MY SO-CALLED RUINED LIFE
by Melanie Bishop
January 2014 | Fiction | 978-1-937226-21-3 | 229 pp | $14.95
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MELANIE BISHOP writes fiction, nonfiction and screenplays, and has taught all of these subjects for the past twenty-one years as a professor at Prescott College in Arizona. Melanie has published short stories in numerous literary magazines, including Glimmer Train,
Greensb-oro Review and Georgetown Review, and has a story forthcoming in Potomac Review. Melanie is founding editor and fiction and nonfiction editor of Alligator Juniper, Prescott College’s award-winning national literary magazine. My So-Called Ruined Life is her first young adult novel.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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After losing the previous summer to the shock and grief of her mother’s murder, Tate McCoy is putting her life back together, aiming to make the most of her seventeenth summer. Her self-rescue draws on several resources—an aunt who makes the best camping buddy, a vegan best friend named Kale, a crush on her swimming instructor, volunteer work, an encouraging English teacher, and an irreverent sense of humor. But a horrifying discovery about her mother’s death puts Tate’s resilience to the test yet again.
PRAISE FOR MY SO-CALLED RUINED LIFE
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“Yet another tale of a plucky girl who overcomes the obstacles—but this one floats.”
—KIRKUS REVIEWS
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“The first book in Bishop’s Tate McCoy series will have readers eager to hear more from her pragmatic, sarcastic, yet sweet 16-year-old heroine...an introspective page-turner.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“What a fine book! My So-Called Ruined Life takes you on a hard walk through a difficult subject, yet is full of sweetness and humor. Tate McCoy is a keeper, and so is her best friend, Kale. I felt like I was right there during their conversations and excursions, and found Tate’s reflections on her life and painful situation deeply meaningful. Tate is a kid who prevails, her humanity fully intact.”
—KATHLEEN JEFFRIE JOHNSON,
author of Target and The Parallel Universe of Liars
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“Readers will fall in love with brave and funny Tate McCoy in this powerful and heartfelt debut about human fallibility. One of the truest characters I’ve had the good luck to discover in YA recently.”
—BETH ANN BAUMAN,
author of Jersey Angel and Rosie and Skate
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“Melanie Bishop is not afraid to address tough issues—from unspeakable violence to dysfunctional family relationships—with realistic details and hit-you-in-the-gut emotion. The plot gracefully unfolds to a stunning climax that forces the characters—and readers—to reconsider the nature of love, justice, and forgiveness.”
—CHRISTINE SEIFERT,
author of The Predicteds
Cover art by Christy Hawkins