Reviewed by coollibrarianchick for TeensReadToo.com

I just finished a book, after running back to the beach because it was mistakenly left there, that I am going to pass on to everyone looking for a good book to read. HAVE YOU FOUND HER by Janice Erlbaum was a gut-wrenching, pull-at-your-heart strings, can't-put-it-down memoir. It actually reads like a novel, a suspenseful one at that, full of plot twists and turns. I finished it in two days. The little blurb I read about it in my local library's Bookpage didn't do the book justice.

Janice Erlbaum one day decided to volunteer at a homeless shelter for teens in NYC. Very noble of her, don't you think? Volunteering at this one homeless shelter was more than just an act of graciousness for her. Twenty years ago, she lived at that shelter for a time. She wanted to do something for these kids, show that you can change your situation and become successful. Janice definitely changed her life for the better. Now she is a successful author, living in a nice apartment with her husband (or domestic partner, as she calls him) and three cats.

At first, the volunteering doesn't go very well. Her nervousness shows and the kids are gravitating to her for help. Janice is just not sure if she can do it. She soon realizes she has to have a shtick if she wants their attention and find a younger version of herself to help. So one day, she brings a bag full of beads for a craft-making jewelry session. It does the trick and she is forever known as the Bead Lady.

One of the rules of the place is "Don't choose favorites." That rule goes completely out the window when Janice meets Samantha. Samantha is a brilliant junkie who has been on her own since she was twelve. She is incredibly lovable and also incredibly damaged. Samantha says a lot of things throughout the time Janice comes to know her that should be questioned. At any rate, Janice ends up falling for Sam - not a romantic love like she has for Bill, but in a deeply caring, friendship/parental way. She wants to save Sam from the streets, and this leads Janice and Sam through hospitals and halfway houses and rehabs.

The one thing Janice never suspected was how sick Sam really was.......

The book was like a roller coaster ride for me. When Sam was up, in good health, on the right track, you cheered -- but when she was down, sick, so weak that you though she would die at any second, you couldn't help but get sad and emotional. You start to wonder if you can really save another person's soul.

I just wonder where Sam is now..... ( )

I totally and completely loved this book! It's an honest look into dealing with troubled teen runaways, and the consequences of getting too attached. ( )

Amazing. This book started a little bit slow for me, then I could not put it down. It was actually emotionally draining for me. It is a disturbing story of a woman volunteering at a shelter and becoming involved with a young teenage drug addict. It does read like a novel, but I think it ends like things do in real life, alot of unanswered questions and leaves you wishing there were more details, I wish I could say more but I don't want to give anything away. I highly recommend this book, especially if you enjoy memoirs. ( )

Somehow a whole bunch of my reviews seem to be lost, so I'll be recreating them to the best of my memory. Have You Found Her, though, was highly memorable. Could truth be stranger than fiction? I was immediately drawn into this book and forced myself to put it down, not only because there were daily tasks to complete, but because there was an emotional roller coaster ride that the author was highly skilled at using. Her timing was suberb, her own emotional high and anger/depression communicable. In short, a frustratingly depressing view of treatment for youth with psychological disorders and a scarily poignant account of an educated woman completely taken in by a skilled "conman". Highly recommended, but disturbing. ( )

What begins rather heart-warming becomes riveting and ultimately chilling.