“Underprivileged and keenly self-aware, SoCal fourteen-year-old Layla Bailey isn’t used to being noticed. Except by mean girls who tweet about her ragged appearance. All she wants to do is indulge in her love of science, protect her vulnerable younger brother, and steer clear of her unstable mother.

Then a school competition calls for a biome. Layla chooses her own home, a hostile ecosystem of indoor fungi and secret shame. With a borrowed video camera, she captures it all. The mushrooms growing in her brother’s dresser. The black mold blooming up the apartment walls. The unmentionable things living in the dead fridge. All the inevitable exotic toxins that are Layla’s life. Then the video goes viral.

When Child Protective Services comes to call, Layla loses her family and her home. Defiant, she must face her bullies and friends alike, on her own. Unafraid at last of being seen, Layla accepts the mortifying reality of visibility. Now she has to figure out how to stay whole and stand behind the truth she has shown the world.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book that I got through Amazon First Reads for my Kindle.

Story (5/5): This is the story of Layla. She’s super smart and wants to be a scientist one day. But, for now she is struggling to make it day by day in her moldering apartment that has no power or heat, with her absent mother, and her five year old brother. She is struggling with bullying at school but more concerned about trying to get her clothes clean and find food for her and her brother on a day to day basis. Then a recording of her apartment goes viral and Child Protective Services comes calling. It was an engaging, darkly funny, and heartbreaking story that I really enjoyed.

Characters (5/5): I absolutely loved Layla and her little brother; the conditions they were living in broke my heart. Layla is such a tough character, she does her best and takes her challenges in stride. She cares about her brother the best she can, but realizes when things are getting beyond her ability to fix (or least keep up with) them. Her brother is also an interesting case, he is young and knows when he is unhappy but he doesn’t realize how bad the situation he is in actually is. It was so sad to see Layla be so smart about science and school but struggle with things like how to make a bed or deal with personal hygiene just because she hadn’t had any exposure to basic normal life things.

Setting (5/5): A lot of this story takes place in either Layla’s apartment or her school. Layla’s apartment was fascinating in a really sad way, I truly hope there aren’t a ton of kids out there living in those types of conditions. The scary part is that her and her brother have learned to get used to that way of living; it’s kind of a lesson of how adaptable humans are and how much they can endure.

Writing Style (5/5): This was a short read but packed in a lot of story and was really engaging. I liked the scientific slant Layla puts on a lot of things; it was an intriguing way to make the story a bit different and show how Layla was using science to distance herself a bit from her circumstances. There’s a lot of heart here and a lot of heartbreak. The story ends in a very realistic way and I enjoyed how social media added to both good and bad aspects of Layla’s life.

My Summary (5/5): Overall this is the best Amazon First Reads book I have ever read and is a very good book just in general. I loved the look into this strange (and sad from my viewpoint as a parent) life that Layla is living. This is a brief story that looks into so many different topics: mental illness, child neglect, social media, poverty, science and coming of age. It’s a lot to pack into this story but it works really well and makes for an engaging and entertaining story that has a lot of emotional impact.

Review – Find Layla by Meg Elison (5/5 stars)

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