Young At Heart

I was given this book in exchange for my honest review.
Full disclosure: I am an adult who loves YA and NA books, and, although that usually isn't a problem, it might have been here. About half way into the book I realized this was not the book for me. I continued reading it, of course, to be able to review it. And I know many people who reviewed it have enjoyed it, so maybe it really was just me. But anyway, these are my thoughts:
The premiss is really interesting, and although I have read about werecats in other books, they were always secondary characters. It seemed to be an interesting story about how a girl develops in her teens to become a woman. But it disappointed me. The first chapters, up until chapter 17, seemed like a prologue. They told the story about how she first turned into a werecat - which could have been very interesting. But it was over explained, like the author was relating what happened and not telling a story I could feel a part of.
After that it got a little better, addressing some important issues such as rape, pedophilia, teenage drug abuse, and others. Missy was a strong character, but not believable for me. She was just too perfect, unflawed - except when she was doing some very bad things to bad guys, vigilante style, that caught me by surprise. The adult characters, in comparison, were either naive or purely evil (such as those very bad guys I talked about before). The whole thing felt monotone to me. The situations Missy handled in the beginning of the book were also strangely handled for me, as no adults were trusted, and no sexual abusers were reported. I realize it is a sensitive issue, and it's great that an YA novel is putting it out there, but I felt there should have been some encouragement to talk to trusted adults about it.
Missy continued all through the book to be a flawless heroin, who could do no wrong, saved everybody, and everyone loved and trusted. If you love unflawed heroins, this book is for you. She is beautiful, fun, generous, smart and considerate. But It just didn't seem real to me.