Review: Spin

Spin by Catherine McKenzie

Format: Paperback
Pages: 448
Published: February 7, 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genre: Fiction

My Rating: 4.5/5

Summary (from chapters.ca):

Katie Sandford has just gotten an interview at her favourite music magazine, The Line. It's the chance of a lifetime. So what does she do? Goes out to celebrate - and shows up still drunk at the interview. No surprise, she doesn't get the job, but the folks at The Line think she might be perfect for another assignment for their sister gossip rag. All Katie has to do is follow It Girl Amber Sheppard into rehab. If she can get the inside scoop (and complete the 30-day program without getting kicked out), they'll reconsider her for the job at The Line.

Katie takes the job. But things get complicated when real friendships develop, a cute celebrity handler named Henry gets involved, and Katie begins to realize she may be in rehab for a reason. Katie has to make a decision - is publishing the article worth everything she has to lose?

Review:

Imagine going to rehab, not for the help but for a job opportunity, and realizing that maybe you just needed to be there for you.

This is my third Catherine McKenzie novel and I have to be honest, she is an amazing author.  Her stories are so funny, so real and so well developed that, as a reader, I find that once I start reading I don't want to stop.  Reading Spin, I was reminded of another of my favourite authors, Marian Keyes, with the only difference being Catherine's stories are based in the US and Marian's, the UK.

As for the characters of Spin, LOVED!!  Katie was awesome... I related to her sarcastic personality and her humour like no character before.  The situations she found herself in were unique and so well writen that I could actually imagine myself in them... in fact, it's sort of sad that I wished I could experience the Oasis rehab centre too.  Although saying that likely means it wasn't as realistic as it should or could have been... a little bit of the rose-tinted glass but I wasn't looking for a rehashing of 'A Million Little Pieces' here so it was perfect!  All roses and fuzzy bunnies!  The supporting characters were all equally well developed and perfectly placed thoughout the story.  The budding romance that played a part though the story was also very well timed and you really never knew what was coming next.  Just as things started to fall into place, another bombshell would hit and we would find ourselves starting from scratch.

Overall, Spin is the perfect mix of humour and romance with a special twist of real life.  I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Marian Keyes or Sophie Kinsella's style of writing.  Catherine McKenzie has made her way to the very top of my must-read author list!!