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    Love Is the Drug
    Love Is the Drug
    Love Is the Drug
    Audiobook13 hours

    Love Is the Drug

    Written by Alaya Dawn Johnson

    Narrated by Simone Missick

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    From the author of The Summer Prince, a novel that's John Grisham's The Pelican Brief meets Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain set at an elite Washington D.C. prep school.

    Emily Bird was raised not to ask questions. She has perfect hair, the perfect boyfriend, and a perfect Ivy League future. But a chance meeting with Roosevelt David, a homeland security agent, at a party for Washington DC's elite leads to Bird waking up in a hospital, days later, with no memory of the end of the night.

    Meanwhile, the world has fallen apart: A deadly flu virus is sweeping the nation, forcing quarantines, curfews, even martial law. And Roosevelt is certain that Bird knows something. Something about the virus — something about her parents' top secret scientific work — something she shouldn't know.

    The only one Bird can trust is Coffee, a quiet, outsider genius who deals drugs to their classmates and is a firm believer in conspiracy theories. And he believes in Bird. But as Bird and Coffee dig deeper into what really happened that night, Bird finds that she might know more than she remembers. And what she knows could unleash the biggest government scandal in US history.

    Includes a bonus song, “Love is the Drug,” performed by Alaya Dawn Johnson.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherScholastic
    Release dateSep 30, 2014
    ISBN9780545783903
    Love Is the Drug
    Author

    Alaya Dawn Johnson

    ALAYA DAWN JOHNSON has been recognized for her short fiction and YA novels, winning the 2015 Nebula Award for Best Novelette for “A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i,” which also appears in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy (2015), guest edited by Joe Hill. Her debut young adult novel, The Summer Prince, was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Her follow up, Love Is the Drug, won the Andre Norton Award in 2015. A native of Washington, D.C., Johnson is currently based in Oaxaca, having finished her masters degree in Mesoamerican studies at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

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    Reviews for Love Is the Drug

    3.5/5

    50 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      There's a lot going on, story-wise, in this novel - an epidemic, martial law, scary CIA types, and a mystery in a lost memory. But what really stands out in this novel is the growth of Emily Bird. Her journey from puppet of her mother to independent thinking young woman is such an interesting one. It isn't easy or always satisfying, but it is real.
    • 4/5
      I've had this in my TBR pile too long and as 2017 is my year of focused clearing of backlist books, I decided to give this one a go. Prep school senior, Emily Bird wakes up in a hospital after having been drugged to the point that her memory of the events of a night are gone and Washington DC is on the verge of full on outbreak crisis intervention and none of that is the worst news.

      I expected more intrigue and urgency given the global outbreak of a virus that's decimating the population with some martial law tossed in but this book was surprisingly low-key. I stayed with the story because I was very interested in the characters, most specifically Bird (Emily), Coffee (Alonso), Aaron, Marella, Nicky and even the villainous Roosevelt. I was confused by Bird's parents, Carol and Greg. I suppose that was to be expected as Bird is afraid of her mother (with good reason and so was I) and distant from her father but as this story is told in shifting POVs and not told strictly in Bird's voice, I feel there could have been more provided for clarity with the family dynamic. Aaron was the best kid I've had the pleasure to read in a while and I even liked Nicky. While he may not be a paragon of success, he worked consistently to provide for his family, wasn't in any way a criminal and his children knew they were loved. He treated Bird like a second daughter and made her feel a part of a family. One more reason for me to put Carol Bird on ignore. Marella won all the true BFF points and I was pulling for her too. If there's ever a sequel to Love is the Drug or a Marella in Paris story, I'd read that.

      By book's end, while the answer to how Bird was drugged and why is given, it was revealed in a way that didn't deliver a punch given all the build up. Again, the urgency was just about non-existent. I thought the relationship between Bird and Coffee was well done and I really liked that this story allowed her to grow on her own so she could save herself and the boy she loved. Bird also didn't display any characteristics or abilities out of the blue to solve her problems and I was glad of that. No insta-solutions or insta-love here and if I could find more YA like this, I'd read them. Another thing that was refreshing was to have Bird be told by Marella and those who were supposed to be her friends before, that she (Bird) either wasn't holding up her end of the friend ship or she wasn't trustworthy. It's not often you have a main character girl in YA who isn't universally & inexplicably loved by all when she does nothing to draw those feelings. Bird had to earn them and improve herself. Well done, ADJ. Points also to the author for the Jack and Jill mentions. I can't recall the last time I came across that in a novel. I also liked the conflict in Bird, a privileged girl of color, on how to be Black in a world where her parents want her to be a proud and accomplished African American but "not too black" so as to single her out in the profoundly white world they've raised her in. This extends to something as simple as how she wears her hair. The socially acceptable pod of other African American teens she's around also exercise a certain amount of pressure to conform and it was interesting how they felt mostly sequestered off from white students (Charlotte notwithstanding). Making the chemist/drug dealer, conspiracy theorist, the root worthy character, is a hell of a feat to pull off but the author does so here and it's believable. He and Marella (who was Black & openly gay, so had her own outcast issues from the "socially acceptable" groups) were the only people who seemed able to accept Bird for who she was & wanted to be.

      The way this ends, I could envision a sequel because the danger is still out there. Bird, Coffee & Marella globe trekking, just a step ahead of the enemy could be fun & hopefully have a high-octane feel now that they're out of high school. Recommended.
    • 3/5
      Bird is a high school student, under huge pressure from her high-powered, abusive mother who (with her father) has a mysterious job requiring a lot of travel. When an epidemic breaks out and a high school party goes badly wrong, Bird has to figure out who she is and who she can trust in a world gone suddenly deadly. Fast-moving YA but not as adventurous/ambitious as Johnson’s other work.
    • 3/5
      I received an ARC of this book from Goodreads and also an e-copy from Net Galley.

      U didn't think this book was terrible but I didn't think it was great either. For me-this book was just ok.

      The story was interesting enough. Living in a world contaminated by the v-flu Emily (Bird) is at a party one night with her soon to be ex-boyfriend Paul when something happens that will change her life forever. She awakes with not much memory of what has happened to her. Bird's love interest is a boy named Coffee-a drug dealer/user-who knows something, or so she thinks.

      There seems to be a little racism going on in this book-so that annoyed me. I didn't care for the idea of the drug use of young teens. The storyline is a little too jumpy at times and felt all over the place, or a bit rushed. It took me about 200 pages in before I had any real interest in the story.

      A good idea for a novel but it annoyed me more than I enjoyed it.
    • 5/5
      LOVE IS THE DRUG by Alaya Dawn Johnson is a fast-paced mystery-suspense set in near-future Washington DC. Set against the backdrop of a global pandemic, prep-school teen Emily Bird becomes involved in a mysterious homeland security scandal made worse by her memory loss after an elite Washington DC party. This young adult novel involves a wide range of topics that will attract youth including romance, friendships, conspiracy, drugs, and disaster.The plot moves quickly as the world dives deeper into chaos and our heroine tries to piece together the mystery of her memory loss. The author does a masterful job dealing with social problems, public policy, and contemporary issues facing teens such as drug use and college preparation. The authentic, conversational writing style is likely to appeal to a young adult audience. Like many works of mystery/suspense, movement between the present and flashbacks can be temporarily disorienting. In addition, the story breaks down near the end as the author attempts to tie up all the loose ends. However, the overall plot is fast-paced and engaging.The diverse cast of characters were skillfully developed and realistically portrayed. Teens will enjoy the strong female lead. Rarely do teen readers have the opportunity to see a realistically portrayed, independent, intelligent young black woman in a leading role.Each chapter begins with a chemical compound. Careful readers will easily connect the chemicals to the chapter’s focus and students will be thrilled to apply their Chemistry class to the real-world.With so many series books to choose from, librarians will be happy to see a stand-alone mystery-suspense.Those readers who enjoy this type of mystery/suspense would also enjoy adult suspense novels by Michael Crichton and John Grisham.With the Ebola scare making headlines and conspiracy theories everywhere, this book is likely to fly off the shelf.ARC NetGalley