as they both are. Glimpses of almost child-like qualities that drew me in and kept me reading, wanting them to be able to find their way out together. This novel is heavy and dark. I saw one description that said it is funny as well. I found nothing funny. At All. It's probably not for everyone, but I think it did provide a small peek into a way of living that I am blessed to never have experienced. You'll think about the small blessings in your life a little differently after this one. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing a digital ARC for review.

BEWILDERNESS is a very honest and hard-hit ting look at opioid addiction in Small Town, America.

When the book starts, best friends Irene and Luce have been clean for a significant amount of time. But after tragedy strikes, their lives begin to spiral down towards old habits and temptations.
Mixed throughout the story are flashbacks that show the hardships they endured to get to where they are now.

It's an amazing look at their friendship. They definitely love and support each other but addiction also makes them co-dependant and enablers.
It's entirely narrated by Irene and the author does a fantastic job of subtly showing how her POV is influenced by her addiction and that other characters can see things more clearly.
Another thing I really like about this book is that it doesn't glamorize drug use at all. There's no wild parties or adventures where everyone is having fun getting high. Instead BEWILDERNESS keeps it real.

*thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.
Due for release June 1st.

I didn’t want to give in, but I was weak. I thought I could handle just a few more pages, thought there was no way I would read more than another chapter. I should have known better...Bewilderness had me addicted, and I was up all night until I finished. Karen Tucker weaves an intoxicating tale of Irene & Luce, bored coworkers in what could be Anytown, USA, bonding together into a fast friendship of drugs, adventure, addiction, and codependency. Bewilderness isn’t for the faint of heart but is the eye-opener that many readers may need; while it is not marketed as a YA novel, it is capable of hooking a wide audience & will appeal to a broad range of readers.

A brilliant take on the life of addiction. This is not an easy read, but the story will keep you reading through the night. Heartwrenching and page-turning. A new author to follow. Talented beyond....

Wow. What a heavy look into life in addiction (and codependency). I wanted to punch Luce and shake Irene by her shoulders and wrap them both in warm blankets. The last tenth of Bewilderness DESTROYED me. I'm so grateful for an ARC of this and definitely will be buying a copy when it comes out.

This is a book you will not be able to put down. If you have any friends or family that have dealt with the roller coaster ride of addiction you will find this book compelling, disturbing and enlightening. The author takes you on an inside ride through the highs and lows of two best friends searching for a way out of their deadend existence. Their dedication to each other as well as the highs they search for will leave you racing to the end, hoping they find a way out and to a better life. Excellent read!