- Pub. Date: January 03, 2012
- Publisher: Harper Teen
- Pages:299
- Goodreads/Amazon/Book Depository
From asthma, from her parents, and from her boyfriend, Asher, who is smothering her from the inside out. She can take his cruel words, his tender words . . . until the night they go too far.
To escape, Joy sacrifices her suburban life to find the one who offered his help, a homeless boy called Creed. He introduces her to a world of fierce loyalty, to its rules of survival, and to love--a world she won't easily let go.
Set against the backdrop of the streets of Seattle, Holly Cupala's power-ful new novel explores the subtleties of abuse, the secrets we keep, and the ways to redemption. But above all, it is an unflinching story about the extraordinary lengths one girl will go to discover her own strength.
First Line: Slyt. Slyt.
Review: Joy is suffocating. She has had enough near death experiences to where her family has become obsessively overprotective of her. Then comes along Asher who seems great at first but then emotionally abuses her which soon leads to physical. All this is wearing Joy down until one day she comes across a boy who offers her an option which she didn't think she had.
Joy fakes her own abduction and pretty much runs away to Seattle where she finds Creed the boy who told her if she needs him he is there. And she meets his street family May and Santos. All the characters were very well written and we learn about each of their hardships and inner battles. Cupala also kept it very realistic as far as the street life goes and what it means to be a runaway. We met all kinds of people from pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers, addicts and the list goes on.
My only issue with this book was the ending. For a book so intense the ending wrapped up too quickly and perfectly. I guess I just expected more.
Overall this book took me by surprise it had been sitting on my shelf for months and it's another one of those books where i'm cursing myself out for not picking up sooner. Cupala not only creates a story so gripping about Joy's struggle to find strength in herself to live a life that she wants but she also bring attention to the teen homeless population and all the horrible things they are really dealing with in real life.
