A coming of age novel following Bria as she tries to find her place in life.

Living with her aunt, as her mother recovers from addiction and her father serves a prison sentence, Bria falls under the spell of Some Boy Aka Brian. While she initially finds the relationship exciting, a chance meeting with bear, serves to show her what and who really matters.

Touching on cyber stalking and drug abuse, What's Not Mine evokes all the confusion and uncertainty of being a young adult.

What's Not Mine by Nora Decter explores the dark complexities of family, addiction, and survival against the backdrop of a small town devasted by the opioid epidemic. We follow 16-year-old Bria, the protagonist, on her journey through a tumultuous summer and witness her descent into dangerous behavior. The narrative is fast-paced and unfolds naturally, especially in its audiobook format. I would recommend this book to fans of Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead.

Listened to this on the way back from Wales on a train journey, great relaxing listen. Was able to listen and finish in only 3 days. Really enjoyed the pace and plot

Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for gifting me this ALC of the audiobook to review.

Unfortunately, this book was not my cup of tea. To me, a good book has to either be enjoyable to read or convey some sort of knowledge or insight or emotion into something in a unique way and this book was neither for me.

The whole book I was asking myself a) what is this book trying to tell me and b) how realistic is this representation?

Regarding a) I am sure most people have heard of the fentanyl crisis before and I fear that the book does not tell us more about it apart from that it exists and that the younger population also suffers from it. This was not news to me and I don't think this would be news to anyone that picks this book up.

Regarding b) obviously I don't know the realities of a fentanyl addict, not being or knowing one myself, so I won't comment on this. But what is more concerning to me is that this book is marketed as a young adult novel and narrated from the perspective of a 15/16-year-old. Having been a teenager before, I feel like I can comment on this. The narration felt a bit off for me. The MC deals with a lot of adult topics but does so very numbly and coldly. I understand that if you have been in certain situations before the novelty will wear off and emotions won't be so high, but there is no self-reflection happening on the MC's part regarding her actions her emotions and the emotions of others. As a result, the narration did not move me. Of course I was hoping for some sort of resolution for the MC, but the emotional depth of the story was just missing. This is not a coming-of-age story, because nothing was overcome or learned.

To conclude, this YA story dealt with a lot of adult themes without allowing their emotional depth, there was very little to no self-reflection happening on the MC's side which puts a lot of responsibility on a (teenage) reader to come to their own conclusions. This along with the inconsequential ending made the story feel very surface-level.

There were no problems with the audiobook adaptation.

Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for gifting me this ALC of the audiobook to review.

Unfortunately, this book was not my cup of tea. To me, a good book has to either be enjoyable to read or convey some sort of knowledge or insight or emotion into something in a unique way and this book was neither for me.

The whole book I was asking myself a) what is this book trying to tell me and b) how realistic is this representation?

Regarding a) I am sure most people have heard of the fentanyl crisis before and I fear that the book does not tell us more about it apart from that it exists and that the younger population also suffers from it. This was not news to me and I don't think this would be news to anyone that picks this book up.

Regarding b) obviously I don't know the realities of a fentanyl addict, not being or knowing one myself, so I won't comment on this. But what is more concerning to me is that this book is marketed as a young adult novel and narrated from the perspective of a 15/16-year-old. Having been a teenager before, I feel like I can comment on this. The narration felt a bit off for me. The MC deals with a lot of adult topics but does so very numbly and coldly. I understand that if you have been in certain situations before the novelty will wear off and emotions won't be so high, but there is no self-reflection happening on the MC's part regarding her actions her emotions and the emotions of others. As a result, the narration did not move me. Of course I was hoping for some sort of resolution for the MC, but the emotional depth of the story was just missing. This is not a coming-of-age story, because nothing was overcome or learned.

To conclude, this YA story dealt with a lot of adult themes without allowing their emotional depth, there was very little to no self-reflection happening on the MC's side which puts a lot of responsibility on a (teenage) reader to come to their own conclusions. This along with the inconsequential ending made the story feel very surface-level.

There were no problems with the audiobook adaptation.

Bria Powers is 15, living in Beauchamp with her family. She is spending the summer with her aunt and cousins, as earlier in the year she got caught in a situation where she saved the life of her father's girlfriend after overdosing on fentanyl. Bria is struggling with how to deal with the trauma following the overdose, and continues to put herself at risk, from the company she keeps, to the alcohol and drug choices she makes herself, and not spending time with the good choices. To top it off, she keeps receiving "dick pics" from a random number, she's not allowed back to her house, and her dad has once again disappeared without a trace. As she struggles through the summer, she continues to fall more and more into her hole of her own making. When she discovers who sent her the mysterious "dick pics" she feels like she has reached rock bottom.

The story is heartbreaking and troublesome, while being somewhat relatable all at once. Bria is in a terrible situation and her options seem limited, causing her to face the difficulties herself.

The audiobook was well produced, and enjoyable to listen. The narrator was very engaging, and fitting for the story.

I will be recommending this to anyone interested in the premise. It was very good.

“What’s not mine” by Nora
Rating: 4/5
Narrator rating(audiobook): 5/5
Genre: fiction

To me, this book is about found family and true love, the kinda love that comes from your family and friends, people who really care about you.
I do not enjoy reading about addiction and drugs, but this book kept me interested. I genuinely wanted to see how Bria will finish her summer. She is way mature for age, and she’s dealing with some real adult issues.
The writing is funny and cozy, the story flows beautifully and each character is well placed.

The narrator did a fantastic job. I have no criticism for the amazing narration.

Thanks Netgally for providing me this review audiobook copy.

3.5 Blush Read

The blurb grabbed me, and I know it wasn't romance, but wow, this book was a hard listen for me. It was just ongoing sadness, chapter after chapter.
I did find it fascinating and sad; growing up in a world of addiction for Bria has changed her. She's been around it all her life, and slowly but surely, it begins to seep into her life. She has an amazing Aunt and cousins who try to keep her from succumbing to that life, but it's almost inevitable. Witnessing this slow descent was hard at times to see, but it gave me, the reader and someone who's never seen this, an inside view of addiction.

In a tragic story, the narrator gives life to the characters. The optimist in me would have loved an epilogue that showed Bria years later, living the life she often imagined and the one I truly wanted for her.

My heart hurts for this little girl and I wish I could just hold her and tell her that she doesn’t need to drown herself or her feelings in hate. That there is something so beautiful inside her, just fighting for a chance to get out. I was completely awestrucked by this story and almost brought to tears several times throughout. Briia, the main character grew up around addiction and started her addiction at an early age as well. This clearly takes a toll on her mental health, appearance, friends, and her chosen family that are there to support her. Without spoiling the story, everything finally catches up to her and all is how it needs to be. I related to this story in ways I didn’t understand, and still trying to figure out. This is a beautiful work of prose, and I wish it was 8 hours longer.

Phew, this was dark but well done. Memorable and well-written. I will think of Bria for weeks to come. I would recommend this to any friend or family member who wouldn't be triggered by its contents. Perhaps the ending was a bit unrealistic but it worked for me. Good narration too.

Although the blurb sounded good, sorry, this one was NOT for me.

Also, I believe the target audience was YA, which I did not see listed…

The story revolves around Bria, a 16 year old who comes from a family of addicts…and despises e v e r y o n e of them…
Her Mom, Dad, and eventually her self appointed stepmom…

Despite this, she turns to drugs herself…

Thanks to #NetGalley and #ECWPress for an ARC of the audiobook which releases 4/2/24…
If it wasn’t an ARC, I wouldn’t have finished it…

What’s Not Mine by Nora Decter and narrated nicely by Billie Baird.

2 ⭐️ ⭐️ for me…

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Thanks so much for reading!📚⭐️

This book was so tragically beautiful and really captures the dark decent into drug addiction. I was given the advance audio of this book and really loved the narrator.
The story itself is a very well written coming of age, with interesting characters and good dialogue.
I will be thinking about it for weeks. So good.

I love this. I felt for this young person and the way she needed to survive. The narration was perfection. I want her to be okay with every fiber of my being. I loved the relationship between the cousins. My cousins were close like that but I was just a little younger so I got to watch from the outside.
This is very real. I would believe this was a journal or memoir. This young woman has been forced to grow up much faster than other kids, even with her supportive family and close relationships.
I love the bear scene. Our sweet girl is battling addiction and I love seeing this struggle from her perspective. People need to development this empathy.

I wanted to like this book. I wanted to dislike this book. It comes with all the feels. It is such a raw look into addiction. The audiobook was well read, although somewhat difficult to follow the flashbacks that reveal the story. I wanted to like Brea more, but she definitely had to grow on you as her character develops and her story unfolds. Compelling read with interesting ending.

This is one of those books where it's almost uncomfortable to say how much you loved it because of the content. But I really did. It was cathartic and painfully accurate. I was hooked right from the beginning and found the ending to be perfect. It wasn't quiteeee wrapped in a bow but still had just enough of a HEA possibility. I have been pushing this on everyone. I think this is going to be a big hit

2.5

Not for me I'm afraid. I was intrigued by the blurb which suggested a coming of age story for a tern whose home life was chaotic to say the least. I was therefore delighted to receive an audio advance review copy.

However, even though the narration was good and clear and there was (thankfully) noone repeating the word "like" in every sentence, the entire book irritated me.

It is really down to a thoroughly unlikeable, unreliable main character. Bria is simply a whiney child who takes any tiny bit of support or love and throws it back in everyone's face. She has seen her mother in the thrall of addiction, knows she does not see her father because of his involvement with drugs and has saved her ersatz step-mother's life when she overdosed. And yet, despite hating all of them for putting her through this she still behaves like an entitled brat, experimenting with the drug du jour, Fentanyl (despite knowing its effects first hand).

And yes, I know that children with chaotic family backgrounds often make bad choices. I wouldn't mind that but Bria whined constantly about her life. Her carer isn't caring enough, her friend isn't supportive enough or is too supportive, she doesn't want to do anything but get high or drunk or laid. I won't even get started on how useless the people who were supposed to be looking after her were. I'd gave had the child in foster care before 24 hours was up.

This simply wasn't for me. If she'd had an iota of pleasantness I'd have enjoyed the book a bit more.

Thankyou to Netgalley and ECW Press Audio for the audio advance review copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

The description of this book calls it darkly funny. I wouldn't quite say there was anything funny about it, dark or otherwise. I understand drug abuse is a very important issue for teens and adults to discuss, but I'm not sure this book hit the mark. In fact, I think it really missed the mark altogether.

It read more like an angsty teen drama about boy/girl relationships than drug use. The fact that a fifteen year old is sleeping with a thirty- one year old seems to be just as much of a problem as the drug use, yet that was never addressed at all.

Maybe I'm missing something? The book did start off very slow, so it's possible I missed an important paragraph along the way. But this is not the book I would turn to, to kick start a conversation with my teen about drug use.

"What's Not Mine" by Nora Decter is the Canadian author's second book and my first introduction to her writing. Bria Powers is a soon-to-be-sixteen year old girl living in Manitoba and seemingly stuck in a cycle of addiction, broken relationships, and troubled role models. The audiobook, brilliantly narrated by Billie Baird, was captivating and heartbreaking, and I could do nothing but cheer this young character on. She is growing up (or at least older and, eventually, wiser) by making the only choices that feel comfortable: the unhealthy, painful, and isolating ones.

Bria's father is in jail, her mother has been absent since Bria was very young, and her "stepmother" (her father's girlfriend) suffers a near-fatal overdose while technically acting as Bria's guardian. None of these are spoiler alerts as they are in the description of the novel, but with true gravity Bria's (and her cousin, Ainsley's) lives are pervaded with drugs, chaos, and seeming dead-ends. The narrative is infused with expletives and feels so authentic--true to the life of a nearly 16-year-old girl in the circumstances described. The richest and most compelling aspect of the book is how deeply entrenched I became in Bria's experience-- her thoughts, hopes, and heartbreaks. How often she hitches her self-esteem to unsteady people and circumstances as we watch her self-worth decline.

But underneath everything is an absolutely sharp, funny, and resilient woman waiting to emerge and break out of the dysfunction. Nora Decter's writing is strong and engaging and I cannot wait to read more from her. So good!!! The book is titled after a song by Cate Le Bon, a Welsh performer, I also had fun researching and exploring. This could be classified, I suppose, as "young adult" (like Decter's first book apparently is) but the universal themes of addiction, broken families, codependent relationships, and personal growth apply to everyone.

I loved it (and I haven't been a young adult in quite awhile). Thanks to #NetGalley and ECW books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Book Release event
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbHu5YUg02c

This book was a heartbreaking story of growing up, addiction and survival.Bria is just turning 16, when her drug dealer father disappears. She in turn goes to live with her Aunt Tash and her best friend Ains. The story involves her trying to navigate a less than caring “boyfriend “, a creep who is dating her aunt, all the while fighting temptation to not fall victim to addiction.

I felt so deeply for Bria, and the lack of support that she got from her dad. Not an easy life when you are not getting that support. I did enjoy seeing how there were more people on her side than she had anticipated. Although it wasn’t a book full of twist and turns, the emotion was real and this book will stay with me.

*ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review *

High quality audio which tells the decent into drug addiction through the eyes of the teenage addict. Definitely not a funny story but deals effectively with the reality of the condition and life. This quality audio had good narration and the language was try to the subject matter. I think this was gripping thought the ending was a bit of a miss for me. It was a solid 4 star listen. Think it would be better received by a young audience as this is more true to their life . It is gripping and thought provoking and says with you long after you finish listening . Its 4.5 stars rounded up to 5. Thank you netgallery and publisher and author and narrator.