Raver Girl

A PopSugar Best New Books of 2021 Selection Weed inspires her. Acid shows her another dimension. Ecstasy releases her. Nitrous fills her with bliss. Cocaine makes her fabulous. Mushrooms make everything magical. Special K numbs her. Crystal meth makes her mean. Sixteen-year-old Samantha, raver extraordinaire, puts the high in high school. A 90s time capsule buried inside a coming-of-age memoir set against the neon backdrop of the San Francisco Bay Area's rave scene, Raver Girl chronicles Samanthas double life as she teeters between hedonism and sobriety, chaos and calm, all while sneaking under the radar of her entrepreneur fathera man who happened to drop acid with LSD impresario Owsley Stanley in the 60s. Samantha keeps a list of every rave she goes toa total of 104 over four years. During that time, what started as trippy fun morphs into a self-destructive roller coaster ride. Samantha opens the doors of her mind, but she's left with traumas her acid-fried brain won't let her escape; and when meth becomes her drug of choice, things get progressively darker. Through euphoric highs and dangerous lows, Samantha discovers shes someone who lives life to the fullest and learns best through alternative experience rather than mainstream ideals. Shes a creative whose mind is limitless, whose quirks are charms, whose passion is inspirational. Shes an independent woman whose inner strength is rooted in unwavering family ties. And if she can survive high school, she just might be okay.