GSMC Book Review Podcast · GSMC Audiobooks Network

At Least I’m Trying by Tara Hodgson | GSMC Book Review Podcast

·49 min

1. GSMC Book Review Podcast talks with Tara Hodgson about At Least I’m Trying, a young adult novel built around Snapchat, Snap Maps, and teen safety. 2. Tara Hodgson is the author of two YA contemporary novels and a junior high teacher in year 18, which gives her direct daily contact with teenagers. 3. The episode asks what happens when perfection, social media, and predatory contact collide in Reese’s life. 4. Hodgson says the novel began with a conversation about Snap Maps, where kids share real-time location with followers. 5. She describes researching how predators target young people through Snapchat, games, and other apps rather than older public spaces. 6. Hodgson says Reese was inspired by students she has seen under pressure to be the top student, top athlete, and scholarship candidate. 7. She explains that Reese fails in a major moment and then chooses a darker path instead of continuing toward perfection. 8. Hodgson says teenagers’ phones now keep “everything they could ever want or wish to look at” at their fingertips. 9. She links that constant access to classroom changes she has seen over 18 years of teaching in Alberta, Canada. 10. Hodgson says she keeps the story non-explicit while still addressing sex, drinking, drugs, and risky online contact. 11. She says the research included first-hand accounts from people who were sex trafficked, which changed her assumptions about who gets targeted. 12. Hodgson notes that many victims she read about came from “very well off households” and were drawn in by someone who filled a missing emotional need. 13. She describes the grooming figure as a “Romeo” who buys gifts, says the right things, and slowly escalates control. 14. Hodgson says mental health concerns among students have “multiplied beyond what I ever would have imagined” during her teaching career. 15. She argues that constant comparison and the inability to disconnect make teenage self-esteem and identity struggles worse. 16. Hodgson says the ending avoids a neat bow but still shows signs that Reese’s situation will continue improving. 17. The interview style is conversational and reflective, with Sarah frequently connecting her own school-age memories to Hodgson’s points. 18. The pacing mixes author background, social-media discussion, and writing process questions in a straightforward book-review format. 19. Readers interested in YA, teen mental health, and online safety will likely want this. 20. Readers wanting light romance or low-stakes school fiction may skip it.

As heard by us

A warm, shaggy author chat that treats teen reality seriously without getting explicit.

This episode stays grounded in the practical side of writing for teens. The author traces Reese back to teaching experience, then shows how that starting point grew into a fuller fictional life.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Want a calm, honest read on a teen story's real-world stakes?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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