Saving Phoebe Murrow

Saving Phoebe Murrow is about a girl who is befriended on Facebook, by a flirtatious boy named Shane, who goes to a neighboring high school.  When Phoebe goes to an underage party where parent-sanctioned alcohol is served, her mother finds out and calls the police and the parents that own the house, as well as a lot of the kids in attendance, get into trouble.  Phoebe is treated like a pariah at school; Shane tells Phoebe he never wants to see her again because her mother called the police and eventually Phoebe decides to slit her wrists in a bathtub.  Her mother, Isabel blames herself.

What this book is ultimately about is the mother who allowed the alcohol to be served at her house.  Sandy is screwed up.  It doesn't say it in the book, but she seems to be mentally ill.  When she was a teenager, she seduced her stepfather and her own mother kicked her out.  She now devotes a lot of time and energy to pleasing her spoiled daughter, Jessie, and that is why she allowed the alcohol to be served.  Sandy uses sex to get things she wants, she has a very skewed sense of right and wrong and no real moral compass.  She is an awful person.

In all honesty, I found the writing to be unsophisticated and not enough focused on the actual bullying and suicide attempt, but rather on Sandy and how screwed up she was.  I had high hopes that this book would show how a fictional family helped their child through a bullying situation, but it fell short.  It was more of a twisty domestic thriller than a book about teen bullying and suicide.

Saving Phoebe Murrow is an intensely moving account of what can happen when parents are too involved in their children's lives. Even when it's because of love.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an ebook copy for review. As always, an honest review from me.

Trigger warning: many fairly graphic mentions of self harm and suicide. Please do not read this book if you’re not in a mentally healthy place, especially if you’re sensitive to these topics in particular.

That being said I enjoyed the whirlwind of drama and incredibly serious topics. It reminds me of a mix between a Lifetime movie and episode of Law and Order SVU. Kind of a perfect combo. We get an in depth look at the challenges and drama of teenage girls lives from the perspective of them and their parents.

I really liked reading about Phoebe and her mother. I wish the story focused more on them. I disliked the amount of focus put on Phoebe’s dad and Sandy, the mother of Phoebe’s classmate/friend. The difference between the parenting styles was both horrifying and interesting.

I so disliked the character of Sandy. She was so psychologically unbalanced and awful. She meant well, for her daughter, so at least she has that going for her. The focus was on her too much, when I felt it should have been more on Phoebe. Also the trope of parents providing teens with alcohol and getting in legal trouble has been done a lot before. But it’s still something that people could be reminded of.

All in all, Saving Phoebe Murrow is highly entertaining, drama filled, and a warning for parents and teens alike.

First, I want to thank Herta B. Feely and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review.

Saving Phoebe Murrow a novel by Herta B. Feely is a incredibly intense book that must be read by any parent or guardian that has a loved one in middle school or high school! This is a story that will really make you sit and think what is your child really doing on social media? What is really going on with them that they are not telling you? This is a chilling book of todays reality of the online world and what effects it has on your children. This is not a light-hearted book-this is an emotion filled-gut wrenching book. You will want to hug your child and have a discussion after reading this book.

Saving Phoebe Murrow hits on some very sensitive and taboo subjects. Some of these may trigger some of the readers. Some of these subjects are cutting, cyber bullying, infidelity, underage drinking, fake Facebook accounts, attempted suicide.

My heart went out to Phoebe Murrow during this whole book! She just wanted what ever girl wants in school to be accepted by her peers. To go to the dance, the parties, to have the guy of her dreams ask her out. Life kept throwing her curve balls left and right. Reading this book It reminded me of my times in school and how difficult it was. I can’t imagine going through everything Phoebe went through with the pressures of Facebook. I just wanted to give her a hug!

I had a love hate relationship with Phoebe’s father for few different reasons. I loved the career path he had being in the political eye. However, when he should have been concentrating on his daughter he was out sinning!

I was not a fan of the character Sandy at the beginning of the book. By the end of the book I despised her for so many reasons. I don’t think there has been a character in a book I can honestly say that I hated more than I did her! Herta did an amazing job with this character.

This book was dedicated to the memory of Megan Meir. Herta B. Feely read an article in 2008 about a woman whom posed a fifteen-year-old boy on social media to prey on a vulnerable thirteen-year old Megan Meir. They both lived in the same area as each other. In 2006 this woman (Lori Drew) launched a cyber-bullying attack on Megan through Myspace (this was popular prior to Facebook), and Megan ended up taking her own life.

Hertha was deeply saddened by Megan’s death, and appreciated her effort to fight cyber-bullying by creating a foundation in honor the memory of her daughter. Please visit www.meganmeierfoundation.org for the website contains resources for parents, teachers, and teens whom deal with cyber-bullying.

According to the National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children, “There were 7,296 counseling sessions with young people whom talked to ChildLine about online bullying and safety last year.” Cyber-bullying has become a huge problem with texting, social media and electronic devices. There needs to be something done about this. A good website for this would be Cyberbullying Research www.cyberbullying.org

Saving Phoebe Murrow is a book that is going to stay with me in my heart way after I am done reading it. The storyline, the characters, and the concept of the book you just cant forget. Plus, Herta B. Feely just became one of my favorite authors. She did an incredible job researching and writing this book. I would gladly read and review for her any day!!!