Heroine

by Mindy McGinnis

To purchase this novel or to find more information, you can visit Amazon.

Amazon Prices:

Paperback: N/A

Hardcover: $17.99

Kindle: $17.99 (Not available on Kindle Unlimited)

Audible: $19.16 (Not available on Kindle Unlimited) 

Before Reading Facts:

Heroine by Mindy McGuinnis was published in 2019 by Katherine Tegen Books.

Page Count: 432 (hardcover) 432 (kindle)

Audiobook length: 08 hrs 33 mins

Chapters: 56

Language: English 

Summary of Book:

“When a car crash sidelines Mickey just before softball season, she has to find a way to hold on to her spot as the catcher for a team expected to make a historic tournament run. Behind the plate is the only place she’s ever felt comfortable, and the painkillers she’s been prescribed can help her get there. The pills do more than take away pain; they make her feel good. But as the pressure to be Micky Catalan heightens, her need increases, and it becomes less about pain and more about want, something that could send her spiraling out of control.” -Katherine Tegen Books

Author Biography:

“Mindy McGinnis is the author of Not a Drop to Drink and its companion, In a Handful of Dust, as well as This Darkness Mine, The Female of the Species, Given to the Sea, and the Edgar Award-winning novel A Madness So Discreet. A graduate of Otterbein University with a BA in English literature and religion, Mindy lives in Ohio. You can visit her online at www.mindymcginnis.com.” -Katherine Tegen Books

Book Review:

Overall Book Rating: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★

My first reaction after reading this book was, “Damn!” I won an ARC copy of Heroine a week before its release, so I made room for it, throwing all other books on my TBR list out of the way to get to it as soon as possible. I read it the day of its release, after having finished The Cuckoo’s Calling just two days before. I didn’t start any other book but chose to wait until I received the audiobook I pre-ordered in order to read this book right away. 

I didn’t really know what to expect. I will admit that I was kind of scared/nervous to read this book. I knew, after reading the blurb in the back of the book, that this was going to be a book that hit on a very serious topic. I knew that it was going to bring into awareness a very important issues. I wasn’t sure if I could handle it, didn’t know if I was prepared to read something like this. When I first started, the very first chapter grabbed my attention. The structure of the novel and its introduction of Mickey’s accident at the beginning allowed me to be interested in her and what was going to happen to her. I wanted to know what she was going to go through and the complications that were going to arise as a result of the accident. 

The progression of the story allowed me to see Mickey’s growing problem. It allowed me to empathize with this character. Reading her story allowed me to not only empathize with her but with anyone who had a story like her. The entire story brought to my awareness the struggles with addiction and the ignorance most of us have about how those individuals got to that state. This was a very daring story, one that focuses on humanizing people with addiction and shifting the audience’s attention to not see them as junkies but as people, people who have made a mistake, people who deserve our attention, our support, and our awareness. 

I would like to note that this novel does have an abundant amount of profanity. I would like to advise that to those of us who do not enjoy books with a lot of that in it. I listened to the audiobook while reading along and found it to be a little uncomfortable, so keep that in mind if you are listening aloud where others can here or if you are choosing a book to read for your teenagers. There is depictions of drug use as well, so again, keep that in mind if you are a parent wondering if this is something you want your youth to read. It is definitely a powerful novel and raises awareness to the severity of drug addiction, but keep in mind that the author does not hold back. I loved the author’s willingness to write this novel. 

Audible Review:

Narration Rating: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★

Narration by Brittany Pressley

Pressley’s narration at 1.0 speed was slow but extremely well done. To really get into this story and if you have time, I would recommend listening at this speed. It’s a bit dramatized, which I found amazing and the reason I would want to listen to it at this speed. At 1.25 speed, her narration is about as normal conversation speed. For those of us who like to multitask and listen on the go, I recommend listening at at either a 1.50 speed so one does not miss anything. For those who are listening while reading the book, I found 2.0 and 2.5 speed to be the best speeds. 3.0 and 3.5 speed was too fast for me, and I was missing a lot of what the narrator was saying and had to eventually slow down the narrator’s reading speed. 

Other works by this Author:

Novels

• Heroine 
• This Darkness Mine
• The Female of the Species
• A Madness So Discreet

Given to the Sea Duology

• Given to the Sea
• Given to the Earth

Not a Drop to Drink Duology

• Not a Drop to Drink
• In a Handful of Dust