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Shortlisted for the 2025 NZ Booklovers Awards Young Adult Fiction
For ages 13+
Reviews
@downthebackofthebookcase (bookstagrammer) ~ This has to be one of my top reads this summer. Loved, loved, loved it. Once I started I just couldn’t put it down. Mary-Anne Scott is an expert at painting rich, loveable characters with great depth and emotion. I so felt for Jordan Baxter and wanted to whisk him and his little sister away from the hovel they lived in with their hoarder mother – as did the very likeable Alena and Andrej. A few of the books I’ve read recently featured music and I was happy to discover music played a big role in this story too. This was such a gritty, emotional read which had me close to tears at times. Highly recommended.
Chris Sanders ~ An enthralling, complex story, upbeat and promising despite the gruesome mental health issues at its heart, with a hero I was cheering for all the way through, written in the strong, compelling style that has become Mary-anne Scott’s trademark. I absolutely loved this.
WhatBookNext.com ~
Mary-Anne Scott writes teenage boys with clarity, compassion and with a clear understanding in how they tick. Jordan is authentic, brave, angry, conflicted and kind. He’s not perfect however, and his struggles just drew me closer to him and his decisions.
The setting of a hoarder’s house is so real, it made me cringe at the cockroaches and screw my nose up at the explicitly described odours of a cramped, mouldy, mouse-stained home.
Trying to understand the hoarder character’s behaviour and mental health problems along with Jordan, pulled me further into the story. I felt his anger and frustrations keenly throughout the novel and held my breath in moments where I would’ve lost my temper too. His self-control is aided by kindness around him in a teacher, a girlfriend and her parents, and a couple who have reached out to him and Tabitha with solutions.
Much research is evident in the police, emergency and mental health services, as each of these organisations are compassionately portrayed in the book.
Sobering, emotional and ultimately hopeful for the character’s futures, The Mess Of Our Lives is a stunning read by a multi-award winning New Zealand author.
