Rowan Slone’s life is a wreck. Her younger sister is out of control, her mother is trapped by her emotional overeating, and her father is violent and unpredictable. To make things worse, her family blames her for an accident seven years ago, a tragedy from which none of them ever recovered. The only solace Rowan finds is with her animals and in her dreams of becoming a veterinarian. All of the issues in Rowan’s family eventually come to a head when her sister tells the family she is pregnant, and that Rowan’s long time crush is the father. As more devastating family secrets begin to leak out, Rowan becomes a teen in crisis as her life begins to unravel. Will Rowan be able to put the past behind her and focus on her future? Or will the past catch up with her and lead her down a self- destructive path? A Life, Redefined by Tracy Hewitt Meyer is the kind of book that appeals to adolescent readers. It has all the drama, secrets, and intrigue that young girls look for in the stories they select. As a middle school Language Arts teacher and a former high school English teacher, I anticipate that this book will be accessible to all young readers, as author Tracy Meyer uses easy to understand language. I can imagine my students devouring this book quickly because of its high interest and non-stop action. Every chapter is a cliff hanger. One warning is that this book deals with dark topics such as self-injury, suicide, and teen pregnancy. However, these are exactly the kind of “taboo” topics that young people want to read about. Meyer knows what she is doing as she crafts a story that has the same kind of appeal that many of the young adult novels I teach in my class have for young readers. Overall, this story is full of what young readers are looking for: drama, action, tragedy, and self-discovery.