As soon as I heard this book described as a cross between Gossip Girl and Girl Interrupted, I had to read it. Gossip Girl, the early days anyway, was one of my guilty pleasure secrets back in the day and I absolutely loved Girl Interrupted. I would have to agree that this book is like the bastard daughter they would have if they merged.
Lexi is in a mess. Out of control and off her head, she is definitely on a downward spiral. Then big bro contrives an intervention and basically kidnaps her, if you can kidnap someone who is unconscious of their own volition, and takes her off to a rather posh rehab facility. To say she spits feathers would be an understatement but she has no choice in the matter. After a bit of cold turkey, she is introduced to her fellow inmates, an eclectic bunch of young people, each with their own troubles and addictions. What follows next is Lexi's journey back to life. We see her recovery in the present as she is forced to revisit and take stock of her past, told in flashback. It's a brutal journey and not for the faint hearted as it is quite graphic in places and definitely doesn't pull its punches.
Yes, parts of this book are shocking but they have to be. It's no point trying to write this type of book and then pussy-footing around it all. But never did I stop reading and think - this is over the top - shocking for shocking's sake. At least in my limited experience of these sorts of things anyway. Some of it was a bit contrived though - but then that was more for the narrative than anything else, I'm talking about the number and mixture of the clients in the facility rather than anything else - through the whole book, not just the main part when they are all gelling together. But I can forgive all that in the big picture of the story being told. Predominantly Lexi's story but also the backstories of several other characters that are play just as key a part as the main thread. They also complemented each other very well, albeit in the contrived way already mentioned. They sparked off each other well and also added the element of humour that the book so desperately needed to keep it balanced and away from being too dark.
This being a YA book, and especially because of the content, there are certain responsibilities that the author needs to take seriously. I guess this means that there are some things that maybe had to be but that didn't quite sit too right with me, that didn't quite gel for me, not having been a YA for many, many years. But, not being the target audience for this book, I have taken this as being more a me thing than the book thing and have not let it influence my rating. I only mention it here as I always try and make my reviews true to the way I read the book and my personal thoughts of it. The book is written age appropriately and I fully respect that. It is definitely a very well written book and portrays some very valuable messages.
All in all, it was very much a book that I am glad I read. I certainly took great insight from it and some of the lessons learned by the characters within their own journeys can definitely be translated to all ages, mine included.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Pushing addiction and mental health to the top and shouting to the world that this is not bad this is life and this is an illness.

Lexi’s story will bond and hold you as you take an inside into a world that shatters so many lives. It’s poignant and to the point. Clever and cocky. Justified and hard.

It’s a perfect example of judgement and hopefully this will help the younger generations see that it’s the uneducated morons who shadow mental health and addiction and tarnish everyone with the same brush.

People will learn from Lexi and that to me is the most important part of the book. The power of writing hey?

Okay, to start, a couple of warnings. This is a book about a stint in rehab, so it does come with a MASSIVE number of triggers, especially around drugs, booze and food but there’s too many to list them all. So if you read it, just be aware of that. And it’s also written from the view of an entitled 17 year old being forced into something, and comes with the language and behaviours that brings. Again it actually felt real, and I was pleased to see a book that doesn’t pretend that teenagers don’t swear. Having said that, I like a good swear, and even I was a bit shocked to see the C word twice early on. So not a book for the younger side of YA, for sure!

Right onto the review!

I am so conflicted about this book. It’s VERY well done, it’s hard not to feel empathy for the characters in some respects. And it feels very honest. But I have no reference for an entitled, rich, spoiled, drug using 17 year old. Lexi is not always a likeable character. I didn’t dislike her, I just couldn’t connect with her at all, I come from a very different viewpoint. That said, she’s exceptionally well written and complex, and I love her with the horses, and the moments with the others in rehab. Her coming round to self honesty is a slow and brilliant journey. But she’s not always a nice or good person.

The story itself is well done - you see many types of addiction. I particularly liked the contrast of Kendall and Ruby.

The other thing that struck me about the book is that I do not follow celebrity culture at all. And so much of it felt like name dropping - people, brands, places, it felt like the reader was supposed to care and I just didn’t.

Having said that, it was very British in places, which I definitely loved! Some of the locations and discussions on London nightlife made me laugh, and Lexi’s early comment about a cup of tea was brilliant.

It really is a well written book, and a good message, I’m just not sure the writing style is for me and struggled to connect with the premise. I did connect with the emotion inherent to that premise though, and that’s why I give this 3.5 stars.

I've had some hits and misses with Juno Dawson. I usually like what she trying to do: her plots sound interesting and she tries to diversify the stories she tells, though that had lead to specific problem for me in the past, forms of Ableism and weird Queer Burying. Going into this story I have read very good short stories by her but her longer works have just not worked at all for me. I know she capable and she is trying so I've let some of her problematic stuff side because I know it not malice and I am a critical little shit. Basically, everyone is problematic, its the trying that counts and pointing out the bad is something you should do for growth reasons. If you're interested in my specific thoughts then I've have reviewed everything by Dawson that I have read.


Clean is about addiction, and the word clean is said several times in the novel. It actually probably the normal amount but it more noticeable because title. I think it done well from my experience watching others self-destruction but I've never been addicted to a substance. The process of Rehab is talked about a lot and I'm glad it not portrayed as a quick fix.


The setting is a high class recovery centre for under 24s. There's people there with different addictions and vice. Lot of mental health rep so all the characters we're introduce to, have issues.There's also some survivor guilt action which was my favourite.


The protagonist and narrator Lexi is unlikable at first, but addicts in denial are kinda unlikable so

realistic. Books takes addiction from the bored kid with money angle which is fine but everyone is capable of becoming addicted and anyone can be effected by mental illness as neither care about money. It just what this novel does, which includes the party attitude towards certain drugs, that reaches most class levels anyway. I did think it was interesting to address whether its problem if have money and no one seems to notice.

Toxic relationships play a part in this novel. I think it done well for the most part, especially as partners and friend groups have been proven as to why many struggle to stay clean. I don't love the rebound relationship stuff but I can also see why its in the book. I just carry a lot of baggage from Disney's Frozen.


Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars for Bastard Demons or Puppet Demons if that offends you. It still Dawson's voice, but this one worked better for me. I would read her again, but probably sticking don't buy anymore of her book though because I own most of them and most books on my bookcase are still not read. I didn't feel that attached to the characters and for me it was surface level and this probably light read for me because my heart is blacken. It deals with a complex issue well enough. Don't take Heroine, it always a problem.

'Clean' is the story of Lexi, a privileged London socialite who falls in with the wrong crowd and finds herself in rehab, addicted to many different types of drugs and on the first step of a long road to get sober. The novel takes place while Lexi is in rehab, and is an extraordinary exploration of addiction, guilt, privilege and self-examination. It's really well-written and easy to read, with well-drawn characters and an engaging story.

I did not finish this book. It was not to my taste. I don't think its fair that I review the book as I only read about 30% of it before I got bored.

Such a dark read that didn’t avoid the issues like mental health, sexual abuse, drug abuse etc. Lexie Volkov, our main character, is essentially a spoiled brat. She overdoses when she thinks she hits rock bottom. That’s not the case. She realises her treatment centre is rock bottom. She is forced to go to this illusive and exclusive rehab centre and meets many people that are facing the same or similar problems that she has. Lexie, is such a complex character which makes her a very unlikeable protagonist but as the book goes on, you see her struggle with her addiction and so get behind her and start to feel for her in a way that you thought you wouldn’t when you started the book. But this book deals with many things and so the trigger warnings go on and on. Great read overall.

4 out of 5 stars.

Ok, so let's get the nitty, gritty out of the way, this has so many trigger warnings I don't know where to start. This book is a hard read, but captivating and so compelling and I would love everyone to read it, but obviously, if you're someone that finds drug addiction, suicide, mental health, eating disorders, OCD and toxic relationships difficult, do take this easy. Because this is brutal from the first sentence.

I can feel it swimming through my veins like glitter ... it's liquid gold.
When socialite Lexi Volkov almost overdoses, she thinks she's hit rock bottom.
She's wrong. Rock bottom is when she's forced into an exclusive rehab facility.
From there, the only way is up for Lexi and her fellow inmates, including the mysterious Brady.
As she faces her demons, Lexi realises love is the most powerful drug of all ...
It's a dirty business getting clean ...



This book, guys, this book.
I felt exhausted when I finished this, it is so intense! Well, I mean, it is a story about drug addicted teens in rehab, so I knew it wasn't going to be a fun, easy read, but I also wasn't prepared for how brutal this was. Juno Dawson doesn't hold back, the book literally starts with a girl over dosing and being hauled off to rehab, it is like a punch in the face. There are also some very graphic depictions of detoxing, which I read with an almost morbid fascination, it's not something that I find in a lot of books, so it was weirdly refreshing at the same time. This just wasn't afraid to show you all the aspects of being a drug addict.

With books about drug abuse, there is a difficult line to tow, you don't want to be preachy about the effects of using, you also don't want to make it look glamorous and glorify being an addict and one thing that clean does really well is not do either of those things. This isn't so horrific it can't be read, but it is also raw enough to be a warning.



Though I knew who Juno Dawson was, I've not read any of her books before, I know, her books are always being recommended to me, I'm really not sure why I've not picked any of them up, having read this, I am going to go out of my way to read more. Her writing style and the way in which Lexi was characterised made her so real and the situations she was in so much more intense, the narration really made the book for me.

In the object of fairness, there were a few things that did fall a little flat with me, firstly this book is VERY DIFFICULT to read in places and it isn't something you can just flick through before bed or on your commute, this is the kind of book that you will need to leave at times to avoid being overwhelmed and I think the blurb and the cover make it seem a lot more friendly than it is. Secondly, there is a romance in this book and while it isn't a 'we have found each other and fixed each other' kind of relationship, I really hate when rehab/institution books feature romance, I want a personal journey not a romance. Having said that, this wasn't the worse example of a romance in a book like this.

All in all, this book was a really interesting reading experience and I want more please!

We first meet Lexi Volkov when she wakes up in the back of her brother’s car.

This was a really good opening. Straight in at the deep end, where the action is happening. None of this hanging around reading descriptions nonsense.

It was very good at creating a feeling of confusion. I didn’t know who Lexi was, what was happening to her or why. We soon discover that Lexi’s brother is taking her to a private island (that rather sounds like a spa to be honest, horses, pools, etc) as he is at the end of his tether with her following on from an overdose.

Lexi is who we are mainly focusing on in this book. She is rich, spoilt and can do what she likes, when she likes and at first I thought I was going to hate her but after a while and due to the author pulling absolutely no punches whatsoever, I really started to root for her and not just for her. We also meet other characters who are in rehab for a variety of reasons and as we get to know everyone, we want them to get better. The relationships between all of the other patients is so very important too. We can see how they support each other and when one is having a bad time, they all feel it and when one is happy and things are going well, the other patients are genuinely pleased for them.

We see all of these characters at their very worst. When they are desperate, scared, embarrassed and thankful.



There was a bit of a romance going on here too, which I really didn’t care for.

To me, rehab is not the real world. You go here because you are at your lowest. You need help and this is where you get it. You’re kind of in a bubble. Any relationship that you forge is surely going to be due to the fact that you and the other person are experiencing the same kind of encounter. I’m not saying that the friendships etc aren’t real, but that they need to be taken with a pinch of salt, and because of this, I didn’t understand the point of the romance.

Open, honest and diverse without feeling like it tries to hard. This is a fantastic novel - funny, sad and very timely - I raced through it.

Apparently, this is a children’s book? Well, Young Adult, which these days means shooting up, shitting the bed and calling everyone the c-word apparently. Oh, I sound very old writing that. I, of course, would have bloody loved this book when I was a teen and I still enjoyed it now. I’ve been wanting to read some of Dawson’s other novels for a while now so I jumped at the opportunity to download this one when it arrived on Netgalley. It’s actually quite impressive how Dawson manages to write about the vapid and insanely privileged world of millennial rich kids while also making us like the protagonist. I mean, I don’t really sympathise with her (it’s kinda hard to) but I do enjoy hanging out with her for 400-or-so pages. For a novel about addiction, it’s not too judgey and has a pretty interesting message about our modern lives. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

I think this book has a lot of potential and if edited in the right way it could be really good but at the moment it sits at just ok for me.

The storyline is a good one, we follow a girl as she embarks on a journey through rehab, if told right this could be a real eye opener but if I'm honest it fell sort of flat.

I found the narrative from the protagonist more than a touch annoying which left me unable to truly connect with the story itself and just when things were getting interesting it seemed to get cut short, not enough raw emotion conveyed by the characters.

Clean was alright, but would I recommend it? Not right now.

It needed more grit, more detail and an ending that's not so 'happy ever after' to make the novel a real page turner.

Every few years I feel like YA gets a refresh, and whatever trend is big at the time gets pushed aside for a slew of punchy, impactful, naturalistic novels. This is one of those. It was an incredible read, drawing you in from the first page into the mess of Lexi's life. Money can buy you a lot of things, but what it's taken from Lexi is any concept of limitations. After a near-OD, she's shipped off to an exclusive rehab for rich kids, and begins the process of getting clean. Her resentment of the process, her inability to even understand her problem, felt really profound to me. This isn't a narrative where the characters cry it out a little, then magically get better. This is REAL. It hits home a few times, and I found myself very moved by the snaphots we got of the characters lives. I say real, and I mean it; there's some really great humour in amongst all the addiction issues. The characters are diverse and interesting, and I'm pretty sure it took me less than two days to read this. I really couldn't put it down, and I'm excited by Juno Dawson's new direction.

I’m sorry but I just couldn’t finish this one. I couldn’t stand the narrator and the arrogant way she was written

I was sent an e-copy of this book via netgalley on behalf of the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. I definitely stayed up too late to finish this one.... zzzzzzz, and lapped it up in two to three days.

Clean follows the journey of privileged heiress Lexi. The Hilton-eque spoilt it-girl is introduced to the reader passed out in the back of a car on her way to being checked rehab for an opiate addiction. In some ways comparable to Girl, Interrupted, we get to not only know Lexi and what has led her to drug addiction but her fellow privileged, teenage inpatients who are dealing with their own mental health issues that end up leading them to dangerous addictive behaviour. It not only focusses on the process of healing an addiction but also family, friendship, and relationships.

Lexi was another in a string of characters seen in YA lately labelled as "unlikeable". She for sure can be rude, crass and entitled, but I don't think it is important to be able to "like" a character, but more to be able to understand how they got to where they are - why they behave this way. And perhaps being confronted with parts of your own self, even if only in slithers, and to reflect upon that.

Maybe I would never have been friends with Lexi when I was 17, but as all good fiction does - it allowed me to empathise and understand better what addiction can do to people, and to reflect on some of my own addictive or damaging behaviours, (though markedly less dangerous!)

Trigger warnings include (warning SPOILER ALERT):
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- drug taking (many kinds, needles included, bad trip)
- self harm (cutting, burning)
- death (overdoses)

Junk for the next generation!

I finished #clean in 2 days, you could say it was an addictive read! With fully rounded and fatally flawed characters the author gave a realistic account of re-hab with albeit those all to expected YA plot devices... love triangles, the journey to self-awareness and the kind and helpful adult who turns up with her own story to share.

Lexi Volkov makes for a brilliant protagonist, flawed yet self-aware and yet willing to change with the help of some kooky side characters. Full of emotion and drama this story will stay with you past the final chapter.

YA addiction novel with a Russian oligarch glitterati daughter undergoing detox. Doesn't shy away from difficult situations and treats its teenage protagonists with respect. I wanted a little more from it though.

Had heard a lot about this book. Thank you for letting me read this. Powerful read about addiction. Strongly recommend.

Moving, funny and honest, this is a clear-eyed view of addiction and recovery. Lexi is a great narrator - she can be difficult and exasperating, but we really feel for her as she gradually begins to accept her feelings an emotions. As one of the characters says, this is 'Gossip Girl; Interrupted'.

Review:

My feelings about Clean are all over the place. It's gritty, harsh and so wrong. Drug addiction will turn anyone inside out. It has the good, bad and ugly. This is Lexi's story and I'll warn you now it's not pretty.

Lexi is a Russian heiress who lives in London. She has access to too much money and doesn't have to work for anything. Her brother sees her downfall. If she doesn't turn her life around this story could only end one way.

Lexi is taken to rehab. She needs it but first, she has to see she has a problem. The rehab clinic is for young adults and is located on an Island. Lexi's drug addiction is so bad she literally takes what is offered. Kurt her boyfriend is also a drug addict and so are most of her friends. Her brother is hoping rehab will take her away from her lifestyle and get her back on a straight path.

Clean tells the story of how Lexi became in her situation and the consequences. It's horrifying to know this is a reflection of addiction. The story is what you would expect. Lexi doesn't appreciate how lucky she is. Everything has always been easy for her. Now she has to struggle to find a future. Her ending is happy but there is no going back.

This book does have some dark humour. It also has adult themes including some which readers may find disturbing. It doesn't glamorise drug use.

Lexi is a good leading character. I didn't feel sorry for her. She made her own decisions. She's a strong character and true to herself. She comes from money and is comfortable in her own skin.

It has left me a little uncomfy to whether I liked the book or not. A raw story for a gritty read. The book definitely leaves a funny taste in the mouth. The ending is perfect for this book. This book is well thought out, the writing is really good and the storyline is interesting.

I didn't love this book but I didn't hate it. I've decided to rate it 3 stars. It has its highs and its lows. I wish I could give this book 5 stars and 1 at the same time.

I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.


Kindle Edition £4.99 or $6.89, 400 pages

Expected publication: April 5th 2018 by Quercus Children's Books