How to Buy A Love of Reading

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Tanya Egan Gibson's debut novel is a bit...challenging at first.  I picked it up because, honestly, how great is that title?  I did end up reading the whole thing, but it took a good two weeks; something about the characters took a while to resonate with me, and the plot is such that I just stopped explaining it to people when they asked what I was reading.  BUT I did finish it, so don't be completely deterred!
The main gist is that Carley's parents have decided that their 16th birthday present to their daughter is a novel commissioned especially for her to foster a love of the written word.  They will be modern-day Medicis, and bring the meta-fiction author Bree McEnroy to live with them for a month while the novel is being completed.  Slowly, throughout the writing process, secrets are uncovered, harsh truths faced, and a world-famous author is brought back to the public eye.
There are a lot of people to keep track of here: Hunter, the alcoholic, pill-popping heartthrob of Fox Glen; Gretchen, Carley's weight-obsessed mother; Suzanne, Hunter's mother who has been carrying on a decades-long affair with Carley's father, Francis; Amber, Carley's best friend and Hunter's sometimes-booty call; the list continues.  The setting, Fox Glen, is like something out of Great Gatsby, which is somewhat paralleled in How to Buy...The parties are grand, and the story becomes less about the crazy lifestyle and more about the people in the second act.
If you are feeling up to engaging in this story, you'll need to just grit your teeth and power through the first section.  It's a challenge, but I did find myself staying up late the last couple of nights to finish this book.  I can't recommend it to everyone, but there are definitely worse ways to spend your evenings!