Here for a Good Time

by Kim Spencer

A poignant coming-of-age YA debut featuring an Indigenous teen girl grappling with the effects of intergenerational trauma while navigating school, family and young love, by multi-award-winning author Kim Spencer.

It is 1990. Morgan has lived all her life in the small fishing town of Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia. Ever since her mom took off when she was ten, Morgan has kept an eye on her dad, a commercial fisherman who works hard and occasionally parties even harder. After struggling to keep up and find a place at a public high school, Morgan's best friend Skye convinces her to attend an alternate school.

There, she meets Nate. Both cute and intelligent, Nate introduces her to a wider worldview, including music, movies and books, and becomes a lifeline after an unimaginable tragedy strikes.  In the aftermath, Morgan learns hard truths about her mother's painful past and the resulting intergenerational effects of that trauma, and as she struggles to come to terms with her new reality, an unexpected development offers a chance of a fresh start, with love and forgiveness at its core.

Genres: Young Adult, Audiobook, Historical Fiction, Indigenous, Fiction, Family, Historical

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 10, 2026

Reviews

[DianaRose · Rating 4 out of 5]

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!

here for a good time is a 90s coming-of-age YA novel following our fmc morgan, an indigenous teen girl living in the small fishing town of prince rupert, bc. we follow her as she grapples with the effects of intergenerational trauma all while navigating school, the loss of her father (and the abandonment of her mother), as well as young love and teen pregnancy.

while there was a lot of loss and generational/societal trauma, this book really emphasized hope and perseverance through community, and i appreciated that hopefulness and emphasis on growth.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a YA historical fiction novel set in...the 1990s. Please give me a moment while I hyperventilate over my my youth now being considered historical fiction fodder. The story follows a Canadian native girl named Morgan and spans her sophomore, junior, and (what would have been her) senior year. Morgan is a bright girl who has been failed by the system and whose family is still reeling from multiple generations of abuse in residential schools. While Morgan does grow and change, there is a frustrating sense that life just sort of happens TO her and she accepts her passive role without much objection. While Morgan's story appears to end on a happy note, the novel comes with a wide variety of trigger warnings including content associated with rape (non graphic and referred to only in the past tense), abortion, teen pregnancy, teen parents, wide spread alcohol abuse, drug use (primarily weed, but references to stronger drugs like acid and meth do appear), residential school trauma, parent death, sibling death, suicide (non graphic), high school dropout, relapse, and sexual abuse of children (including sexual abuse by religious leaders). These topics are dealt with in an age appropriate manner but are very present, as are multiple instances of characters who relapse following discussing their traumatic experiences. Students who traumatic histories MUST be provided with extra support if this book is assigned in a classroom.

[Valérie Montour · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was entertaining and informative, so overall, I'd say it's a good YA book to get the conversation going with students. I liked the main character and her relationship to her father. The exploration of grief and generational trauma were striking points.
However, I do think it was much too short for the amount of topics that were talked about. It kinda felt to me as if the author had a bullet point list and wanted to talk about every natives-related-issues that exist (rape, alcoholism, suicide, trauma, drug, school dropouts, toxic relationships, teen pregnancies and residential schools... yes ALL of that happened in a 250 pages). It was going too fast and lacked in depth. Also, is it just me or the commentary on abortion was a bit weird? Her bestfriend's judgment and you'll-regret-it-if-you-don't-keep-it discourse felt a bit icky and off...
I don't know, it was definitely interesting and has a clear educational purpose, but a lot of point made it just « meh ».

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to come.

Thanks to Libro FM!

[rachel x]

"A poignant coming-of-age YA debut featuring an Indigenous teen girl grappling with the effects of intergenerational trauma while navigating school, family and young love"

[Memphis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super easy and quick to read but almost in a bad way. I felt like there was a lot of depth lacking that could have made this book so much better. I definitely still enjoyed it though!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spencer’s slice of life novel follows Morgan, a Native teen growing up in British Columbia in the early 1990s. It’s a realistic portrayal of timeless teen struggles, although Spencer’s many references to 1990 culture may go over teens’ heads. The intergenerational traumas caused by residential schools through the late 20th century, as they attempted to erase Native culture, is highlighted as Morgan learns more about her family’s history over the two years that the story captures.

Thanks to Swift Water Books and Libra.fm for the complimentary e-audiobook.

[Trina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could relate due to when and where it was set, but it wasn't what I was expecting. I might get a copy for the shelves, but I won't be recommending it for lit circles. Sigh

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here for a Good Time by Kim Spencer is a coming of age YA novel featuring an Indigenous girl grappling with life, love, and family trauma.

This is considered a historical fiction, set in 1990.

Yup. HISTORICAL FICTION.
(Ahem. Excuse me while I cry 😭)

Anyhoo, Morgan is the main character who is struggling with finding the motivation to attend school. She moves to a alternate school which helps her feel smart, learn boundaries, and find Nate, a cute intelligent boy. She learns how to be successful and starts to have a normal life.

Then she has loss that comes out of nowhere, a disappeared parent return, and some big adult problems she needs to solve.

Definitely worth the read. YA because the characters are high schoolers, not in tone or writing style. A debut novel from an excellent author. This reminds me of similar books written by Judy Blume or Anonymous.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#tryingtoreaditall

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here for a Good Time is essentially the diary of Morgan, a Tsimshian teen in 1991 navigating everyday highs and lows-- just a few of them being complex friendships, young love, and grief that spans her everyday life as well as the intergenerational trauma that comes with some of her family members being Indian Boarding School survivors. Spencer's writing style has consistently been like momentary vignettes, a bit sparse while expressing pivotal moments and memories; her characters are engaging and the way they interact and live feel so relatable in a way that keeps you invested, wanting to know more about Morgan's family and friends. After the last page, I'm still wondering more about where her life will take her. Reminiscent of Jacqueline Woodson in regards to how her writing is simple and accessible, but super emotionally effective and feels pulled straight from real life. Kim Spencer has definitely become an auto-read author for me.

[Darya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morgan is an Indigenous teen living in the town of Prince Rupert in British Columbia, Canada, in the early 1990s. That’s a must to mention, because all of Kim Spencer’s books seem to be weirdly specific about depicting not a “general experience” of growing up Indigenous in Canada but a very precisely localized one, bound to this coastal town, in which life is very much structured around ocean fishing. So is Morgan’s father, like her grandfather before him, a fisher, as are the families of some of Morgan’s friends and schoolmates.

Fishing actually allows them quite a comfortable standard of living — which I would like to emphasize in light of the following: there is a tendency in many portrayals to conflate dysfunctional family dynamics with socioeconomic circumstances, especially when writing about Indigenous people ("The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" is obviously the first thing that comes to mind) and other marginalized minorities. Instead, Spencer explores here the intergenerational trauma of residential schools in Canada, to which Indigenous children were removed from their families and cultures and brought up in abusive environments. The book shows how, despite this obviously not being true for Morgan herself, it is true for a few of her relatives (I’ll be vague, as this is something gradually discovered over the course of the story), and how their trauma leads to further traumatizing seemingly unaffected people, like Morgan.

I believe this is a very important thing to thematize in fiction: both the aspect of colonial violence and the aspect of intergenerational consequences that linger on. At the same time, I didn’t feel that this story works to its full potential from a narrative point of view. As a few other reviewers mentioned, the choice to tell events spanning several years in disjointed snippets made it harder to connect to the protagonist. Something else mentioned in reviews, which I also felt — that it seems as if life simply happens to Morgan, without many deliberate decisions on her part — might actually be a result of organizing the story in snippets. Between the moments when we see her, there may have been a lot of decision-making, but the reader only sees the outcome: “okay, what else happened to Morgan in the meantime?” I would have liked to see more introspection about, for example, what actually made it so hard for her to stay in the conventional school system and why the alternative school made a difference—other than the fact that she meets a significant person there.

I still recommend it, with these reservations. And I am far from done with this author; I already added myself to the queue for a library copy of her middle-grade duology about another Indigenous (pre-)teen growing up in Prince Rupert.

3.5 stars.

Publication date: March 10, 2026.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book through NetGalley. The opinion above is entirely my own.

[Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here For A Good Time was an insightful book that just fell a bit off for me. It talked a lot about the generational trauma that many natives have, along with how it influences the lives of the people around them. Before this, I had only heard the term "native generational trauma” from a YouTuber who didn’t go into depth on it, as of course, it is a very sensitive topic. I had no idea what had happened to these people, and it broke my heart to read about everything that was done. I think this was a great way to spread awareness because I have never come across a book mentioning even the idea of it, and it helps explain a lot of things that have happened in history.
Though I appreciated the sentiment, I didn’t particularly enjoy the writing style. It reads a lot like a middle-grade book, even though the topics were very heavy, which can help make the book more accessible to people. For me, Morgan sounded very childish throughout, even when we were talking about trauma, rape, death, and teen pregnancy. In summary, the writing was very juvenile for a young adult book. Each sentence was simple, no figurative language; there was no deeper meaning to the book, which is fine, it just made it a very straightforward book when it felt like it shouldn’t have been.
Morgan felt like a very flat character to me. I wish the author had developed her more. As many people have said, the author seemed to just have certain topics they wanted to talk about in this book, and once they finished mentioning them, they just moved on without elaborating. There was a bit of romance in here, but I felt no connection; in fact, in some moments, whether intentional or not, I really disliked Nate. Skye was honestly the most developed character, yet we didn’t get to see her a lot. There was so much potential in this book, and it was sad to see that it lost all of it.
There is no main conflict, instead a few sprinkled around that we don’t get to take too seriously, even when in reality, those are very serious events. Everything feels melodramatic because of the author’s writing style, and I don’t feel myself connecting very well with Morgan.
Overall, it was okay, good for informing people of the history of colonizers, but as an actual story, it falls pretty short.

[Chandler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to LibroFM for the gifted ALC - all opinions are my own.

This is a YA coming-of-age tale following an Indigenous teen girl in British Colombia as she grapples with relationships, identity, and tragedy.

We follow Morgan, the daughter of a mother who fled and a hard-working fisherman father. Morgan struggles with traditional public school and decides to attend an alternate school where she meets Nate. She’s beginning to find happiness with him when tragedy strikes. On her path to healing, Morgan learns the hard truths of her mother’s past and how that familiar trauma has manifested for many generations.

This was a lovely tale of resilience and self discovery. Morgan was a great character, though her decisions were questionable. She’s figuring things out, as teens will do, when the unimaginable happens and I can hardly fault her for coping. The commentary on the treatment of the Indigenous population in British Columbia, both its sordid history and the modern variations of bigotry, was poignant and sensitively handled.

This story carries impactful messages for a teenage audience but there is nonetheless a lack of depth to the themes. That’s not to say the story needed to be heavier, the impact was just stunted by the lack of real life consequences. I would have loved to see more growth from our main character and I felt the ending to lean a little too optimistic.

All told, this was a wonderful story that just needed to commit a bit more. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Elle Jackson. It was well paced and a quick, engaging listen.

I recommend for fans of YA fiction, intergenerational trauma, and fishing communities.

[What.Nikki.Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quick (under 300pgs) story of an indigenous teen from Canada as a HISTORICAL FICTION from the 90s (😭😱). It covers many hardships from generational trauma to teen pregnancy. There IS a content warning at the beginning of the audiobook (so rare, thank you!)
HOWEVER she only lists two... ⚠️ past (off page) sexual assault & suicide. I believe the list should be much longer as a book marketed in the YA space especially. There's mentions of abortion (past, action off page). Teen pregnancy, under age alcohol and drug use, alcohol addiction, parental death (on page!), sibling death, relapse from trauma, sexual abuse of children, highschool drop out and much more.

While short this is a heavy topic book that you would want to be prepared for. It starts out with Morgan as a sophomore and spans with snipets through a few years before she drops out when she would be a senior. She is a very intelligent girl but has had speed bump on top of speed bump in her life from the system failing her to her mother abandoning her and now her father's passing.


Thank you librofm for the ALC. The audio was well done.

[Therrien Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story. There was one character arc that was just incredible, but to avoid spoilers, I’ll just say that the author did a spectacular job of showing how chaos imposed on a family creates a cascade of problems that makes it so hard for younger generations to understand and feel empathy. This powerful novel shows that. I also loved the relationship between the main character Morgan and her dad. It captured perfectly the way teens are so often critical of their parents but still love them. Not to mention, often later learn more about why they are the way they are and, again, avoiding spoilers, but readers should be prepared that the meaning of the title within the story, aside from the obvious, emotionally wrecked me. Tears were shed. Not to mention that for me, the time period was so nostalgic! The music sprinkled throughout really brought this to the forefront. Also loved that it was set in a small town in Canada! The story is told engagingly in a series of short vignettes, making it so accessible that it’s easy to just read one more chapter…and one more, until the day is gone and you just want to remain in Morgan’s world.

[Reading_seas0n · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you, Tundra Book Group | Swift Water Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book honestly! I am apart of the Penguin Teen Ca Influencer program but all my opinions are my own!

4.25 stars
This is an effortless read!
I literally read this book in 1 hour and I think a lot of people with enjoy this book.

Set in the 90's we follow Morgan's life as they show us their day to day life, glimpses into the lives of their family & those around them, all different but all impactful - whether good or bad.
We see the underlining trauma lingering in the air over their friend Skye & their mother and how it can shape & affect your life.
It also touched on residential schools and the fact that those hellish places destroyed and took many lives, whether at the school or in the aftereffects of life after the school.

We touched on a lot of subjects: teen pregnancy, abortion, residential schools, rape, young parent life, trauma, abuse & loss and I think they were all done in a soft manner. It didn't go deep into the topics but enough that you felt the pain.

[Chris G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morgan’s life in 1990s Prince Rupert, BC, revolves around those who fish, like her dad and grandpa, and her native community. It’s been years since Morgan’s mom slid into alcoholism which led to her living on the streets of Vancouver, but Morgan’s grandparents are nearby and help support Morgan even as she struggles in school and finds an alternative high school that fits her learning needs. There she meets Nate and their friendship is a constant through the ups and downs of her BFF, Skye, and Morgan’s dad’s death in a fishing accident. Mostly unacknowledged is the undercurrent of damage caused by the residential schools - grandma was forced to attend as was Morgan’s mom. When Nate and Morgan become pregnant, it feels even more urgent for Morgan to understand how the memory of the schools continues to impact the Native community. Short, punchy chapters and a fast-paced story. Earc from Edelweiss.

[Madi Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kim Spencer perfectly captures what it means to live in a small community in tone that is whimsical, yet also pensive.

Living so close to Prince Rupert, I felt a sense of nostalgia and excitement when I recognized the many places Morgan comes across throughout her journey.

The short chapters share a lot about Morgan’s life without the fluff. Spencer shares all that she needs to share for you to understand Morgan, and not a drop more—and I LOVE it. The pace not only kept my attention, but left space for introspection.

Spencer wrote about grief in a way that felt so raw. As someone who lost a parent as a teenager, the motions Morgan went through were ones I’ve gone through myself.

This was a a beautiful story about survival, grief, love, and trauma that taught me so, very much. Thank you Swift Water Books and Penguin Random House for the Advance Reader’s Copy!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 - A short and stunning read.

[Gabriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This was a quick and easy read. The book broke Morgan's high school years into short, bite-sized pieces that nonetheless touched on many heavy topics respectfully and with nuance. It depicted the legacy of inter-generational trauma left by the residential schools, which Morgan's paternal grandmother and mother were both forced into. While Morgan's father's death and the restructuring of her family in its aftermath brought it to light for her, clearly, Morgan’s whole life had been affected by the trauma her family had been carrying. As this history came to light and as Morgan matured, she developed a more sympathetic view of her mother, who abandoned her, and recognized the cycle of abuse/dysfunction manifesting in different ways in her community, allowing room for both a firsthand experience of the hurt Morgan suffered from her mother and the understanding of her mother as also deeply hurting and trying to survive.

[Lori Burger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an important novel for Indigenous youth to experience and celebrate. Kim’s signature writing style makes her book one that you are compelled to devour in one sitting, and reminds me of a more mature level Judy Blume novel with Indigenous understandings and experiences. Her characters are genuine and heartfelt, with authenticity that can only come from immersion in language, culture and place. Kim’s work acknowledges the very real ripple effects of colonization and trauma in a way that youth can relate to, while reminding us of the inherent strength of our families. She skillfully creates opportunities for Indigenous youth to see themselves and their families with compassion and understanding of the wider context of the history that affects us all. Highly recommend for youth readers and others who are inspired by Indigenous voices in literatures!

[Mizuki Giffin]

An Indigenous coming-of-age story set in Prince Rupert in the 90s. This novel is told in little snippets from Morgan’s life and almost reads like a series of journal entries. The first half focused on Morgan’s daily experiences and was more light hearted, while the second half faces challenging topics head on, like death and grief, residential schools, intergenerational trauma, teen pregnancy, drug use, and sexual assault. While these are all important topics handled in a sensitive and empathetic way in the story, a trigger warning is important, especially for a teen audience. I was captivated by this story and couldn’t put it down. It reminded me of Monkey Beach in the ways it talks about growing up in a coastal, fishing community and the themes of music, family, and grief.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

An indigenous story set in the 90s of a girl name Morgan whose mom abandoned them and lives on "skid row" while she watches her father, a fisherman, fish hard and party harder sometimes. She's got caring grandparents and nice friend sidekick. She's living life before a major change in her situation leads her down a different path when she finds out she's pregnant and her and her boyfriend decide to keep the baby.

It moves through time quickly which is why it's a quick story altogether that seems fleeting. As a story of the 90s there are plenty of 90s references as well as understanding the generational trauma that comes with being Indigenous and having family that experienced residential school abuse.

[Miss Bookiverse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt like the bare bones of a story with simple, straight-forward writing. I assume that’s exactly what this book wants to be in order to be accessible for its target audience. But for me personally, there wasn’t enough depth and detail. We jump from vignette to vignette in a young Native girl’s life with a lot of heavy topics thrown in, not a lot is fleshed out or explored on a deeper level. I appreciate learning more about Native culture and general life but the book won’t stick with me for long.

[Birdtrovert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick read but it wasn't easy. Though it's not very long, it deals with a lot of very heavy topics (some are alluded to but they are treated respectfully).

That said, I enjoyed the read. It was well written and I finished it pretty quickly. I can't really comment on the residential schools and the trauma it caused Indigenous peoples (I'm white and can't even begin to understand the exact horrors of those "schools") but I think it was handled respectfully.

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to @libro.fm and the publisher for allowing me to listen to an ALC of this YA novel. Titled after her Dad's favorite song, this book follows Morgan, an Indigenous teen from Canada as she tries to navigate life's many obstacles. Drinking, drug use, sexual abuse, loss due to abandonment and death, teen pregnancy, and intergenerational trauma from residential schools are all issues that are explored in this novel in verse.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A heartfelt historical YA novel set in 1990s BC that follows one Indigenous teen as she navigates high school, falls in love, loses a parent and is reunited with another. It tackles some tough topics from Residential School trauma, rape (off page), addiction, accidental pregnancy and grief. It was good on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Jen Ferguson. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

[ebigeyl]

staff rec blurb, april 26: It's 1990 in British Columbia, and Morgan is struggling; from her dad's raging parties, to attending alternative school, and wrestling with her Indigenous heritage, Morgan is full of questions and curiosities about her world. One day, Morgan learns something new about her mother––who left when she was 10––revealing deep generational trauma. But don't worry, this book brims with love and forgiveness despite it all.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this book were great and parts of this book felt a little forced. I think the narrator, who felt far too grown-up and far too ~emotional~ for Morgan, was a big factor in that. But this was an interesting and somber book about Residential Schools and the longstanding trauma they wrought in Indigenous communities. This is a short historical fiction and a good coming of age story.

[Amanda Shepard (Between-the-Shelves) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This book definitely deals with a lot of heavy topics, so be sure to keep that in mind when picking it up. It would be a good book to get the conversation started on residential schools and how the trauma from them is still affecting indigenous people today. I do wish that the story was a little longer to get a deeper dive, but it's still an important story to add to the YA cannon.

[Patti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ms. Spencer tried to bring attention to the hideous treatment of native tribes in Indian School in Canada ( a horrible part of history in both the US & Canada) with sensitivity and compassion. She did this with a decent story that seemed to meander a bit aimlessly at times and with an ending that seemed contrived.