GOTTA LOVE THE VIEW is a 75,000 word YA novel that revolves around Carly Carlisle, a teenage girl who is feisty and independent. High adrenalin activities — rocketing down a skateboard ramp or executing a triple somersault off the high board — make her feel alive, that is, until she gets ill.  Terribly ill.  Her vital independence fades to an over reliance on doctors and family. 

GOTTA LOVE THE VIEW follows Carly’s unique, harrowing and often humorous journey as she travels the globe searching for a cure.  The life she once envisioned— college degree,  romantic partner,  full-time job—all but gone.  She feels socially isolated as many teens did when COVID slammed damn.   Her main relationships center on her dysfunctional family — an anxiety-ridden and overly protective mother, a distant though caring father who struggles with OCD and a younger brother, who she always viewed with disdain because he got all the attention.  And then there’s her lone friend, Ally, a one-time cheerleader who chose Jack Daniels over college.  Although she is Carly’s polar opposite,  Ally and Carly bond, two lonely lost souls, there for one another. 

It all builds to a powerful ending with an unexpected twist as Carly tries to find purpose in what could be a shortened life.   The book’s title covers Carly’s life from standing atop the mega ramp at skateboard camp to a possible ascent to heaven where the view exceeds all others.    Can she ultimately find a cure or at least some meaning to her life?  The book’s target audience are teenagers, people suffering from disease or depression and those who discover a spiritual side.