Goodbye, Good Girl

by Renee Blossom

Stranded. Broke. Will taking the easy money change her for good?

Kandace is running out of options. With her family miles away and her boyfriend skipping town, a job offer seems like a blessing. But during her trip to see her father, she never expected she'd consider dancing at a St. Louis gentleman's club…

With the spunky April showing her the ropes, Kandace learns she could clear $1,000 in a single night. But with her boyfriend's potential return on her mind, will Kandace's seedy dash for cash ruin the good girl's future?

Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Fiction, Mystery Thriller

316 pages, Paperback

First published October 3, 2017

About the author

Debut Author, as of October 3, 2017.
Parent of three
Lives in Phoenix
Loves coffee.
Doesn't sleep enough.
Subjective to binge watching TV.
Avid reader of all things from contemporary to biography. Lover of physical books(but ebooks are always with me!)
No pets to report.
Lots of weird habits, read my books for more details.

Reviews

[AnisaAnne · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 - stars

My blog on WP: https://anisabookreviews.wordpress.co...

Kandace lives with her two sisters, Amelia and Coral and her ailing mother. Her father works in another state and sends money to support the family. Kandace feels like the only adult around as her mother struggles with an opioid addiction. There is not enough money for food or to pay bills. One day after work, Kandace notices a strange car, Volvo, black and not from this neighborhood. Someone has been inside her house looking for her father. Her mother suddenly has taken an overdose, and Kandace's life is upside down.

The narrative is about Kandace Santellan and her journey to find her father whom she believes is a chef or secret operative in LA. He is the glue needed to hold her family together. A PO box address from her convalescing mother will point Kandace in the right direction. Along the way a chance meeting and a quick friend, April presents Kandace with an opportunity to make money to help her complete her journey.

First, the weak points. The first eight chapters set the premise for Kandance to find her father. However, it is a stretch. A freshly overdosed mother suddenly out of the hospital. Two sisters left behind; one turfed to an unfriendly aunt and the other on a perpetual tournament tour. Her boyfriend Kyle attempts to drive her to LA but abandons her in St. Louis. And do we think an 18-year-old has the emotional and physical capacity to can find a CIA operative living in another state? We bearly get a chance to invest in the protagonist with all this supposition.

Next, the stronger points. When Kandace is alone, we see her personality shift in a world of exotic dancing. Kandace is making decisions out of desperation and naivety, fitting for a teenager. The offer to be an exotic dancer from April comes perhaps genuinely; a means to an end. April is in college studying for a pharmacy degree, a story not uncommon for young adults trying to pay for an education. The prospect of going to college excites Kandace as she has been working hard towards scholarships and her savings.

The strongest point. The building of the fantasy inside the strip club while being on an adrenaline rush was intoxicating. We see Kandace from all angles, from center stage, table dances, and VIP rooms. She is an instant sensation and becomes addicted to the benefits. However, this shift in the narrative was confounding. While the first eight chapters convinced us of her need to find her father, she has suddenly forgotten. The whole storyline seemed to fade away.

Goodbye, Good Girl is at times entertaining. Seeing how a teenager can be drawn into a fast lifestyle for easy money was on point. The nightclub scenes were rich in ambiance and erotica as you felt like you were a fly on the wall. However, the relationship with April was too fast and seemed skeptical. Kandace, a competitive pole dancer, trying to get scholarships to college moving into a job that cheapens the sport is contradictory. Finally, when she does find her father, the conversation is relentless and pointless. This narrative would be brilliant if the storyline built around homeless teenager drawn into a new lucrative life of an exotic dancer.

The social issue of opioid dependence is the number one crisis in America. It is introduced early in the novel through her mother, but soon in a future chapter Kandance is taking her first Ecstasy pill without any hesitation. Reading this was disturbing, considering the premature deaths occurring as a result of an accidental overdose.


Thank you, NetGalley and Revolve publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Carlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

What starts as a story about a young woman trying to hold her family together with absentee parents becomes a confusing coming-of-age story with a lack of true direction. I was unable to finish Goodbye, Good Girl after finding myself unable to keep up with the characters and unsure of what the book's direction was really meant to go in. I felt like we only saw the true Kandace when she was pole dancing or thinking about pole dancing, otherwise she was as unreliable as narrators come. Her reactions, her dialogue, her way of approaching life is confusing, and though that's true of many, I didn't feel like any of this rang true to reality. I expected depth and a story worth reading, but I didn't find any of that.

Ultimately, I am giving Goodbye, Good Girl two stars, as I did make it farther than I expected to. I think it has promise, it's the kind of book that has a story within its pages, just needs some true editing and a single story line to follow.

[Chaya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kandace Santellan is 18, and feels like the adult in her family. Her mother has a wicked opioid addiction due to a car accident, and her younger sisters depend on her to run the house. Her father has been absent for several years for unknown or mysterious reasons but calls to check in from time to time. They struggle to make ends meet on the pittance her dad sends her.

One day Kandace is confronted by "Volvo Man" who apparently has broken into the home looking for her father. Kandace takes it upon herself to find her father to warn him about the menace and danger this stranger poses, but how to find him and reach him? Thus begins a cross-country journey during which Kandace is dumped in St. Louis, is befriended by a stripper, embarks on a life of pole dancing in an effort to raise money for her trip.

Is she going to get caught up into a seedy life of stripping? Is her father a chef or a CIA operative? Will she reach him before Volvo Man does?

This story has a bit of an identity crisis. The first third is a family drama with medical, emotional and monetary crises. We see Kandace needing to become a responsible adult and take control of the family, and her difficulty in dealing with her mother's near-comatose state as well as her father's absence and sisters' dependence on her

The second third becomes a soft-porn joyride, with Kandace blossoming as a stripper. The author takes us through her metamorphosis and awakening, from the Brazilian wax on her privates, to the drug-fueled, big-money payouts her lap dances earn her. We see the inside of the club from her as well as her "johns'" perspectives, and while the tale is not quite x-rated, it is prurient enough to belong in a very different kind of book.

The third part morphs into a suspense action tale, with Kandace continuing her journey in her search for her father.

The character of Kandace is not well-defined, and for a good girl who's trying to take care of her momma and missing her daddy, she falls into the stripper life very easily and with absolute glee. This doesn't quite ring true.

So this book didn't do it for me. Thank you to the author and publishers for a digital copy to review.

[Rissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

Thank you so much to Revolve via netgalley for sending me an ARC copy of Goodbye, good girl by Renee Blossom. Goodbye good girl will be released on October 3, 2017

Kandace is just trying to get to California to see her dad and get away from her mom, a cross country drive with her boyfriend what could go wrong. Now i dont know about you but i cant handle being trapped in a car for more then five hours without almosting killing someone so this trip was doomed from the start.

Once her boyfriend and her get into a fight and Kandace is left on the side of the road, cold and alone... but not for long.

Kandace meets a girl named April and she takes Kandace under her wing and brings her into her world of exotic dancing. Its fast money for Kandace if she wants to make it to California.

I dont know if a story about becoming a stripper was supposed to be funny but i was laughing maybe im just weird or maybe its a weird topic to read about.

The beginning was very slow, mainly dialogue back and forth which was overkill. I wanted details and descriptive writing about what was happening not lame conversations. I wanted the road trip to start and the adventure to begin. It took a while. But once it picked up it really picked up, and got really good. While working at the strip club kandace was very much fine with stripping right away, like yeah im fine with walking around naked, my boyfriend didnt just leave me whatever lets screw some guys. I didnt find how Kandace reacted to the whole situation believable.

It was interesting and i liked it but i also dont really know what to think about it, because i have never read a book like it and it was refreshing to see things in a new light!

[Lena · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit that I was not a fan of this book. It had a lot of potential, but almost none of it came through. I was expecting a book with a lot of depth, about a girl who has to make life changing decisions in a couple of days or even hours. Going from a good girl, who lives with her mom and has a normal job, to a girl lost somewhere with no other choice than to become a stripper to make money to get back home (I’m not a good story teller, but you get the picture). Well… It wasn’t like that at all.

Let’s start at the beginning. From the start it felt like the writer just wanted to write about stripping and pole dancing and didn’t really care about the rest of the story, it just felt very rushed. There are some inconsistencies, especially with timing, that are hard to ignore. For example; She gives a dance lesson of 1 hour and 15 minutes (give or take 10 minutes), she drives home and has 2 different conversations on her porch, finds her mom unconscious in her bed, calls an ambulance. Then she has to wait 1 hour and 30 minutes in the hospital and then goes to see her mother. She drops her sister of at her aunt’s place and goes to meet some friend of hers where she sleeps 3 hours and waits some time while he works on his computer. After her nap it supposedly is 2pm. And I have to believe she did all that stuff in 6 hours? I’m not going to nag about every little thing that bothered me, but all those small things combined gave me the feeling that she just wanted to have the beginning over with so she could start with the story she actually wanted to write.

The characters were also really annoying. Kandace herself was dull and fatuous. She asks her boyfriend to drive her to LA (to clarify things, she lives in PENSYLVANIA, and they are both 18 years old!). He says yes without many questions and they decide to leave at once, in the middle of the night. Obviously (not) Kandace’s mother completely agrees. When Kyle (the boyfriend) gets a call from his mom in the morning to ask where he is, he needs to return home because his mother is angry (completely normal behaviour if you ask me).

I don’t live in the US, but if I would leave in the middle of the night for Portugal (that’s about the same distance they had to cover) without telling anyone, my entire family would kill me! But the worst part is that everyone (other than Kyle and his mother) seems to think that it’s Kyle who is completely insane and that he is just a bad boyfriend.

Than the most unbelievable part in this whole book happens. She just sits on a bench for 10 minutes and this random girl (April) sees her and asks her out of the blue if she wants to be a stripper. Kandace has like 5 questions at most before she agrees to do it. It’s utterly crazy!

The book got less bad after that. I still didn’t like the characters, because they staid exactly the same. But the writing got better. There was a little more detailing and explaining done in the middle part. I truly believe that if this book was had been just about stripping, it would have been better.

The drugs part bothered me A LOT. It wasn’t the fact that she did ecstasy that bothered me (I’m not that boring). She just never ever ever ever questions it! She just starts taking pills regularly out of nowhere because someone she just met offered them to her.

This book felt like it just didn’t know which genre it wanted to be. The weird mystery about her father that is brought in to make the story more exited is just not good at all. It just feels fake and used as an excuses to get the girl to the strip club.

I have to admit, I skipped some pages at the end (it got worse again)s. All the dialogues just were about the same thing over and over and over again. And I just expected more about the ending. Here I was truly bothered by the mystery part. Because nothing gets revealed. All the questions that made it a mystery just stay unanswered. Nothing change, nothing happens. It just ends exactly the way it started.

To end with a positive note. Not everything was bad, that’s almost impossible. The story was easy to follow, it didn’t get complicated. There scenery was also good. I knew where I was and how everything was supposed to look at all time during this story. If you want to read an easy book about stripping, there is a chance you will enjoy this!


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[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this. So many teenagers and children have absent parents. So when a young woman sets off on a quest to rescue her father from perceived life-threatening danger, it's an incredibly promising story.

Kandace sets off after an event one afternoon when her mother, Ginger, was taken to the ER for an opiate overdose and a strange, well-armed man had entered the family home looking for her father. Kandace thinks her father is a chef who travels the world, cooking for important people. She can't reach her father - he won't answer the phone or text her back. After a visit with her mother, who explains there's an address for him in her bedroom, Kandace decides it's her responsibility to find him in California and save his life.

When she arrives in St Louis with her boyfriend, he chickens out and goes home because his mom is telling him that's what he has to do. Kandace isn't going home. She's got too much at risk. So she takes off, leaving everything in his car.

She meets April at a bus stop and April recruits her to try exotic dancing - just for one night - to make enough money to get to LA.

As happens too often to young people, Kandace gets addicted to the attention and the highs, even the highs caused by ecstasy. She truly is her mother's daughter, huh?

Here's where things get weird. Okay, extra weird. The club in St Louis is like a magical fantasy version of the most dreamy strip club to work at. Maybe clubs like this exist somewhere. Maybe. Probably not. And if they did, they wouldn't take a new dancer on the same day they met her. But most clubs don't have magical church women that come with food, gift baskets, and sage advice. They don't have a beauty, hair, makeup, whatever area. And they definitely don't have wardrobe. They have a dressing room. With stations that girls stakeout at the beginning of their shifts. They put their belongings, unsecured usually (though there's usually always someone around to keep everyone honest), by these stations. They bring their own clothes, do their own makeup and hair, and take care of their own personal grooming on their off time. I know, I've worked in one such club. And once you've seen one, they're pretty much all the same - give or take a few details here and there.

Blossom takes this opportunity to try her hand at writing light erotica and it sometimes feels forced.

Kandace (aka Autumn) travels from St Louis to Las Vegas to LA, dancing with April the whole way. They became very close friends very quickly and it might be my general outlook on life, but I was waiting for a big betrayal that never happened.

When Kandace and April arrive in LA and locate Kandace's father, it turns out that he was never in danger. The heavily-armed man who entered her home is someone he knows and is not a threat. Her father is some clandestine operative that cooks sometimes to gain access to events for his work. And by now, this part of the story feels irrelevant.

The entire way, Kandace is incredibly, unbelievably naïve. Even by the end of the book, her actions and assumptions don't show much evidence of a maturing young woman. She seems to take time to think through her future, but she's made her decisions long before she admits to them.

I admit it, I was hoping for some awesome story of a young lady saving her father showing ultimate girl power and bringing the family back together again. That was mostly crushed because Kandace was too impulsive. For someone taking on such an important journey, she really didn't waste time thinking or planning. And to me, that's a shame. But the other part that drove me insane? Her father's reaction to the fact that Kandace is now stripping for money. He can't allow her the space she needs to be herself, to figure herself out, or to make mistakes. He can't respect her as a human being. He infantilizes her. It's horrible misogyny and he angered me to no end.

The redeeming thing about the book? So many stories try to tie things up into tidy little bows and make sure that people are happy. That's not this book. If anything, there's a much bigger wedge between Kandace and her father. She's uncomfortable in her hometown. And she's moving to a city half a continent away, abandoning her mother and sisters who depend on her (truly her father's daughter, also), to live with a girl she's known for all of a week. That's not a happy ending. Not a tragic ending, either. But it's how things happen in real life. If there's one thing the author got right, it's the ending. It's how things get messy and mistakes get made and sometimes we can't take them back. And that's a valuable thing to learn. I admire authors who can take their story to that place without polishing it up all nice and shiny. Thanks for letting us see that our lives aren't the only crazy lives out there.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Revolve Publishing for the ARC.

[Megan Luff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received Goodbye Good Girl by Netgalley for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book by Renee Blossom. It's about a girl name Kandace that basically goes on a road trip to find her father but then her boyfriend ditches her. So then she meets this girl April who helps her out and she starts stripping to make some quick cash. i don't want to say too much about the story because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Its also a contemporary coming of age story and about family issues..I will definitely read more books by Renee Blossom. I give this book 5 stars!!!!

[Sue Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodbye, good girl by Renee Blossom.
Her father hid the truth from her. What she didn't know is how far he would go to protect her.
Although slow in places I did enjoy this book. I kept telling her father off.
This was a good read with good characters. Little slow in places. 4*.

[Natassia_trav · Rating 2 out of 5]

I admit, I was a bit disappointed with this book. For me, this was a light reading, even too light for my taste.

So, Kandace is the oldest of the three daughters in the Santellan family. While her father is away because of his job and her mother is recovering from a severe operation, Kandace takes on herself a lot of family responsibilities. For this eighteen-year-old, dance is a passion but also an escape from the burden of reality of her everyday life. When one day, in front of their house, an unknown man searches for her father, she suspects she has been unaware of his real career for a long time. Her father is certainly not just a chef, as she had been thinking so far. She is also worried that, because of his real job, her father is in a mortal danger.

With the help of a friend, a computer genius, Kandace goes looking for her father. Her boyfriend Kyle initially decides to provide his help and support, but when his mother threatens to seize his pocket money and also his property, he decides to go back home. Kandace decides to continue to pursue her quest, even though she has only $200 in her pocket, after Kyle left her alone in the unknown city.

Under the given circumstances, Kandace meets April, a girl who shares her passion for dancing, more precisely, pole dancing. Although she was familiar with the discipline before, even just as a sport and artistic activity, Kandace found numerous benefits in turning this exotic dance into a way of ensuring her own existence. And that is exactly the moment in which we say goodbye to a good girl Kandace once was and where we meet her alter ego - the exotic dancer Autumn.

While I was reading this book, I was constantly waiting for a moment when Kandace would finally find her father and reveal his secrets, but that simply did not happen. Although the father was found, his secret job was not disclosed to us, and I believe that would surely give something valuable and interesting to the book. So, one potentially interesting plot, together with an expected breakthrough, was replaced by such a simple story of a good girl whose life has completely changed - a story that certainly lacks some “spice”. Unused potential and half-done story - that's all I've been able to find in this book. For me, unfortunately, there was not enough material for a better rating.

[Anna Ehler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodbye Good Girl is coming of age story of how Kandace finds herself working at The Palace, a well known strip club, whilst searching for her father. Trust me when I say this book is nothing like you would expect.
Unlike most books which talk about the terrors of strip clubs and have the main character spiral into a dark hole, this book actually promotes stripping and has it as a means of Kandice "coming to terms" with her life.
Now before I get into this I feel I must say that I personally do not promote nor demote the idea or action of stripping.
I enjoyed how the book did take a different route for the plot then expected tho, and also how there was a team of mystery added into the novel. I also enjoyed how both the bad and good sides of stripping where touched on throughout the novel, simply showing that it's not something that is inherently evil but rather a potentially "slippery slope."
That being said, I was annoyed that some parts of the book didn't seem overly realistic and that, What I perceived as the main mystery of the book, was never truly solved.
Overall I don't have too much to say about the book other then I found it a pleasant read.
Warning: if you are planning to pick up the book keep in mind there are highly sexual themes, drug use, and the occasional mild mention of eating disorders.

[Angela (Books of a Shy Girl) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goodbye, Good Girl by Renee Blossom is a Young Adult contemporary book. The protagonist is Kandace, an eighteen-year-old girl who has been taking care of her family for years since her father is always away. But when a man visits her at home to know where​ her father is, and her mother ends up in the hospital, the only thing Kandace can do is set off find her father.

It’s hard when you don’t enjoy a book. I felt the characters flat and the plot missed some chunks of story.

A series of things made me dislike Goodbye, Good Girl, for example when the protagonist thought of herself as a sex object after seeing another girl dance in a seductive way, or when she idealised the rich’s perfect girlfriend, someone who should speak only if spoken to and has to do what her boyfriend tells her.

My main problem​ with the novel is that it can give the wrong message. Plus, I thought I would find the story more interesting, but I couldn’t even connect with the protagonist.

The novel disappointed me. And I admit I wanted to stop reading the book, however I finished it feeling that the book needed more introspection into the characters and more reality added to the story.

The writing style was fine, but since I couldn’t engage with the story, I give Goodbye, Good Girl 2 out of 5 stars.

[Cláudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review in: https://enchantedbybookssite.wordpres...

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in advance and review it.

Kandace is an 18 year old girl living with her two sisters, Amelia and Coral, and her mother. However she feels like the only adult in her house, her dad lives in another state and sends them money, but there is not enough money for them to pay the bills and get food.

The story is about Kandace trying to find her father, along the way she meets someone who tells her a way to make money so that she can go on her journey to find her father. Goodbye, Good Girl is shows us how a teenager can be drawn into a fast lifestyle for easy money was on point.

Kandace is naïve. Even by the end of the book, her actions and assumptions don’t show much evidence of a maturing young woman.

The writing style was not my cup of tea, there were a lot of things I’d change, but it’s a light read, and it’s and entertaining read.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

This book is what I would call an ok book. There are many reviews that give you an idea as to what the story is about, many of which I agree with. Although this book didn't quite grab me, I would however be happy to read more books by this author.

[Jo Manton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant ...had me hooked from the start and to be honest read in one sitting it was just to good to put down .

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kandace Santellan life is not an easy one. Her mother is addicted to opioids following a major car accident and Kandace is tasked with taking care of her unwell mother and her two younger sisters. Her dad has not been around for the past two years due to his job, which Kandace does not fully understand. Right now, she is the glue holding her family together. She scrimps and saves every last penny, not earning nearly enough as a professional pole dance instructor, in order to take care of her family. All her friends have moved on to college, something that is not attainable for her at this time.

Kandace is really missing her father and she does not understand why he can’t be there for her and the family during their time of need. Sure, he sends home money when he can, but it is never enough. His job is clouded in secrecy and she does not even know where he is living. Things take a turn for the worst when a strange man packing a weapon shows up at her front door demanding information on her father’s whereabouts. Fearing for her family and for her father, she packs up her sisters and sends them to stay with her aunt Vivian, her mother’s sister, while she takes a road trip with her boyfriend trying to get to California to find her father. Kandace feels she is the only one who can help him.

Too bad her boyfriend gets called back home and Candace refuses to leave after their ten hour journey from Pittsburgh. In St Louis, not sure what the next move should be, Kandace winds up being targeted by April, a local pole dance stripper. Life suddenly takes a turn for Kandace and not in a good way or is it? Will Kandace make it out before it is too late? Or will she find herself and accept who she has become?

Kandace is only eighteen years old, and even though she lives in Pittsburgh, she is still very much a small town girl. Even though she has to act grown, she is still a young teenager trying to find her place in this world. You can see how much family is important to her and while she tries her best, she hasn’t really had time for herself to be a teenager or to learn about life in general. In some ways you can see just how naive she is especially once she meets April. For the first time, Kandace has freedom. Freedom from the responsibilities of taking care of a family and caring for her younger siblings. I think a lot of teens go through this especially if their home life is not perfect or they come from a one parent household where they don’t necessarily have the supervision or the help in making right or wrong choices.

I really felt bad at first for Kandace and felt that in a way she was targeted for her innocence and her vulnerability. Left alone in a city with no one to turn to, the glamour of making money, more money than ever thought possible held an appeal to Kandace. She IS a good girl. Is she doing bad things? I guess its left up to your interpretation. Stripping has such a huge stigma attached to it and in this day and age it is still frowned upon and girls are looked down at when their job is deemed by most of society as legalized prostitution. One thing that I was not comfortable with was Kandace’s easy acceptance on taking ecstasy especially after she wanted her mother battle through an addiction. Does it happen in strip clubs? I am sure more so than anyone would like to admit. But, it can also happen at any job.

Renee Blossom, author GOODBYE, GOOD GIRL, did a fantastic job of showing the other side of stripping and consequences with family members who do not necessarily agree with the job choice of a loved one. She really metamorphosizes Kandace from a good girl, a young, vulnerable teen, to someone else entirely – more of an adult, able to finally accept herself and make it out on her own. There are a lot of life lessons throughout this novel and I commend the author for shining a light on stripping and not making it overly one sided. She shows both sides of the coin, such as, the money aspect and the longevity of this type of career choice. I, for one, would never tell someone would they should or should not do with their life as long as they are making an honest living and are safe. I really recommend picking up a copy of this story, leave the judgement at the door, and journey along with Kandace as she finds her way in the world.

[Jae Mod · Rating 4 out of 5]

***ARC provided by Author in exchange for an honest review ***

The title of this book is exactly what you get!!! In her debut novel Goodbye, Good Girl, Renee Blossom gives us a coming of age story full of life lessons. A great display of how a split-second decision can change your life for good or for bad. Like the glass that’s half full or half empty, it all depends on how you look at it.

At only eighteen years old, Kandace takes care of her mother and two younger sisters. She has put her life on hold delaying her plans for college to maintain the life they have come to expect. After a strange encounter with an unknown man, Kandace along with her boyfriend set off on a road trip to California looking for her estranged father, with the hope that he can offer some help.

When Kandace’s boyfriend leaves her on the side of the road in St. Louis, she finds herself without any money or clothes. She is alone and scared. Then a chance meeting with a stripper named April leads Kandace to embark on the trip of a lifetime. So many crazy experiences. So many decisions to make. Some good, some bad. Kandace had to be an adult for her mother and sisters, but she never fully understood what that meant. That is until she was able to live her life for herself.

In the pages of Goodbye, Good Girl you will read about family secrets, drugs, and stripping. You will follow on the journey into adulthood, experience new and old relationships, and see the effects that come from the choices that we as humans make.

I really enjoyed this story. It is very well written. The story moves along smoothly despite the different situations that pile one on top of another. The further into the story you get the more it builds up and accumulates into something you didn't see coming. This book starts with a slow pace that picks up with each new adventure, reaching a crescendo with the twist. I had to take a deep breath, sit back and just say WOW...what a ride! FOUR page turning stars!!!

[Bella McQueen · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I like the serious underlying issue that this book addresses (young girls going off alone and being seduced into a different world).. I just couldn't get into it!
I did not connect at all with Kandice!! In fact I actually really really disliked her! I found it hard to read because of my feelings for her!

I don't even know what to say about this book.. it just wasn't for me ✋🏼

[Judy Churchill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t really like any of the characters and the book seemed to wander around. I found it depressing.

[Stace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you Pikko's House for sending me the ARC of "Goodbye, Good Girl" by Renee Blossom via NetGalley. The final book will be available for the public on October 3, 2017.

This is ultimately a coming-of-age story. At the brink of adolescence, Kandace Santellan tells the turning point of her life that leaves her innocence behind and on to learning the harsh reality of becoming an adult. In her case, this means choosing between being "the only adult in the family" who mothers her two younger sisters while taking care of her drug-abused mother all by herself, someone she's always been since her father left home for government work, and pursuing her questionable career as an exotic dancer.

The latter was easy money, since she has been giving pole dancing lessons as her side job back in her hometown in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The only difference is, stripping at gentleman's clubs can earn her up to ten grand a night, while in her old life money is slow and it's impossible to support her mother's medical bills, sisters' expenses, plus her own would-be college tuition fee.

This opportunity surfaced when Kandace decided to go on a cross-country trip to Los Angeles to find her father, hoping to convince him to come back home for good. Abandoned on the way by her boyfriend in St. Louis, Missouri, she was desperate. With no money and no intention of going back, she was adamant to stay on course until she finds a way to get to California. That's when a character named April came along, plunging her into this glamorous stripper lifestyle that is more addictive than drugs, and it's hard to stop at just one night.

The first half of the book was slow. The author spent most of it exposing the fantasy aspects of the club life, from St. Louis to Vegas to LA. It was fascinating as Brown also included the aftermath of lust, drugs, and dancing. Albeit the immense cash, designer clothes, and top hotel suites, Kandace was still always short of more to make ends meet. Like a normal teenager would, Brown showed the realism through Kandace's snap decisions and quickness to react throughout the book, although more so in the second half as her attitude grew bigger … and not necessarily wiser.

That's the thing: I cannot really relate with the character. As much as she's convinced by the end that she has matured, I wasn't. A lot has to do with the writing that didn't make the characters come through. I understand dialogues get the story going faster, but there were other plotlines that can be brought to clarity with dialogues more than others, namely the parts where Kandace is reminiscing memories, such as Markus's substantial significance as a supporting character to Kandace's family (since he's critical for the plot's progression).

Also, there were many characters that IMO didn't serve much of anything to Kandace's development: Her girlfriends back in Pittsburgh were so superfluous we never actually get to see them interacting with Kandace face-to-face. This lack-of-support problem leaves a lot of plotholes for the author to fill - like, whatever happened to Kyle the boyfriend? I can see his only role was to show readers how Kandace started off with absolutely no one to hold on to, not even her boyfriend. But we ended up with way too many loose ties. Moreover, since it's established that April is Kandace's sidekick almost throughout the book, I'd like to see more background to the character than what was sparsely given through the dialogues.

In terms of narrative, the climax itself was disappointing not only for everyone in the book, but for readers as well. Like I said, there were barely signs of ripeness, just a mere swallow-of-the-hard-pill conclusion to adulting. I think it might help if the author showed more perspective through Kandace's father and his situation, since the intention here might be to show the unreliability of the protagonist's voice as a young, volatile teenager. As breezy it was to read this book, I wouldn't recommend it to young readers due to the lack of relatability and character development.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book through Goodreads giveaways. Thank you Goodreads! 👍

This was definitely a light read. Like many reviewers, I felt like the book lacked direction. It tries to be a thriller, but it just doesn't quite get there. Kandace as a main character is completely unlikable through the majority of the story. She has a very selfish attitude, which just doesn't mesh well with her primary motivations in this book. She is supposed to be a young eighteen year old who has aspirations for college and also wants to help provide for her family. Her father is gone - CIA style. Her mother had a severe accident and had to have several surgeries on her spinal cord, and she is addicted to pain meds. Kandace has two younger sisters, and they are both seemingly oblivious to the family issues. So Kandace is supposed to be the type of character who has only the best intentions for her family. Find her father and bring him home. Take care of her mother who acts completely helpless. Take care of her sisters. The problem with all this is Kandace is a spoiled brat who thinks that everyone should drop everything to help her. Basically it's her way or the highway. She never thanks anyone for their help and she just takes and takes.

The book takes a turn for the strange when the stripping is introduced. If you are interested in how strip clubs work, or want to reminisce with some stripper music mentioned every few sentences, literally the artist and song is spoonfed to you like you are listening to Pandora. Oh but note to the author you missed what is arguably the most popular stripper song - "Scandalous" by Mis-Teeq. Kept expecting to see it mentioned and never did. Bummer. 😂

But anyway. I was weirded out by the drug use. Kandace never even has a moral dilemma about it, she just takes whatever her mysterious new stripper friend gives her. Not only that, she starts wanting to take it even when she wasn't stripping. Just not cool. I was also weirded out by her relationship with her father. She makes a big deal out of picking out the perfect dress to see him in, like okayyyy I would just greet my pops with jeans and a t-shirt. She even mentions that she wanted to look sexy but not too sexy. Uhm. That's just weird sister.

My main qualm with this whole story is I wanted more grit. The strip clubs were too glamorous and everybody was so nice and everything was so wonderful and we all should totally be exotic dancers. C'mon. Everything went Kandace's way. She didn't grow as a character, she never even really had any hardship. All her issues were solved by random people who showed way too much kindness for someone they barely knew.

All in all, it was a good quick light read and I finished it. It held my attention throughout, even though the plot didn't really make sense 100% of the time.

Happy reading! 📚

[Cranky - The Book Curmudgeon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Cranky Stars


This book has the premise to be really interesting - coming of age, oldest daughter is taking care of mother who is addicted to pain medication following a car accident and pretty much raising two younger sisters while Dad is pretty much MIA. Kandace is pretty sure that her dad is not a traveling chef, but what exactly is it that he does do? When a bad guy shows up at their house looking for him, she decides she has to find him to warn him. Then there is the hacker friend, the boyfriend who takes her halfway across the country on a whim but leaves her when his mom calls him home, and the stripper with a heart of gold.


I wanted to like this one, but I just couldn't ever decide exactly what the story was supposed to be. Though there is never anything explicit, the situations are definitely not YA material. The thriller aspects fell flat to me, and I still don't know what exactly the answers to anything were. But my biggest issues are the completely unrealistic aspects of just about every piece of the story. The details do not add up anywhere.


The glamorization of the strip club world was completely over the top. The dollar amounts mentioned constantly were very unrealistic, the song titles that are almost instantly dated, the perks, the instant star status all left a bad taste behind. It seemed like a naive teenager's view, and that is scary to me as a mother of teens. That viewpoint flows into all aspects of this story. The childhood best friend who is a major computer hacker. The new bff who spots her at a bus spot in a bad neighborhood and instantly thinks she will be an incredible stripper. The boyfriend that we aren't even sure is a boyfriend dropping everything in the middle of the first semester of college to drive her across country at the drop of a hat, then getting cold feet and leaving her when his mom tells him to - okay, that one may be one of the more reasonable scenarios.


I did actually like the stripper who befriended our heroine more than any other character in the book, but her feet also aren't terra firma much more than any other character.

I think there is potential here, but it needs a considerable overhaul.

[Jill Rey · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the very first sentence the reader is thrown into Kandace’s life. We quickly learn she is without her father (as he is a “chef” away travelling for work…for the last two years) and her mother has suffered some extreme medical issues relating to a car crash. Kandace is clearly upset by the fact she has not seen her father in some time and is unable to reliably reach him. There are clear undertones steering the reader to assume Kandace’s father is more likely an undercover federal contractor rather than a “chef,” but the utter lack of character development makes it difficult to comfortably wrap one’s arms around Kandace’s family life.

Regardless, given her father’s lack of communication, Kandace decides to travel to LA to find him…why she waits two years to finally track down her father’s whereabouts is outrageous to me…the “aggressive stranger” showing up at Kandace’s door does little to persuade me of this. As the author has now “developed” Kandace’s need to travel across country the reader is taken to St. Louis as a stranger on a bus convinces her to become a stripper. Admittedly, as Kandace is yanked into the stripping underworld the level of detail and development the author creates kept me engaged through the middle bulk of the book, reminding me a bit of a female Magic Mike.

The timeline and story of this book are rather under cooked for my taste, as I am unconvinced by Kandace’s overnight best friendship with the stranger on the bus, convincing her to become a stripper. Her father and the strange man that appears on Kandace’s doorstep did little to draw me in the book, and had the stripper storyline been less well-crafted I may not have finished the read.

For the full review, please visit: https://fortheloveofthepageblog.wordp...

*Disclaimer: a review copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.

[Candyce Kirk · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

This book is described as a coming of age story and doing everything for family no matter the cost. This sounded like it was going to be very interesting. I have to say the first few chapters were. We read about Kandace and her mother. They've been having some hard times since an accident and she does what she can. Her father really isn't around and he is very missed. This is when the story got kind of weird. Out of nowhere there is some guy at her house, asking about her Dad and where he can find him. He seems rather agressive and it scares her, especially when she walks in and her mother isn't responding. Between wanting her Dad home and her Mom needing help for her pain and drug issues, Kandace needs her Dad home. Why her mother tells her to go is beyond me. How is an 18 year old with only two hundred dollars supposed to find her father, when she doesn't even know where he is? Of course, her friend Markus is good with computers and basically hacks everything he shouldn't to try and find an address for her. That her boyfriend Kyle, did want to head out with her and help her, is understandble, but I thought it was rather selfish when she blamed him when he needed to get home. This is when the story went really far. While I get she is desperate, she is an 18 year old, who should know when things don't sound right. The fact that she went with a girl, she just met and agreed to go be an exotic dancer is so stupid. For all she knew, April could've been a prostitute and she could've ended up in the hands of something she couldn't get out of. Then she goes to dance and just takes the pills handed to her like it's no big deal. This is when I almost stopped reading this book. It was all just too much.

[Agnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book as an ARC through Netgalley (available October 2017) and when I started reading it I wasn't sure I would like it. But somehow I got into this book about Kandace and her life at home. Her priorities such as school and finding her father was heartwarming.

The story takes us on the adventure of 18 year old Kandace, not only trying to find her father, but through the choices she makes when faced being alone and broke. She hooks up with April who turns her on to fast money by teaching her how to poll dance/strip.

Quickly Kandace is hooked on dancing, making money, having clothes - a rich life. But is this the life she wants or does her desire to go to college, and help her family out trump that. A good read and page turner!

[Gwen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received the ARC via Netgalley.
I'm not sure exactly what this book was trying to be. Nothing really happens. The moral seems to be if you have terrible parents you are going to end up a hooker. We become so invested in her cause only to be let down too. So she grows up, big deal. Also, I had to stop reading several time as the morality of stripping was discussed, how great ecstasy is and the blatant chapter devoted to selling readers a car.

[Giselle]

You can request an ARC here: [closed - other review opportunities found here]

[Alfred J. Coscia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Good Plot

This is difficult for me to review fairly, because I was an "exotic" dancer 20 years ago and I take issue with a lot of the often preposterous details the author wrote of dancing in clubs. Her fairytale description and details are nothing like any in the three states and 23 clubs I worked at. That written (for now), I will happily admit her concurrent mysterious plot is compelling, there is some crass, but hilarious, dialogue. I did enjoy the book, despite glaring typographical errors, use of homophones, and the author's reliance on "snicker" , distraught, and several other words that are used repeatedly. Blossom could benefit from expansion of her vocabulary and a thesaurus. Yet, she is very good at creating humorous lines that definitely add to the experience of this book. It is, in short, a fun, if unrealistic, read. I don't Like to give spoilers, but my next few paragraphs may do so to some degree, so if you wanted a brief overview, now is the time to stop reading my review (thanks for reading, before you go).😀

Like Kandace, I was an excellent dancer, pole performer, and without conceit, I was in demand because I was also very pretty - often being "scouted" by competing clubs to join them. The things that Kandace experiences are, frankly, preposterous. The money, perks, and care that she is offered do not exist, not even in today's clubs. It would have been fabulous if it did, but the reality is that clubs only care about making money. Once the night is done, so does any concern for any dancer. The description by the author is misleading and over the top. Also, her use of "club supplied" ecstasy is wrong at many levels. Clubs are interested in keeping their licences, first and foremost. They would not risk their licences to procure drugs for the entertainment. Ever. While they may turn a blind eye to discreet usage that does not affect one's behavior or performance, they will not hesitate to fire drug users, as they impact the safety of the club's license. Also, in order for Kandace to dance, she would have to get a license before she stepped foot on a stage because of liability and insurance issues.

That Ms. Blossom has an eighteen year old blithely popping pills a virtual stranger gave her is concerning to me for the younger reader. It is a very dangerous environment, so I never used anything at work, but I also enjoyed it sober. I made very good money, more than most of the other girls, but I never did more than table dances and stage work. Unless one crosses huge lines, which would get her fired, the money she claims is impossible on a regular basis. I worked top clubs, and still pop in to visit. The ten grand night is so far-fetched, I truly laughed. She fails to mention that the competition is huge, no matter if you are a beautiful, amazing dancer on stage. Clubs deliberately full themselves with an excess of dancers, don't ever book for you and it is incumbent upon a dancer to get her customers. Try that with 40 other gorgeous women also there and your stage athletics mean little, especially since you may only get stage time twice that night to advertise your unique athletics combined with great stage presence and lithe moves to beckon customers.

Well, aside from the glaring misinformation about dancing in clubs, it does make for a good light read. Just don't think that dancing is the magical world described herein, and you may
Iike the book. Overall, I did.

As Always, Happy Reads to All from the Book Junkie. ☺

[Courtney Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sort of coming of age story, where the main character is on a journey to find her dad but ends up finding out things about herself as she goes. The story was intriguing and full of adventure. I was completely absorbed by Kandace and her story and could not put this book down.

Kandace is 18 years old and the oldest of her parents three daughters. Since her dad left two years ago, on some job related trip that never ends, her mother has become weak and prescription drug dependent leaving Kandace in charge of running her household and raising her sisters all while trying to go to college and get a job, herself. It's a lot of responsibility on one girl and you really start to feel sympathy for her plight, which makes her subsequent decisions a little puzzling. An intimidating stranger shows up at their front door looking for Kandace's dad which begins her cross country journey to find her dad and bring him home. During her trip she meets April and decides to spend a night exotic dancing, because of the money she can make from it. Exotic dancing leads her to using drugs and on stage lesbian experiences, which even though she started off being a "good girl" doesn't seem off character as the story is about her personal growth and personality changes. Throughout the book she keeps her strength and strong familial sense, often calling her family and friends to assure them that she's ok.

The novel had a good flow from one event to the next and the author did a great job at building like-able characters that make the readers care about their fate. As with all novels, there were parts that were a bit slow, and I said previously, I was not at all impressed by her interactions with her father, but overall I enjoyed the book. I am looking forward to rereading it to see if there are any hidden moments that I didn't catch the first time through.

To read my full review please go to https://opinionatedbw.blogspot.ca/

[Amy Ingalls · Rating 2 out of 5]

***************This review contains spoilers**************************



I won this book in a giveaway.

I'm not really sure what to make of this book. It was a fast read, with lots of dialogue, but it almost seemed like two books in one. We have the Kandace from the beginning of the story-- the Good Girl. She is responsible and struggling to keep her family together. She is vocally against trying any drugs, and throws away her addicted mother's excess pain pills. So when she is stuck in St. Louis, it is not her hasty decision to strip that I have a problem with. I have over $140,000 in student loans-- I understand the temptation. It is her quick acceptance and use of the drug ecstasy that I have a problem with. She was willing to take this drug, and seemed to have no issues or worries about becoming addicted like her mother. No guilt about taking it. Nothing. As a child of a drug addict, this is not realistic. I just didn't buy that the Kandace from the first few chapters would have taken those pills, which made the rest of the story harder to buy.

It is also a bit unrealistic how much success she had-- overnight she was one of the best, most sought after girls at the club. So many gifts, so much money. So many conversations about judgement (who in their right mind would think that a father is not going to have an issue with this?), I felt at times like the author was really trying to convince the reader that dancing was fabulous, that dancers should not be judged, and so on. I don't necessarily disagree. That being said, Kandace and April are, in my opinion, not just dancers. Allowing men to touch you, giving a foot job and having the man climax, and having orgasms on customers to me makes you a sex worker. And I am not even judging that choice-- I just don't think calling yourself a dancer is valid.

[Christy Ngo · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest though, I will only give this book 2.5/5 stars.

*Spoilers Alert*

The whole books feel like chunks of stories put together.

The book started where Kandace Stellahan, the eldest of 3 girls with a Mom who was in an accident and a Dad away for work since 2 years ago, came home to a suspicious guy breaking into her house looking for her Dad.

Then her mom overdosed on pain meds and was sent to the hospital. She had to leave one of her sister with her aunt while her other sister was at training camp.

She thought her dad was in trouble as she couldn’t get a hold of her dad so she asked her boyfriend to drive her to LA from Pittsburgh. When they reached St Louis, her boyfriend left her because of a phone call from his mom. (What a douche and a mama boy!)

Then she met April who introduced to stripping to earn travel fares to LA. Then a huge chunk of the book talking about stripping. (I don’t mind stripping personally but you can feel as though the author had wanted to write about stripping and failed in a way to smoothly bring in stripping because the whole time I was just thinking about Kandace’s Dad.)

I like April a lot though. She is loyal, fun, sarcastic and really stick to her friends.

Then after a few days of stripping, Kandace’s friend (who is a computer genius) managed to get an address of her dad’s location.

After a lot of blunder, she finally found her dad but seriously, her dad is just another douche. Not liking her stripping, wanting to control her, didn’t respect her wishes, didn’t understand the situation at home! All Kandace wanted was to be able to go to college and her dad didn’t even want to support her!

The only thing I liked was the ending. Kandace finally realised that her dad was a douche and she will do what makes her happy.