When her sister disappeared, Shae-Lynn assumed their father had killed her. But 18 years later a stranger appears in their small coal-mining town looking for Shannon. This isn't a mystery novel, but one about relationships and adults trying to overcome the damage done by trauma. ( )

Really good. ( )

A Lot Like a *Lifetime Channel* TV drama

I do like Tawni O'Dell's writing, her sharp characters and her humor. However, there was just too much sexuality in this one that seemed seemed somewhat gratuitous and therefore off-putting.

It was not easy to read about some of the events in the lives of the two sisters, both during their childhood and in their current experiences. The stress, poverty and difficulties of the lives of the men and women in this small Pennsylvania town were very harsh. All of the characters are survivors with a capital "S".

While deciding the tags to give this book, I felt that the tags themselves revealed much about the book, in and of themselves. They don't give you the actual story, but they do give you the basic information for a good idea of what the book is about.

Here's my tags: siblings, sisters, private adoption, family violence, violence against children, graphic sex, small towns, coal mines, coal miners, social class issues, children born out of wedlock, neglected children, single mothers, casual sex, deprivation in infancy, orphaned children, alcoholism & heavy drinking

Poverty and dangerous working conditions exist both in the USA and many, many other countries in the world. Many families lives are lived this way. Children are and have to be resilient to survive many things while growing up. My heart went out to these characters time and time again for many reasons which I consider to be damning to all of us as human beings. Lots of things do not work, period. There is an awful lot of lying by the characters in this book, some done to protect other people and some to help the liar survive.

While the resolution is a good one for most of the characters there is no hint of ...and everyone lived happily ever after.

If you are interested in an entertaining book, that is well written, and has dialogue which is often laugh out loud funny while being rooted in the gritty reality of many everyday working class lives, this one is for you. I give it Three Stars. ( )

I very much like Tawni O'Dell's writing style. It's a nice combination of drama & humor. However, I didn't enjoy this one as much as her earlier "Coal Run". This one, like her previous, takes place in a coal-mining town in Pennsylvania. But this one went just maybe a tad bit over the top for me. If you were to merge Joshilyn Jackson & Carl Hiaasen's writing, you might end up with something like this. While I don't think this is her best work, O'Dell is one of those authors I definitely like to keep my eye out for & I look forward to future novels. ( )

One of my favourite books of last year. Great language and characters and fast-paced. I got both angry and heart-warmed and didn't want it to end. Hard to describe a book I like so much, but I definetely definetely recommend it! ( )