I shouldnt read these books. They depress me. ( )

I enjoyed Sheri Reynolds character development and beautiful use of language in this coming of age, hard knock life story. I listened to the audio version and also give a big thumbs up to the reader. Her southern accent and altering of tone and pitch per character made it very enjoyable. ( )

What sets this novel apart from what Sheri Reynolds has written is the different P.O.V. Third person omniscient can be a bother to the eye if you're a reader and not a writer. I really loved the book. The movement was fairly fluid. In the omniscient P.O.V., you have the flexibility to move in time and through characters' minds. Ms. Reynolds displays a masterful grip on hinges, moving between time and person. I only wanted to know how Travis and the grandfather died sooner, but that's a reader's selfish inclination. Holding out on that information really created a wonderful display of emotion in the end! ( )

Teen finds her trashy runaway mother.. ( )

Tessa Lee is 8 years old and her brother Travis is 3 and still in diapers when their mother meets another man in a string of many men and abandons her children at a campground with their grandparents' phone number written in Magic Marker on the baby's back. This is really Tessa Lee's coming-of-age story and a mesmerizing story it is. Lots of sadness but with an ending that gives the reader hope that the characters they have come to care so much about will survive and heal. ( )