I knew I was not in the right mental state to read this book. But I did it anyway. This is dark. Not like horror, where you’re seeing blood and gore. But psychologically dark. What people are capable of, how the most defenseless are abused and abandoned, and how you can never truly know anyone.

I think I’m gonna be messed up for a little bit now to be perfectly honest.

But this book was GOOD. It was so well written. Each character felt totally real, frustratingly so. The narrator’s struggle to speak up for herself and answer questions and make decisions in her own best interest were infuriating but so understandable. A little girl at 9 years old accused of a horrific crime where her mother told her to take the fall because “they’ll go easier on a little girl”… a girl who had to be the parent starting at 6 years old. A girl who had to keep her own mother alive at times. A girl who had to fight for her life when her mother hooked up with violent men. And the other girls in her group home… they did awful things to each other but you could see how badly they had been treated, no one cared about them, no one tried to help them, they were monsters of someone else’s making.

And Miss Bahni Turpin as the audio book reader! Can we just appreciate this artist?! Phenomenal reading.

I would recommend this book for sure, but only when you’re ready to read it. When you can handle the way it will mess with your head.