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Alaya Dawn Johnson
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Love Is the Drug Hardcover – September 30, 2014

by Alaya Dawn Johnson (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 54 ratings
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From the author of The Summer Prince, a novel that's John Grisham's The Pelican Brief meets Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain set at an elite Washington D.C. prep school.

Emily Bird was raised not to ask questions. She has perfect hair, the perfect boyfriend, and a perfect Ivy-League future. But a chance meeting with Roosevelt David, a homeland security agent, at a party for Washington DC's elite leads to Bird waking up in a hospital, days later, with no memory of the end of the night.Meanwhile, the world has fallen apart: A deadly flu virus is sweeping the nation, forcing quarantines, curfews, even martial law. And Roosevelt is certain that Bird knows something. Something about the virus--something about her parents' top secret scientific work--something she shouldn't know.The only one Bird can trust is Coffee, a quiet, outsider genius who deals drugs to their classmates and is a firm believer in conspiracy theories. And he believes in Bird. But as Bird and Coffee dig deeper into what really happened that night, Bird finds that she might know more than she remembers. And what she knows could unleash the biggest government scandal in US history.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Arthur A. Levine Books
  4. Publication date
    September 30, 2014
  5. Grade level
    9 and up
  6. Reading age
    14 years and up
  7. Dimensions
    6 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches
  8. ISBN-10
    0545417813
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0545417815
  10. Lexile measure
    840L
  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for The Summer Prince*"Like leaping into cold water on a hot day, this original dystopian novel takes the breath away, refreshes, challenges, and leaves the reader shivering but yearning for another plunge." -- Booklist, starred review*"With its complicated history, founding myth, and political structure, Palmares Tres is compelling, as is the triple bond between June, Enki, and Gil as they challenge their world's injustices." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review*"An art project, a rebellion and a sacrifice make up this nuanced, original cyberpunk adventure.... Luminous." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewLonglisted for the National Book AwardA Kirkus Best Book of the Year

About the Author

Alaya Dawn Johnson's first novel for young adults, The Summer Prince, received three starred reviews, was longlisted for the National Book Award, and was a Kirkus Best Book of the Year. She is also the author of Love Is the Drug. She grew up in Washington, DC, attended Columbia University, and now lives in New York City.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Arthur A. Levine Books (September 30, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0545417813
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0545417815
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 years and up
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 840L
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 9 and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 54 ratings

About the author

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Alaya Dawn Johnson

Alaya Dawn Johnson

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Alaya Dawn Johnson is an award-winning short story writer and the author of seven novels for adults and young adults. Her most recent novel for adults, Trouble the Saints, won the 2021 World Fantasy Award for best novel. Her debut short story collection, Reconstruction, was an Ignyte Award and a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist. Her debut YA novel The Summer Prince was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, and the follow-up Love Is the Drug was awarded the Andre Norton Nebula Award. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, most notably the title story in The Memory Librarian, in collaboration with Janelle Monáe. She lives in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
54 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Skye Kilaen
5.0 out of 5 stars Truly outstanding, especially on audio
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2018
Verified Purchase
Gripping conspiracy / mystery / high school coming of age novel with an opposites-attract romance subplot, about a young African-America woman from an elite Washington D.C. family. It was written by black woman, and it's narrated brilliantly for audio by Simone Missick who plays Misty Knight on Netflix's Luke Cage. So good that I actually stopped listening to it at about 85% for weeks because I couldn't bear for it to end.

I adore the main character, Emily Bird, and I adore her drug-dealing crush, who goes by the nickname Coffee, and I want to run over the main antagonist with a truck except that I'm so scared of him I would run away. Johnson blends so many strands so beautifully: a mysterious viral outbreak; Emily's relationships with her family, friends, and frenemies; the developing, sometimes contentious relationship she has with Coffee; and Emily's own journey of self-discovery, reinvention, and resistance. Looking back, I can't believe how much stuff is in this book and how neatly it all fits. Gorgeous book, should be far better known.

Diversity note: Author Johnson and narrator Missick are both women of color.
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Juushika
3.0 out of 5 stars Strong voice and themes, weak plot and romance; not recommended
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2017
A pandemic upsets the life of Emily Bird, a Black student about to graduate from a prestigious prep school. The social politics of prep school, race, and economic class; the edge of an apocalypse; a romance, a mystery, and significant character growth: there's so much going on here, and yet, somehow, not quite enough. The themes and diversity are fantastic, albeit delineated, but it's the plot and romance that let things down. The thriller/mystery is too insubstantial to carry so much of the book, and the romance tips towards tortured and saccharine. But Johnson's writing is strong, dense, unexpectedly challenging, with engaging variations in address, and she tackles an ambitious timescale and sociopolitical context. If this were less restrained by genre convention or presumed audience age, it could have been more complicated and satisfying; what it is instead is a mild disappointment, but I may pick up more by the author because I think her voice has great potential.
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Dayany Rodríguez
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente condition
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2021
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I purchased this book for my daughter and considering the price, I didn’t know what to expect. To my surprise this book looks almost brand new.
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Anissa Annalise
4.0 out of 5 stars A Quieter Outbreak Story
Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2017
I've had this in my TBR pile too long and as 2017 is my year of focused clearing of backlist books, I decided to give this one a go. Prep school senior, Emily Bird wakes up in a hospital after having been drugged to the point that her memory of the events of a night are gone and Washington DC is on the verge of full on outbreak crisis intervention and none of that is the worst news.

I expected more intrigue and urgency given the global outbreak of a virus that's decimating the population with some martial law tossed in but this book was surprisingly low-key. I stayed with the story because I was very interested in the characters, most specifically Bird (Emily), Coffee (Alonso), Aaron, Marella, Nicky and even the villainous Roosevelt. I was confused by Bird's parents, Carol and Greg. I suppose that was to be expected as Bird is afraid of her mother (with good reason and so was I) and distant from her father but as this story is told in shifting POVs and not told strictly in Bird's voice, I feel there could have been more provided for clarity with the family dynamic. Aaron was the best kid I've had the pleasure to read in a while and I even liked Nicky. While he may not be a paragon of success, he worked consistently to provide for his family, wasn't in any way a criminal and his children knew they were loved. He treated Bird like a second daughter and made her feel a part of a family. One more reason for me to put Carol Bird on ignore. Marella won all the true BFF points and I was pulling for her too. If there's ever a sequel to Love is the Drug or a Marella in Paris story, I'd read that.

By book's end, while the answer to how Bird was drugged and why is given, it was revealed in a way that didn't deliver a punch given all the build up. Again, the urgency was just about non-existent. I thought the relationship between Bird and Coffee was well done and I really liked that this story allowed her to grow on her own so she could save herself and the boy she loved. Bird also didn't display any characteristics or abilities out of the blue to solve her problems and I was glad of that. No insta-solutions or insta-love here and if I could find more YA like this, I'd read them. Another thing that was refreshing was to have Bird be told by Marella and those who were supposed to be her friends before, that she (Bird) either wasn't holding up her end of the friend ship or she wasn't trustworthy. It's not often you have a main character girl in YA who isn't universally & inexplicably loved by all when she does nothing to draw those feelings. Bird had to earn them and improve herself. Well done, ADJ. Points also to the author for the Jack and Jill mentions. I can't recall the last time I came across that in a novel. I also liked the conflict in Bird, a privileged girl of color, on how to be Black in a world where her parents want her to be a proud and accomplished African American but "not too black" so as to single her out in the profoundly white world they've raised her in. This extends to something as simple as how she wears her hair. The socially acceptable pod of other African American teens she's around also exercise a certain amount of pressure to conform and it was interesting how they felt mostly sequestered off from white students (Charlotte notwithstanding). Making the chemist/drug dealer, conspiracy theorist, the root worthy character, is a hell of a feat to pull off but the author does so here and it's believable. He and Marella (who was Black & openly gay, so had her own outcast issues from the "socially acceptable" groups) were the only people who seemed able to accept Bird for who she was & wanted to be.

The way this ends, I could envision a sequel because the danger is still out there. Bird, Coffee & Marella globe trekking, just a step ahead of the enemy could be fun & hopefully have a high-octane feel now that they're out of high school. Recommended.
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Karen W.
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking, lyrical mixed-genre coming of age story
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2016
Verified Purchase
I'm rounding up about half a star.

This thought-provoking near-future story is a distinctive and successful blend of thriller, love story, and YA coming-of-age story. While some of the characters are close to two-dimensional, the principals are fully realized and compelling. The prose is lovely, often almost poetic.

Above all else, this is a story about relationships, familial and otherwise, and readers may well end up reexamining and reevaluating some of their own relationships.
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Paula B
5.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed this book quite a bit - the characters were ...
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2016
Verified Purchase
I enjoyed this book quite a bit - the characters were very real to me and I liked the diversity and cultural backgrounds. The location - Washington DC - and the political science fiction involved was fascinating.
One person found this helpful
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