[.ca] Harley, Like a Person (ISBN 0375837353)

From Amazon.com:
"'What was your name again?' 'Harley... Harley Columba.' 'Harley. Like the motorcycle, eh?' 'No, Harley, like a person.'" Fourteen-year-old Harley is dead sure that "drunken dragon and his fire-breathing wife" she shares a house with cannot be her real parents. And when she finds a doll with a 12-year-old note signed "Papa loves you forever and a day"--not in her father's handwriting--she knows she's on to something. Her academic and social life begins to spiral down as she pursues her genetic mystery and rebels against her restrictive parents. Soon she's alienated her best friend, hooked up with a drug-dealing crowd, and is watching her grades plummet. Only her remarkable talent as an artist (and the recognition of this ability by a few adults) keeps her from spinning completely out of control. But this Harley won't stop until she's reached her destination--or runs out of fuel trying. Cat Bauer's powerful first novel of a defiant adolescent girl's search for identity, both creative and personal, will ring true for teenagers everywhere. She hits on all the hot topics: identity, family relationships, drug and alcohol abuse, school achievement, domestic and emotional violence, friendship, sex, and love. (Ages 12 and older) --Emilie Coulter

~* hArLeY *~:
I have been searching for a good book for the past two months and to my disarray have not found a one. I have tried the classics (they were too dull), i have tried the science fiction (they were too weird) and even trashy romances (UGH!). So today i went to the library and got something new, something different. It was titled Harley:Like a Person and I read it in one day, one of the best books I have ever read. So now I am in the same situation again, with no good book to read. ...

What an awesome book!:
It's truly hard to believe that this was Cat Bauers first book! I read this a few months after one of my friends had read it, and absolutley loved it. It was the kind of book that made you laugh and cry, and sometimes even relate to. Harley's life spirals out of control as she searches for her own identity. On her downwards fall she loses her best friend, but gains another, when she begins a new relationship with a boy. This ends up getting her into a lot of trouble with her cruel and dysfunctional parents, and Harley rebels. Will her life get any better, or will it continue its downward climb untill its too much to bare?

Harley Like A Person:
Harley Columba is a normal fourteen year old girl except for the fact that she must deal with her crazy mother and her always drunk and violent father. Her only passions and outlets are when she's painting and listening to John Lennon. But one day Harley finds a Harliquin doll with a sweet note saying "A Harliquin for my Harleykins Love, Daddy" and she's convinced that her father is not truely her father... Will Harley find what she's looking for? This was a good book. You can relate to Harley so much and you just can't wait to get to the conclusion to see what happens.

ENCORE:
Harley, Like A Person is by far the best book I have ever read. I don't remember ever having more emotion for a book before in my life. Cat Bauer really lets you get to know all the characters in the book, and just about everything about them. It gives everybody their own... self, instead of leaving people out for readers to guess about. I have never walked away from a book with more feeling towards it than with this book, and it has inspired me to want to become a writer even more than I already have. If I have the chance to influence somebody and leave them with such a (there isn't a word good enough to put here) feeling as it left me with, then I want to take it. Bravo.

Completely Real:
If you like books that will draw you into the real life of a girl on the wrong track then this is it. I read it in 2 days. When your parents lie to you your whole life about who your father is you would flip too. Harley is an artist who is in a swirl of lies and doesn't know what to do. Her friend pretty much leaves her to fend for her self and her parents act like they don't care. She meets a boy who takes her to parties and does drugs. That doesn't last long. She soon goes in search of who her real father is. This is a great book with a twist of an ending.