A Cigarette Lit Backwards

Words cannot describe to you how much I love this book.

It felt like this book was written for me. Like it was written about the teenage version of myself. The girl who wanted to be cool by standing out. I know this book is not going to hit with everyone, because it takes place during a time, a scene, and era that I still hold onto very tightly.

A Cigarette Lit Backwards follows a group of teens in the early 2000s. Not just any teens though, a group of burnouts, nobodies, punks, and poseurs. Main character, Kat freaking resonated with me. She read books, went to concerts, and hung out with the party kids without going too far herself. She still had dreams of art school saving her from herself. But that didn't stop her from shoplifting, dealing drugs, and dating the bad boys. If anything, she felt like her life finally had meaning.

At 16, Kat was everything I wanted to be.

At 27, she made me cringe.

This book was just all too relatable. I was constantly reading my own teenage shenanigans and texting my friends who made it out of it alive.

I have nothing but good things to say about this book.

I love it.