You Know I’m No Good is the title of an Amy Winehouse song. It’s also the title of a short intense novel authored by Jessie Ann Foley.

Main character Mia, in a tough-girl first person narration of her life informs the reader quickly that she is a troubled youth. During the bumpy start to freshman year where she generally acts up, does drugs and hooks up, she hits her stepmother after she makes a mean remark about her behavior. And this act decides Mia’s fate. She’s sent away to a therapeutic boarding school in the Minnesota woods.

Her dad has remarried and he and his new wife spend most of their time and energy on their new twins. In addition to that big transition, Mia struggles with the knowledge that her mom was murdered by a man she loved when Mia was very young.

At camp, Mia is jolted into a world that does not permit touching, internet access or drugs. The girls at the boarding school stay busy with classes and counseling and activities. But they constantly access their position based on what brought them into the camp. Gradually, the framework of healthy living does its good work.

Mia realizes she does care about a few things, including her roommate. And she doesn’t much miss the substance abuse that made up so much of her existence at home. She also realizes that devaluing herself led to her misunderstanding about a hookup that was, in fact, rape.

And when the new girl from Norway insults Mia’s friend during an ice-skating outing, she organizes payback in the showers.

But Mia doesn’t love school life and escapes with her friend Vera. Through wilderness and a winter storm, they struggle to reach civilization. Foly could have ended the story with their failure. But instead, she throws more challenges at Mia. The girls hitch their way to MN where an ex-camper is living on the edge of poverty and welcomes them into her grim apartment and life.

In a tempting return to her party life, Mia realizes she doesn’t want to hook up with a boy, though she does drink. She texts her dad to let him know she’s safe. Vera wants to return to the camp because she can’t take the freedom and pressure of the outside world. When they get back, they’re shocked that the new girl from Norway has burned some of the place and lied about her background.

That development and Mia’s new maturity is enough for her dad to invite her home where she starts to attend a private school and lets her talents bloom as she starts her new life.

Read this book for voice. The dialog between the characters and the experiences they discuss come through as completely believable.